An ongoing struggle in graduate student teaching development is not only to increase effectiveness in the classroom, but to instil an engagement in teaching as part of holistic scholarly practice (Pentecoste, Langdon, Asirvatham, Robus &, Parson, 2012, Sandi-Urena, Cooper &, Gatlin, 2011). This session will explore a model for a peer-based teaching assistant training program at a large, research-intensive university that seems to enable such a conceptual shift and encourage peer trainers and the students with whom they work to view themselves as teaching scholars and creative practitioners. Through a preliminary analysis of qualitative data from graduate student reflections and evaluations, a recent mixed-methods study, a collaborative auto-ethnography by graduate student peer trainers, and reflections from program administrators, this session will examine the question: what conditions in such a program foster an expanded view of teaching and an emerging identity as a critically reflective educator? Early analysis points to some key themes that have also emerged in graduate student professional development literature (Brower, Carlson-Dakes &, Shu Barger, 2007, Sweitzer, 2009): the ability to set defined teaching goals, shared ownership and commitment, the ability to connect practice to theory, the willingness and ability to experiment and take risks, the sense of belonging to a community, mentorship and feedback. Through experiencing discussion activities intended to move thinking around graduate student teaching support beyond “tips & tricks, participants will be invited to fine-tune their own conceptualization of graduate student teaching development, and to consider how and where graduate student teachers in their own institutions are enabled to shift pedagogical stances, take risks, share goals in short, tune into their practice.
