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:
Designing for Learning
This interactive workshop will help participants design effective learning experiences of any length, from courses to modules to class sessions. First, we’ll discuss adopting a learning-centered approach to teaching, in which instructors shift their focus from covering content to facilitating learning. Then, we’ll practice using a backward design process to set learning goals for students, design and align assessments, and make good use of class time by providing students with opportunities for practice and feedback. We hope you can join us for this fundamental workshop that helps lay the foundation for the rest of the TDP. We look forward to working with you!
Facilitators: Zach Lloyd, Teaching Consultant & Caity Bente, Program Manager: TA Training & Professional Development
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location (two options):
January 21st, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., via Zoom, OR
January 22nd, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room
Providing Feedback for Learning
In this interactive workshop, we will discuss implementing timely feedback that supports students’ learning. We will consider different types of feedback and the timing of feedback within a course. We will also identify the qualities of effective feedback and design feedback that helps students make progress toward course goals. We hope you can join us for this feedback-focused workshop. We look forward to working with you!
Facilitators: Zach Lloyd, Teaching Consultant & Darcey Liang, CAT Teaching Consultant
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location (two options):
January 27th, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Scholar’s Commons Instruction Room – Strozier Library Basement 005A) OR
January 28th, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. via Zoom
Teaching Philosophy Statements
What do you do with the information students provide in their course evaluations at the end of every semester? How do you sort through their comments to create an actionable plan to make meaningful changes to your next course? What if you also asked for feedback before the end of the course? In this workshop, we will discuss ways to gather more feedback from your students before the end-of-course evaluations and explore ways to enact positive changes in your courses based on the feedback you gather!
Facilitators: Caity Bente, Program Manager: TA Training & Professional Development & Zach Lloyd, CAT Teaching Consultants
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location (two options):
February 5th, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room OR
February 6th, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. via Zoom
Gathering & Responding to Student Feedback
What do you do with the information students provide in their course evaluations at the end of every semester? How do you sort through their comments to create an actionable plan to make meaningful changes to your next course? What if you also asked for feedback before the end of the course? In this workshop, we will discuss ways to gather more feedback from your students before the end-of-course evaluations and explore ways to enact positive changes in your courses based on the feedback you gather!
Facilitators: Caity Bente, Program Manager: TA Training & Professional Development & Hannah Hiester, CAT Teaching Consultants
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location: February 12th, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room
Project Design
Many courses include projects—whether papers, presentations, proposals, videos, social media campaigns, or something else—that provide opportunities for students to develop skills while producing original work. In this interactive workshop, we’ll help you design projects that engage students in the kinds of thinking you’d like for them to do, and that help them to produce the kinds of work you’d like to see. We will identify key principles for designing and implementing projects within your courses to maximize students’ learning, and you will get practice in writing a project description that communicates your project’s design to students in a transparent and motivating way.
Facilitators: Jen Bartman, CAT Senior Associate Director, & Zach Lloyd, CAT Teaching Consultant
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Date/Time/Location: February 18th, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m., Location TBD
More Workshop Topics 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:
How Learning Works
The newly updated edition of this important book translates decades of scientific literature into practical advice, introducing eight general principles of how people learn. The authors draw on cognitive, developmental, and social psychology, as well as educational research, anthropology, etc. The discussion spans issues from memory to motivation, integrating theory with real classroom examples. Participants will develop strategies for strengthening their own teaching through the application of these principles of cognitive psychology.
Dates/Times/Locations: February 19, 26th, & March 5th, 12:00-1:30 p.m., Strozier Library Bradley Reading Room
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
What the Best College Teachers Do
In the beloved book, What the Best College Teachers Do, Bain shares how great teachers cultivate powerful learning experiences that leave their students fundamentally changed. He draws on fifteen years of research that highlights how exceptional teachers create environments where students feel intellectually challenged, emotionally supported, and genuinely curious. We will discuss the analysis and models of teaching Bain provides and consider how to incorporate the strategies into our own teaching.
Dates/Times/Locations: January 27th, February 3rd, & 10th, 10:00-11:30 a.m., in Diffenbaugh 432.
Email: teaching-assistants@fsu.edu
Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (2nd ed.)
Do you feel like you want to make some changes to your teaching, but you just do not have the time? The great news is that you do not need to make big, drastic changes. Instead, in this reading group, we can explore how to make small, incremental changes that will have a powerful influence on our students’ learning. We will discuss a variety of practical tools and techniques that are based on the sciences of learning and have been proven to be impactful.
Dates/Times/Locations: February 24th, March 3rd, & 10th, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in Diffenbaugh 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.