A Celebration of Teaching!

October 29th - November 1st 2018

Do you ever wish that you had an opportunity to sit in on your colleagues’ classes? Would you like to be able to see what techniques other faculty use to run discussions and encourage student participation? Are you curious about how classes in other disciplines differ from your own? Would you like to have a conversation about your own teaching in an informal setting not at all connected to the tenure and review process?

For four days (from October 29th - November 1st), faculty will be opening up their classrooms to each other to share techniques, jumpstart pedagogical dialogue, and celebrate all of the wonderful teaching that takes place at Sewanee every day.

The idea for the Celebration of Teaching developed out of feedback from participants in the Team Observing Peers (TOP) program, with the goal of offering an opportunity to observe and learn from each other’s work with a more manageable time commitment. Similar programs have been successful at Vanderbilt, Centre, Furman, Brown, and elsewhere, and we think this has the potential to be a wonderful way to lift up all the great work that we are doing here at Sewanee.

The goal of the Celebration of Teaching is to open up space for us to learn from each other and celebrate each other’s work. With that in mind, all faculty are invited to participate: every discipline, every rank, and every level of experience. These are not “masterclasses” in which teaching “superstars” show off their perfectly polished routines; it’s an opportunity for all of us to share what we do well and generate ideas on areas we’re looking to improve. This program has been put together by the CFT advisory board.

The CFT has an exciting menu of classes already lined up, and we would be happy to add yours! Interested? Or want to visit a colleague’s class? See all the signup and volunteer info, plus info about a reception to cap off the week, at the link below! We'll add more classes as more of you volunteer to open your classroom doors. Thanks to all who have already agreed to do so. We're really looking forward to this!