Teacher Training
HAA has an ongoing goal to ensure that every graduate student emerges from the PhD program with an excellent teaching portfolio. The department has a vigorous training program for graduate student-teachers of art history, which includes a course in pedagogy strongly recommended for all new teaching assistants or fellows, or recquired for those teaching "stand-alone" courses. The course not only introduces students to principles of active learning in the classroom, but also helps students prepare a sample syllabus and a teaching statement to form the core of their teaching portfolio.
In addition to teaching recitation and writing sections for full-time faculty, graduate students have an unusual number of opportunities to design and teach their own courses, both during the academic year and in the summer term. These "stand-alone" courses become crucial elements of the students' teaching portfolios. Faculty observe classrooms to give constructive feedback to graduate student instructors. For recitation and writing sections, this is the job of the faculty instructor; for "stand-alone" courses, PhD advisors handle the observations in order to write strong and specific letters of recommendation in the future. An annual grad student teaching prize is awarded to recognize students who have developed especially outstanding portfolios and teaching records.
Graduate Students must produce teaching portfolios to advance to candidacy. They will do so in the context of the pedagogy seminar. Thereafter, they should include the teaching portfolio with the materials they send to their Ph.D. committee for their annual meetings. Ph.D. committees are encouraged to give further feedback to the student as appropriate--as the student's thinking about pedagogy evolves, as the student readies him or herself for the job market, et cetera.
Useful links
Syllabus for HAA 2970, Teaching of Art History
Teaching resources for faculty and grad students
