It has been sometimes said that classroom teaching is the indoor equivalent of whitewater rafting: long episodes of quiet calm, interspersed suddenly with an onset of rapids, which instructors are often unprepared for. It could be a student question or demand about grading, a discussion of deadlines or assignments that takes a surprisingly confrontational turn, or an allegation of gender or ethnic insensitivity that seems to come out of nowhere. How should instructors best handle these moments?
The next University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education session will feature a roundtable discussion of ways to handle these and other unexpected moments in the classroom using vignettes of these so-called “Critical Incidents” as our starting point. Faculty members also are encouraged to bring along their own “critical incident” stories to add to the discussion.
The session will be held Thursday, April 7, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Allen Memorial Medical Library’s Herrick Room (use Adelbert Road doors).
Pizza and sodas will be provided at this session. RSVP to ucite@case.edu.