Faculty Lounge, 135
Cliché, Connection, and the Teaching Statement
In this workshop, Dr. Caz Batten will share their expertise as this year’s Job Placement Officer on writing a successful teaching statement. Together, we’ll discuss the teaching statement’s generic conventions as well as how to construct a statement unique to your personal teaching philosophy and experience. Students will leave this workshop with key questions to […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
The No-Tech or Low-Tech Classroom
Limiting electronic devices in class has become an increasingly popular way to improve student focus and create community. Michele Margolis of Political Science and Dominique Ruggieri from Public Health will begin this conversation by talking about how they have limited device use in class, what the results have been and how they have responded to student pushback […]
251 Kelley Research Building (formally known as Biomedical Research Building)
Beyond Your Expertise: Adapting to the Teaching Needs of a Department
As PhD students, we develop deep expertise in highly specialized fields. But what happens when the teaching needs of a department do not directly align with our area of research? In this workshop, Dr. Mike Kane will lead a discussion on how to recognize and leverage the broader knowledge and skills we bring to the […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Teaching in the Age of AI: STEM
Generative AI is transforming the way students learn, solve problems, and approach coursework bringing both exciting possibilities and new challenges to STEM education. As TAs, you are on the front lines of this evolving landscape. This interactive workshop will explore how AI is changing the skills students develop, how it impacts teaching and learning, and […]
301C
Games in the Classroom
Playing games as a class activity is fun, engaging, and probably easier than you think. In this workshop we’ll cover why you might want to do this and how to go about it successfully. We might even play a game. All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Linguistics department, […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Incorporating Active Learning into Your Classroom
Active learning can spark curiosity, engagement, and confidence for both the instructor and students when approaching new or difficult concepts. This workshop will offer an overview of practical tips and active learning strategies that can promote student engagement with the course material and make learning stick. It will also unpack how instructors might differently perceive […]
04-031
Teaching Coding in the Age of AI
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Epidemiology department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Time Management for Graduate Instructors
Balancing teaching, research, and personal life demands can be challenging. In this interactive workshop, participants will tackle the time management challenges in TA roles, think through practical solutions, and share helpful strategies to confidently set effective boundaries for teaching.
117
Evolution of Teaching and Tips for Finding Out What Works Best for You in a Classroom
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Biology department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
104
How to Design Field Trips to Expand Student Understanding of Complex Problems
Getting students off of Penn’s campus is a powerful way to help them see a much wider perspective on class materials, but to get students to learn from these outings, instructors have to plan carefully. In this session Emily Steiner of English and Caroline Jones of Anthropology will talk about their experiences leading first-year seminar field trips […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Grading, Feedback, and Time Efficiency as Teaching Methods
Grades are an inherent part of a student’s life. What often gets overlooked, though, is that grading offers instructors the opportunity to evaluate a student’s progress and to adjust their own teaching as the course progresses. In this interactive workshop, instructors will discuss approaches to grading and providing meaningful feedback for various types of assignments, […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Encouraging Students to Reflect on AI Use
To use AI effectively, students must use their own judgment and discernment to evaluate results and develop effective prompting strategies. Ben Sirolly of Law and Jennifer Valerio of GSE will start this conversation by talking about how they help students develop those skills through reflection assignments.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Applied AI: Build-a-Bot Workshop
Many generative AI platforms now enable users to create custom chatbots without computer programming experience. Custom bots are useful for repeatable tasks or interactions that depend on a specific knowledge base or behavior. Participants will learn how to build, test, and modify a custom bot to assist with a teaching-related task using a Penn-licensed AI tool. Please bring a laptop to participate in this hands-on session.
300
Teaching While Building a Research Career: Finding the Balance as Early-Career Faculty
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the School of Nursing, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Effective Lecturing
While lectures are a mainstay in teaching, graduate students often don’t receive training specific to lecturing. In this session, we will discuss helpful considerations in lecture preparation, style, and delivery. Participants will reflect on the differences in preparing research talks and lectures and collaborate to identify strategies that may be helpful in their teaching roles.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Student-to-Student In-Class Collaboration in the Age of AI
In-class collaborations allow students to learn from each other, but students often turn to AI for answers rather than one another. Sudeep Bhatia from Psychology and Bob Johnson of Physics will kick off this conversation about how student interaction can include AI without shutting down the peer-to-peer learning process.
356
Presenting Your Scholarly Identity: Developing Your Teaching and Research Statements
In this session, Dr. María Cioè-Peña will lead an interactive workshop to help students develop successful teaching and research statements. We will explore ways to translate our research interests and teaching philosophies to a broad audience. This workshop may be particularly useful for students preparing for careers in education research in the near future. All […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Working With Struggling Students
Struggling with new material is a normal part of learning. But in any classroom, especially a large one where students arrive with different backgrounds and learning speeds, some students will struggle more than others. This workshop is about how TAs can support those students. Participants will discuss how to recognize when a student is struggling, […]
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Clinical Teaching and Student AI Use
Students pursuing professional degrees in the health sciences will use AI in their professional life. Yet clinical instructors are anxious that overreliance on AI in their clinical education will result in students’ inability to use their own judgement. In this conversation, clinical instructors from Nursing and PSOM will talk about their own strategies as well […]
Faculty Lounge, 135
Pedagogy in Progress
This interactive workshop offers students the opportunity to speak with a panel of graduate instructors and English professor Dr. Lilith Todd as they reflect on their pedagogy’s development across each stage of teaching. From grading and leading a recitation, to lecturing outside of the department, to teaching graduate students, attendees will gain a sense of […]
05-031
Teaching Methods to a Clinical Audience
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Epidemiology department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Making Your Teaching Accessible to All Your Students
Welcoming teaching practices, intentional course design, and thoughtful communication can reduce barriers to learning and support student success. Through practical examples, personal reflection, and collaborative discussion, this workshop explores how to recognize when students may need additional support and how to respond in ways that promote learning without compromising academic rigor. Participants will leave with […]
108
What Should Assessment Assess? Good Practices, New Challenges
How can we design assessments that help students learn while giving us meaningful evidence of what they understand? Professors Jennifer Morton and Errol Lord will lead a conversation about the purposes and possibilities of assessment, including how different formats can support different kinds of learning. We’ll then consider how generative AI complicates assessment and how […]
204
Grading Translations
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Classical Studies department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Encouraging Students to Talk about Political Topics
In the contentious climate of 2026, students often avoid discussing material which they perceive as controversial. Dennis Culhane of SP2 and Hannah Feldman of History of Art will start this conversation by sharing their own strategies for getting students to discuss topics on which students might disagree.
117
How to Find an Aspect of Your Discipline That You Enjoy Teaching
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the Biology department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
301C
How to Facilitate Dialogues on Controversial Topics
This workshop will discuss ways to create the right conditions to encourage students from different backgrounds to have a voice in your classroom while they work together and learn from each other. We will discuss collaboration-oriented classrooms and the instructor's role as a facilitator, as well as how to navigate some of the controversial topics […]
Penn IUR Conference Room, G12
From Formal to Fluid: Unpacking Relationship Dynamics in Classrooms
All graduate students are welcome. This event grows out of concerns in the City and Regional Planning department, and so may be most useful to students in related fields. Counts toward the CETLI Teaching Certificate.
CETLI Seminar Room, 134
Giving Students Effective and Motivating Feedback on Their Writing
Feedback is crucial to improving student writing, but students often don’t seem to take advantage of it. Herman Beavers from English and Jessica Simon of Law will begin the discussion by talking about how they craft feedback so that students are motivated and able to improve.
1412 Kelley Research Building (formally known as Biomedical Research Building)
AI in Teaching: When to Integrate It, and When to Design Around It
Generative AI has transformed the landscape of teaching and learning. While AI use can create challenges for student engagement, learning, and assessment, it can also be a valuable educational tool when incorporated selectively and intentionally. In this interactive workshop, we will explore how generative AI is shaping student learning and how instructors can thoughtfully design […]