Teaching Demo Derby

[Flex Hercules]

Anyone have any general or specific advice about teaching demos? What do they expect, how important are they, how can they go wrong, good/bad topics?

[philgirl]

I've done two teaching demos during flyouts this year. Both schools were more teaching oriented (obviously) and didn't have me give a job talk, just the teaching demo. In both cases I was allowed to choose any topic that shows I can communicate info in my field. I tried to pick something that would be easy to teach (without their having done any reading) and that was representative of my flied.

I think that they went really well. It helped to bring a handout with some catchy pictures and facts as well as an outline to give the lecture structure (to keep them with me). I incorporated discussion from the beginning, which I think very much contributed to it going well - it wasn't just me lecturing at them, I had them come up with their own creative examples, etc.

It seemed like the most important thing was that I demonstrated that I can connect with students. It felt like it was much more about this than it was about the content (though I'm sure they did want to see that I know my stuff too).

And, I think that my success at these teaching demos definitely contributed to my getting offers from both of these schools. Both places want to hire a good teacher who will be able to engage and draw in students. I was told that at least one of the schools mentioned my teaching demo when talking to one of my references after the visit.

(It was also very helpful to have given my class to a group of people from my dept. before heading out, as they had helpful feedback for me and this gave me a lot of info about what would/wouldn't work.)

[improfound]

i agree that it is very important to connect with students. but don't try something you're unfamiliar with -- if you don't usually teach socratically, don't try to do it in your demo.

my demo (which was part of a successful TT interview) occurred during a normal course. i scanned an essay and sent it to the professor who normally taught the course, and he made it assigned reading. it worked pretty well. of course, i worked hard to pick something that was accessible and interesting.

be aware that, as with any part of the job search, different evaluators will be looking for different things. some will want you to engage deeply with a text, some will want you to get maximum student response, others will want other things. so just do what you do best.

[categoricalimp]

I've done two teaching demos, and both times I was inserted into a regular class, so I had to teach what they were covering that day. Fortunately, the topics were both ones I'd taught before! I agree with others that engaging the students is very important, especially for the kinds of schools that are likely to want a teaching demo. But changing your teaching style is not a good idea, so go with what's comfortable. One good thing about a demo is it gives you a chance to get to know the students a little bit, and then you can talk about what you observed with the faculty afterwards. Departments tend to be proud of their students and want to show them off a little, so talking about what you liked about the students goes over well. In both of the classes I taught, I started by asking the students to explain some background concepts that they'd already covered in class, and then I built the class from there. The students did well, and then I could honestly tell the professor of the class that I was impressed with the background they already had. Professors always like to hear that. In both cases, I was nervous about whether I'd get enough student discussion, but it turned out not to be a problem. Students know that you're interviewing, and that you're nervous, and they do their best to help you out. They want to present their school in the best light, too.

[useyourtools]

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[marketeer]

I did two teaching demos this year, both as part of campus visits where I was made an offer. In one case, I just taught what the class was scheduled to cover that day. It was safely within my field and the instructor gave me a couple specifics that she wanted to be addressed, which was helpful. If you are doing a teaching demo on something they are already scheduled to cover, it seems like it would be a good idea to email the instructor and ask if there is any direction in particular he or she would like the discussion to go, or any particular points in the reading that he/she would like covered to provide continuity. If you pitch it that way (what has the class been covering before this? what are you covering next?), you can get some ideas for presenting the material.

the other demo took place before classes had really started for the university, so instead of teaching a class of undergrads, I taught a class of professors pretending to be undergrads. That was weird. they wouldn't answer any of the questions I posed to the class, something I do a lot to generate discussion. so, no discussion. and then towards the end they started asking questions, but of course they were asking the kinds of questions that no undergrads would ever ask. it ended up being more like a second job talk than a teaching demo.