Faculty mentoring of graduate students is an
integral component of the First
Year English Program. Many graduate students also take part
in Preparing Future Faculty activities on campus.
In addition, faculty members involve advanced
graduate students in teaching undergraduate courses besides First
Year English. These opportunities arise informally and are available
to doctoral students who are in ABD ("all but dissertation")
status, have at least two years' experience teaching First Year
English, and are making progress on the dissertation.
The nature of the mentoring is left to the judgment
of faculty members who supervise graduate student teaching. To
benefit fully from the experience, however, mentors and students
should take the following guidelines into account:
- Graduate students should receive
guidance on general principles of teaching literature and specific
suggestions about a particular class.
- Graduate students should have
the opportunity for extended observation of a course that the
mentor is teaching.
- Graduate students should conduct
at least one and preferably several lecture/discussion sections
of that class over the course of a semester.
- The mentor should offer oral and/or
written reviews of the student's contributions and make them
available to the student.
The student should agree to the following:
- Regular attendance at a class
taught by the mentor.
- Thorough and professional preparation
of any classes that the student conducts.
- Availability for conferences relating
to those classes.
