A Lavender's View of Higher Ed.

Now that applications for GrATE (aka Academy of GTA Excellence) have been open for a few weeks and will be open for a few weeks more, it is time to discuss a bit of the application process and what it means to be part of the Academy.

First, I will focus on the application process. I applied to GrATE as everything was being developed, though the process has been refined rather than changed over the semesters. Whether applying as a Member, and Associate, or a Fellow, a Letter of Application is asked for. Within the letter we look for why someone is applying to GrATE, how it fits within their future career goals, their views on 21^st century teaching (contemporary pedagogy) and diversity/inclusion within pedagogy, and what they can bring to GrATE. As a Fellow, I read all of these letters and what stands out to me in particular are why people apply to the Academy and their views on diversity/inclusion in the classroom and higher education. Reading why people apply to GrATE has helped us develop needed sessions for the whole Academy. The CV is important too, though partly to know how long someone might be at Tech and active with GrATE.

When someone is applying to Associate or Fellow, we ask for a letter of recommendation from a faculty member or someone who is aware of one’s teaching experience. We also ask for teaching evaluations. For some people that includes SPOTs and for others peer evaluations or a different version of reviews to indicate about their teaching (e.g., guest lecture evaluations). We ask for this not to judge people on their teaching skills but to see their background in teaching experience or curriculum development.

For Fellow applicants, we also ask for a Teaching Portfolio and an interview. We hope the applicants have been involved in GrATE, whether they have been a Member or Associate, or join for events without applying before. The interviews are generally 15 minutes with current Fellows and a few Faculty Scholars, as well as Dean DePauw or other Graduate School administrators. I personally am very glad I went through the interview portion of GrATE, as it helped me immensely while I have been on the job market. The interview shouldn’t be scary, though it is important. We ask questions about the applicant, follow-up on some ideas presented in the application materials, their views on diversity and inclusion, and their views of being a leader. As we have grown and developed as an organization, we have realized that leadership skills and time management skills are important. So, we ask about those pieces as well as what was clearly asked for in the application.

Overall, people apply to GrATE at the different levels for various reasons. I see the reasons people joining GrATE falling into two categories: 1) to learn more about teaching and pedagogy and 2) to have a community of people who desire to be the best teachers they can be. I do acknowledge that some people only want the CV credit, though there is so much being left on the table if that is the case. For me, though, the greatest benefit is the community I have through GrATE. Before Jordan and I became Founding Fellows together, we were in a class together and just chatting about teaching our classes for the first time. Suggestions she gave then, I still use in my classes today. We have maintained that over the years—sharing stories of what is happening in our classes and helping come up with solutions. Now, we have a bigger community of people to share ideas with. People in our community now come from different disciplinary backgrounds who have pedagogy traditions that we would never think of but would work great. There are those with socio-political backgrounds different than our own. It allows for a broader set of ideas and so many people to get to know and work with.

With the Walk-In-Advising, every week I have multiple people to tell stories with and come up with new ideas for the classroom. For others, the panels and workshops that the Academy does is what they are looking for. Or they come to Walk-In-Advising for assistance on a particular challenge or question. Sometimes it is one event a year that sparks an interest or fills a need and for others, they come to everything and learn as much as they can. Check out our Twitter feed for more of the events we have done recently—there may be something that sparks that interest for you or an idea you have to bring to GrATE!

This fall the Academy or VTGrATE assisted with the Graduate School’s GTA Workshop sessions on ePortfolios. In the spring, the Graduate School decided to work with the library, which was beginning work on an ePortfolio pilot using Portfolium. Dr. Hajj, the associate dean with the Graduate School who works on the GTA Workshop, approached GrATE to help with this for the workshop.

Through the summer two of the Founding Fellows, myself and Jordan Laney, worked with Dr. Hajj, Dean DePauw, and the staff in Learning Design/Teaching & Learning Engagement within the library to prepare for the ePortfolio sessions within the GTA Workshop. It took some time to figure out how the members, associates, and fellows of GrATE could learn about Portfolium and ePortfolios and then communicate that in a workshop session to new graduate students. Also over the summer around 20 people from GrATE were trained in these areas by Learning Design staff. During the fall, in the GTA Workshop sessions, 15 people from GrATE introduced ePortfolios to around 120 new GTAs. The fall sessions were wonderful. Overall, the GTAs had never heard of ePortfolios, so we had the opportunity to introduce the concept to a new generations of GTAs and future faculty. Most of the session attendees were interested in the concept.

Knowing that  many people would not have an ePortfolio or would be unaware of the concept, the workshops had a two-fold piece to them. First, it was introducing ePortfolios as a tool. A tool for us as professionals and scholar to have a place to demonstrate what we are working on and have learned. We can cultivate our digital presence through ePortfolios and provide access to the work that we are doing/have done.  This can be an individual aspect or for one’s culmination of their major/degree.

The second piece ePortfolios can be used is for teaching and learning. ePortfolios can be used in the classroom to demonstrate what has been gained and learned through a course. By showing elements of skills that were learned, such as communication and critical thinking or collaborative work. A piece of using ePortfolios in the classroom that I like, because of my own teaching philosophy using feminist pedagogy, is the reflection aspect. Making discoveries by taking time to process what you did for a course, why, what was learned, how you came to the final product, etc. A student can show their process, their initial reactions, and how they might take what they did for one course further into other courses or their career.  Hopefully by the end of multiple courses and maybe even an entire degree program, a student will have their own digital identity and professional development presence. This can even include what they have learned outside the classroom through field study, internships, study abroad, clubs, volunteer activities, and more. ePortfolios can help students and professionals present a holistic image of who they are, the skills they have, and what they can bring to a position.

There are two areas that draw me towards ePortfolios. One is the reflection aspect when presenting artifacts (e.g., assignments, CV, research, publications, presentations) on the ePortfolio page.  The second is that ePortfolios are dynamic and accessible ways for us to show who we are in a holistic view. We are not just one piece of what we have done, but a whole collection of what we know, have experienced, and even where we want to go.

I have been thinking a lot about mindfulness this week. It was probably sparked by a quote I read by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. It is called The Invitation, but more than the words I was struck by the idea of intentional living.

I read this last Saturday night while I was in Richmond. I went there to attend one of the parties for one of my best Hollins friends. I have been very intentional about attending these parties this summer. Even though we live ~6 hours apart, we normally have been seeing each other about once a year. I don’t make it east and she doesn’t make it west. This spring when my original entry into the job market did not work out and I had made the decision to slow my pace towards completing my degree, one of the benefits I saw was time to travel this summer. To take the time to be there for friends and attend these parties and the weddings early in the fall.

While I have been traveling for these parties, I have also been intentional about exploring and re-exploring parts of my state. While in Richmond I drove to Charles City to visit William Henry Harrison’s (president in 1841) birthplace. I arrived to Berkeley Plantation as it was opening on a Sunday morning. As many of my travels are, the tour consisted of a retired couple and me. Walking around this home and grounds from the 18^th century, there was an interesting sense of peace. Not because of the history, but the taking the time to stop and take it all in. I wasn’t on Facebook or Twitter or e-mail. I was looking at how the sun hit the brick buildings and the James River. How the mix of magnolia, brick, and historic paint reminded me so much of Hollins and why I chose that university. Even time to contemplate how there is history we know and talk about and history that we do not. But I took that time. I wasn’t rushing back to Blacksburg or worrying about what I could be doing that was work related. I stopped, and thought, and processed.

Due to factors of life, I have recently been taking back over some of the household chores that my brother and father had been doing [I have had the privilege and the challenge of living with my family of origin during my PhD work]. As I was doing tasks such as loading/unloading the dishwasher, grocery shopping, and mowing the yard, I realized that by slowing down and processing what I was doing, without lots of noise around me made the task enjoyable. It wasn’t about rushing to do something because it had to get done, to check it off the list, and be able to return to my academic work.

At some point during my PhD journey I had gotten away from these things—being intentional about time with friends (not just rushing in and rushing out while always thinking about what you should be doing); the meditative nature of moving back and forth mowing the lawn; nourishing our bodies through grocery shopping and cooking; etc. I was somewhat aware of it and knew I needed to shift back. I was aware of it when I read Brigid Schulte’s book Overwhelmed. I was aware of it when all I wanted to do was travel, because when I travel, I stop and observe people and place rather than check e-mail and work.

Yet, it occurs to me that the academic culture is not generally about mindfulness. It is about busyness. You go full-speed-ahead for roughly 36 weeks a year, plus a lot of additional work trying to get ahead or catch-up the other 26 weeks. It is the e-mails of needing to get something completed immediately or at least in the next 48 hours. It is the knowing that there is always more work needing to be done or that could be done. It is also as graduate students, feeling that we do not have the power to say that something may need to wait. That poor planning on someone else’s part, should not equate an emergency on our part.

This week, as life was happening, I was very lucky in that those sort of e-mails stopped. In part, because of summer but also because of people’s travel schedules. The two or so that I did receive, I was able to say that I was not currently available, and not feel guilty about it. And I think some of our busyness is guilt. A need to feel useful all the time, which can also lead to guilt when we don’t live up to that. But taking the time to slow down, to process, and to be mindful about what we do, when, and why, can lead to more dynamic work, whether it is research, teaching, or working with our peers and colleagues. When we take the time to slow down, rather than frantically work on multiple things at once, we may become better colleagues and scholars.

P.S. As I had been contemplating all of this, the book, The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber arrived in the mail. It feels fortuitous in the timing. I look forward to reading it.

This has been an intense semester. The political climate, trying to figure out whether I was graduating this semester or not, whether I was going to get a job, more hours taken up by service than normal, etc. I think it has been intense for almost everyone, at least those I have talked to. Looking back, the last semester that was this intense was the last time I taught during a regular semester (not summer or winter session). Teaching semesters are a lot, especially when you care so much.

Today I have been working on preparing for my last two class sessions of the semester. I wrote the final exam earlier in the week, so it really is the last two classes I had to prep. And I struggled. I think the intensity of this semester and the fact that I have no idea how this semester went for my students is making me unsure of the entire thing. Leaving me with a knot in my stomach about it all. It’s sort of like wondering if I can only talk a good game about teaching and not actually do it well. (Then again, what is good teaching exactly? We all seem to have different definitions).

Really the issue this semester has been that I can not get my students to talk in class. A very small number of them will speak when they are presenting group work. But when I try and do a class discussion, it is consistently crickets. I have done every trick I know or can think of. I have had them do small group work, write-pair-share, writing and then speaking, calling on people randomly, etc. And still, every time I attempt to do any discussion, they do not make eye contact and do not respond. I have stood there waiting for someone to speak for a couple of minutes, even (I sing a song in my head, which helps me know how long I have waited). Getting little to no response is disheartening. It is also difficult for me as a shy introvert to have to be on for a full 75 minutes.

Yet, I am not convinced that they are not engaged. I have had them do weekly journals, which are in part a reflection on that week’s material. Most of those have been amazing. When I take up their written ideas or reflections during class, they are fully thinking about what is being discussed. I have not had a big problem with phones, Facebook, or shopping in my class. Of course there is a little bit, but not to the point where I have had to say anything to the class like I have in the past. So, I am wondering if there is not some piece of selection bias, where I have a class of introverts, who are more comfortable thinking about things and processing them on their own.

I am also left wondering if the “sage on the stage” is always a bad thing. We talk so much about how in 21st century learning, we need to not be a sage on the stage and feed the students with answers. That we should guide them. That we should do hands on learning. Yet, in this semester, with a class who rebels against the in class activities and does not like discussion. But when the class pays attention during class and presents clear and well-thought-out reflections every week, could sage on the stage and lecturing be a good thing? I guess time and the Student Perceptions on Teaching (SPOT) scores will tell!

I started this post multiple times in the last couple of weeks. But after a couple of events, I am finally sitting down to write it.

Two weeks ago the author and academic, Roxanne Gay, came to my alma mater to do a reading and lecture. I live close enough where I was able to meet one of my closest friends there to hear her and meet Dr. Gay. Roxanne Gay is most known for her book, Bad Feminist. I had come across the book last year and read it quickly, with much of it speaking to me as a feminist and an academic. I had taken note of her essay on trigger warnings, but that was not the part that had stuck out to me initially. However, that essay was one Dr. Gay read the night I went. One thing she said when an audience member asked her about why she chooses to not use trigger warnings was that her pedagogical style is to have discussions with students throughout the semester about what they are reading and why. She is not shying away from topics that may be controversial or difficult for students, but openly discussing them and allowing for the challenging and brave spaces in the classroom.

This week the other GrATE fellows and I were chatting about different topics on pedagogy. We are getting ready to begin a brown bag series during the Wednesday office hours and one of the topics that we are discussing is trigger warnings. Some people are wondering what the right path is for using trigger warnings, whether they are necessary, and for which topics within their classes.

Finally, also this week I went to one of the theatre events on campus. I grew up around the theatre and theatre being provocative, including using the arts as a way of addressing social justice. The play I saw was a fairly new one (published in the last 6 years) and has won numerous awards. Yes, the topics begin to address race relations, gentrification, and social justice. That part was not what caught my attention. Rather, some of the other topics and items within the play that I was not prepared for caught my attention. There was a lot of language in this play, which on any given day wouldn’t be noticed, except for the fact that in my line of sight were two young girls under the age of 10 in the audience. Also, the storyline in the play is connected in part by an unseen character’s suicide and his family’s dealing with that. At intermission and after the show I started looking more intently in the playbill and the sign at the entrance to the theatre for any mention of the language or the content of the show and found nothing. I was shocked that this department, which normally is quite good about forewarning the language at least in a play, had said nothing about either item. I had read a bit about the play before going and have done even more reading since going, and there is no mention anywhere about the suicide topic within the play. So, if the department does not mention that this content, and the general write-ups about this play do not mention it, how are people who may have dealt with death, suicide, rape, etc. within their lives and want some warning or awareness of what is coming their way going to know?

I understand that a lot of the discussion around trigger warnings is that by using them and using safe spaces means people will opt out of hearing about tough things or having challenging conversations. I disagree. I think whether you use the phrase “trigger warning” or not, it is about being transparent in what is being discussed. It is giving a heads up to not be blindsided by something.

I am in a social science and human services discipline. We are always talking about people’s lives. And people’s lives include a variety of experiences, including traumatic experiences. So, for me, when teaching courses, especially when teaching Human Sexuality, I try to be cognizant of that. I rarely, if ever, use the exact phrase of “trigger warning”, however, every topic that will be discussed in a semester is covered in the syllabus. In multiple places and in multiple ways I try to link previous material to the current material and foreshadow where we are going next. I provide information about the resources on campus and in the community that may be of assistance or interest to anyone in the class who has had any number of lived experiences. Yet, I do not shy away from controversial topics or topics that may “trigger” someone.

So, for me, it is about transparency in what we are discussing and why we are discussing it. It has to be pertinent to the learning objectives and course material. I will always use some level of forewarning about what is coming up in lessons whether in an online course or in-person. It may look differently at different times, but on some level, I would rather have the open dialogue and preparation. With openness and transparency, hopefully students will feel that I and the classroom environment I create allow them to grapple with these topics.

We are officially on day three of the new fall semester. This is the first semester in my life that I am not in the classroom as a teacher or a student. It is a little strange. Especially with the flexibility of my time. However, it does not mean I am not involved with teaching at all. I am one of the teaching supervisors/assistant for the teaching mentor for my department as well as a fellow for GrATE.

In my department we have a well-structured program of teaching apprenticing leading to independent graduate instructors. There is support, guidance, and oversight every step of the way when teaching within the department. I appreciate having this, as there are always people to go to and discuss teaching challenges and ideas. My role in this as a senior graduate student and assistant to the teaching mentor, is answering questions, providing feedback on syllabi and course sites, and generally keeping track of what is required by the department and university. As I keep saying to people, for some reason I have the institutional memory and understanding of policies where I am often the contact person for quick questions.

Within the role a fellow for GrATE I hold office hours in the GLC every Tuesday afternoon. I only had one person join me this week and it was a new student from my department who needed assistance with the LMS, Canvas. There is an interesting thing with the transition to Scholar to Canvas, and probably between any LMS’. Some people jump on the bandwagon quickly and are willing to give it a try and use any new technology to the best of their abilities. Others are slower to transition and really don’t want to. But that is an aside.

The start of any semester has people who have never taught before or never taught at a specific institution before. There are learning curves, such as figuring out a new LMS. But last week when we were speaking at the GTA Workshop, a lot of the new graduate students were wanting to know the first steps of preparing for a new course. The student who joined me in office hours is in the midst of helping a new faculty member prepare a course while also working with a returning faculty member in a different class. This GTA has a great view of what it takes to prepare and how once you prepare, it becomes easier and easier over time to get ready for a new semester.

At this point in my career (year 4 of my PhD work), I have prepped for three new courses and am getting ready to prep for my fourth new course. The pattern I tend to take when preparing for a course I have never taught before includes:

• Seeking out syllabi and information from those who have taught the course before me. This primarily includes from within my own department, though it can include seeing what those teaching similar courses outside of Tech do. There are a lot of syllabi available online, which is useful to update assignment ideas and see which textbooks are being used. At some point, hopefully, GrATE will have a repository of syllabi as well.
• Start reading through the textbooks. For some courses I have had a choice as to which textbook to use and some are standardized within the department. I have worked with both systems and don’t particularly have a preference. Mostly because, with the standard textbook, the number of different options I’ve seen don’t compare to what was chosen before my time.
• As I work through the textbook(s), I am also updating or creating any slides and lectures I am planning on having. Again, this depends on what has been done before me in my department. Some courses have a more complete shell for us to launch from than others.
• Thinking about, updating, and creating assignments for both in-class and out-of-class. Writing out the instructions and rubrics for assignments is helpful for me to do before updating the syllabus.
• Update the syllabus. This includes updating any information that may have changed—office location changes, websites that are out of date, policies that changed over the summer, etc. I also update the assignments and the point system I am using for that semester. Each semester this gets more and more refined, even when teaching different courses, much of the information is similar across syllabi.
• Creating the course site. One of the aspects of Canvas that I appreciate is that the course site shell is already created for us with the roster included. That has saved at least an hour or two of headache and fighting with technology. I also appreciate that with Canvas we can link information every time we use it, so students are always able to access what we need them to, no matter where they are on the site. The entire course set-up takes some time, but it still is less time than our previous LMS. If you need assistance with the course site, there are wonderful people all over campus who are great resources!
• At that point, I am ready for the semester to begin! I typically prepare the first week’s announcements and/or anything particular I plan to do the first day of class (shifts for online teaching and in-person teaching). Of course, there are always things you are shifting throughout a semester, but you should be on solid footing to continue on with the semester!