Resources

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: For many aspiring academics, the transition from doctoral student to classroom teacher is a challenging one. The classroom culture, the needed pedagogical skills, and the expected level and type of work are significantly different in the two environments. Nevertheless, most doctoral students go on to teach in undergraduate or seminary classrooms. To prepare the PhD students at McMaster Divinity College to negotiate this transition successfully, the faculty holds a biennial colloquium covering the major dimensions, both theoretical and practical, of a Christian teaching vocation. On the basis of the presentations of the colloquium, the essential topics have been addressed in essays prepared for this volume for the benefit of all who aspire to excellence in their teaching, especially those in Christian higher education. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: More people than ever are going to graduate school to seek a PhD these days. When they get there, they discover a bewildering environment: a rapid immersion in their discipline, a keen competition for resources, and uncertain options for their future, whether inside or outside of academia. Life with a PhD can begin to resemble an unsolvable maze. In Behind the Academic Curtain, Frank F. Furstenberg offers a clear and user-friendly map to this maze. Drawing on decades of experience in academia, he provides a comprehensive, empirically grounded, and, most important of all, practical guide to academic life. While the greatest anxieties for PhD candidates and postgrads are often centered on getting that tenure-track dream job, each stage of an academic career poses a series of distinctive problems. Furstenberg divides these stages into five chapters that cover the entire trajectory of an academic life, including how to make use of a PhD outside of academia. From finding the right job to earning tenure, from managing teaching loads to conducting research, from working on committees to easing into retirement, he illuminates all the challenges and opportunities an academic can expect to encounter. Each chapter is designed for easy consultation, with copious signposts, helpful suggestions, and a bevy of questions that all academics should ask themselves throughout their career, whether at a major university, junior college, or a nonacademic organization. An honest and up-to-date portrayal of how this life really works, Behind the Academic Curtain is an essential companion for any scholar, at any stage of his or her career. (From the Publisher)
More and more, graduate students are seeking quality training in leadership skills as well as in teaching and research.
Teaching portfolios: formatively, the portfolio helps you reflect systematically and regularly upon your teaching; summatively, portfolios provide a much more comprehensive and accurate picture of your teaching than any other single device.

All too often a culture of silence permeates academia, where faculty and administrators ignore or misunderstand difficult situations. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe is a practical guide for prospective and current faculty that addresses real, complex issues that are too often left unexamined. Chapters explore typical aspects of the faculty career and life cycle—such as appointment, tenure, promotion, incivility, plagiarism, teaching, online delivery, interactions with chairs and deans, and performance appraisal—but focuses on the prickly issues as well as the routine. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe presents authentic, engaging vignettes that feature faculty and administrators as they maneuver through academe encountering authentic, difficult situations. Focusing on positive outcomes, each case is analyzed and readers are encouraged to reflect about the ways these incidents could have been resolved. Offering concrete suggestions and best-practices, this book provides insights that will help prospective, new, and current faculty maneuver more effectively through academe and their collegial culture. This important resource enhances a culture of openness and will help faculty gain direction and support in their career. (From the Publisher)

Students deserve great teachers and learning to become a great teacher is a lifelong journey. On Becoming a Teacher guides both the new and experienced teacher through the exhilarating process of learning to educate students in a way that makes a lasting impact on their lives. Dr. Kearney leads the reader through the process of understanding what lies at the foundation of great teaching, loading each essay with ready-for-classroom use applications and challenging ideas. This book is designed to encourage the reader to think deeply about all aspects of education, while instilling, or rekindling, the excitement, enthusiasm, and teaching excellence shared by all great teachers. Written in conversational essay form and supplemented with discussion and reflection questions, this brief book would make an ideal classroom text for student teaching and education seminars. Whether you aspire to teaching excellence at the elementary school, middle school, high school, or collegiate level, On Becoming a Teacher is a must read. (From the Publisher)
This interview was recorded in November 2012 in Jonathan Z. Smith's Hyde Park graystone. Professor Smith offers insights into how he thinks about his classroom teaching and his students' learning through descriptions of various assignments and classroom activities he has developed over more than forty years of teaching. The discussion ranges broadly over such topics as: how students read, the failure to adequately prepare graduate students as teachers, students' faith commitments, the use of newspapers (and humor) in the classroom, and the role of definition, de-familiarization, and critique of the study of religion in introductory classes. The discussion presents vivid glimpses into Jonathan Smith's teaching practice and his teaching persona, including the time a student brought a minister to class to do an exorcism because she thought he was the Devil.
a 34 page booklet prepared by the University of North Carolina's Center for Teaching and Learning, covering topics such as "Defining Tasks," "Providing Feedback and Evaluation," and more than 20 pages of appendices providng sample forms and training programs.
Recommendations from national studies on doctoral education, by Jody Nyquist and Donald H. Wulff -- including links to online resources, books and articles.
A national program with the goal of "transforming the way aspiring faculty members are prepared for their careers,” with programs at more than 45 doctoral degree-granting institutions to help doctoral students understand and prepare for faculty duties (teaching, research, and service). A summary of the experiences of the 45 programs is available as a pdf on their website.