It’s back – our favoured tradition here at the University of Windsor where faculty, students, and staff gather every Fall for a unique day of workshopping called GATAcademy. This means a full day of teaching and learning workshops designed especially for graduate assistants (GAs) and teaching assistants (TAs). This year, the tradition continues on Wednesday, September 7th. Will you be joining us?
You can be the first to register by visiting http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/98/. Here you’ll find detailed descriptions of each workshop and brief introductions from the talented individuals leading them.
Being a GA or TA is a truly unique experience. That’s partly because no two GA/TA positions are the same, but it’s also because of the incredible impact those roles can have on your personal and professional development. GATAcademy is all about making sure GAs/TAs are fully prepared for the exciting opportunities before them. Whether you’re a GA/TA for the first time this Fall, or even if you’ve been a GA/TA a dozen times before, GATAcademy is a chance to refresh, review, and reconnect. Consider GATAcademy an open invitation to get in touch with your student teacher identity and meet some other student teachers along the way. Come with questions; leave with answers and resources on where to find them. GATAcademy is the first step towards building your new support network.
Here’s the best part: the whole event is FREE to GAs and TAs. That includes a FREE lunch.
The Details
What: GATAcademy 2016: A Day of Personal and Professional Development
When: Wednesday, September 7th, 2016
9:00am – 2:30pm
Where: Odette Building
Who: GAs, TAs, and students interested in teaching and learning are all welcome
We’ve collected a group of seasoned veterans from the UWindsor teaching circuit to lead this year’s workshops, including a few national award winners. The day will be broken into three sessions, and participants register for individual workshops, so your participation can be as full or as limited as you see fit. Many workshops will be repeated in more than one session, so you can build your schedule to avoid missing out on your favourite topics.
Workshops and presenters will include as follows:
- Assisting with Marking with Alexandra Gayowsky, Marissa Reaume
- Conducting Effective Labs and Tutorials with Phil Graniero, Jacqueline Stagner
- Culturally Competent Communication, Teaching & Learning with Marcela Ciampa
- How do you know when your teaching is working with Jenni Hotte
- Individual Differences in Students and Academic Risk-Taking with Ashlyne O’Neil , Joan Craig , Kathryn Lafreniere
- Teaching with Technology with Elizabeth Ismail, Alicia Higgison
- Designing Lessons with Pierre Boulos, Michelle Krieger
- Ethical Issues Encountered by GAs and TAs with Kathryn Lafreniere, Kristin Schramer
- Introducing Blackboard with Tim Au-Yeung, Tomas Dobos, Allyson Skene, Lorna Stolarchuk
- Student, Researcher, Teaching Assistant: Balancing the Demands of Graduate School with Ashlyne O’Neil , Joan Craig
- The First Day with Dwayne Barris, Kristy Smith
- Copyright, Publishing and Open Access with Dave Johnston
Register Today
These workshops tend to fill up fast, so make sure you register ASAP to guarantee a seat in those workshops you find most interesting. Visit http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/98/ to register today!
This is also your chance to register for the FREE lunch. Once you have, be sure to email Marilyn at ctlworkshops@uwindsor.ca with any allergies or dietary needs (no later than 12:00 pm on Wednesday, August 26th, 2016).
CALL for VOLUNTEERS!
What do you love most about GATAcademy?
If FREE FOOD and making new friends interests you, we have a wonderful opportunity being offered.
We are looking for volunteers for our annual GATAcademy, a full-day professional development event for graduate assistants (GAs) and teaching assistants (TAs). That means a full day of workshops designed to help you improve as a teacher, a professional, and a person (not that we’re saying you need it). GATAcademy is an opportunity for new and returning GA/TAs – and really just anyone interested in teaching and learning – to ask questions, share strategies, and hopefully gain the type of clarity and confidence that squashes all those nagging fears we have as educators.
The 2016 GATAcademy will be held in the Odette building at the University of Windsor on September 7, 2016.
We are looking for volunteers to be part of our team hosting this conference. There are various positions available for you – room hosts, registration assistants, way finders, signage managers, food and refreshment assistants, and social media. Volunteer training takes place on August 31, September 1, or September 2, 2016 (although, you only need to sign up for one training session).
To register as a volunteer go to http://uwindsor.fluidsurveys.com/s/gatacademy2016/. At this site you will indicate your preferences for days/times and positions and training time.
We recognize that you will be giving of your time and energy, and it will be worth it. Consider volunteering for this amazing opportunity to meet new people and expand your knowledge of public relations, event planning and management. Go the link above to register- and get a few friends to do so as well!
For more information on the event, visit http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/98/
The following post was written by our University of Windsor Visiting Teaching Fellow, James Paterson.
Myself, my wife and my two young children have been in your beautiful country less than a fortnight and what an incredible privilege it is to share a few personal thoughts about New Zealand and on teaching with you all. Canadians are special people; understated, friendly, humble, hardworking and enthusiastic, which are attributes that New Zealanders love and admire. New Zealanders adore these values because they reach out to people, they connect people and they add enormous value to families, friendships and communities.
On my first day on campus I was unsure of where or how to get to my office in the Centre of Teaching and Learning, which I now know is on the 2nd Floor of Lambton Tower. Not only was I jet lagged and sleep deprived from travelling some 20 plus hours with young children but my 11 year old daughter Ella, became very sick on arrival at Windsor so I spent from 10pm till 3am up at a local hospital’s Emergency department, waiting to see a doctor.
I asked a young Canadian lady for directions and at first she couldn’t fully understand my accent, but she was patient, she was friendly and courteous and once we understood each other, she smiled and said “follow me, I’ll show you”. For her, I doubt now that 12 days later, she would be able to even recall her act of kindness that she offered a lost and tired Kiwi, but for me it will be a memory of Canada and the type of people who work at the University of Windsor that I will likely take to my grave.
My point is when dealing with people, the little things matter and this is especially the case when people are put in new situations or new environments. Where they are unsure of what to do, with people they don’t know, with systems and process they are unaware of or at best are unfamiliar with. I think you’ll agree that some similarities might exist for students in Day 1 of one of your classes. It would be reasonable to expect students might be uncertain, anxious, nervous, wanting to just fit in with their peers or like me, arrive late to class because I was confused and unsure of the campus layout.
Maybe a good strategy on the first few sessions of a semester is to make students feel comfortable in class, by spending little if any time on content, and concentrate more of your efforts on building the foundations of a good learning space, by building student confidence, class cohesion and interpersonal relationships so that students are ready and committed to their learning. In New Zealand we call this process building student mana and building a sense of whanua. Translated this means enhancing a student’s personal pride and self-esteem, and creating a family of learners in the class, where learners collaborate and help each other rather than compete for grades against one another. Could I suggest also that as you think of differing ways to achieve this, don’t forget that the little things you do in these first few sessions, might be rather insignificant to you, but could be an entirely life changing moment for one or more of your students.
James Paterson
Visiting Teaching Fellow, University of Windsor
Visit the CTL Visiting Fellows site to learn more about James: http://odette.uwindsor.ca/ctl/paterson
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