Winter CST Teaching Workshops

See http://www.yorku.ca/cst/ for upcoming teaching workshops through the CST!

TDGA Music Workshop Feb. 3

Please see below for a note from the music TDGAs:

Please join us for our upcoming TDGA music workshop, "Changing Assessment
Policies in Ontario’s Schools: The Impact on Post Secondary Education,"
facilitated by John Phillips.

Date: Wednesday February 3, 2010
Time: 9:00 - 11:00am
Location: ACE 373

Recently, Ontario schools have begun changing their assessment policies, leaving
post secondary educators wondering what the impact will be on their own
assessment practices and interactions with current and incoming undergraduate
students.

Attend this multi-faceted, interactive presentation to learn about…

• The changes to assessment policies in Ontario’s schools.
• The implications for undergraduates entering post secondary education at York.
• The implications for faculty and teaching assistants who interact with these
students.

Light refreshments will be served.

This workshop is open to all faculty and graduate students in the Arts.
Please RSVP to Jen Taylor at jataylor@yorku.ca by February 1st.

TA Conference 2010

SAVE THE DATE!!!!

The Centre for the Support of Teaching is happy to announce our inaugural TA Conference 2010 which will take place on February 18th, 2010. This conference is geared to more experienced TAs and will explore such topics as: 'professional development', 'conflict resolution' and 'exploring the transition from high school to university' just to name a few.

More information will follow including abstracts of the sessions and the day's schedule.

Please keep February 18th, 2010 free for the conference.
And note that these hours count toward the completion of the
University Teaching Practicum.

The York University Psychology Department Teaching and
Development Seminar Series
Presents

Handling Conflict, Anger, and Emotion in
the Classroom
Facilitated by Diane Zorn

Course Director, Humanities Department
Course Coordinator, Schulich School of Business
York University

This workshop deals with common conflict situations that teaching
assistants and faculty encounter in the classroom. Participants
will view a pair of short video vignettes and discuss the
situations portrayed. Then, using role playing and brainstorming,
participants will develop alternative actions for dealing with difficult
situations when they happen and for minimizing conflict before
it occurs.

Diane Zorn teaches critical thinking and conceptual analysis in
the Humanities Department and applied business ethics at the
Schulich School of Business at York University. She designs, implements
and teaches fully online, rich media courses using Mediasite
technology and audio and video podcasting. She was
awarded York's University Wide Teaching Award in 2007,
the United States Distance Learning Association Excellence in
Distance Learning Teaching Silver Award 2008, and York's Atkinson
Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching 2009. Please feel
free to address questions to her.

email address: zorn@yorku.ca.

TDGA Event
Please RSVP to harper@yorku.ca
WED JAN 27,
2010
BSB 163
ENDLER RM.
2-4 PM Coffee and Refreshments Served

We welcome all Graduate Students &
Faculty

The Graduate Program in Sociology Presents

Monday, January 25, 12:00 - 2:00 PM

Sociology Common Room, 2101 Vari Hall

De-Grading

Sociological and Pedagogical Critiques of Grading and

Alternative Teaching Practices at York University

Presenters:

Tasia Alexopoulos, York University

David Noble, York University

L. Anders Sandberg, York University

This workshop presents an opportunity for university educators to reflect on their grading practice. It seeks to address an uneasiness that many experience in relation to the task of grading. Perceiving grades as reinforcements of social distinctions and as measurements in the service of the labor market, several teachers believe that grades impede a "genuine education". Rather than fostering the students' critical engagement with the world, grades discipline students to "learn" in an instrumental fashion. The attempt to read the teacher's mind substitutes for the students' development of their own. In this line of reasoning, the grade has become the objective and the message of the educational pursuit.

Such concerns, however, are regularly countered by arguments that students themselves expect to be graded in a way that reflects their relative competence and effort. Apparently, most students begin university careers in view of "real life money". In a competitive labor market, good grades - rather than no grades - arguably enhance one's prospects. Furthermore, from a teaching perspective, several experiences have led some educators to conclude that there is no better way to motivate and discipline a classroom than by resorting to grades as incentives. Last but not least: since academic life is so profoundly regulated by standardized measuring, it seems inevitable that those practicing alternative models without grades will be punished - including the possibility of being fired. Under such conditions, how can or - should we even envision alternatives?

The workshop panel showcases how sociological and pedagogical critiques of the grading regime have led educators to practice and institute alternative models at York University. Three speakers will share accounts of their experiences and discuss the institutional challenges and prospects that these alternatives entail.

Tasia Alexopoulos is a PhD student in the School of Women's Studies and was a Teaching Assistant at the Division of Social Science at York University. She was dismissed from her position as a Teaching Assistant because of her grading practice. She currently fights her removal in a union grievance.

David Noble is a Historian and a Professor in the Division of Social Science and in the graduate program in Social and Political Thought at York University. His refusal to grade his classes has led him to teach officially authorized “ungraded” courses at York University.

L. Anders Sandberg is Associate Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) at York University. He will speak on the pass/unsatisfactory policy in the graduate program at FES.

Organized by Markus Kip, Teaching Development Graduate Assistant in the Department of Sociology. For inquiries: kip@yorku.ca

All Interested Faculty and Graduate Students Are Welcome!

Teaching Tips

Happy new year all! To start the new semester, I have asked faculty members to share some teaching tips. Please see below for the first response. I will be posting these as I receive them so stay tuned!

Tip number one: VARY YOUR CRITIQUE STRATEGIES

Critique one: Write out two questions you want students to address in
relation to the work. Break the class into groups of five. Have each
group discuss five works (not including their own) answering the
questions and adding other comments. Give them 20 minutes, then call the
class together. Each group presents their ideas on the fives works to
the whole class. Everyone in the group must present at least one of the
artworks. Then open comments to the class in general. The artist can
make a comment at the end.

Critique two: Short and fast. Let students know coffee break occurs
after all works are critiqued. In a class of 25, give five minutes per
work. Get a student to be the time-keeper (you will get an innate sense
of 5 minutes as you proceed). Ask "What's the best thing about this
work? How could it be improved?" Allow for silence as they look. Then
comments will flow in. The artist does not speak until the last minute.
Keep students moving around the room and take quick body breaks after
every few works: (stretch, big breath, neck roll, close and release
strain around the eyes).

Energizing strategy: Last person to be critiqued often doesn't get the
best from the class who are talked out. Propose each person say one
thing about the artwork, so going around the room clockwise, the artist
ends up with 25 comments.

Tip number two: ALLOW SILENCE WHILE STUDENTS FIGURE OUT THEIR RESPONSE TO EACH WORK.

You, the instructor, speak after the students have spoken.
It is *their job* to articulate and you will learn from them. Then you
summarize, no more than two points: strengths and area for improvement.