CAT is pleased to provide workshops, reading groups, and other programming and services designed to support graduate students in their teaching. Whether you are an experienced teaching assistant looking for additional professional development opportunities or completely new to teaching, we have a variety of events to connect you with inspiring colleagues and develop your pedagogical skill set.
Required TA Training
If you are looking for the Essential Policies & Practices for TAs, a fully online training required for Categories 1–5 TAs who need to get certified to teach, please see our webpage for upcoming training offerings and more information.
Workshops
CAT teaching workshops are interactive sessions (typically 1.5 to 2 hours) led by a CAT facilitator or other subject matter expert. In addition to providing opportunities to learn about effective approaches to teaching, they are also opportunities to discuss ideas with other graduate students across disciplines. The following are our current workshop offerings:
Teaching with Writing
Writing projects can be great learning opportunities, and that’s one reason so many courses include writing. Students can also provide evidence of their learning through their writing, so writing projects can also serve as useful assessments. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how to use writing as both a learning opportunity and a form of assessment in the courses that you teach. We’ll discuss how to design, sequence, and scaffold writing projects, and how to support students’ success on those projects with in-class writing activities. We’ll also explore strategies for providing effective, motivating feedback that helps students learn more through revision and reflection. We hope you can join us!
Facilitators: Zach Lloyd, Teaching Consultant & Jen Bartman, CAT Senior Associate Director
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location: October 16th, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room
Communication & Support in the Classroom
Writing projects can be great learning opportunities, and that’s one reason so many courses include writing. Students can also provide evidence of their learning through their writing, so writing projects can also serve as useful assessments. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how to use writing as both a learning opportunity and a form of assessment in the courses that you teach. We’ll discuss how to design, sequence, and scaffold writing projects, and how to support students’ success on those projects with in-class writing activities. We’ll also explore strategies for providing effective, motivating feedback that helps students learn more through revision and reflection. We hope you can join us!
Facilitators: Zach Lloyd, Teaching Consultant & Caity Bente, CAT Program Manager: TA Training & Professional Development
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location: October 17th, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room
Approaches to Grading
Do you have a grading philosophy? Why do you assign grades the way you do? How can your approach to grading empower and motivate students rather than cause them worry and stress? In this workshop, we will discuss the benefits and challenges of several approaches to grading—some traditional and some innovative–and explore what various grading philosophies may convey to students. We will also discuss some broadly applicable principles and practical strategies for fairly and transparently evaluating students’ work, no matter the grading approach.
Facilitators: Zach Lloyd & Hannah Hiester, CAT Teaching Consultants
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location: November 5th, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m., Location TBD
Exam Design – Details Coming Soon!
Reading Groups
Reading groups are a great opportunity to connect with colleagues across disciplines and discuss great books about teaching and learning. Groups typically meet three times (approximately 1.5 hours each session) across three consecutive weeks and are led by a facilitator from CAT. Reading groups are a relaxed, discussion-focused environment that encourages participants to share their experiences and questions on the book topics.
See below for upcoming reading group offerings:
AI in the Classroom
It’s been on the minds of every instructor, student, and higher-education administrator since 2020–generative AI. What is it? How does it work? How can we work with it? Should we? Though there is no one-sized-fits-all answer, these are all questions that we will begin to address in this reading group. The group will begin like a traditional CAT reading group, by reading through the first two major chunks of the book Teaching with AI (2024), followed by a selection of excerpts from the book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI and other resources.
Dates/Times/Locations: October 23rd, October 30th, & November 6th, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., in Diffenbaugh Room 432
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Please Note — These reading groups are for graduate students only. If you have questions about a particular reading group, please email the email address listed for that reading group.