The Vital Role of Graduate Student Instructors
Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) have an extremely important role in
teaching undergraduate students at the University of Michigan. You are generally
in
charge of teaching small introductory classes, facilitating discussions in
small sections
connected to large lecture courses, running laboratory sections, and holding
office hours where one-to-one teaching occurs. Your responsibilities frequently
include grading and giving feedback on students’ written work as well.
Because of the teaching responsibilities that are given to graduate students,
you are in a good position to:
-
Provide the personal touch, the individual feedback, and
the encouragement students
need to succeed.
-
Help students develop higher-level thinking skills through
active involvement, guidance, and feedback.
-
Provide a communication channel
in large lecture courses between the instructor
and the students, in order to help integrate the course.
Small classes and one-to-one tutoring during office hours
give you the opportunity to build rapport with students and get to know them
as individuals.
You should
try to learn their strengths and weaknesses, understand how they think,
and challenge them to improve. In their early years, undergraduate
students need
encouragement
and understanding. Because you often work with students on an individual
basis, you have the opportunity to provide them with the personal help
and encouragement
that can motivate them to do their best work.
Try to get students actively involved
in your classes. You can create the climate needed for students to feel
safe enough to ask questions and participate
in
discussions. We challenge you as a GSI to learn how to facilitate good
discussions and to
ask questions that require much more than learning facts. We encourage
you to build a repertoire of good teaching techniques that will promote
active
learning,
not only through discussion but also through such techniques as group
work, simulations, role-playing, and projects. Student participation leads
to
higher-level thinking
and problem-solving skills.
This Guidebook is designed to help you during your first teaching
experiences. It contains ideas that will let you accomplish your objectives
with
greater ease. While the Guidebook is not a comprehensive teacher-training
manual,
we hope it
piques your interest so that you will continue to seek out information
to guide you along the path to becoming a good teacher.
To help you along that path, the Center for Research on Learning
and Teaching (CRLT) provides workshops for GSIs during the Fall
and Winter
terms, as
well as individual, confidential consultations on any teaching-related
topic you
would like to discuss. We
also have an extensive guide to teaching improvement available
at the CRLT website (www.crlt.umich.edu/tsstrategies/teachings.php).
Our job is to help you succeed, so please give us a call!
Constance E. Cook, Director
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
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