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Tips for good teaching demos?

In our new "how can we help you?" thread, First time ABD writes:

I have had a few skype interviews now that have warned that if I were to get a fly out interview, I will have to do a teaching demonstration. So the more general question I have is, for those who have done a teaching demonstration, do you have any pragmatic tricks or tips to share, or experiences that you've learned from. For those on search committees, what exactly are you looking for in a teaching demonstration?

The more particular question I have is: I work hard, especially at the start of the year, in classes to structure my classes such that they will function optimally (for instance I make students sign up to email me reading responses the day before class which helps structure my lectures but also makes sure that I have 12/60 students ready to ask questions during the lecture). I feel like in a teaching demonstration, I'm being (unfairly?) parachuted down into a class where my structure is not there. Should I, as a part of my teaching demonstration, try to get the class structured, even just a little bit, to the specifications that I want? (I hope that second question made sense, it's a little vague)

This is a great query. I am curious to hear how people who have served on search-committees (or otherwise witnessed a teaching demo) respond. But here are a few quick thoughts of my own…

Having served on several search committees, one thing that has really stood out to me is just how differently people can judge the same teaching demo. A teaching demo that one search committee member thinks is fantastic, another might not be a big fan of, and vice versa. My sense is that a big reason for this is because different people can have very different conceptions of what good teaching looks like. Some prefer Socratic dialogue and less-structured sessions that develop organically, for instance, whereas others like more structured sessions with Powerpoints, group activities, and so on. For these reasons–aside from getting students involved and interested in what you are doing–I am not sure there are any particular tips for a good teaching demo aside from this: do whatever it is that you do the best way you know how. If you're a spectacular Socratic lecturer, do that. If you put together excellent powerpoints and group assignments, do that. In other words, just teach the way you teach and cross your fingers and hope that enough people on the hiring side of things like it! Perhaps this is disappointing in terms of advice (I'm not sure). But my general sense is that it is probably the right way to go. What do others think?

In any case, this brings me to the second part of First time ABD's query, which is whether they should get the class structured in some way that conforms to how they actually do structure their course meetings. To which, following the first part of my response, I'm inclined to think the right answer is: yes, absolutely – since that's the way you teach! If you get a fly-out offer and are told you will have a teaching demo, by all means you can as a candidate ask if you can have the students do particular readings beforehand, and so on–so that you can teach in a way that reflects your teaching practices. I suppose it is possible that people on the hiring side might refuse your request, but I am pretty skeptical they would. After all, they are flying you all the way out to their university, and they want to see you teach–so, chances are, they are going to be willing to let you teach the way you want to. Their task, after all, is to try to figure out what you will actually be like as a teacher–and so if you are someone who preps and organizes things a particular way, it would seem to generally make sense for them to encourage you to go ahead and do it!

But again, these are just my thoughts. What are yours, particularly those of you who have served on search committees or otherwise observed teaching demos? Do you have any tips–things to do, things to avoid, etc.? 

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20 responses to “Tips for good teaching demos?”

  1. Demo

    I am inclined to think that one should approach these teaching demos as they are. They are not real classes, so do not try to do what you do in real class. You can try to get the same feel. But for many good teachers, they work their magic by building a rapport. But that is precisely what you cannot do on first meeting. So do what works with new audiences.
    If you ask the institution to prepare the students ahead of time, and the preparation requires some coordination, they will likely not do it. These are busy people, and you are but one of the candidates coming to campus interrupting their usual (busy) routine.

    Reply
  2. NA

    You should also find out exactly what the conditions for the demo will be. I had a teaching demo last year, and there weren’t actually any undergrads present. I was asked to teach a specific article to the entire department faculty (and a handful of grad students) who were pretending to be undergrads. It went fine, but I definitely think there were things that I do in a normal class (e.g. small group assignments or discussion) that wouldn’t have worked in my favor in that setting.
    So you’ll want to get as much information about the conditions of the demo as possible.

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  3. Mercado

    It would be helpful to know what folks think about the following.
    In early November, I resubmitted a paper to a journal because I received an R&R from the editor. I resubmitted a revised version of the paper along with a letter to the editor. The letter is roughy 7 pages double spaced. In the letter, (1) I thanked the referees for their very helpful and detailed comments, (2) I explained how I addressed the referees’ comments and (3) I explained how much better the paper is because of the referees’ comments. And, to be clear, I really do think the paper is better because of the referees’ comments.
    It is now about two months from when I resubmitted the revised paper. Would I violate editor-author etiquette to send the editor an email to see how the process is going? Or to see if the referees have responded and are looking over the revised manuscript?

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  4. Amanda

    Re the post – As long as you ask politely, there is no harm in asking if you could set up the class to some extent. But I would avoid asking them to do anything that would require much extra work on their part. Marcus is a very hard worker and someone like him would accommodate you – but I have my doubts about others! That said, be prepared that this might not always be possible. I have had teaching demos where I was the one assigned the reading and the topic, and had to teach it even though I was not any expert in that area and they were not even interviewing me in that area. So a lot of the times the topic will not be up to you.
    Other than that, just teach the best you can. There is no secret strategy, other than showing you are clearly prepared, and clearly respectful to students.

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  5. Amanda

    Mercado: Not sure if you meant to post this here. But anyway, I think sending an email after two months is fine. Responses to RandR’s are usually quicker, but I have had some take over 4 months before. And it is not clear what you meant by (3) – but personally I think it is not the best idea to say more than a line or two about how much better your paper is (and that line should be something like, “I think it is…”) The point of the RandR is for the journal/reviewers to make that judgement call.

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  6. Asst Prof

    Building on Marcus’s point about different committee members preferring different teaching styles, one strategy could be to include a mix of different teaching methods in the demo.
    My inclination would be to not send a reading or other prep work in advance, since that opens the possibility that students will not complete it satisfactorily. If students are not prepared, this could be embarrassing for you (reading too difficult)–or for the host school (their students underperformed)–but either way, it would create a bad vibe for the demo.
    More generally, I always tried to have a backup plan on hand in case my initial plans went poorly. For example, if I was planning for Socratic dialogue and got very little response, I would have a group work activity in reserve to generate discussion that way…

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  7. First time ABD

    Thank you all for weighing in, that all makes a lot of sense. It doesn’t hurt to ask, lean into what I’m good at, have a back up plan.

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  8. Gene

    “I had a teaching demo last year, and there weren’t actually any undergrads present. I was asked to teach a specific article to the entire department faculty (and a handful of grad students) who were pretending to be undergrads.”
    Wow. Can we take a moment to highlight the ridiculousness of this exercise? You couldn’t possibly learn anything useful about a candidate from a scenario so artificial, except maybe that the candidate will be a good team player in the department, since they had the patience to put up with this kind of request.
    I know this comment flirts with violating the comments policy here. But this kind of stuff should be addressed when we see it. I can’t believe how much nonsense we put candidates through as a profession.

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  9. Editor

    Mercado,
    Given the situation you describe, it is not surprising that you have not heard back yet about your R&R.
    Remember, these are people running the show, referees and editors. They will have taken a holiday as well – perhaps two weeks. Also, if you needed to write 7 pages in reply, then you are talking about MAJOR revisions. So it will be sent out again, almost for sure. That could really really things. Further, given that this is a thread related to hiring and campus visits, remember that your previous referees might now be must hosting visitors who are giving teaching demos, etc.

    Reply
  10. Mercado

    Amanda, thanks! And, I didn’t mean to post this here!

    Reply
  11. Like Gene

    Gene
    I had to do one of those fake teaching demos over 10 years ago. It was ridiculous. One faculty member even pretended to be a stupid student who asks a really ill-informed question. yes for real! I did not get the job. But I later heard back from my mentor/supporter that they regretting hiring who they did.

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  12. Asst Prof

    Gene – I agree it’s a problem if the candidate was not notified in advance that they would be “teaching” to faculty.
    However, I don’t find teaching demos to faculty intrinsically problematic. I did one once, and it was fairly pleasant and constructive. The faculty “students” had a good attitude about it and got to see how I explain a certain topic, what kinds of questions I ask a class about it, what kind of printed group work I use for it, etc. So overall, it still had value for them.
    I think this practice is sometimes used when there is no undergraduate class available at the time of the interview, or when a school wants more than 4 or 5 faculty to view the teaching demo. In my case, there were about 15 faculty present from a number of departments, which would not have been feasible in a regular undergrad class.

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  13. NA

    Gene, yeah, it was an artificial environment to be sure, but I didn’t find it ridiculous. I knew it was coming in advance, and I’m sure there were some valuable things that the committee learned from it (how a candidate organizes a lecture, explains key concepts in an accessible way, etc). My main point was just that it certainly changes the way one approaches the demo as compared to teaching a session to actual undergrads.
    My sense is that this sort of arrangement is fairly common.

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  14. Amanda

    Since faculty disagree so much about what constitutes a good teaching demo, it seems the purpose is to weed out someone who is horrible (there might be more agreement on that) Or, if not the intended purpose, that is the actual result. I think the same thing is true of writing samples.

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  15. D

    I’d hesitate to assign the students readings for my teaching demo, primarily because, in my experience, different institutions have different cultures when it comes to students doing the reading and, since you’re just parachuting in and doing a one-off class, you won’t really know whether students will do the reading and, if some do, how many will. So you’ll have to have different plans going in, which is more work. (Of course, if you’re teaching a course, you can create your own classroom culture over the semester when it comes to doing the reading. But this is one way in which a teaching demo is very different than someone observing a class session of a course you’re in the middle of.)
    My advice is to start by settling on the things about your teaching that you want to show the faculty–a great powerpoint, a lively discussion, or whatever–and build everything else around that. So it may not end up looking much like a class session in one of your courses, but it’d nevertheless demonstrate your teaching, which is the point.

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  16. SLAC VAP

    One very practical piece of advice, which was given to me by a faculty member who observed my teaching demo for the SLAC VAP position I now hold, is to make sure to explicitly invite any faculty members who are observing to take handouts and to join in with small groups, if you want them to do those things! I had (mistakenly, it turns out!) assumed the faculty would automatically join in during my demo, but they ended up waiting for an invitation from me, which I failed to give, since I was so focused on the students. My demo was centered around a very involved group activity (a jigsaw), so how relevant this advice is will of course depend on what kind of activities you decide to use for your demo. Whatever teaching methods/activities you settle on, I think it’s helpful to let the faculty know ahead of time (briefly) what you’re planning to do, and why, just in case you don’t have an opportunity to talk more about your rationale for the demo with the SC.

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  17. Amanda

    Interesting. If I was teaching real students, I’d never ask the faculty to join in the activities. I don’t really get the point in this. Regular classes do not, of course, have faculty members doing activities. It also seems the faculty doing the activities would distract from them doing what they should be doing, evaluating how the activities are working for the students.

    Reply
  18. Lauren

    I have had teaching demos that required me to teach on a particular topic (whatever the topic for the day in the class), demos where I got to pick the topic (though in some cases I was specifically advised on what type of topic), and one case where I taught to a bunch of faculty on a topic of my choice and then commented on my pedagogical choices. In cases were you pick the topic, I think there are a couple of things to keep in mind: first,: it is probably beneficial to select something that you can connect, in some way, to what the students have learned before. Second, I would not assume that you can ask the students to do a lot of prep-work in advance. Some instructors may not inform students that anything different will be happening and even if they do, students may be less likely to do it, knowing it isn’t on the test, as it were. Keep in mind also that the instructor of the class may not be a tenure-track faculty member, so he/she may have no vested interest in you doing well. And, even if you request it, it may not happen; I sent a short reading once for a class and it turned out the instructor never asked the class to read it, so I had to re-tool on the fly. Third, have backup plans in case something goes wrong (students didn’t read, don’t respond well to an activity, etc).

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  19. SLAC VAP

    Amanda, I agree that the main point is for the faculty to be focusing on how the demo is going for the students. But something that I learned from my demo is that the faculty didn’t actually get a very accurate read on how the demo was working for the students just from observing, in part because they didn’t actually take handouts (!). Fortunately for me, faculty solicited detailed feedback from students about my demo to supplement their own observations. I’ve since been told that student feedback about how much they learned during the small group activities was a big factor in my being hired.
    I should add that I use a lot of active learning strategies in my teaching and deliberately did so for the demo, but this kind of approach may not go down super well with faculty who are less convinced by the value of these sorts of methods, in part because what you’re doing as the teacher (i.e. visiting small groups and having a lot of conversations that faculty may not hear rather than lecturing to the whole group) for much of the class seems less commanding or well-planned or whatever, even though what the students are doing in groups is very carefully planned. Also, it’s not a given that every SC will solicit feedback from the students in the demo. So… clue the faculty in ahead of time about your plan for the class, invite them to join in if you think that will give them important information they can’t get just from watching from the outside, and insist that everyone takes a handout 🙂

    Reply
  20. Amanda

    SLAC VAP: sounds true enough!

    Reply

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