Graduate Students Handbook
Graduate Progam Guidelines 2011-12 [.pdf]AGSA
The Anthropological Graduate Student Association (AGSA) is comprised of graduate students enrolled in the Department of Anthropology. Its main purpose is to provide a forum through which graduate students can meet to discuss issues related to the program and student life at McGill. AGSA is linked with other elements of the university governance structure and acts as a representative body for the graduate students in the department. AGSA also organizes conferences and other academic forms as well as recreational and cultural events for its membership and other members of the anthropological community in Montreal and beyond. agsa [dot] anthropology [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Email)
Resource Centre for TAs & Anthropology Teaching
There is a teaching resource centre in the graduate student lounge (Leacock 836) for the benefit of TAs. This includes several books, especially Teaching Tips, because chapters are short and organized by topic. The books in the resource centre include:
General:
Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and University Teachers, by Wilbert McKeachie (2002). [good & straight-forward tips]
Strategies in Teaching Anthropology, edited by Patricia Rice and David McCurdy (2000). [gives teaching ideas for archaeology and cultural anthropology separately]
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, by bell hooks (1994) [addresses teaching in a multicultural environment, and also talks about participatory education and Paulo Freire]
On grading, assessment, and designing evaluation
The Art of Evaluation: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers, by Tara Fenwich and Jim Parsons (2000). [evaluating adult learning; a Canadian book]
McGill course pack for EDPE-670 Evaluation in Higher Education. [academic]
A 2002 survey indicated that some TAs were interested in research/theory, while others wanted concrete tips. To respond to both needs, there is a resource binder that includes both article-length readings and tip lists. It is organized by topic, but some topics have more resources than others – please bring in/write in anything you have to add in any of the sections! The topics are as follows:
- Diverse Learners
- Course & Syllabus Design
- Teaching Strategies (lecturing, instructional technologies presentations, discussion, group work, etc.)
- Grading (and assessment more generally)
- Giving feedback
- The first class
- Especially for TAs
- Difficult situations
- Teaching Portfolios
Finally, there is documentation from the series of teaching workshops for Anthropology graduate students. There is a duo-tang for each workshop, containing an overview of the workshop, its learning outcomes, any workshop handouts, and the results of the peer evaluation of the workshop.