Whether as documentaries or mass media, films can engage students and enliven class discussions. Yet if film and televisual media are typically used to support and illustrate disciplinary ideas and facts, how can we elevate these media as primary texts and teach students to engage them in their own terms? Specifically, how can we teach our students to use disciplinary concepts to interpret the material and semantic heterogeneity of films and how can students express rich understandings? Participants take part in sample activities that they can take to their classes, such as using digital video editing to “deconstruct” films while connecting disciplinary ideas with film narratives and forms.
Thursday, January 26, 3:30-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

In this series, faculty members distinguished for their teaching offer reflections on their own development and practice as teachers. Lunch will be provided.
Thursday, March 15, 12:15-1:20 p.m. in 330 Frist: Prof. Melissa Lane (POL)

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Our popular master class focuses on lecture design and presentation. In this 5-part series, participants discuss, design and practice course lectures in sessions framed by research on student learning and guidance from McGraw Center directors. In the first meeting, participants consider research on student attention and learning in lectures and brainstorm possibilities for increasing student engagement in class lectures. Then, in the 3 subsequent weeks, participants design and present their own plans for a course lecture and deliver a 10-minute portion of them for practice and feedback from the group. In the final session, a panel of several Princeton faculty members discusses their approaches to the craft of lecturing and responds to participants’ questions. This workshop is limited to 12 participants who commit to attend all sessions and present a lecture plan and mini-lecture.
Monday, February 6, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist
Monday, February 13, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist
Monday, February 27, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist
Monday, March 5, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist
Monday, March 12, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

In this workshop we will discuss issues that lecturers face by considering research on student learning, with an emphasis on student attention and memory retention in lectures. In light of what we know about how students learn in lectures, the workshop will enable participants to reflect on their goals for giving lectures in their disciplinary courses and they will begin to design new strategies for engaging students and making lectures a more effective context for learning.
Wednesday, April 11, 3:30-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

Teaching statements have become important in academic job searches as more and more colleges and universities are requesting them from applicants for faculty positions. This workshop will introduce participants to the concept of the teaching statement and present recent research on how search committees interpret them. We will also discuss how writing a statement can serve as a valuable means of enhancing one’s own teaching strategies. This workshop will provide a context for participants to start writing their own statements by drafting key elements of them that draw on their teaching experiences and their goals for their students.
Wednesday, April 18, 3:30-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

This is a seminar for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who will begin new faculty appointments in Fall 2012 that provides an introduction to professional skills and information that new faculty members need. Guest speakers, readings and activities address topics that include: getting off to a good start in the promotion and tenure process, managing the demands of teaching and research, lecturing, understanding how students learn, and course design. Participants are expected to attend all sessions.  
Mondays, May 7, 14, and 21, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

The dissertation is a product not only of disciplinary research and writing, it entails work practices that scholars will bring into their academic careers. In this workshop, we discuss issues in the dissertation writing process: the challenges of unstructured time, achieving focus and intellectual creativity, and organizing effective peer writing groups that produce useful feedback. Participants will reflect on their own work patterns and use empirical research on productive practices among academics in order to identify and establish effective habits that they can draw on to have a successful academic summer that will positively shape their careers as scholars and faculty.
Thursday, June 7, 3:30-5:00 p.m. in 330 Frist

Space is limited at our workshops. Please email us to indicate your plan to attend specific workshops at:

smoskovi@princeton.edu