UW symposium to explore ‘Life of a Teacher’

At its very best, university teaching is a craft requiring lifelong practice and continuous learning.

“Growing” teaching excellence has become a prime agenda item for UW–Madison’s Teaching Academy. In keeping with the academy’s mission, it will join the Division of Information Technology, General Library System, Provost’s Office and Creating a Collaborative Academic Environment to present “Life of a Teacher: An Invitation to Reflect” Tuesday, May 21.

The academy puts enthusiastic teachers on all levels and in every discipline in contact with each other to share wisdom, says Gerald Campbell, professor of agricultural and applied economics, and chair of the academy’s executive committee. He says Ph.D. candidates on the brink of their professional careers should make the most of more senior faculty mentors.

“Mentoring is a rich opportunity for both the student and the professor – both people can learn by sharing experiences and questions in a supportive community, although there seems to be more mentorship in the area of research than teaching,” he says.

Consequently, the symposium will have a special section devoted to the mechanics of mentoring. Gary Sandefur, professor of sociology, will speak about faculty mentorship opportunities. He says the practice can go far to instill the value of teaching excellence in a new generation.

“Graduate students need to learn how to be successful in the workplace. An important role of faculty is to help graduate students prepare for professional academic life,” he says, adding that he was fortunate to have an especially good adviser during his days as a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University. “She has been very supportive and helpful to me throughout my career,” he says.

Earlier this semester, the Teaching Academy voted to develop a new membership category composed of “future faculty partners.” Campbell says this will represent a special effort to enlist prospective teachers into academy work. Nomination and selection procedures will be worked out during the summer, and Campbell says the academy hopes to select the first “future faculty partners” by the end of the fall semester.

However, mentoring is but one way to foster teaching excellence. The symposium will address possibilities toward that end in middle and later career development, as well as strategies for professional beginnings. A special feature will be a panel discussion with the deans of the UW–Madison College of Letters and Science (Phillip Certain), and schools of Education (Charles Read), Veterinary Medicine (Daryl Buss) and Human Ecology (Robin Douthitt) discussing their teaching experiences. The symposium will outline other effective classroom tools, including storytelling and small-group activities.

Sheer classroom experience is another valuable teacher-training tool. Tina Hunter Nerhaugen, a doctoral candidate in the UW–Madison Department of Educational Administration, is preparing for the job search now, while her degree is still several years away. Her involvement with the Graduate School’s 5-year-old Graduate Student Council is one way she is preparing.

Responding to student feedback, the Graduate School created the council with an eye toward acclimatizing graduate students across campus with academic opportunities and professional preparation.

“Graduate students tend to be extremely busy – it’s so hard to get involved with anything outside your own work,” says Nerhaugen. “But it’s important to make the effort, I think. It just could give you that edge.”

While at least a little teaching experience is almost expected in some disciplines, some junior faculty in the sciences can arrive in their professional capacities with virtually no classroom credentials at all. One of those was Seth Pollak, a UW–Madison assistant professor of psychology and a world-renowned researcher studying the effects of abuse on children. Since arriving here in 1997, he has been assigned to teach everything from 450-plus lectures to small graduate seminars.

To acquire some technique, Pollak fired up his own initiative and set out to become a master teacher. He began by asking students who the best teachers were, and proceeded to ask their advice. He took the Center for Biology Education’s Innovations in Teaching symposium, and joined a campuswide interdisciplinary “teaching circle,” where pedagogical methods both traditional and avant-garde were discussed on a regular basis. IN TIME– Instructor Network for Teaching in a Multimedia Environment — was particularly helpful in illustrating how to how to use technology. The result of his efforts won Pollak a coveted Steiger Award for Distinguished Teaching last year. He will present a session on lecture strategies at the UW–Madison “Life of a Teacher” symposium.

“I’ve come to realize how much students value clarity in lectures and how much they respond to enthusiasm,” he says. “I believe that a good story, effectively told always will catch and hold their interest.”

In addition to the symposium, the UW–Madison Teaching Academy offers a variety of activities, many open to the university and public.

The “Life of a Teacher” symposium will be followed Wednesday, May 22, with 9-11 a.m. presentations by the College of Letters and Science, School of Education and DoIT on digital teaching tools. For more information, contact Carol Schramm, 265-9111,.

For information about the symposium, contact UW–Madison sociology professor John DeLamater.