The Sociology Teaching Fellowship: A Mentorship Model for Graduate Student Teacher Training

Abstract

Scholars have long emphasized the importance of teacher training in higher education, including in sociology. Such calls have led to modest improvements in opportunities for graduate students to develop teaching-related skills and experience. However, many of these opportunities are not specific to sociology and may lack a teaching component. In this paper, we outline a teaching fellowship model for graduate student teacher training that integrates group training sessions, peer collaboration, and a teaching practicum component under the guidance of a faculty mentor. In the fellowship, graduate student teaching fellows receive a stipend for sharing the development and teaching of an undergraduate course, with supports and feedback throughout. We include data from post-fellowship questionnaires and follow-up data from fellows who went on to teach their own courses to highlight the strengths of the program. The data indicate that the fellowship is an overwhelmingly positive experience for graduate students.

A Study on the System of Cultivating Core Literacy of Science Education Teacher Trainees Based on the Background of Deep Learning

“…The sample for this part of the study came from the Science Education Internship School in S. It consisted of an experimental sample of a total of 118 students in two classes, Freshman (3) and Freshman (8), and the classes were basically the same in terms of student learning and other factors. There were a total of 22 groups of students in the two classes, with five to seven students in each group, and the instructional lectures applying this core literacy development system were delivered to the two classes sequentially by recording the lectures at two day intervals between the two lectures, and the effect of the development was evaluated by using the constructed model.…”

“…The core literacy of teacher trainees in science disciplines is the most basic and fundamental literacy for teacher trainees to engage in science teaching in the future. Strengthening the cultivation of science disciplinary literacy of teacher trainees is a concrete action to implement the fundamental task of "cultivating people with moral character" [6][7][8]. However, relevant researchers have found that there are still urgent problems in science education teaching, such as "the proportion of full-time science teachers is low" and "the quality of existing science teachers is not high."…”

Reflections from graduate student instructors on their first time teaching reveal structural and individual challenges

“…Though approximately half of our participants had completed some type of training before teaching their course, this did not appear to sufficiently prepare them. However, there are some institutions and specific departments offering effective models of GSI training and mentorship, and overall, participating in pedagogical training during doctoral programs predicts higher teaching self-efficacy for early career scholars (Connolly et al, 2018) (Innocente & Baker, 2018). The fellowship involves extensive one-on-one meetings with a faculty member, teaching evaluations, and teamwork with other fellows.…”

“…Outside of the more intensive training programs as described by Jungels et al (2014) and Innocente and Baker (2018), shorter course-based teaching programs that emphasize student-centered learning are also effective in preparing GSIs. Graduate students in earth and space science improved their teaching self-efficacy after a short course that emphasized active learning and reflective teaching practice (Holland, 2018).…”

Preparing the Educators Who Teach About Families: Engaging Family Science in the University Setting

“…Many teaching scholars have noted that they did not receive formal training to be an instructor in a higher education classroom during their graduate education (Tompkins, ), often learning by trial and error in the “sink‐or‐swim” approach without formal instruction or advance notice of the courses they were expected to teach (Fitzpatrick & Busby, , p. 55). Acknowledging this training deficit, universities in the United States and Canada (Innocente & Baker, ), for example, have initiated programs focused on preparing future faculty members. These programs are typically housed within the graduate school or college (e.g., Preparing the Future Professoriate at Virginia Tech) or within the university's teaching and learning center (e.g., Preparing Future Faculty at South Dakota State University).…”