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Teaching Certificate ProgramsWhy Earn a Sheridan Center Teaching Certificate? Teaching Certificate I Program: The Sheridan Teaching Seminar
Teaching Certificate II Program: The Classroom Tools Seminar Teaching Certificate III Program: The Professional Developmental Seminar Teaching Certificate IV Program: Graduate Language Technology *NB: You must register from an ON-CAMPUS computer. Why Earn a Sheridan Center Teaching Certificate? In today's increasingly competitive academic job market, more emphasis is being put on teaching.
When Brown graduate students enter the job market, they are asked to present not only their scholarly credentials, but also evidence of their commitment to teaching.
Earning a Sheridan Center Teaching Certificate is a tangible way to demonstrate that commitment.
The Center's three Teaching Certificate programs are designed to help graduate students develop a reflective teaching practice.
A reflective teaching practice has four fundamental components: an understanding that effective teaching requires careful planning; knowledge of one's audience and the ability to accommodate different learning styles; a recognition of the importance of establishing learning goals (and means to determine if such goals have been achieved); and a willingness to be innovative. The Sheridan Center's Teaching Certificate I program, established in 1987, helps graduate students prepare for their roles as instructors.
The Center has awarded Certificate I to over 700 Brown graduate students, many of whom have secured teaching positions at universities and colleges in the United States and abroad.
The Teaching Certificate II program focuses upon teaching tools that instructors may wish to implement in efforts to reach the broadest possible learning population.
The Teaching Certificate III program for advanced graduate students emphasizes the scholarship of teaching and the development of a teaching portfolio providing evidence of professional development, whether in preparation for the academic job search or tenure and promotion.
All Teaching Certificates (I, II and III) are awarded at the annual Awards Ceremony.
A brief description of each certificate program and its requirements follows. This program is intended to assist graduate students who may have had little or no teaching experience. It addresses the immediate needs of students serving as Teaching Assistants, teaching their own courses, or participating in the Brown/Wheaton Teaching Laboratory in the Liberal Arts. The seminar is organized around basic issues they will confront throughout their careers. The program has four basic requirements: (1) participation in the Sheridan Teaching Seminar Lectures and Workshops, (2) participation in a departmental Micro-Teaching Session, (3) completion of an Individual Teaching Consultation and (4) submission of a formal summary evaluation. Each of these requirements is described in detail below. For a calendar of this year's Certificate I seminars and workshops, click here. Requirements:
The seminar consists of five lectures, each followed by a relevant interactive workshop, usually held the following week.
Organized by the departmental Faculty Liaison, Micro-Teaching sessions offer an opportunity to do a practice-teaching session and get feedback from
colleagues within a specific discipline, as well as general feedback from a Sheridan Center staff member.
In a micro-teaching session, each participant gives a five-minute mock teaching lesson on a chosen subject
with explicit pedagogical goals and then receives feedback on his/her teaching style in general and his/her
effectiveness in achieving the stated goals. These sessions are usually conducted in a small group (~four presenters)
from within a department. Each participant has an opportunity to see how others perceive his/her teaching style,
to observe and evaluate a variety of teaching approaches, and to learn how to share observations constructively
with others. The sessions must be attended by at least one departmental faculty member (usually the departmental Faculty Liaison) and a Sheridan Center staff member. In addition, the department's Graduate Student Liaison is expected to attend.
In an ITC, trained consultants observe and videotape your lecture, discussion section, lab, recitation, etc., and then provide feedback on your teaching methods and style. The instructor (observee) arranges for an Individual Teaching Consultation by filling in an online request form at least two weeks prior to the observed session. In the form, the observee informs the teaching consultants of the goals he/she has set for the specific class they will observe. During the observation, the consultants then assess how well the instructor meets those goals and other aspects of the lesson, such as the kind of learning environment that the instructor creates, how he or she interacts with students, and the pace and volume of the instructor's delivery. After the class, the consultants meet with the observee and provide him or her with a confidential written report of their observations and comments. The observee may keep the videotape for personal reference. For further information, see the ITC procedures.
Because the Sheridan Center believes that the implementation of feedback mechanisms is imperative for success in teaching, each Teaching Certificate I candidate evaluates the Sheridan Teaching Seminar program at the end of the academic year. Filling out the evaluation form is the final requirement for a Teaching Certificate I. If you are interested in participating in the Sheridan Teaching Seminar Certificate I Program, please click here to sign-up. This teaching certificate program is based upon the premise that employing a variety of teaching tools allows instructors to engage a wide range of students. The six sessions of this seminar introduce and explore a variety of tools that instructors may wish to utilize in their classrooms in order to reach the broadest possible learning population. Topics may include class discussions and interactive learning; assessment for learning; writing assignments and feedback; teaching with artifacts and objects; wikis, blogs and PowerPoint; multimedia presentations. The sessions are offered as a year-long course, however, if necessary participants may attend the seminar over the course of several years.
If you are interested in participating in the Classroom Tools Seminar: Certificate II Program, please click here to sign-up.
For the dates of this year's Classroom Tools Seminar, click here. Teaching Certificate III Program: The Professional Development Seminar Ongoing professional development is an important part of a graduate student's final preparation to leave the University and become a faculty member. Organized around the concept of the Teaching Portfolio and its component parts, and designed to help participants prepare for the academic job market, the Professional Development Seminar teaches participants to document the scholarship of their teaching as thoroughly as they document the scholarship of their research. The six-session seminar, which has separate sections for those in the humanities and social sciences and those in the life and physical sciences, is designed specifically for graduate students in their penultimate year and for postdocs. Participants must have already have earned Certificate I. During the sessions, participants will work on key elements of the Teaching Portfolio (e.g. writing teaching philosophy statements, constructing syllabi) and other critical aspects of their professional development (e.g. preparing CVs, writing cover letters, preparing for job interviews). The seminar culminates in the creation and presentation of individually designed Teaching Portfolios, which participants may develop throughout their careers as part of their overall academic portfolios. The sessions are offered as a year-long course, however, if necessary participants may attend the seminar over the course of several years.
If you are interested in participating in the Professional Development Seminar: Certificate III Program, please click here to sign-up. For the dates of this year's Professional Development Seminar, click here. Teaching Certificate IV Program: Graduate Language TechnologyCertificate Program The Language Resource Center, in cooperation with the Center for Language Studies and the Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, offers this certificate program to help graduate students learn how to effectively use technology in the teaching of languages, literatures and cultures. Topics covered in the five sessions of the program include: Local and Global, Integrating Technology into the Classroom, Course Management Systems and WebCT, Computer-mediated Communication, and Creating an E-portfolio. Graduate students in all languages, literatures and cultures departments are welcome.
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