GTAP Awardees

Abby Kimmitt is a Ph.D. candidate in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior Program in the Biology department. Her dissertation focuses on behavioral and physiological mechanisms of population divergence in small songbirds. She taught Z460: Animal Behavior as the lead instructor and has served as the Associate Instructor for L111: Intro to Ecology and Evolution as well as L376: Biology of Birds. She has presented multiple workshops on effective lesson design and student-centered teaching.

Kimmitt really enjoyed engaging with teaching communities because she think the best way to learn is through teaching and this even applies to teaching about effective teaching. When leading workshops on teaching methods, she really had to engage with the ideas of effective teaching and utilize them in her workshop. Workshops, are also never facilitator-oriented but rather focus on discussion among all of the participants (much like a student-centered classroom). Kimmitt learned a lot about effective teaching through discussion on what has been effective in others’ classrooms or what issues other instructors have faced.

When asked what she would tell others about the Specialist Level of GTAP, Kimmitt answered: The Specialist level of GTAP enables to you apply the knowledge that you’ve gathered about effective teaching. By co-facilitating workshops, you’re able to share what you’ve learned about teaching but also engage in discussions with instructors of all levels about teaching. By observing instructors and serving as reviewer, you’re also able to apply what you’ve learned about teaching to critique others but also to learn from them. I believe the statement that to teach something is to really learn it, and this level of GTAP really helps you engage with all the information you’ve gained in the Associate and Practitioner levels.

Jennifer Cox is a PhD student in French Linguistics with a minor in Global Studies. Her research focuses on language ideologies and language policy and planning, especially as they relate to minority languages. Her dissertation focuses on the standardization and revitalization of the Picard language in northern France. She first started teaching in fall 2020 when she began her graduate program at IU, and she has since taught all four basic-level French courses offered by the Department of French and Italian. She has also created and taught a course for the Collins Living-Learning Center called Global Language Ideologies.

Jennifer believes that participating in teaching communities is essential for instructors who are in the early stages of their teaching careers, since so much is learned from engaging with peers in the field. However, it is beneficial for instructors of all levels to participate in such communities, since it is important to continually revisit and revise teaching practices. Jennifer believes that learning from fellow instructors is the best way to learn and grow as an instructor (and make friends in the field!).

When asked what she would tell others about the Specialist level of GTAP, Jennifer shared, “I would encourage other AIs to complete the Specialist level of GTAP because it gives you a reason to pursue opportunities that you may not have pursued otherwise. Presenting at AI Orientation and facilitating workshops for the university and your department are great CV-builders, and I know that I would never have signed up to participate in those activities if I didn’t have a broader goal in mind. GTAP provides the motivation to develop your pedagogical skills, and the Specialist level is particularly useful for improving your teaching and presenting capabilities.”

Megan Diekhoff is a PhD student in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her previous teaching experience prior to joining GTAP included undergraduate peer teaching at the Global Living Learning Community at Indiana University and time spent as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at La Universidad Santo Tomas in Villavicencio, Colombia. As a graduate student at IU, Megan has taught two courses as Instructor of Record: Speech Anatomy (SLHS-S 201) and Childhood Language (SLHS-S 333) and she hopes to teach more courses in the coming semesters. One of Megan's proud teaching moments is when a student told her that they don't normally speak up in class but felt comfortable participating because of the welcoming environment.

When asked what she would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Megan responded, “Knowledge produced through research is valuable. As future faculty members, we will have an obligation to make new discoveries with our work. However, I believe we also have a responsibility to pass on part of the collective wealth of knowledge in our respective fields to each new generation. GTAP offers us tools and support in meeting this goal.”

As an undergraduate student, Michaella insisted she would never become a teacher.  Yet when she was a master-level graduate student expected to deliver guest lectures while assisting in courses on collective behavior, criminology, and social and economic justice at the University of Missouri, she quickly realized teaching college students was rewarding and exciting. She also realized she had been closely observing her own professors’ teaching strategies since her early days as an undergraduate student. Upon joining IU to complete her PhD, she aimed to pursue pedagogical courses and events every semester in preparation for the day she was expected to begin teaching independently. In the Department of Applied Health Science, Michaella has taught courses such as Women’s Health and Stress Prevention and Management. 

Her students often come from disciplines outside of public health, but many don’t enter her classroom realizing the interdisciplinary nature of public health or how the course could relate to their primary field of study. So, it is always a proud moment for her seeing students bring concepts from their other courses into her classroom, apply course concepts to their own lives and studies, or excel when they incorporate topics for which they are particularly passionate into their assignments. Ensuring students have space to tailor their own learning has provided her with many learning opportunities, both pedagogically and in topics previously foreign to her. While there are many proud moments related to students teaching her, one of her most memorable proud moments came from a student who experienced a relapse in their eating disorder recovery due to content in an assigned reading. Thanks to the student feeling comfortable enough to share with her directly, Michaella went on to alter the assigned reading in the following semester, incorporate class discussions on the problematic original reading in class, and brought the issue to the attention of the textbook creators and the departmental committee responsible for determining the textbook used in other sections of the course. She would like to thank her students for the many things they have shared and taught that have allowed her to continue improving herself as a teacher and advocating for all students.

When asked what she would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Michaella responded, “Think about the teachers you had during your undergraduate studies. Were they effective teachers, or were they just experts in their field? Is there something you wish was different? Do you plan to model your teaching after some of your former teachers?  Doctoral students and even professors typically do not receive much in the way of formal instructional training, yet teaching requires much more than just subject knowledge to be effective. GTAP is a unique program that can ensure you do not shortchange students due to lack of training on your part, which also allows you to be part of an important area of change academia needs. There are so many opportunities to expand your teaching skills and toolbox, make sure you are meeting students where they are, and prevent you from burning out on your teaching responsibilities. You might even come to enjoy teaching more by participating in GTAP, or you might find something that inspires your own research.” 

Camila Faccini de Lima is a PhD student in Nanoengineering at the Luddy School. Although she had no prior experience teaching (and no prior intention of pursuing a teaching-related career), Camila really enjoyed her teaching assistant appointments and found herself more and more interested in teaching as her PhD progressed. Camila was frustrated by her lack of knowledge and felt under-prepared to provide her students with the learning experience they deserved, so she began investing time into learning about pedagogy and teaching styles. In 2022, Camila’s efforts were recognized with the "Luddy Outstanding Teaching Award". She was so proud of the work she put in, and of the effects this effort had in increasing her teaching skills and confidence in the classroom.

When asked what she would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Camila responded, “As PhD students, we are often thrown into AI/TA positions with little to no training. This can be detrimental to us (as we lack the tools and confidence necessary to deliver good lectures/relay contents effectively) as well as to our students, who don't get as good a learning experience as they deserve. I also believe most of us don't enjoy teaching precisely because no one taught us how to - and the GTAP courses and workshops are a great space to develop the needed skills and to engage in conversations with fellow ‘teachers-in-training’.”

Andrew White is a PhD candidate in Social Psychology at IU. In addition to serving as a teaching assistant, Andrew has taught as instructor of record for the upper-level course "Laboratory in Social Psychology". Andrew came to IU from The College of Wooster, a small liberal arts college in Ohio.

Andrew's favorite teaching moment has been guiding students through the completion of experimental research projects as a capstone assignment. Through these projects, students had the chance to explore their own research questions, collect and analyze data, and complete a written report of their findings. Research mentorship has been Andrew's favorite aspect of the academic role.

When asked what he would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Andrew responded “I think CITL events in general are a great way to engage in pedagogy and connect with the broader institution. The GTAP itself is fun as it helps you organize your professional development and keep track of it. It helps formalize your progress and guide you to specific areas where you may need further instruction, whether that be instructional technologies or new pedagogical theories.”

Jina Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy Studies. Her research focuses on educational equity and opportunities from a geospatial perspective. She has been an associate instructor for an introductory educational thought class for undergraduate students. It is an intensive writing course that promotes critical thinking and academic writing skills for learners and future educators.

Jina's favorite teaching moments include when students understand and apply theoretical concepts to their own teaching philosophy as future educators. She finds it particularly rewarding when she sees her students gradually establishing their teaching philosophy and witnessing that they will take what they learned in class with them as future educators.

When asked what she would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Jina responded “I would love to recommend the program, especially for the new Ph.D. students in my department. I wish I had taken this program before I started teaching. It provides a great foundation where I could think and plan about my teaching. The workshops have resolved a lot of practical concerns and questions I had while I was teaching. The ways in which the program is organized - from pedagogy theories to instructional technologies, diversity and equity issues, different modes of teaching and learning, and more - helped me think about my teaching from a broader perspective.”

Elizabeth aspires to be a teacher to the same degree she aspires to be a scientist and researcher. She earned her BS from the University of Indianapolis in Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy with concentrations in Social Research and Ethics. Her first undergraduate research experience in Dr. Katie Boucher's lab explored stereotype threat, sense of belonging, and mindset in college STEM courses. Her involvement in this important research further fostered and has sustained her personal goal of being an inclusive and effective educator.

As an undergraduate and master's student at the University of Indianapolis, Elizabeth led exam review sessions both in and outside of class time for seven sections of an undergraduate brain and behavior course. Some of her favorite teaching moments have been receiving positive student feedback such as when her name and lectures were mentioned in an instructor of record's end of semester reviews. After continuing at the University of Indianapolis and earning her MS, she joined Dr. Ed Hirt's lab as a PhD student in Indiana University's Social Psychology program. Now as a PhD student at IU, she looks forward to being a teaching assistant, presenting guest lectures to undergraduate Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences students, and further developing her teaching pedagogy and identity through the GTAP program.

When asked what she would tell her peer graduate students about the Graduate Teaching Associate Program, Elizabeth said “GTAP is a great opportunity to advance your teaching as a graduate student. I would encourage other graduate students at Indiana University to complete the associate level of GTAP because it facilitates the attendance of workshops on teaching pedagogy, teaching identity, and more. By completing the associate level requirements, GTAP has provoked further reflection on the way I teach and the way view my role as an educator.”

Neelamberi has served as an undergraduate teaching fellow at the University of Richmond and a graduate teaching assistant at William & Mary. Through these universities, she led lab sections of courses ranging from Introduction to Psychology to Research Methods in Personality Psychology. With each of these courses, her love of teaching psychological research methods grew as did her ability to share her research on prejudice and affective science.

One moment she is particularly proud of was when she taught the senior undergraduates how to run a moderation model on their data. Prior to the class, they were telling her about how nervous statistics made them because they just "didn't get it," so the excited looks of understanding they had when interpreting their data made her excited to pursue a career in education.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Neelamberi responded, “GTAP is a small commitment time-wise but gives a wealth of opportunities to expose oneself to new techniques and research to improve teaching. After completing any level of the GTAP, I will have a tangible certificate that I can include on my CV and in my teaching portfolio, which I am really excited about.”

Alex Tran is a second-year graduate student in Social Psychology at Indiana University Bloomington from Vietnam, advised by Dr. Amanda Diekman. He is particularly interested in social roles, stereotyping, intersectionality, and students and faculty's STEM experiences. He has been a TA for the  Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology and the Law, Laboratory In Social Psychology, Quantitative Methods in Behavioral Research, and Introduction to R courses. He looks forward to leading his own class in the future.

One teaching moment that Alex is particularly proud of is when he successfully explained what an F-test is to a student and how to conduct it on SPSS. The student was afraid of statistics but upon understanding the conceptual underpinnings of the test, they demonstrated great enthusiasm in learning more about more complicated statistical tests. It was a rather simple moment, but it meant a lot to Alex because on that day, he realized good teaching is not just the transfer of knowledge but also the encouragement of curiosity to dig deeper.

When asked what he would say when telling others about GTAP, Alex said, “I believe the Associate level is the most basic level that all teachers should complete in order to be more informed about teaching practices and find a path that best suit their teaching style. The things I learn in this level were really domain-independent and it complements well with the knowledge I picked up in my department-specific teaching class. As instructors in training, we all have a responsibility to educate ourselves on how to teach, and short workshops that are not heavy on our already-busy schedules is a good way to do so.”

George Andrei is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at IUB. George studies the role of forestry and forest use as nationalizing and citizenmaking tools in Romania. His dissertation project studies how forestry doctrinaires and specialists defined new categories for modern rural citizenship based around forest economics and citizens' interaction with wooded areas, as well as how locals reacted to such impositions on their traditional ways of life. He has served as an associate instructor in the Department of History and an instructor of record at the Russian and East European Institute. As an instructor, George aims to create environments in which students interact with history in meaningful ways. His proudest teaching moments are seeking students work with sources in their context while engaging in animated discussion. Whether it is crafting historical narratives from statistics and images or discussing the accuracy of depictions of historical events in films, George feels most successful as an instructor when students show excitement for learning and feeling comfortable displaying their interpretations or asking questions.

When asked what he would say when telling others about GTAP, he said “I would encourage them to [participate in GTAP] because I believe that it was incredibly helpful for my development as a graduate student seeking to enter post-secondary education as an instructor. I learned many lessons in pedagogy the hard way, and to the detriment of my students, as an associate instructor with minimal training. Throughout the GTAP programming I followed, I repeatedly thought to myself ‘I wish I'd known this sooner.’ Basically, GTAP not only helped me better understand pedagogical methods, it also made me a more confident instructor. Being a more confident instructor means that I became more open to student critique and feedback, which I have integrated with success, according to student evaluations, in my courses.”

Emma Boehm is a Ph.D. candidate in the Biology Department investigating how plant populations respond to rapid environmental changes. Prior to starting graduate school, Emma was involved in teaching in more informal settings such as after school programs. While at IU, she has served as an Associate Instructor for lower-level, upper-level, and non-major biology courses. Each course has taught her something different about how to become a better instructor. Emma's favorite teaching moments always involve when students figure out a difficult concept and then turn to a peer and start to explain it. She's had a lot of rewarding experiences throughout her teaching career simply by supporting student learning.

When asked what she would say when telling others about GTAP,  she said “When we're teaching, we want to do a good job for our students and make sure that they take away something from the course. Naturally, this often leads us to ask ourselves how we can become better instructors. The Associate level of GTAP provides a wonderful foundation for improving your teaching. Through the program, you have the space to learn pedagogical techniques on your own time, participate in discussions about teaching, and join a broader community that strives to implement best and current practices.

Claire Miller makes tiny ceramic objects that reflect human-centered encounters she has observed. She researches how ceramic vessels express the manner in which they want to be touched. She is especially interested in how an object can arrest her assumptions and ask her to be generous toward it. In her teaching and creative activity, her students learn and she learns through practices of repetition. The classes she has taught are technique-based courses in the studio art department in the areas of ceramics and 3D design.

In March of 2020, Claire adapted her Ceramics 1 class to a fully online, asynchronous course. Through the chaos and heartbreak of our early pandemic days she witnessed her students be brave and vulnerable. They affirmed the importance of establishing relationship-rich education. She is proud of how that group of students cared for each other.

When asked what she would say about completing the Associate level of GTAP, Claire responded, "In my experience the narrow focus of my research as a graduate student has been isolating at times. My participation in GTAP, especially in my first year of graduate school, helped alleviate these feelings. The people I have met through the CITL have helped me understand the importance of having a multifaceted support system as an AI and where to find help and how to ask for it. These people, both AIs and the staff at the CITL, are from many disciplines and their perspectives and experiences have been informative on my own teaching."

Joanna Chromik had the opportunity to teach a variety of courses in the English Department at Indiana University. Included among these is the required first-year writing course entitled W131 Reading, Writing, and Inquiry. She has taught both traditional and multilingual sections of W131, in addition to the following courses: J101: Introduction to College Composition, P155: Public Oral Communication, W231: Professional Writing, and the "Intensive Writing" (IW) ENG-R224: Feminist Rhetoric and Public Issues. As evidenced by this list, Joanna primarily teaches rhetoric and composition courses, and she enjoys working alongside both first-year and advanced undergraduate students!

This summer Joanna taught an abbreviated online version of the ENG-R224 Feminist Rhetoric and Public Issues course. It was a challenging semester that began immediately after students wrapped up spring courses in May. This class included a mixture of students who self-selected into the course and those who chose the class based on its ability to fulfill the IW requirement. She was particularly proud of the way that students engaged in discussion. Everyone was open to hearing new viewpoints and respectful of those moments in which individuals shared personal examples that related to questions of political advocacy. Despite another "zoom semester," right on the heels of the 2020-2021 academic year, students committed to engaged deliberation practices the classroom!

When asked what she would say about the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Joanna said, "I enjoy being a part of a diverse learning community. I know a lot of folks who teach the same courses as myself (public speaking, first year writing, etc.) so it's nice to hear about approaches from different departments and disciplines across the university."

Carrie Lierz went to a very small primarily undergraduate state college in Nebraska, Peru State College. She obtained a B.S. in Biochemistry and a minor in Biology. Her undergrad did not have AIs or TAs but she got the unique opportunity to assist with the General Chemistry lab her senior year, basically assisting with lab set up and answering questions while students worked through the labs. She is currently a graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and has had the opportunity to be an AI for about 12 semesters at IU for a variety of Biochemistry and Chemistry courses at IU.

Carrie doesn't know if she has a specific favorite teaching moment but she loves the process of working with her students during discussion over the course of semester. The students come in and start one of their first upper level major courses which can be daunting. But through the course of the semester as they review concepts and do active learning with practice problems it is so exciting to see them not only gaining knowledge but also gaining critical thinking skills and confidence in themselves.

When asked what she would say to colleagues about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Carried responded, "I would encourage them to complete the Associate level of GTAP for a couple of reasons. Regardless of our experience level with teaching there are always things we can learn and ways we can improve. The seminars you attend for the Associate level cover a wide variety of topics and techniques. These seminars also discuss different perspectives that our students and faculty are experiencing, which may be very different than your own perspective or past experiences. The more we become aware of and understand another's perspective and experiences, the better we can communicate with our students the more effective we can be as ins

Gloria Lopez is a Ph.D. candidate in US History with minors in Historical Teaching + Practice and American Studies. Her dissertation project, “Ethnic Heritage in Los Angeles: From Exclusion to Claims of Belonging,” examines the proliferation of ethnic-heritage (also referred to as, culturally specific) museums in Los Angeles since the 1970s. She has crafted a dissertation project that seeks not only to examine the evolution of ethnic heritage in the city but places the rise of this public history into a comparative framework that explores the diversity of the Latina/a/x and Asian American experiences. Gloria came to IU from Los Angeles, California, after completing her B.A. in History with a minor in Political Science at Cal State Dominguez Hills and a M.A. in History at Cal State Fullerton. While at IU, she’s worked as an assistant editor for the Indiana Magazine of History and taught on one prior occasion.

When asked what she would say about the Associate level of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, she said, "The center’s workshops allow you to ask questions and join an ongoing conversation on issues such as: inclusion and diversity, student engagement, and how to use backward course-design to prepare in-class activities that effectively reinforce the learning outcomes. Through the course of completing the GTAP requirements you will find yourself interacting with an organically growing cohort that shares similar values and interests. With access to a community of peers with varying degrees of teaching experience you’ll be able to accumulate a set of activities and strategies to use in your own teaching along with common pitfalls to look out for."

Basia Walenkiewicz started teaching during her undergraduate education while completing a degree in chemistry and biochemistry, where she got to experience being a teaching assistant for organic and analytical chemistry. Currently, Basia is a second-year graduate student in the chemistry department. She has taught a number of courses at IU, including principles of chemistry and biochemistry laboratory (C127), biological chemistry discussion (C384), and advanced biochemistry laboratory (B488).

A teaching moment that Basia is particularly fond of is when she was meeting with her students to discuss their lab reports. C127 is often one of the first science classes students take and writing a scientific piece poses a unique challenge to many students. Recognizing this, Basia offered extra meetings to her students to discuss the material for the report as well as the process of writing itself. Several students took the opportunity to learn more on how to write a lab report and they worked with Basia and each other. She was very happy and proud of those students for not only taking time to work through a challenging task but even more so for helping one another and engaging in active learning.

When asked what she would say about the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program, Basia said: I would encourage anyone interested in teaching to participate in GTAP. Teaching is an ever-evolving process in which students and teachers not only exchange knowledge but also build a community and grow. GTAP provides instructors with the tools necessary to create a safe space for students to grow in and an engaging environment that encourages active learning. I think that the program is very useful in recognizing possible problems even before they happen and improving the instructor-student communication to benefit everyone involved.

Patricia McDonough is a PhD candidate in Linguistics, focusing on endangered language documentation and minoring in India Studies. She has taught a variety of undergraduate linguistics courses at IU since 2017 and is currently serving as instructor of record for Ling-L103, Introduction to the Study of Language. Prior to teaching at IU, McDonough co-taught a Creative Expressions course as a volunteer at the Indiana Women’s Prison. This summer, she has the opportunity to work with a new student demographic while teaching at WonderCamp, WonderLab’s STEM-based camps for elementary students here in Bloomington.

McDonough's most rewarding teaching moments have come from seeing students take a genuine interest in their learning. She love teaching linguistics classes because we’re constantly surrounded by language but often don’t think critically about it. She was so impressed by how my students this semester surveyed their friends and family members with a map activity on dialect perceptions in their native languages. She was also thrilled to have the opportunity to design and teach a Linguistics and the Legal System course through the College of Arts and Sciences for the winter term: Being able to read insightful reflections from students on a number of serious issues we were discussing about language and the law was extremely rewarding!

When asked about what she would say about the GTAP program, McDonough writes: The GTAP program has been a great opportunity for me to spend time reflecting on my teaching philosophy and practices, while hearing from graduate students and instructors in other departments I don’t normally get to interact with. I’ve felt more comfortable trying new pedagogical approaches in the classroom, and I think my students have benefited from this as well. I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve found myself discussing pedagogy (and enjoying it!) with other friends and colleagues who teach. I’ve benefited from this program as a learner, too – I now think more about how I can be a more active participant and better engage with new material in workshops, conferences, and my own online classes. I recommend GTAP to any graduate student who is passionate about teaching and interested in taking concrete steps to reflect on and improve their teaching strategies.

Hayley Trickey has a varied teaching resume from teaching undergraduate classes in Gender Studies and Political Science and Research Workshops at Arizona State University. Currently, Trickey is an A.I in the Department for Gender Studies at I.U in G225 Gender, Sexuality, and Pop Culture where she is a first-year Ph.D. student with a research interest in the Politics of Grief. Trickey has always had an interest in teaching, however teaching incarcerated students within Arizona's prison complexes has such a profound and inspirational effect on her pedagogy that she hopes to continue teaching within the carceral system throughout her time at I.U and her future career.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Trickey said: I think it makes you understand different perspectives, expectations, and experiences of the academy. It is easy to become entrenched in a specific way of doing things because they have been successful to you personally, and it is easy to forget that often we are out of touch with Freshmen and how they perceive the world and ways of learning. This program allows a conversation that encouraged growth and self-reflection pedagogically that may not be available within your own department. Being an effective educator in the long term is going to make a career within the academy and prospects on the job market more positive.

Jennifer Cox completed her B.A. in Modern Language and Culture at Kennesaw State University, where I worked as an English as a Second Language tutor. Her work in ESL helped her to discover her love for teaching and researching language, which led her to pursue an M.A. in French Linguistics at IU. Cox began teaching beginner’s French courses during the first semester of her M.A. as an Associate Instructor, and have since taught sections of FRIT-F 150 and 200.

While teaching language skills is an essential part of foreign language courses, teaching cultural awareness is an equally important element. Jennifer Cox's proudest teaching moments are when students use skills and concepts they have acquired in class to discover new things in cultural materials like music and YouTube videos, or even by making new friends online using their language skills. It makes her proud to see them become more confident speaking French and taking advantage of the benefits of learning a second language.

When asked what she would tell her peer graduate students about the Graduate Teaching Associate Program, Cox said: I would recommend GTAP to any graduate student, especially those who work as instructors but tend to spend more time improving their research work than their teaching skills. The Associate level of GTAP requires you to attend presentations that cover specific pedagogical techniques to add to your teaching toolkit, many of which you would likely not consider otherwise. Joining the program gives you an organized way to improve yourself as an instructor and receive recognition for your work.

Mallory Kern completed her B.S. in chemistry from Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA) in 2016 and joined the graduate program in chemistry at IU in fall 2016. She is currently completing her doctoral degree (organic chemistry) under the supervision of Dr. Nicola L.B. Pohl, and anticipate completing her PhD in May/June 2021. During her time at IU she has had the opportunity to teach C341 (organic chemistry 1) for three semesters and C343 (organic chemistry lab) for one semester. She has also been an academic tutor for C341 and C342 (organic chemistry 2) since 2019.

During the summer of 2018, Kern had the opportunity to work with a REU (research experience for undergraduates) student from Puerto Rico, who had almost no synthetic chemistry background or skills. For the first few weeks, Kern worked alongside her and gave her step by step instructions for every task. Eventually, Kern only had to remind her of a few steps here and there, and she still asked her a decent amount of questions. Finally, by the end of the summer, the student was able to set up a reaction by herself, check the reaction progress by TLC analysis, quench the reaction, purify the crude mixture, and analyze the product by NMR spectroscopy all on her own. All Kern had to do at that point was confirm she had the product she synthesized, and she did have that product (in a fantastic yield).

When asked what she would tell her peer graduate students about the Graduate Teaching Associate Program, Kern said: CITL offers so many wonderful resources for graduate students who want to be professors, and participating in GTAP allows you to access those resources for a "grade." Also, if you want to be a lecturing professor, you should 100% get involved in GTAP. It gives you proper training and tools to become a great professor.

Yichuan Yan has taught English and Hospitality in high schools in Taiwan from 2000 to 2006 and, he became a Secondary Chinese teacher in Indiana from 2009 to 2018. In between, Yan also taught Chinese in universities in the U.S. Since 2018, he has been one of the associate instructors teaching courses in the Computer Educator’s Licensing program in the School of Education at IU. Despite his exceptional amount of teaching experience, Yan still found the GTAP program helpful for his teaching. It helped him to consider various teaching and learning issues, for instance, diversity, equity, inclusion issues, and how they inform him of the best teaching practices to cope with the issues in university settings. Plus, it provided a wide variety of strategies that he could apply in my daily teaching such as grading strategies and technology tools.

Teaching is Yan’s passion, and he is proud of still doing it after approximately 15+ years. These teaching experiences don’t always make him a great teacher, but he never gave up trying. That was one of the reasons he attended CITL events. Yan cares about student learning, and, in the past two years, there were IU students writing him letters to express their gratitude for having him as their instructor. Yan knows that learning did happen in his class and he didn’t let his students down. This has given him the reason to be proud of himself.

When asked what he would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Yan said: I would encourage them to complete GTAP programs in the following manner. For the short-term, they earn badges and they can add to their personal profile and resume. For mid-term, GTAP can prepare them to be a future faculty member in college. They can see how people tackle different issues in teaching and learning. It could be very practical and useful. For the long-term, it is a part of their life-long learning. The strategies they learn from GTAP may be applied to their future career even if they are not planning to be a faculty member. Most of the graduate students would become a supervisor of some sort in an organization in the future. They would need some training skills that GTAP may be able to provide as well.

Kevin Naaman’s the fall semester of 2020 is the beginning of his second year as an Associate Instructor at IU. Naaman is pursuing a degree in Inquiry Methodology, certificate in Biostatistics, and minor in Epidemiology. As an aspiring scientist, Naaman recognizes the importance of developing his oral and written communication skills. One of his most memorable moments was when a line of students formed on the last day of class to thank me for instructing them. It was inspiring to receive so many handshakes and words of gratitude. 

When asked what he would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Naaman answered: The GTAP program provides any interested educator the opportunity to learn about current best practices and also creates an opportunity for the participants to take a step back and reflect on their own teaching. Taking a step back to reflect is important, because graduate school passes by quickly.

Patti is a doctoral student in mathematics education. She originally graduated from IU with a degree in business and computer information systems, working as a programmer and a consultant for a number of years before completing her master’s as part of IU’s Transition to Teaching program. With 4 years of teaching preschool, 1 year of teaching elementary school, and 7 years of teaching middle school math and science, she is finding working with college students an interesting challenge. As a National Board Certified Teacher, she is excited to see that IU takes teaching and learning seriously and that the GTAP exists to help graduate students become better instructors both now and in the future if they go on to be professors.

At IU, Patti has interned in E343 (Math in the Elementary School –a teaching methods course), N101 (Teaching and Learning Elementary Math) and N103 (Teaching and Learning Elementary Math II), which was taught asynchronously online for the first time during her internship. In the 2020-2021academic year she is teaching N101, S303 (Classroom Management), M403 (High School Mathematics Field Experience), and M303 (Junior High Mathematics Field Experience).

Patti’s proudest teaching moments usually involve following her students’ lead to meet course goals, such as using interpretive dance to demonstrate and assess knowledge of the rock cycle, building “tin” people to practice finding surface area of composite shapes, and using digital jigsaws to accommodate students who could not come to class but still needed to feel a part of the community while continuing to learn. The best teaching and learning ideas often come from students.

When asked what she would say about GTAP to other graduate students, Walsh said: The biggest benefit of GTAP, other than all the great webinars on so many valuable teaching topics, is putting faces to the names at CITL. Before I started attending sessions, I would not have considered contacting anyone at CITL for guidance. Now I feel as though I would be comfortable reaching out with questions or requests for resources because I know who the folks are who will help me.

Fortin started her MA in August of 2015 and she is now a 4th year PhD student in Hispanic Literatures and Culture. She has taught every semester since studying at IU, almost all of those within the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Half of the courses taught were grammar based, mostly at the intermediate level, and more recently have expanded into the 300 level introductory courses to Hispanic Culture and Literature. As someone who always wanted to be a teacher, the experience so far at IU has been very formative, with input from a variety of sources constantly molding me and helping me improve as an instructor.

One teaching moment Fortin is very proud of took place in an Introduction to Hispanic Cultures class where students were given no information about Las pinturas de castas (paintings of castes) and were asked to find similarities between all 16 of the images they were given, to put them into categories, and who the intended audience was. They had previously read some colonial Latin American texts comparing European and indigenous perspectives of the time period and she was so thrilled that the students were able to draw from these difficult readings to complete the activity with little input from myself. The engagement with the activity and variety of responses encouraged me to put more faith in what students already know and ask them to reapply it in a different way.

When asked about what she would say about GTAP, Fortin wrote:

I would encourage other graduate students to participate in this program because teaching every semester can put one into a routine and these workshops not only provide new materials and methods, as well as areas within which to interact with other instructors, but made me more conscious of how I approached my classes and lesson planning. It has been a very beneficial experience that provided me access to tools that I didn't even know were out there.

Before coming to IU to pursue their PhD, Smith taught English and Science to high school students living in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic. This was one experience that solidified their love for teaching. At IU, Allie has taught the same course, L113, for the past four semesters and they have grown as an AI every semester. One semester, Smith had a student who was really struggling with the material and came to office hours and would ask them questions every time they had one and by the end of the semester they had one of the highest grades in the class. Also by the end of that semester, the student was able to explain various topics to other students who were struggling. Though it always surprises Smith when the students comment on how they take an interest in their lives and successes as something they are not used to because this is something that is very important to them!

When asked what they would say when telling others about GTAP, Smith writes: I absolutely will and I have already recommended this program to others in my department. This is a program that is not highly advertised within Biology, but I think it is the most helpful to become an effective AI and future instructor.

Raj started the Ph.D. program in August 2017. He was an IT project manager, worked in the enterprise data analytics team at Humana, Louisville before joining Ph.D. at IU. He has around 12+ years of professional work experience in various roles including developer, business analyst, team leader, and project manager. He is interested in collaborative cognitive load theory, and Learning presence in online environments. His future plan is to be a full-time professor at a research-oriented University and to contribute in the areas of online teaching and learning, collaborative cognitive load theory.

One of my favorite teaching moments happened during the train-the-trainer program in my IT days, where I took a training on Siebel server configuration for the newly implemented CRM system. When I was talking about technical details to trainers and it seemed like they had no clue what I am talking about. I could sense the tension in the room as they were struggling to relate the technical details such as server configuration and commands required for server management. I went back home that evening and started looking out for ways to make the complex technical topic easy to understand. The next day I started the training by telling them a story through a hypothetical example of how someone who struggled with similar content and how they were able to succeed. This made a huge impact in the training. I could see everyone started to pay attention and started to share pointers and similar experiences. I also started to make the content easy to understand by using a lot of metaphors and examples to help participants make connections. I understood the explanation problem- when we know the content it is difficult to imagine how it is to not know the content. I started my Ph.D. with this goal to make complex technical topics easy to understand.

When asked about what he would share about participating in GTAP, Sankaranarayanan writes: I regularly share the CITL event details and the events program website to my friends in my department. I feel this program is more like mentoring or preparing us for our future career by sharing effective and proven strategies that can be used in our future classroom. I always tell them this is a great opportunity to showcase/ show evidence to teaching competency for their dossier. I have encouraged my friends to signup for the program.

Anne is a PhD student in paleontology studying the evolution of mammalian locomotion. She first started teaching when she joined Indiana University as a masters student in 2017. Anne worked as an Associate Instructor for two semesters, running lab sections for E114: Dinosaurs and their Relatives. After a break working as a research assistant, she will be returning to work as an Associate Instructor Fall 2020 for C105: Weather and You. In the spring she will be running her own course, a Collins seminar, L130 Paleo art Imagining Lost Worlds.

One of Anne's proudest teaching moments was one on one time spent with a student. The student came to turn in a lab with the two large math problems left completely blank. The student did not feel confident in mathematics and had decided to take the point loss rather than attempt the problems. Anne sat with the student for 20 minutes after lab to help them work through one of the problems. She was proud of the student for taking the time to work through the problem even though they found math so difficult.

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the Associate Level of GTAP, Kort answered: I would recommend other graduate students participate in the GTAP for two reasons. First, even a small amount of knowledge about pedagogy, like Bloom's taxonomy, can vastly help you approach your teaching in a more student friendly manner. Second, if you want to become a professor, like I do, teaching is a large part of the job. You should both be good at it and be able to enjoy it. By learning about pedagogy through this program, you find new ways to approach teaching so that it is better for you and your students.

Rachel Kasthurirathne's interest in college teaching began nearly a decade ago, when she served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Human Hearing and Communication in the IU Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences. This early experience introduced Rachel to the immense rewards and challenges of teaching and was one of the main factors that led to her pursuit of an academic career. During her combined MA-PhD program in IU Speech & Hearing Sciences Rachel has continued to assist several courses and has also served as an instructor for Child Language Development and Speech and Language Sciences Overview.

Rachel's favorite teaching moments involve helping students understand and refine the soft skills needed to be successful communicators and team members in the classroom and the larger community. She feels gratified when she observes students acknowledging the diverse perspectives of their peers and contributing to an environment where others feel comfortable and motivated to add to the course dialogue.

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the Associate level of GTAP, Kasthurirathne answered: The GTAP community gives you a dedicated place to share achievements and setbacks that you are experiencing in the classroom, helps you be more reflective of your own teaching, and gives you hands-on practice and feedback with implementing innovative teaching methods into your courses.

Lekeah Durden began teaching during the 3rd year of her doctoral program, during which she has had 2 semesters of teaching biology to non-science majors. During this time, Durden had an undergraduate teaching assistant (UTA) and designed her own quizzes. She also had grading requirements and led the review for the lecture exams. Durden’s only experiences had been a brief 2-day training of general info about teaching that occurred during orientation week the 1st year of my program. And so, she reached out to CITL to evaluate my class styling within my first few weeks to get some tips to improve.

Durden’s favorite teaching moment to date was during a pedagogy course that she created her own micro-teaching exercise. Durden was able to develop the materials, pick the subject matter and lead a classroom of undergrad volunteers using pre- and post-assessments. She particularly liked having full control and answering questions with interested students. She said that the evaluations were helpful and it was encouraging to hear comments about how she connected the material to real-world issues. One student even wanted to go home and share with their family!

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the Associate Level of GTAP, Durden answered: Many of my peers who are interested in teaching have decided to pursue the GTAP certification. I think it is valuable because content knowledge doesn't always make you an effective teacher, so learning strategies and receiving help to better communicate knowledge benefits both the instructor and the student. I think increasing science-literacy and making it more transparent to society is becoming increasingly needed for our political climate.

Bria Davis is a Learning & Developmental Sciences PhD Candidate, with a minor in Special Education at Indiana University. As a McNair Graduate Fellow, she has been a research assistant for the Center for Research on Learning and Technology, and she currently serves as an Associate Instructor for the Counseling and Educational Psychology department. She has experience with teaching preservice teachers through the “Educational Psychology for Elementary Teachers” and the complementary field experience courses. These courses focus on building a foundation of learning theories and applying these theoretical practices to real elementary school contexts. Bria is committed to increasing awareness about educational accessibility, and she is currently working to incorporate additional aspects of Universal Design for Learning within the courses that she teaches. Furthermore, Bria has advised, mentored, and led academic and professional development workshops for a diverse group of high school and undergraduate students through various programs such as the Balfour Scholars Program, the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program, and the Neal Marshall Leadership Academy.

Bria collaborated with the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) Center to help inform future universal designs of accessible learning environments. Bria subsequently shared resources and integrated assistive technologies within her course content so that all of her students, including those with and without learning challenges and unidentified disabilities, could have a more engaging and positive learning experience. One teaching moment that Bria is particularly proud of is when, after demonstrating how to use assistive technology to improve language processing, a student came to her expressing how life changing the assistive technology was for her own learning and academic success. This student was extremely appreciative because there had not been an instructor that provided this type of resource that essentially helped to break down barriers to learning academic content. Because of this experience, this same student started to look for barriers to learning within her elementary school field experience site. Later, she told Bria how she advocated to increase educational accessibility for a child that had noticeable language processing challenges. Bria was extremely proud and grateful to have been a source of inspiration for her student to become an advocate on behalf of others.

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the Associate level of GTAP, Davis answered: The Associate level of GTAP truly is a way to gain a more solid foundation and understanding of effective pedagogical practices. No matter what interests you have or department you are in, the GTAP community is really supportive and open to answering any questions that you may have about your current strategies that you implement or techniques that you wish to learn more about. My experience thus far with GTAP has been rewarding, and I have developed a greater sense of self efficacy in regards to increasing and sustaining student engagement.

Morgane Flahault is a doctoral candidate in both the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of American Studies. She started her career teaching English as a Second Language in middle school and high school in France after receiving pedagogical training on how to teach foreign languages. After moving to Bloomington to enroll in a combined PhD in Comparative Literature and American Studies, Morgane has taught a wide array of classes, from an Introduction to Pop Culture, to Literatures of the Asian Diaspora, to Comparative Arts in the Garden, and Introduction to Asian American Studies. All of her classes teach students to analyze cultural productions through the lens of gender and racial identities. 

One teaching moment that will always stay with her actually happened outside of the classroom. Morgane had been teaching a class on same-sex romance in film and literature, and a few of the students enrolled in the class seemed reluctant to discuss the topic; one of them in particular seemed somewhat antagonistic about it. However, Morgane shared additional resources to encourage her students to learn more about the topic outside of the class. Towards the end of the semester, she caught sight of this same student at the Kinsey institute reading a book about male homosexuality. Morgane was happy to see that she had encouraged him to take his learning experience outside of the classroom.

Morgane hadn't initially planned on completing the GTAP. She just showed up to the CITL workshops that looked like they would be useful for her to better herself as an instructor, and to complement the pedagogical techniques she had learned through her own experience, observing other instructors and reading resources online. At one of these workshops, Morgane learned about the GTAP and thought it would be great to have some kind of certificate to add to her teaching portfolio since she is applying for teaching positions. Morgane states that she has a lot of teaching experience already, but it seems like this kind of official recognition is a plus going on the job market.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Morgane states: Most of the workshops were extremely useful and I managed to implement some of the things I learned right away in my teaching practice. They are also great for self-assessment. Each workshop allows you to pause and think critically about existing teaching practices, and to think about the ways they can be improved.  The Graduate Student Learning Community was a great way to delve deeper into an aspect of pedagogy that you really care about. In my case, participating in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion community provided me with a supportive community to learn about and discuss issues that are crucial to our teaching practices and lives in general, and I really enjoyed meeting with my community all through the semester; I think it helped all of us grow as instructors.

Denisa Jashari is a doctoral candidate in History at Indiana University. Previously, she received a B.S. in Biochemistry and Hispanic Studies from Trinity College, and her M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and History from Indiana University in 2014. Her dissertation project unites urban and social history with methods from critical geography, visual culture, and Geographic Information System mapping to illuminate the contested politics of the urban poor during the second half of the twentieth century in Chile. Denisa’s research has been supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, the Doris G. Quinn Foundation, the American Historical Association Albert J. Beveridge Research Grant, the Tinker Foundation, and various Indiana University awards.

 Denisa views teaching as an integral part of her scholarship. As an instructor, Denisa exposes students to the notion that history is a constant process of meaning-making, where multiple, competing interpretations exist. The assignments she creates resemble real-life situations and reveal how historical skills are transferrable across disciplines. Her classes combine textual analysis of primary sources with digital tools such as word clouds, concept mapping, and google mapping to aid students in expanding their geographical knowledge and spatial thinking. Her broad, interdisciplinary training (graduate minor in Latin American Studies and a History Dept. doctoral minor in Middle Eastern history) equips her to teach survey and advanced thematic courses in Latin American history, history of the Americas, and World history. She taught “World History in the Twentieth Century” for the History Department’s Intensive Summer 2016 Session. She taught, “Between Two Giants: Latin America during the Cold War” as part of IU’s Lifelong Learning Center. During academic year 2019-2020, Denisa will be the Future Faculty Teaching Fellow at Butler University.

When asked that she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Denisa Jashari answered: The Associate level of GTAP gives a comprehensive introduction to teaching theories and pedagogical practices that you can immediately consider and implement. For instance, the DEAL model for service-based learning can easily be adapted in a variety of classes and increase student learning by challenging them to reflect upon different class activities and articulate the ways in which those activities have informed how they think about a particular topic. It makes for active learning that challenges students to practice higher-level thinking skills. After the completion of the Associate level requirements, you also become much more knowledgeable about university resources that can help you throughout your teaching career and in preparation for the job market, or in preparation for the next GTAP level!

Megan Connor began teaching while pursuing her master's degree in media studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Connor taught the same course -- JAMS 101: Introduction to Media -- for four semesters, which was a great opportunity to experiment with pedagogy, makes changes, and see what worked best from class to class. At IU, she had the opportunity to be the associate instructor for a range of different courses across the Media School, everything from Communication Law to Introduction to Production & Design. Connor has also been the instructor of record for the Media School course, Advertising & Consumer Culture, where she was able to tailor the syllabus to my expertise, teaching students about topics like gendered and ethical modes of consumption, as well as teaching a course of her own design at the Collins Living-Learning Center on teen media.

One of Connor's best teaching moments was getting to see all the insightful and creative work her students produced while she was teaching at Collins. For one unit, each student hand-crafted a mini-zine on themes in the teen media we had screened: everything from transgender characters, to teen pregnancy, to a Mean Girls-style burn book. For another unit, students live-tweeted during a TV show viewing and amazed her with their sharp and quick analysis in the form of jokes, GIFs, memes, and even a few tweets that went viral!

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the GTAP Associate Level, Connor answered: I would encourage peers in my department to start working on GTAP early in their program! The workshops I attended to complete the Associate Level were a great resource that focused on very specific aspects of pedagogy and gave me concrete ways I could improve my teaching that I was excited to go and try out with my students immediately. Additionally, it was a wonderful opportunity to talk to graduate students and instructors teaching in other departments and to learn and collaborate on pedagogy techniques outside of my own personal experience.

Teaching about Tibet provides many opportunities for students to connect not only with a different culture, but with the rest of the world. Tibet witnessed the the first Kings of Tibet, the rise of Buddhism from India in the 7th century, the arrival of Jesuit Missionaries from Italy in the 16th century, and today there are Tibetan monasteries throughout the world including in Bloomington, Indiana. Students want to know how Tibet fits within their worldview, and Sara Conrad’s courses help them grapple with these questions.

Conrad find students do the readings if points are attached to them, so she gives weekly multiple choice Reading Quizzes online. Students like the online component as they feel as though they can use their notes and the readings to find the answer. This is precisely the intention of the online quizzes, not to have the students memorize data points, but to read material, find answers to fundamental questions, and to think critically. For example, one such question asked students to link what was happening in 19th century Tibet with the rest of the world. Questions such as these involve the readings Conrad assigns, knowledge of the world, and critical thinking. All of her pedagogical strategies are dedicated to facilitate learning with cross-disciplinary materials, multiple ways to engage with the course material, and final projects that will remain with the student long after he or she leaves Conrad’s classroom.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Conrad answered: CITL is a valuable resource if you are looking to expand your teaching skills. So many times we get stuck in our ways or teach the way we want to learn, but that doesn’t always work for our students. The pedagogy workshops I attended gave me new skills and reignited my passion for teaching.

Kimberly Skinner taught online courses prior to moving to IU to pursue a PhD in speech in hearing sciences. She has taught three course in the audiology doctorate program at Indiana University: advanced hearing aids, introduction to audiologic assessment, and business practices. She was an audiologist in private practice for a number of years before beginning her studies at Indiana University. 

Skinner’s favorite teaching moments are when a student very clearly understands a difficult concept that they were struggling to understand. She loves how they put the effort into understanding, and finds it awesome to be part of that process.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Skinner answered: I would point out that just because we have expertise in particular subject matter does not automatically mean that we have expertise in how to teach that subject matter.  I would share what I learned in the various workshops and course observations and encourage them to check it out! (I have already done this more than once.)

Kristy Anderson began her teaching career at the McCall Outdoor Science School during her master’s coursework at the University of Idaho. During that time, Anderson taught across grade levels (elementary to college) and served diverse student populations (students from low-income communities, students with disabilities, Native American students, and many more student populations). Field ecology instruction was deeply fulfilling but Anderson also truly loved seeing students develop a relationship with the natural world around them. During that time, she also taught an introductory Environmental Science class at the University of Idaho, where she was one of three Teaching Assistants charged with all day-to-day instruction. At IU-Bloomington, Anderson has guest-lectured in several courses and she will be co-teaching her first class—R314 Data-Based Decision Making—in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies during Spring 2019.

One teaching moment Anderson has treasured occurred during a two-week long, summer field intensive ENVS 102 Field Activities in Environmental Science as part of a vocational training program for students with cognitive disabilities. While this specific group of students required more accommodations and were deterred by traditional methods of instruction like lecture and writing-intensive assignments, Anderson developed activities to spur their interest and still achieve course objectives. One such experience was the day focused on biodiversity. As an instructional hook—a tool she had learned worked well with this group—she asked students to collect 15-20 small stones along the trail during a hike into the field. Over the course of several hours (while other lessons were being delivered), students selected stones, often loudly exclaiming their special attributes, and continued to express curiosity about the “rock project.” At the end of the day, Anderson revealed that the stones would simulate individuals of different species; and students worked in groups to analyze their collective stones and group them by their own defined characteristics, (e.g, color, shape, size). Finally, Anderson led students in using stone counts by attribute to 1) calculate and compare biodiversity richness and relative abundance and 2) to engage in a critical discussion about how best to determine biodiversity as well as risk factors for species extinction. Thus, what would have been an abstract concept became tangible for these students with cognitive disabilities, and throughout the remainder of the course, students often correctly discussed and made connections from biodiversity to other topics.

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Anderson answered: I would remind my peers that while we all value teaching and learning, the teaching training required of PhD students is typically fairly minimal. Consequently, the Associate level of GTAP helped me meet attainable goals through its many learning activities. It also helped me identify gaps in my knowledge that I did not even know existed!

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Eyink answered: Although the psychology department provides formal pedagogical coursework, this training occurs during the first two years of graduate school and is focused on preparing students to teach a laboratory section of a methods course. As I prepared to teach my own course several years later, attending CITL/CIRTL events was incredibly beneficial to refresh the concepts learned in my earlier coursework as well as to learn practical techniques and strategies to design an effective syllabus, communicate concepts clearly, create assessments that directly tap my learning goals, and how to navigate the classroom. After completing the associate level of the program, I feel I have more of the skills necessary to be an effective teacher.

Jane Newman started teaching during her undergraduate education in biochemistry, and her very first course that she taught as an associate instructor was a biochemistry and organic chemistry course for non-majors. This was particularly fun and challenging because most of her students were not very interested in the content, but rather just had to pass the course to move onto their nursing or athletic training coursework. Newman enjoyed getting students excited about material that they normally would shy away from, especially as organic chemistry is traditionally a class that students tend to strongly dislike. Since coming to IU for graduate school, Newman has taught introduction to biology lab (L113) and microbiology (M250) for microbiology majors as an associate instructor. She has been fortunate enough to be able to teach in the classroom and in her lab, where she mentors undergraduates in research.

Newman’s most rewarding teaching moment was in her lab when the undergraduate that she mentors was able to do an entire experiment by herself without direct help from Newman. Her student was able to purify a novel mutant protein and successfully crystallize it by herself. This process is challenging even for graduate-level students. She came into the lab to gain research experience, despite being solely interested in medical school. Newman’s student now is very interested in possibly pursuing an MD/PhD or PhD program because she has been able to feel personally invested and rewarded by the research she has done in Newman’s lab.

When asked what she would tell other graduate students about the Associate level of GTAP, Newman answered: I would encourage them to complete the Associate Level of GTAP because it has given me a better working knowledge of pedagogy and good teaching strategies. This has allowed me to make smaller, more achievable goals for my teaching each semester. I have also learned a lot about how to talk about my teaching and analyze my teaching evaluations to make my teaching more student-centered. I think that having the GTAP on my CV will help boost my teaching credentials and improve my interviewing skills for my future desired teaching job.

Daniel Myers recently moved to Indiana from the great state of Michigan to become a PhD student in the Geography Department. Myers didn’t know much about being a PhD student, being an instructor, or the academic job market. He joined CITL’s Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program about a month into his first semester. Myers explained that he really appreciated the opportunity to network with other graduate students who were very wise and in the later years of their programs. He learned a lot about how to create effective assignments and how to begin preparing for academic jobs. He’d never heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a diversity statement, or a teaching portfolio before joining, but now he feels he can confidently use each to teach classes and (when the time comes) apply for academic jobs.

Myers explained that his teaching history is very brief; he has one semester as an Associate Instructor for a lab. He can say his favorite moments though are when a student is struggling and he is able to help them understand the solution to their problem. Myers is looking forward to expanding his teaching repertoire in the coming semesters.

When asked what he would tell other graduate students about the GTAP Associate Level, Myers answered: I encourage my peers to learn the ropes of building a teaching portfolio and learning how to do a teaching demonstration through GTAP. These are covered in the Talking About Teaching learning community, which is one of the ways to fulfill Associate Level requirements. It will make things much easier when they’re applying for academic jobs later on!

Trishnee Bhurosy specializes in applied research to design and evaluate theory-driven and empirically-grounded dietary interventions. Her interests include behavioral research on dietary behaviors underlying obesity and other chronic conditions. Bhurosy has taught courses such as Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health (lab sections), Men’s Health, Personal Health and Stress Prevention and Management. At the University of Mauritius, she taught courses such as Control of Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases, Sports Nutrition, Food Processing and Safety. She has advised and mentored a diverse group of high school, undergraduate and graduate students in Mauritius and in the US.

Bhurosy has had many memorable teaching moments, but she cites being especially proud of the progress international students made in her classes during Fall and Spring 2017. She noticed that it was difficult for them to become active participants in a classroom setting and to get them connected to adequate resources on campus. Bhurosy actively strove to help her students, understanding the difficulties as she is an international student as well. Bhurosy explained, that “it is always a proud moment of achievement for me to see an improvement in the learning experiences of my students.”

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Bhurosy answered: If you are struggling with developing your teaching strategies and skills in general, attending the workshops and/or being engaged in the learning communities will help significantly in those. I have used some of the strategies and concepts learned through the workshops in my classes during the past semester and I saw that my students were more engaged. It became more enjoyable for me as well! The GTAP also helped me talk more confidently about my teaching with my peers and through this process, I was able to think out loud about my experiences and skills as an instructor.

With the help of CITL and supportive faculty, Maddie Chera has had the privilege to teach several courses in Cultural Anthropology and related fields, resulting in positive student feedback and achieved learning objectives. She started out as an associate instructor in introductory Anthropology courses, leading discussions sections and formulating assessments. Chera went on to teach an original course on agricultural biodiversity conservation for the Collins Living-Learning Community, for which she received the Carl H. Ziegler Teaching Award. Subsequently, she taught her own Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course at Fordham University. Chera is teaching a similar course and upper-level anthropology seminars in her areas of expertise (food, South Asia) at Indiana University’s South Bend campus in the 2018-2019 academic year, as a Future Faculty Teaching Fellow of the University Graduate School. In addition, she has teaching-related experience facilitating graduate writing groups, working as a farm educator for teens and children, and mentoring students and peers at IU and during her field research in India.

The best moments in Chera’s teaching career are when students relate the concepts and material from the course to their interests. As much as she not-so-secretly wishes all her students declared Anthropology majors, her real goal is that they leave her courses thinking anthropologically and applying cultural analysis to new experiences and to the things they already geek out about. In the past, Chera’s students have successfully applied ideas and methods they worked on throughout the course to a final project of their design. They build up to this project through smaller assignments and checkpoints. Students have embraced the opportunity, and Chera is always proud and excited to see what they have learned. For example, one student focused on education policy planned to interview public school teachers in their lounge, to learn about their use of work and leisure time. Another student, who was negotiating her family’s expectations of her future, decided to examine the symbols of marriage rituals in her own religious community, speaking with a priest and other church members about their perceptions. Yet another student, a music-lover, looked at sense of community in the live concert setting, and analyzed the shared identity between musicians and fans. Through research and reflection, these students transformed the course from a set of abstract lessons about seemingly exotic peoples into embodied skills of observation and analysis useful beyond the course. Since that is Chera’s master plan, she is very happy to see these results, and to learn from the research, too!

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Chera answered: The CITL offerings are valuable resources for us in building our skills and communicating them to others. They are free and should be used to the fullest. Add to that the recognition we can get for expanding our skills and engaging with the teaching community at IU through the GTAP, and it seems obvious that taking part in the program is a smart move.

Fernando Melero García began his teaching career in 2012. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Melero García was a teaching assistant at John H. Reagan High School (Houston, TX), where he aided students taking courses in Spanish language and literature. From 2013 to 2015, he taught Spanish at the University of New Mexico. After completing an MA in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of New Mexico, Melero García came to Indiana University where he has been teaching Spanish and Hispanic Linguistics since 2015. While at IU, Melero García has also been an instructor of a study abroad program that takes place during the summer in Chile where he taught Hispanic Linguistics. 

A teaching moment of which Melero García is particularly proud occurred when he traveled to Chile as an instructor for a six-week study abroad program for high school students. After landing in Santiago and, after picking up our luggage, one of their students realized that she had left her phone in the plane. The program has an honor code according to which once the group land in Chile, students should only speak Spanish. He accompanied the student to the customer service offices to pick up her phone and, on our way to the offices, Melero García was asking her in Spanish how she was feeling after the long trip. He noticed that she was a very reserved person and that she was experiencing some difficulty understanding him. The six weeks went by, and a few days before coming back home, the students did a farewell show where they danced, sang, and interacted with their host families. During the show, Melero García noticed that this student was interacting and socializing with many people there. She was no longer experiencing difficulty understanding and interacting with local people. Not only had she improved her linguistic skills in Spanish, but she had embraced a new culture and was now part of it. Melero García felt very proud of her at that moment, and he was also very proud of his team because he realized how important it is for us as educators to provide the optimal environment and conditions in order to facilitate student development on multiple levels.

When asked what he would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Melero García answered: I would definitely encourage anybody to complete this program. The most important thing to me is that it is offering me a broad vision of teaching and learning beyond my department. It is wonderful to meet people from other departments during the workshops and learn about learning more generally (and not just learning languages and/or linguistics).

Abigail Kimmitt was the principal instructor for the upper-level Animal Behavior course at Indiana University in the fall of 2017. She incorporated active learning techniques such as problem-based learning, think-pair-share, and literature discussions to engage the students as scientists rather than passive learners. Kimmitt has also been the associate instructor for an upper-level Biology of Birds course and an Introductory Ecology and Evolution course. 

One of Kimmitt’s most memorable teaching moments was when a female student in her Animal Behavior class expressed interest in graduate school in the sciences.  The student had entered the class pre-med and was an excellent and enthusiastic student. She first asked Kimmitt about getting involved in research and the experience in the class and her new research lab shaped her interest in becoming a scientist. Kimmitt expressed that students who become actively engaged in the material and interested in incorporating the material into their career or even their hobbies makes teaching even more worth it!

When asked what she would tell others about the Associate Level of GTAP, Kimmitt answered: This program provides graduate students with a concrete program to learn about evidence-based teaching strategies, interact with other graduate students and faculty to improve their teaching strategies, and then apply them to their own classrooms. It also creates a great opportunity for students to have something to present on the job market; this program has clear guidelines and provides evidence that the candidate has actively learned and engaged in bettering their teaching.