Poorvu Center: Graduate and Postdoctoral Teaching Development

Time:  Humanities & Social Sciences: – 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. (Breakfast & lunch is included) Sciences: – 2:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Dinner is included)

Join us for the Fall 2019 Teaching at Yale Day (T@YD), an event to orient first-time graduate student instructors and postdocs to the culture of teaching at Yale.  This event will present policies and guidelines for teaching, give insight into student and faculty perspectives on graduate teaching and the role of the Teaching Fellow...

Time:  Humanities & Social Sciences: – 8:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m. (Breakfast & lunch are included) Sciences: – 2:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Dinner is included)

Join us for the Fall 2019 Teaching at Yale Day (T@YD), an event to orient first-time graduate student instructors and postdocs to the culture of teaching at Yale.  This event will present policies and guidelines for teaching, give insight into student and faculty perspectives on graduate teaching and the role of the Teaching Fellow...

Please join us for a short course on mentoring in the lab.  We will explore what makes an effective mentor, based in the research and in our own experiences.  We will discuss the importance of setting clear expectations and maintaining open lines of communications between mentor and mentee.  We will trouble-shoot challenges in the mentoring relationship, both from the point of view of the mentor and the mentee. Finally, we will discuss how thinking about inclusivity in the mentoring...

Please join us for a short course on mentoring in the lab.  We will explore what makes an effective mentor, based in the research and in our own experiences.  We will discuss the importance of setting clear expectations and maintaining open lines of communications between mentor and mentee.  We will trouble-shoot challenges in the mentoring relationship, both from the point of view of the mentor and the mentee. Finally, we will discuss how thinking about inclusivity in the mentoring...

Please join us for a short course on mentoring in the lab.  We will explore what makes an effective mentor, based in the research and in our own experiences.  We will discuss the importance of setting clear expectations and maintaining open lines of communications between mentor and mentee.  We will trouble-shoot challenges in the mentoring relationship, both from the point of view of the mentor and the mentee. Finally, we will discuss how thinking about inclusivity in the mentoring...

Please join us for the 2019 Annual Spring Teaching Forum, an extended exploration of how productive failure can help students to build resilience and engage in critical thinking as they learn. The keynote speaker, Joshua Eyler, is the Executive Director of the Rice University Center for Teaching Excellence and author of How Humans Learn. To start the day, a faculty panel will discuss how providing low-stakes ways for students to take risks can be an effective tool for teaching and consider...

Are you interested in strengthening your teaching skills and getting off to a good start in the classroom? Regardless of your discipline, the Fundamentals of Teaching workshop series will introduce you to core pedagogical principles that apply across the humanities, social sciences, and hard sciences. Over the course of four meetings, you'll engage with contemporary theories of learning, become familiar with Yale's teaching resources, and take away practical tips for efficient and...

Are you interested in bringing cultural or scientific objects into your classroom? Whether it’s paintings, specimens, manuscripts or flora, Yale has an astounding range of special collections that you can use to create innovative and interdisciplinary lessons for your students. In this panel discussion, we’ll hear from educational specialists at the

• Peabody Museum of Natural History • Marsh Botanical Gardens • Yale Center for British Arts • Yale University Art Gallery • Beinecke...

How and when do we discuss religion and spiritual belief in the classroom? How do the spiritual and religious beliefs of students and instructors impact their experience of those discussions? This ATW focuses on the explicit and implicit role religion plays in the classroom, for individual students and for the classroom environment. Participants will be invited to consider the particularities of how their discipline approaches religion, and how to develop structure and permission for...

Please join us for a lively discussion of good teaching practices.  By the end of this workshop you will be equipped to observe the classroom teaching of a peer or mentor, as well as productively discuss the experience as an observer. For the Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CCTP) program you need to observe two classes and to be observed twice while teaching. This workshop will help you to understand the process. For information, contact emma.sundberg@yale.edu or...

Are you interested in becoming a McDougal Teaching Fellow? Do you have questions about the Certificate of College Teaching Preparation? Join us for an info session!  Poorvu staff and McDougal Fellows will be on hand to answer questions during this drop-in session. Light refreshments will be served.

Have you wondered how gender dynamics influence how learning takes place in your classroom? Or how to navigate gender biases in academia? Come join us for a panel discussion featuring faculty and undergraduates from across the disciplines. We will also have a conversation about practical strategies for making your classroom a welcoming environment for all your students. Please contact masha.shpolberg@yale.edu or ievgeniia.sakal@yale.edu for details. 

This workshop fills a...

Do you want to get your students to talk more in class? And to talk more thoughtfully and productively with each other? In this workshop, we will identify the components of an effective class discussion, both within our disciplines and more generally. We will also introduce strategies for encouraging these kinds of discussions in our classrooms, including classroom climate, course structure, phrasing, and student-instructor dynamics. For more information, please...

Whether in the hard sciences, the humanities, or social sciences, writing is the primary way that scholars create new knowledge and communicate their ideas. In this workshop, we will offer our participants strategies for incorporating regular writing practice into their lesson plans, making assessment an opportunity for growth, and helping students understand the standards and norms of writing within their discipline. We will also discuss the challenges inherent in communicating...

Whether in the hard sciences, the humanities, or social sciences, writing is the primary way that scholars create new knowledge and communicate their ideas. In this workshop, we will offer our participants strategies for incorporating regular writing practice into their lesson plans, making assessment an opportunity for growth, and helping students understand the standards and norms of writing within their discipline. We will also discuss the challenges inherent in communicating...

Please join us for a lively discussion of good teaching practices.  By the end of this workshop you will be equipped to observe the classroom teaching of a peer or mentor, as well as productively discuss the experience as an observer. For the Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CCTP) program you need to observe two classes and to be observed twice while teaching. This workshop will help you to understand the process. For information, contact suzanne.young@yale.edu.

Are you going to be teaching a course next year? Do you know how your role will change when you transition to being the instructor of record? In this two-part series, we will discuss some of the responsibilities and challenges of teaching a course on your own for the first time. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to think of their own course with the big picture in mind, identify the challenges of moving to a new institution, and envision their own course from the...

Whether you're teaching in the sciences, the social sciences, or the humanities, the Fundamentals of Teaching workshop series will help you learn how to apply core pedagogical principles in your classroom. Over the course of four meetings, you'll engage with contemporary theories of learning, become familiar with Yale's teaching resources, and take away practical tips for efficient and effective grading and lesson planning. For questions and information, please contact us at...

What does it mean to be an effective teacher and mentor? What sorts of strategies should be employed to serve as a mentor, especially in a hands-on laboratory environment? What skills in addition to basic lab techniques can a mentor help their student develop to cultivate interest, experience, and enthusiasm in novice scientists? If these sorts of questions interest you, then you should consider attending our workshop where we will discuss techniques and strategies to be an effective...

Lecturing sets the stage and the narrative for the class and provides you with an opportunity to share your passion for the subject. Lecturing also serves as an efficient form of summarizing, clarifying complex concepts, and delivering content. The CTL strongly supports student-centered teaching, which emphasizes active learning activities and a shift away from passive lecturing. However, lecturing is still an important tool in a teacher’s toolbox when used effectively. In this workshop we...

"How can I reconcile my introverted personality with a love of teaching?" "How can I structure my discussion section to engage with the more introverted students?" If these are questions you are interested in exploring, join us for Quiet Teaching. In this workshop, we will define the introversion-extroversion spectrum, discuss how personality type influences the way we are perceived by others, and identify the strengths of each personality type. We will draw from the literature studying...

First-generation and non-traditional students bring unique assets, needs, and expectations to our classrooms. In this workshop we will discuss this growing and diverse population of students in order to gain a better understanding of how to meet the needs of a diverse student body as well as what the benefits are of having diverse perspectives and experiences represented in our classrooms. This workshop will feature a panel of students, instructors, and administrators who will share their...

Are you sometimes left stumped at the end of the semester, trying to figure what grade your students deserve for participation? Do you want to reward deep engagement with the class, while at the same time acknowledging that students have different comfort levels with verbal engagement? Research suggests that we are often prone to implicit biases when we think about who has contributed to the conversation over the course of the semester. This workshop will explore strategies aimed at...