Philosophy 6920: Practicum

Teaching Philosophy

  Fridays, 1:00 – 2:30PM, OSH 336
 

Bryan Benham
Department of Philosophy
OSH 338K

(801) 581-7302
bryan.benham@philosophy.utah.edu
hum.utah.edu/~bbenham

   
   

Course Description

This course is designed as a resource for graduate philosophy students who are or plan to teach philosophy. We will cover a variety of topics, including designing and effetively teaching, evaluating student performance, diversity issues, time management, use of technology and other teachign aids in class, constructing an effective teaching portfolio, and so on. The goal is to enhance graduate student teaching and provide departmental assistance in training graduate philosophy students to become effective teachers of philosophy.

 

Course Requirements

Students will be required to attend each scheduled meeting (see course schedule for details) and come prepared with completed assignments and a willinginess to take their teaching prospects seriously. The course will be presented in seminar format, including some student presentations of weekly assignments.

 

Some Resources

Course Schedule

 

Date
(Fridays)

Topic

 

Assignments
(Due In Class)

Jan. 11

Designing a Philosophy Course

Bring sample syllabus to a class you are, will, or want to teach. You may also want to look at the UGS Model Standard Syllabus (pdf) for examples ot the type of information to be included on a syllabus.

 

     

Jan. 18

Effective Philosophy Teaching

Bring article from Teaching Philosophy or The Chronicle of Higher Education other teaching resources that provides an example of good teaching or discussion of some teaching skills you deem valuable.

See also: A Dozen Teaching Tips (pdf)

Other Readings (TBA)

 
     

Jan. 25

Grading and Student Assignments

Bring at least two distinct samples of student assignments and grading criteria for those assignments.

 
     

Feb. 1

Evaluating Your Teaching

Download course evaluation form (available on Prof. Benham's webpage), bring written comments about the criteria used on the form. (Students will be required to visit another student's class that he/she is teaching and use the form to evaluate the observed teaching.)

 
     

Feb. 8

No Meeting

   

Feb. 15

Diversity Issues

Discussion of Race, Gender and Disability in teaching philosophy.

 

 

Feb. 22

Problem Students and Other Student Stressors

Guest Presenter: Beverly Brehl, MS from CTLE

Bring at least two examples of "problem" students or other student related difficulties.

 

 

Feb. 29

Your Time and Class Management

Write out a schedule of your class, research, and teaching for a typical week, including non-academic events (e.g., eating, sleeping, movies, etc.)

.

 

Mar. 7

No Meeting

 

Mar. 14

No Meeting

CTLE: Teaching Dossier Workshop
2:30-5:00PM @ Sterling Sill Center
Free, Register at www.ctle.utah.edu

 

Mar. 21

Spring Break

 

Mar. 28

No Meeting

 

April 4

Technology in the Classroom

TBA

 

 

April 11

Teaching on the Market

TBA

 
     

April 18

Teaching Portfolios

Bring your teaching portfolio in presentable format.