Problem Although it theoretically constitutes up to 50% of my and my colleague's teaching loads, very few of us have been trained specifically to teach graduate students. As a result, many of us either practice the same pedagogy that we have learned to use in the undergraduate classroom, or we simply replicate our own graduate-school experiences. I have found that this does not always work well; graduate students have many concerns that are specific to them, the liminal state of advanced student/novice teacher among them. As a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow, I will investigate which classroom strategies are the most effective when teaching graduate students, and will, therefore, consider the following question: "Do assignments that mimic professor activities help graduate students to derive meaning from graduate classes, specifically seminars?"

Evidence of Student Learning and Methods of Analysis The methods I will use to conduct research include: 1) Pre-/Post-class Surveys: I will survey students both within my class, and within the department as a whole to find out what they understand to be a seminar and what they understand to be a professional activities specific to our discipline. 2) Writing Assignments: I will ask students to write short reflections (including affective response papers and meta-cognitive assessments ) about their experience in seminars. I may also ask them to keep journals about heir professional development. 3) Questionnaires: I will use course evaluations and other types of questionnaires to quiz students about their response to para-professional activities done for the class. 4) Quantitative Data: Course evals (as indicative of satisfaction); grades (as indicative of success); Time to degree data; Job placement data.

Methodology I have integrated the major professional activities of the language/literature profession into my graduate seminar by: 1) Posting a call for papers instead of assigning traditional paper topics. Asking students to respond with a cover letter, CV, and proposal, as they would for a real conference. 2) Creating a mini-conference in which students present their work in the standard 20-minute and then receive questions and comments from colleagues. 3) Asking students to collaborate to develop their conference presentations into journal-length/quality articles. Requiring students to research possible venues of publication to which they submit their articles. Having them turn in a cover letter with the article in lieu of a more traditional final paper.

List of Helpful Resources & References Barrie, Simon C. "A Conceptual Framework for the Teaching and Learning of Generic Graduate Attributes." Studies in Higher Education 32.4 (2007): 439. Benigni, Vince. "Developing the Teacher Scholar... A Call for the New Professoriate the Graduate Teaching Academy." Journalism & Mass Communication Educator 61.4 (2007): 358. Cooper, Amy, and Dawn Bikowski. "Writing at the Graduate Level: What Tasks do Professors Actually Require?" Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2007, 6, 3, July 6.3 (2007): 206-21. Denicolo, Pam. "Doctoral Supervision of Colleagues: Peeling Off the Veneer of Satisfaction and Competence." Studies in Higher Education 29.6 (2004): 693. Farris, Christine, and Mary Favret. "Teaching the Teaching of Literature." Peer Review 6.3 (2004): 16. Gunzenhauser, Michael G., and Cynthia I. Gerstl-Pepin. "Engaging Graduate Education: A Pedagogy for Epistemological and Theoretical Diversity." Review of Higher Education 29.3 (2006): 319. Horwitz, Richard. "On Teaching: Teaching about Method." American Studies 31.1 (1990): 103. Kirby, Dawn Latta. "Achieving Balance in Graduate Programs: Negotiating Best Practices." English Education 39.1 (2006): 5. Klenowski, Val, and Ingrid Lunt. "Enhancing Learning at Doctoral Level through the use of Reflection?" Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 33.2 (2008): 203. Porter, Laurence M. "A Teacher-Training Course for Graduate Students in Literature and Culture." PMLA.Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 115.5 (2000): 1262. Virginia Crisco, Chris W. Gallagher, Deborah Minter, Katie Hupp Stahlnecker, and John Talbird. "Graduate Education as Education:the Pedagogical Arts of Institutional Critique." Pedagogy 3.3 (2003): 359-76. SoTL Publications From ISSoTL.org website

Preliminary Findings and Conclusions Survey Results: I asked questions to the eight students enrolled in the class about the following topics: What constitutes a seminar? How are seminars related (if at all) to the activities of the profession (and what these activities are)? What role does collaboration with peers play in their course work and in professional research? How do students feel about working with their peers, and do they consider it a worthwhile research method? In the survey distributed at the beginning of the semester, I discovered that students did not have a clear understanding of how seminars are different from other classes, although they did have the impression that they should be different. They were unclear about the relationship between seminars and classes. In the mid-semester survey, students had a much clearer understanding of what a seminar is, what scholarly activities are, and how peer collaboration is an integral part of the profession. They expressed satisfaction both with working with their classmates, and with the course as a whole. In-class Performance and Grades: Grades on oral presentations and written assignments have been, on average, slightly higher than in similar classes than in those I’ve previously taught . Students have understood what is expected of them and have demonstrated more interest in the assignments. They have worked more willingly and effectively with their peers, which has improved their working methods and the outcomes of their research.

Career Relevance and Impact My experience in this class has helped me developed a signature pedagogy for graduate seminars that consists of: 1) organizing the class period with various distinct activities, and revealing both the order and the purpose to students at the beginning of the class 2) providing information about the pedagogical motivations for activities, as well as opportunities for meta-cognitive reflection to get students to understand the reasons behind class activities and their involvement in them 3) linking all work to the class to the greater goal of becoming independent researchers and effective scholars.