Faculty mentoring of graduate students is an integral component of the First Year English Program. Many graduate students also take part in Preparing Future Faculty activities on campus.
In addition, faculty members involve advanced graduate students in teaching undergraduate courses besides First Year English. These opportunities arise informally and are available to doctoral students who are in ABD ("all but dissertation") status, have at least two years' experience teaching First Year English, and are making progress on the dissertation.
The nature of the mentoring is left to the judgment of faculty members who supervise graduate student teaching. To benefit fully from the experience, however, mentors and students should take the following guidelines into account:
- Graduate students should receive guidance on general principles of teaching literature and specific suggestions about a particular class.
- Graduate students should have the opportunity for extended observation of a course that the mentor is teaching.
- Graduate students should conduct at least one and preferably several lecture/discussion sections of that class over the course of a semester.
- The mentor should offer oral and/or written reviews of the student's contributions and make them available to the student.
The student should agree to the following:
- Regular attendance at a class taught by the mentor.
- Thorough and professional preparation of any classes that the student conducts.
- Availability for conferences relating to those classes.
English Department
