The Lead Network

The Graduate Teacher Program instituted its Lead Graduate Teacher Network in 1992 using funds provided by the Office of the Chancellor. Through the Lead Graduate Teacher Network, the GTP supports discipline-specific teacher training activities in over 45 graduate programs on the Boulder campus. Lead Graduate Teachers are selected by their departmental faculty and are trained by and report to the director of the Graduate Teacher Program. They are supervised by the Lead Graduate Teacher Network Coordinator throughout the academic year. Lead Graduate Teachers work with a home department faculty mentor to support graduate students who teach recitations, labs, or first-year classes in their home departments.

Faculty Mentor:
Each lead chooses a faculty mentor whose role is to guide and assist them. Faculty mentors are invited to two special social events each year to meet the director of the Graduate Teacher Program and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education.

The Lead Network is founded the philosophy that the value of a research institution lies in its interdisciplinary character. As a cross-campus network that brings together graduate teachers from over 45 departments, the Lead Network benefits from the knowledge and expertise of all disciplines and allows for an exchange of innovative ideas and strategies. Lead graduate teachers learn to be change agents in their departments, to lead workshops on teaching, to consult with graduate teachers on their teaching, and to carry out needs assessment.

The goal of the Lead Graduate Teacher Network is to bring all schools and colleges at the Boulder campus together to address common goals: the improvement of undergraduate teaching and the improved preparation and education of graduate students who plan faculty careers.

Lead Graduate Teachers are graduate instructors with a strong interest in teaching at the college or university level who have had three or more years of teaching experience and have maintained a minimum score of 3.0 or better on their FCQs. Lead Graduate Teachers are hired, paid, and supervised by the Graduate Teacher Program and serve as liaisons between the GTP and their home departments.

Training
Lead Graduate Teachers undergo a comprehensive training program. The week-long training takes place in May in preparation for the following academic year and introduces prospective Leads to important aspects of academic management and consultation at the university level. Leads are also introduced to essential aspects of learning theory. The training curriculum addresses academic management, consultation on teaching, and learning and teaching styles. Leads are provided with models for departmental TA training programs and learn to lead microteaching sessions, to perform videotape consultation, and to carry out non-evaluative classroom observation. Each Lead also receives a Lead Graduate Teacher Manual which contains the basic materials to be used in their home department TA training activities.

Responsibilities & Activities
The Lead Graduate Teachers assist with departmental training of new TAs. They may help faculty conduct a pre-semester teaching orientation and help TAs get off to a good start; observe and videotape them; and assist with requirements for the graduate teacher certification program.

Leads also address issues of concern to advanced TAs and GPTIs such as incorporating technology into teaching. According to the conditions and needs of their individual departments, they may:
• work with faculty to develop discipline-specific brown bags, workshops or colloquia
• lead microteaching sessions
• observe TA's classroom teaching
• hold office hours to consult with individual TAs
• provide videotape consultations
• organize and promote activities within their interdisciplinary clusters

Interdisciplinary Teams
During the training, Leads from related disciplines form small working teams which meet and work together throughout the year. The teams provide an interdisciplinary context to TA training activities throughout the year and promote the sharing of useful and interesting ideas between departments.

Evaluation
The Graduate Teacher Program conducts a yearly evaluation of the Lead Network and pays close attention to the comments received. Recently, a survey of past Leads showed a high degree of satisfaction with the Lead experience, as well as a positive correlation between the skills gained as a Lead and subsequent success on the job market either as faculty or outside academe. As one previous Lead puts it, "I am currently employed as an assistant professor and the Lead training that I received from the GTP helped me in many ways. It provided me with an edge when competing with a large number of candidates for a few positions. The skills that I obtained were invaluable in making the transition from graduate student to faculty member."

Contribution
The contribution of the Lead Graduate Teacher Network exists on several levels. First of all, its focus is on discipline-specific activities within each department, as a complement to the more generalized, campus-wide activities offered by the Graduate Teacher Program. Leads are encouraged to articulate the special knowledge and skills that teachers in their disciplines need to bring to the experience of teaching to facilitate deep learning in their classes. Second, the Lead Network provides an important resource within each department to assist with departmental TA training activities; it also provides an important peer resource for graduate instructors, and helps build a sense of community and commitment to teaching, both within the department and campus-wide. Further, it helps to ensure a high quality of undergraduate teaching on the part of graduate instructors and provides a forum for the exchange of worthwhile ideas on teaching across the campus. And most importantly, it is means of preparing future faculty. The Leads themselves gain considerable administrative and organizational experience, making the Lead experience an invaluable step in their professional development, regardless of the direction taken after graduation.

Commentary from Leads:

Teaching ...

"I appreciate all the training and support I have received from the Graduate Teacher Program. There is no doubt in my mind that my own teaching has improved this year as a result of being a Lead."

"Overall being the Lead TA has been a rewarding experience for me. I have been able to make the process of becoming a teacher easier on our department's TAs ... Not only did I participate in the process of teaching with the others, but I have learned quite a bit more about teaching than even I expected."

Faculty Development Opportunities ...

"The negotiation, consultation and presentation skills have been very important to my career."

"My experience as a Lead was professional development and it continues to serve me, both organizationally and professionally."

Career Development ...

"The most interesting feature of being a Lead was the response of faculty during my job interviews. Liberal arts schools, especially, seemed very impressed by the duties and commitments Leads have toward teaching excellence. For this opportunity, I remain grateful."

"In general, I have found few (if any) new faculty (at my new job) that have received the high quality training I received."

National Perspective ...

The Graduate Teacher Program's Lead Graduate Teacher Network "is clearly making a substantial impact on [the Leads'] professional development and altering the academic cultures of approximately 40 departments ... it provides a model other PFF sites might wish to consider and follow." -- James F. Slevin, Professor, Georgetown University, Site Evaluator for NPFF Project

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For More Information please contact
Lead Graduate Teacher Network
201 ATLAS, Campus Box 362
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309-0362
Telephone: (303)492-4902
Fax: (303)492-4904
Email: gtpleads@colorado.edu