Future Prof Series (FPS)

How does learning happen and what is the teacher's role in that process? Every teacher will have a slightly (or even wildly) different answer to that question. This workshop provides a brief overview of some different schools of thought how learning occurs, and leads participants through a series of writing prompts to help emerging scholars articulate their unique approach to teaching and learning, with the ultimate goal of crafting original and compelling teaching philosophy statements.

Presenter: Lisa Aikman

Are you a "guide on the side", a "meddler in the middle," or a "lecturer extraordinaire"? Do you diffuse conflict in the classroom by deploying humour or authority? And what happens when you have to pivot from the teaching style you're comfortable with? This workshop will take a strengths-based approach wherein participants articulate their own teaching strengths and strategies. Through guided role-play, participants will then "try on" a variety of teaching personas with the goal of building confidence in front of the classroom.

Presenters: Lisa Aikman

You’ve learned the basics about mental health and mental illness. Now you want to learn how to take a strengths-based approach to cultivating student mental health in your classroom. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to: describe the elements of – and challenge misconceptions about – mental health and mental illness; apply tools and resources to identify students in distress and support them in accessing appropriate mental health resources; design new strategies to reach students who are less likely to request mental health support.

Presenters: Melanie-Anne Atkins, Rebecca Smith, Kate Barnes

In this highly interactive workshop, practice and participate in multiple feedback cycles using the Notice-Listen-Connect model to: initiate a mental health conversation with a struggling student, engage in an authentic, strengths-based dialogue with your student, and refer them to professional support. Be prepared to use your webcam and microphone during the entire session.

Presenters: Melanie-Anne Atkins, Rebecca Smith, Kate Barnes

Pre-requisite: Leadership in Wellness Part 1: Cultivating student mental health

Oral presentations are commonly used to assess student learning, while opportunities to practice oral presentations are often scarce. This introduction to teaching oral presentation skills outlines how GTAs can carve out the space for students to practice and receive feedback on the skills they need to deliver effective oral presentations. This workshop also discusses the potential barriers students face in oral presentation assignments.

Presenters: Lisa Aikman and Sanja Ivanov

This workshop looks at how we design common classroom aids, such as slideshows and handouts, through a lens of universal design to ask, “How can I make sure all my students are benefitting from this?”. We will cover general design best practices for creating and presenting effective visual aids and we will explore some simple measures any teacher can take to ensure their materials are compatible with common assistive devices such as screen readers.

Presenters: Lisa Aikman

The advanced workshop focuses on the ways oral presentations can be used as authentic assessments in various disciplines and examines strategies for fostering fair and unbiased feedback and grading of these assignments. Participants get the opportunity to practice delivering oral presentations and assess their and their peers’ oral presentation skills.

Presenters: Lisa Aikman and Sanja Ivanov

Pre-requisite: Teaching and Assessing Oral Presentation Skills Part 1

Even the best TAs can feel nervous about giving their first (or one of their first) lectures. Without a lesson outline or the built-in active learning of a lab or tutorial, it can be hard to know where to start. This workshop will walk participants through the phases of guest lecture preparation, from questions to ask the regular instructor, to outlining your talk, to collecting feedback on your lesson. Participants will reflect on what lecture formats and structures best reflect their topics and when and how to integrate active learning in even the largest, most traditional lecture classrooms.

Presenters: Lisa Aikman

This workshop explores Indigenous approaches to decolonizing online classrooms. We will consider several characteristics of Indigenous education, and contemplate the tension between the virtual, ‘placeless’ online classroom and Indigenous pedagogies that center land-based learning and holistic education. Participants will reflect on their role as a TA in the online classroom, discuss the potential opportunities that their online classrooms offer for decolonization, and share ways that their teaching can recognize and empower Indigenous voices. By the end of the workshop, participants will begin to plan how they can implement Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning into their own online classrooms.

Presenters: Sara Mai Chitty, Melanie-Anne Atkins, Sanja Ivanov, and Lisa Aikman

What is the TA’s or graduate instructor’s role in creating an anti-racist classroom? Where does anti-racism intersect with both decolonization and online pedagogy? This highly participatory workshop will: (a) familiarize participants with some of the conversations anti-racist scholars are having about decolonization, and (b) provide all participants with an opportunity to reflect on strategies that allow online classrooms to benefit from a diversity of student experiences and knowledge. Significant attention will be paid to locating ourselves and our classrooms in relation to our intersecting identities and in relation to eurocentrism and colonialism so that, by the end of the workshop, participants will be able to articulate their own next steps for building inclusive online classrooms that value multiple ways of knowing.

Presenters: Melanie-Anne Atkins, Sanja Ivanov, and Lisa Aikman