Professional Development Opportunity: The Graduate Teacher Certificate

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If you've ever been a GSI at U-M or attended a CRLT seminar on teaching, you're already on your way to earning the U-M Graduate Teacher Certificate. The Certificate program was developed by CRLT and Rackham to help U-M grad students and postdocs document their professional development as college-level instructors. Participants in the certificate program find that it helps them become more confident as instructors and prepares them for an academic job search.

To earn the certificate, you will participate in five different types of activities. CRLT provides opportunities and support for each certificate requirement (see links below), but the program is very flexible and there are multiple ways to meet all of the requirements.

Five Certificate Requirements		What Participants Are Saying
Get oriented to college-level teaching and learning through a departmental or campus-wide teaching orientation [2] Learn about new teaching strategies in pedogogy courses or eligible CRLT Seminars [3] Teach as a Graduate Student Instructor for two terms, and have a consultation on teaching [4] Participate in a mentorship on teaching with a faculty member at U-M or at another college or university [5] Prepare a statement of your teaching philosophy [6] and get feedback on it from an experienced consultant		"The activities required in the program helped me understand how I want to balance teaching and research in the future."   "The program pushed me to seek out some opportunities for professional development (like the faculty mentorship) which were valuable and which I might not otherwise have pursued."   "I will be a more purposeful, reflective teacher thanks to the Graduate Teacher Certificate program."

For full program details, or to enroll, please visit the certficate website [7]. As coordinator of the certificate program, I welcome your questions at any time, whether you are just thinking about enrolling, or almost ready to get your certificate. I also coordinate the Rackham-CRLT Intercampus Mentorship Program, which can be a great way to fulfill the fourth requirement for the certificate. I'll say more about that program in my next post. 

Meg Bakewell Assistant Director, CRLT mbakewel@umich.edu