Teaching Development

Teaching Consultant Work, Center for Teaching and Learning

Senior Teaching Consultant, September 2020-May 2022

   • Lead consultant trainings and workshops on performing classroom observations and writing teaching statements.

   • Continue executing the responsibilities of Teaching Consultant.

Teaching Consultant, August 2019-September 2020

   • Provided observation-based pedagogy feedback for graduate student instructors in and out of classroom settings.

   • Produced solutions to pedagogy concerns in collaboration with graduate student instructors and their students.

Alongside my dedication to pedagogical development through the CTL, I have also into offering teaching development services to my fellow graduate students. In Fall 2019, also through the CTL, I began working as a Teaching Consultant, and in Fall 2020 was promoted to Senior Teaching Consultant. As a Teaching Consultant, my work is structured around running in-class observations, mid-course reviews, and microteaching sessions. In addition to these responsibilities, as a Senior Teaching Consultant, I lead training sessions for new Teaching Consultants and run CTL workshops. This Spring 2021 semester, I am facilitating “Learning by Observing: Effective Teaching Observations,” a workshop on optimizing formative observation practices, and “Teaching Statement Online,” a four-week asynchronous series on the writing teaching statements for the academic job market.

For details on this work, see my “Senior Teaching Consultant” page, linked on my home page.

Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning Fellowships

Fellowship in Academic Administration, May 2021-August 2021

   • Generated plans for program organization and development and presented them to the program team .

Teaching Assessment Fellowship, September 2020-May 2021

   • Consult faculty members in designing and analyzing surveys to assess the impact of teaching interventions.

Lead Teaching Fellowship, May 2019-May 2020

   • Designed pedagogy workshops, discussions, and orientations for Music Department graduate students and faculty.

   • Assessed colleagues’ needs and liaised between the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Music Department.

Teaching Observation Fellowship, September 2018-May 2019

   • Improved pedagogy through being observed and through observing faculty and fellow graduate students teach.

At Columbia, I have participated extensively in teaching development activities through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Through these fellowships, my content knowledge of pedagogy as a field of practice has expanded, along with my confidence in my ability to access and assess whatever teaching development materials I may need as I continue to grow as a pedagogue. I am familiar with the available paths for seeking pedogical development and, through these paths, how to advocate for myself and my peers in a way that leads to practical, desired outcomes. I continue to use and improve my communication, planning, and advocacy skills as issues arise. Within my own classroom, due to my growing confidence in my teaching skills, I am more comfortable exploring different ways of leading the classroom. I prioritize including a variety of activities in the classroom in order to be more inclusive of student learning styles and to share information in more engaging ways. 

Further Development at the Center for Teaching and Learning

Certificates, Programs, and Institutes:

Teaching Development Program, Advanced Track, Spring 2021

Certificate in Inclusive Teaching, Spring 2021

Certificate in Collaborative Learning, Fall 2019

Innovate Teaching Summer Institute, Summer 2018

Learning Communities:

Access, Activism, and Teaching Research to Undergrads, Spring 2021

Pedagogies of Race and Oppression, Fall 2020

Considering the Whole Self in Teaching and Learning: Mental and Physical Wellbeing in the Classroom, Fall 2020

From Student to Expert: Breaking Down Disciplinary Tasks in the Classroom, Spring 2020

The Stories We Tell: Storytelling as Pedagogical Strategy, Spring 2020

Assumptions & Inclusivity: Increasing Transparency in the Classroom, Spring 2020

Finally, I completed of the Advanced Track of the Teaching Development Program, which has framed my teaching development, providing an arc to contextualize the work I’ve done. Throughout my time at Columbia, I have regularly participated in additional advanced pedagogy workshops held by the CTL. A personal goal that I used to curate my engagement with these additional programs was to become more competent in inclusive teaching.

To begin to approach inclusive teaching in consciously and conscientiously, I engage in reflective practices with my peers, often under the leadership of campus experts. As a woman, I have regular marginalizing experiences within academia, but as straight, white American with college-educated parents, I also have cultural and systemic advantages that have blinded me to the many of the complex realities of students who experience other forms of marginalization. Understanding those experiences is essential to being able to address and prevent marginalizing practices that I perpetuate or witness. Through understanding the experiences of others, by reading about them, by listening to personal accounts, and by engaging in conversations when welcomed, I begin to discover where my blind spots are. From there, I build habits that fight the enculturated isms of white middle-class culture. Especially by participating in community conversations on inclusion with fellow students and instructors, I can practice the actions and words needed to create an inclusive learning environment so that I am equipped to do so in my own classroom.