Teacher Training

The Teaching Effectiveness Program sponsors workshops throughout the year on a wide-range of topics related to teaching and learning. See our Schedule of Events for workshops and classes running this term. During the first two weeks before fall term begins, we offer more comprehensive (full-day and half-day) teacher training sessions on Basic Teaching Skills, Teaching as a Sole Instructor and Large Class Teaching.

• Basic Teaching Skills

Activities and materials focus on: effective presentations, lesson planning, promoting critical thinking, motivating your students, facilitating discussions, grading, classroom management and more. This training is designed to help graduate teaching fellows whose first teaching assignment is a discussion section for the large class. This training would also be appropriate for anyone interested in the basics of teaching, someone who has only taught at the high school level, or someone returning to the classroom after a significant absence. For more resources about teaching for the first time see our 1st Time Teaching and Online Beginnings sections.

• Teaching as a Sole Instructor

Many of the same topics described above in the basic teaching skills training are addressed in more depth and coming from the position of being solely in charge of the classroom. We also include how to design a course, course goals and learning objectives, syllabus construction, inclusive teaching and how to deal with difficult situations with students. For more resources about teaching for the first time see our 1st Time Teaching section.

• Teaching Large Classes

Activities and materials focus on: the interactive lecture, communication strategies for large audiences, promoting deep learning in the large lecture course, group learning in the large class, classroom assessment techniques, working with GTFs and more. For more resources about teaching for the first time see our Teaching Large Classes section.

We are open to suggestions on training topics. We can also provide workshops designed to meet the specific needs of individual departments. Send suggestions and requests to tep@uoregon.edu.

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Additional Resources

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• Troubleshooting Your Class
  Remember, you're not alone. These questions arose during GTF training sessions and in personal consultations. Tap into the experiences of others or contribute some of your own.
• Grades and Grading: Issues and Approaches to Assessment
  Grades and grading provoke strong feelings in both instructors and students. Provided in this section of our site are resources for effective assessment approaches.
• Increasing Student Participation and Discussion
  How do you grab students' attention? What can you do to keep them actively engaged during class? This section of our site demonstrates the use of individual and small group activities, writing exercises, and mini-assessments designed to encourage deeper learning.
  
• Outside Help for Your Students
  No matter how well you teach, sometimes it is in everyone's best interest for a student to receive academic help beyond your class. Here are some useful handouts and resources.
• Getting Students to Prepare ( PDF 60K )
  What if you could get your class of 150 students to engage in the material without having to grade 150 homework assignments? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know your students completed the assigned reading before class? Imagine how great those final papers would be if students started sooner.
  
• From the Veterans: Advice and Issues to Consider
  TEP queried the 1997-98 GTFs about their first teaching experiences. The advice we received from these veteran GTFs raised some important issues that we'd like to share with you.
  
• Eugene for Recent Arrivals
  Eugene offers more than some might think.  From great food, to pleasant stores, to great concert venues, Eugene offers something for everyone. We listed some of our favorites.