The Teaching Citation is a program designed to help prepare Washington Univesrsity Ph.D. students for teaching in future faculty positions. The program provides an opportunity for tangible documentation of an ongoing commitment to teaching via structured opportunities to
All Ph.D. students at Washington University are eligible to participate. Graduate students at any point in their careers are welcome to participate in the Citation program. However, it is recommended that interested graduate students consult with The Teaching Center during the first two years of doctoral study to learn about the program requirements in detail.
Objectives and Benefits
Requirements: Essential Information
Forms and Additional Information
The Teaching Citation program is designed to help Ph.D. students develop teaching experience and expertise in preparation for future faculty positions. Each graduate student who completes the Teaching Citation program will achieve the following objectives:
Alumni of the Washington University Teaching Citation program report that completing the program helped them to develop specific, effective teaching strategies, to prepare and apply for academic jobs, and to write a teaching philosophy statement. For more detail, see their comments on benefits of the program (pdf).
Requirements : Essential Information
The requirements are listed in broad outline below. Additional information can be found in The Teaching Citation: Overview and Requirements (pdf) and the Teaching Citation FAQs.
Interested Ph.D. students should contact the Teaching Center to schedule an initial consultation to discuss the detailed program requirements, as well as how these requirements fit the teaching opportunities available in the graduate student’s department. While Teaching Center staff welcome requests for Citation consultations at any time, it is highly recommended that the initial consultation occur in the 1st or 2nd year of the student's Ph.D. program.
1. Training
2. Teaching
Three semester-long teaching experiences are required. Due to the variation in instructional responsibilities carried out by graduate-student TAs, all teaching experiences, including research mentorships, should be pre-approved by The Teaching Center, to ensure that each experience meets the Citation requirements.
In general, Teaching Assistantships that satisfy the Citation requirements include instructional responsibilities beyond grading, holding office hours, and writing exams or homework problems. Examples of qualifying teaching experiences include—but are not limited to—leading a weekly discussion or recitation subsection; leading regular review- or help-sessions, in combination with delivering 1-2 course lectures; teaching a course independently; and mentoring an undergraduate in an extended research project (additional criteria apply; please contact the Teaching Center for details).
During each of the 3 required teaching experiences, the graduate student's teaching must be observed and reviewed in writing by a faculty member or by an Academic Staff member from The Teaching Center. (The graduate student must be observed during one full class session, or at least one hour of teaching, for each of the 3 semesters.) To ensure that graduate students receive discipline-specific feedback on their teaching, at least 2 of the 3 required teaching experiences should be observed and reviewed by faculty within the graduate student’s department. The graduate student must also collect student evaluations of his or her teaching in each of the 3 semesters; these evaluations can be administered in class (via an anonymous evaluation form) or through the University’s online Evals system.
Graduate students should communicate with faculty or The Teaching Center early in the semester to schedule when the class observation will occur. If desired, faculty may use (or adapt, the Teaching Center’s Teaching Observation and Feedback Form (MS-Word).
Observation and review by Teaching Center staff members is typically conducted via video-recording of the requestor’s class. To schedule a video-recording with feedback by The Teaching Center, please complete and submit our online request form.
3. Reflection
All participants will write a teaching philosophy statement, a 1-2 page essay describing the writer’s core teaching approach. This document is often requested of candidates who are applying for faculty teaching positions in higher education. Participants in the Teaching Citation program must submit their teaching philosophy statement to their departmental director of graduate studies, as well as to Teaching Center staff, to complete the Citation requirements.
The Teaching Center offers frequent workshops and seminars providing graduate students with instruction on writing a teaching philosophy statement. In addition, graduate students may meet individually with Teaching Center staff for assistance with writing the statement. Based on past consultations with graduate students, The Teaching Center recommends meeting with Teaching Center staff to discuss at least two drafts of the teaching philosophy statement so that the graduate student has an opportunity to incorporate any feedback provided during the initial consultation.
Forms and Additional Information
The Teaching Citation: Overview and Requirements (pdf)
Registration Checklist (pdf)
Frequently Asked Questions
Teaching Observation and Feedback Form (MS-Word)
Sample Student Evaluation for a TA-Led Recitation Section (MS-Word)
Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement
Note: A revised Registration Checklist for The Teaching Citation was uploaded to this page on 08/18/11. If you have started to document your progress toward completing the Citation on an earlier version of the Checklist, you may continue to do so; in other words, the former version is still valid.
To schedule a consultation or for more information on the Teaching Citation, please contact The Teaching Center.
To schedule a video-recording and feedback session (evaluation) of your teaching, please complete and submit our online request form.