Pedagogical training is a vital part of the SALC graduate program. All doctoral students are required to teach a number of courses according to the SALC Pedagogical Training Plan (PTP). To see the full PTP, click here: SALC PTP 2022. Students cannot teach outside of the PTP. Generally, students focus on their course requirements during the first and second year and fulfill the teaching requirements during the third through sixth years of the program.
By offering two different tracks, the SALC PTP recognizes the intellectual and disciplinary heterogeneity of our graduate program and the different teaching demands of institutions of higher education to which students are likely to apply in the future. Track 2 is available for students concentrating in language-based pedagogy and philology in one or more South Asian Languages.
The SALC PTP follows a 3 + 1 formula. Students hold a total of 4 teaching positions over the course of their program. In year 3 and 4, students complete a total of 3 teaching positions at the assistant level, each consisting of a course assistant position in a non-language course or a language mentorship in a language course. In year 5 or 6 students teach a stand-alone course. A special regulation applies to Track 2, where one of the 3 teaching positions can be a language lectureship instead of a language mentorship. Any student intending to teach in a language lectureship has to have taught in a language mentorship position first. Students teaching in a lectureship appointment serve as the instructor of record for the course.
Generally, all graduate students of our program should all be able to:
- design and teach introductory courses in the discipline
- design and teach introductory and upper-level courses in their subfield
- design effective assignments for a range of courses
- facilitate class discussion
- design and deliver effective lectures
- describe their approach to student learning and give reasons for their pedagogical choices
- apply the methods and approaches of undergraduate writing instruction
- apply the methods and approaches of inclusive pedagogy
In addition to the above listed goals, students taking Track 2 of the PTP should be able to: design and teach introductory and intermediate courses in their language(s) of specialization
- design and teach upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in which primary language sources are used, and/or in which the primary language is the language of instruction
- be attentive to contemporary standards of language acquisition pedagogy
Additional Pedagogical Training
In preparation for teaching, SALC requires that all students take the one-day “Teaching@Chicago” workshop (offered by CCT in Orientation week) before they enter the third year of the program. In addition, we recommend (but do not require) that all students take the “Fundamentals of Teaching” workshop (offered by CCT in weeks 2 to 5) and the CCT course on “Course Design and College Teaching” (CCTE 50000). We also recommend that they take the department’s “Teaching South Asia” course during their first three years in the program.
Teaching Opportunities
Departmental language courses provide a major venue for teaching. In addition, the two-quarter undergraduate course “Introduction to South Asian Civilizations” regularly involves the participation of graduate students as course assistants, and sometimes as lecturers. Since SALC can offer only a limited number of teaching assignments, students are encouraged to pursue teaching opportunities outside the department. Doctoral students in SALC regularly teach as writing interns in the College Core or serve as course assistants or stand-alone lecturers in undergraduate courses. The teaching positions must be in the Humanities Collegiate Division, the Social Sciences Collegiate Division, the Writing Program, or a departmental course in the College. We especially encourage students to pursue the position of Writing Intern in the Humanities Common Core courses through the University Writing Program. Being a writing intern in these courses provides valuable general experience and is an important qualification for the job market. Students wanting to work as a writing intern in the Core need to complete HUMA 50000, “Pedagogies of Writing,” or equivalent Writing Center workshops, in the Spring or Summer quarter before the year in which they intend to intern. The process of selection, both for the position and for the training sessions they require, is competitive.
In the spring quarter of their second year, students will consult with their advisers and the Director of Graduate Studies to create an individual PTP in accordance with the SALC PTP. We recognize that this individual PTP is provisional and may be subject to change as the student advances in the program
It is the student’s responsibility to seek teaching assignments and to apply for them in a timely manner through established procedures.
Lecturerships: Stand-Alone Content Courses
Lectureships are reserved for the fifth year or sixth year and require prior teaching experience. Stand-alone content courses (self-designed undergraduate courses) must be approved by the Department and the College. Neither the Department nor the College can guarantee that any given proposal will be approved. Proposals for stand-alone content courses in a given academic year have to be submitted to the Department Chair and Director of Graduate Studies by December of the previous year. A course proposal should consist of:
- a brief course description, stating the rationale, principal themes, and objectives of the course
- a section on course requirements and the grading scheme
- a syllabus listing required readings week by week
- a bibliography