The LLCL Teaching Insights Series Training Programme is a teacher training initiative that aims to help Monash University HDR students become reflective teaching practitioners.

Why? 

Teaching is one of the most important functions of academics at a university. However, it is often challenging for HDR students to fit in teacher-training opportunities within their research schedules prior to starting their first job. The aim of this programme is to provide HDR students with valuable teaching skills, build fundamental classroom management skills, help them develop their pedagogical reasoning, and, most importantly, help them reflect on their classroom experience.

How? 

Through short (60-minute) informal awareness-raising/teacher training sessions. Students can develop a folder (portfolio) of materials that they can keep for further reference and use in their future teaching.

Who?

This is aimed at

• PhD and Master's students from LLCL who are teaching or considering teaching language or content units in their discipline.

There are plans to make these courses open to ECR teachers on a voluntary basis.

What? 

The LLCL Teaching Insights Series consists of a short series of one-hour long teacher training sessions aimed at tertiary level classrooms. The sessions cover teaching in both content and language classrooms. Topics covered include the following:

Each session consists of awareness-raising tasks and interactive and informative activities designed to encourage reflection on teaching practice.

Sessions are taught by experienced teaching practitioners from Monash Korean Studies, however, we welcome expressions of interest from any teachers who wish to lead a session currently not covered in the programme.

Upon request, we prepare a certificate for HDR students that records the classes they have attended and the topics covered.

Classroom Observation

As part of the programme, we also encourage participants to attend tutorials/workshops conducted by experienced teachers at  LLCL on a voluntary basis. The aim is not for participants to evaluate or criticise teaching practice. Participants are provided with a Classroom Observation task sheet designed to encourage them to observe and reflect on their own teaching. Participants are also asked to follow basic protocol when observing classes (contacting teachers ahead of time to arrange observations, arriving on time etc). We match participants with teachers who volunteer to have HDR students observe their teaching.

Link to Classroom Observation Task Worksheet

Link to Classroom Observation Protocol Guidance

If you are interested in allowing an HDR student to observe one of your classes, please contact Sandy Nguyen (sandy.nguyen1@monash.edu) and fill in information about your class on this shared spreadsheet.

If you are an HDR student and are interested in receiving more information about the LLCL Teaching Insights Series Training Programme, then please contact Sandy Nguyen (sandy.nguyen1@monash.edu)

If you are interested in contributing to an input session to the LLCL Teaching Insights Series Training Programme, then please contact Sandy Nguyen (sandy.nguyen1@monash.edu)

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Classroom observation opportunities for HDRs

We have designed some training opportunities for HDR students to get more teaching-related experience. In addition to thematic training sessions in the LLCL Teaching Insight Series, we have designed a structured class observation task. The idea is that HDRs can sit in on classes, observe the teaching, complete a structured class observation worksheet and reflect on what they have observed.

The worksheet was designed by Andy Jackson based on the recent teacher training sessions. The function of the worksheet is not evaluation of the class but reflection on the observed practices to allow participants to build up their own tool kit for classroom management, engaging students, etc. The idea is to help develop practitioners capable of reflecting on their own classroom practice.

We are now trialling this initiative with units from Korean Studies and Linguistics for the three remaining weeks of Semester 1 (Weeks 10, 11, 12), i.e. starting next week (Week 10). The class observations are open to HDRs from all disciplines (i.e. not just Korean and Linguistics).

If you are interested in general teaching skill feel free to observe classes outside your own study area. If the types of classes you would like to observe are not offered on this spreadsheet you can list suggestions at the bottom of the Intro tab and we'll try to take them into account as we extend the program.

How to join

If you would like to observe a class

Check the spreadsheet for the available units and weeks. There are more tabs than are visible at once. Use the < > buttons to navigate and see them all.

Add your name under a free week in the yellow field. Make sure you are free during the class time. Double-check which campus the class is on – Clayton or Caulfield!

Download the Classroom observation worksheet. (You can add your own fields for notes on specific areas you would like to reflect on.)

Review the Observer Guidelines tab.

Email the teacher of the session you would like to observe. Include the subject line “Class Observation UNIT CODE” (replace “Unit Code” by the actual code!). In the email state exactly which class/session you are hoping to observe and ask the teacher about the room details.