1. Ph.D. Students and Teaching at CMU
Katie Walsh, Ph.D.
Teaching Consultant

2. Strategies for Successful Teaching
Know your teaching responsibilities
Know your teaching resources
Be prepared & develop teaching strategies
Keep records of your teaching

3. 1. Know your teaching responsibilities
Possible teaching responsibilities include…
Attending lectures
Recording attendance
Holding office hours
Leading recitations
Conducting exam review sessions
Proctoring exams
Grading problem sets
Writing exam questions
Creating grading keys
Giving guest lectures
Preparing handouts
Posting materials to the course web site

4. 1. Know your teaching responsibilities
Questions to ask your supervising professor:
What are my responsibilities?
What are the main course goals?
What course policies, if any, do I have the authority to make decisions about?
How many hours per week, on average, should I expect to devote to teaching?
How will my performance be evaluated?

5. Activity #1 Know your teaching responsibilities
Individually write (1 min):
What other questions about your responsibilities do you want to ask?
Turn to your neighbor (2 min): Share your questions.
2:52
Q: Give me an example of a question you think is especially good.

6. 2. Know your teaching resources at CMU

7. Eberly Center Services
Want to learn more
about teaching?
Sign up for
Interactive Seminars & Workshops
Preparing to TA or
teach a course?
Request to meet for an
Individual Teaching Consultation
Want feedback
on your teaching?
Ask us in for a
Classroom Observation
- or -
Early Course Feedback
Preparing for
a faculty career?
Join our
Future Faculty
Program
The Eberly Center has several program offerings for Graduate Students, including:
Teaching seminars & workshops, aimed at helping graduate students develop in your role as TA or instructor; and to apply the research on learning to your teaching contexts (orange flyer).
2) 1:1 consultations to help you prepare to teach a course and to help you solve teaching problems you may encounter.
3) Observations (burgandy ½ sheet) and ECFs (lt blue ½ sheet) – gather feedback to help you improve your teaching.
4) And we offer a Future Faculty program (dark blue ½ sheet) to help you develop and document your teaching in preparation for a career that includes teaching.
REF three 1-pagers as you go:
3 colored handouts

8. 2. Additional teaching resources at CMU
Intercultural Communication Center (ICC)
Global Communication Center (GCC)
Academic Development
Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS)
Office of Disability Resources
Departmental Resources
Other TAs

9. Activity #2 2. Know your teaching resources at CMU
Read your assigned case and (in small groups) consider which resource you might turn to for assistance.
Case 1: more time on Canvas quizzes
Case 2: stressed out student
Case 3: trouble with writing assignments
2:20
Teaching could be in a college course, as a TA, in K-12, as a camp counselor, peer tutor,…
DEBRIEF:
Poll Q: How many of you talked to someone outside your department?
Poll Q: How many of you talked to someone with prior teaching experience?
Poll Q: How many of you are teaching this fall?
One of the best teaching resources you’ll have at CMU is each other, your fellow TAs/students.
you can learn a lot from talking to teachers inside and outside your department.

10. 3. Be prepared & develop teaching strategies
Read the list of common teaching concerns on your handout. (A-F)
What concern or issue resonates most with you about your first TA position at CMU? Circle your response.

11. Activity #3 Be prepared & develop teaching strategies
Turn to your neighbor(s).
Pick a scenario.
Brainstorm strategies.
Be prepared to share: 1 sentence.
If time, choose another scenario and repeat steps 3 & 4.

12. 4. Keep records of your teaching.
Course materials that you develop
Student s about your teaching
Teaching evaluations
Journal of your own reflections
Keeping these records will help you:
If you’re the TA or instructor for the same course in the future (which often happens)
If you think you might want to pursue an academic career…start keeping records of your teaching. Document your teaching experience if you go on the academic job market
Reflect on your own development over time
Help another incoming PhD student who isn’t familiar with a course or the teaching responsibilities for a particular course

13. Best wishes for a great first year at CMU!
Thank you!
Welcome to CMU!
Best wishes for a great first year at CMU!