Rites of Pedagogical Passage

Abstract

This study examines the dynamics of the first-time teaching experience of graduate instructors, drawing on interview and focus group data from 35 sociology students in a doctoral program at a large university in the United States. Results indicate the majority of graduate instructors felt a great deal of anxiety due to challenges they faced when teaching their own course for the first time: challenges such as feelings of unpreparedness, constant and unremitting time demands, problems with students, a lack of confidence, and insufficient support. Instructors employed a number of informal strategies in attempts to mediate the personal and professional impact of these challenges. Strategies included adjusting expectations, making sacrifices, becoming savvy, and creating informal peer networks that provided social support and increased access to resources. Findings indicate the need for institutional-level changes, including how graduate student teaching is viewed within the discipline and the ways graduate instructors are supported and prepared to teach. This article concludes with specific recommendations for graduate programs and sociology departments of sociology.

“A Group of People to Lean On and Learn From”: Graduate Teaching Assistant Experiences in a Pedagogy-Focused Community of Practice

“…GTAs, in Deacon and colleagues' (2017) study, believed experience is the best way to develop their teaching skills, but they lacked feedback from faculty members to help improve their teaching. The near absence of pedagogical support and training leaves many GTAs feeling anxious and unprepared for their teaching responsibilities, especially those who are teaching for the first time (Smollin and Arluke 2014).…”

Diode-Side-Pumped Q-Switched Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Nd:Gd3Ga5O12/LiB3O5 Laser at 555 nm

“…Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the leading causes of death and injury worldwide and is a major public health problem. 1,2) In this poisoning process, carbonylhemoglobin is generated and makes the hemoglobin irreducible in blood. The rapid analysis and accurate measurement of the carbonylhemoglobin content is an important and definitive way for measuring this poison and saving lives.…”

A Reflection on Valuing Teacher Training and Pedagogy as Scholarship in Higher Education

“…We should celebrate the education in health education by implementing pedagogical training in our programs if it is not there already and guiding future health educators in the research and development of their own pedagogy. It may never become the norm across academia—scholars of sociology have been addressing graduate student teacher training for more than 20 years, and still, only three quarters of programs had any formal training for their graduate instructors, and there remains a lack of standardization of quality and content (Blouin & Moss, 2015; Smollin & Arluke, 2014)—but I think it worthwhile to consider perpetuating a new norm for health education, whereby professors and community leaders alike are able to apply to their practice the theory and research of both health behavior and education, and that they are valued not just for their research capabilities but also for the strength they bring to teaching.…”