“Dissertating” is a term often used to describe the time between defending your dissertation proposal and the actual public presentation of your final dissertation. In the past, I’ve taken this to mean long hours thoughtfully sipping tea and typing away at my laptop, but since I’ve been All But Dissertation (ABD), I’ve come to […]
If you’re lucky enough to have a teaching assistantship, you know that summer classes can be an extremely rewarding experience. Here in mid-Michigan, the sunny summer weather puts everyone in a good mood, getting dressed means putting on a sundress or shorts, and the exodus of most students means ample parking […]
One of the most exciting aspects of grad school is the opportunity to engage with senior scholars in your chosen field. For grads of color, this can also be an opportunity to meet one of the few professors in your field that not only shares your research interests, but […]
In the grand scheme of grad life, teaching responsibilities loom large. Teaching is an important part of the professor’s mission and learning to teach every student well is a rewarding process that hopefully begins with your first class. In academic spaces, mentioning the word “inclusion” to grads and faculty has eye-turning effects. Some […]
In grad school, wellness, defined here as the deliberate choice to harmonize the physical, emotional, social, and mental aspects of ourselves, can seem like a Rubiks cube. Luckily, there are many hacks such as apps, to help grads put it together by becoming more aware of these facets of themselves. Then, building on this […]
Technology. Even the word is enough to send some TAs into a tizzy. After all, some TAs’ worst nightmares concern pouring over a presentation for hours, only to have a faulty internet connection, damaged jump drive, or other “helpful” technology fail in front of their class. In this post, we will […]
One of the challenges to teaching with technology is helping students figure out the “who”, “what”, and “how” of internet messages. As a grad instructor of “Human Diversity, Power, and Schools”, a course that centers on issues of difference, this challenge coincides with a key concept: social construction, or the idea that […]
