UF Graduate Student Teaching Award winners 2023-2024

University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Awards winners for 2023-2024. Photo by Brianne Lehan

Congratulations to the University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award winners for 2023-2024.

Graduate student teachers were nominated during fall and spring semesters by their departments or colleges. The nominees’ teaching and their teaching portfolios were evaluated by the Graduate Student Teaching Awards Committee.

The top 20 students were selected for the award and were recognized at the Graduate Student Awards Ceremony.

• Faith Baringer (Art and Art History)
• James Boothroyd (Entomology and Nematology)
• Nader Dagher (Public Relations)
• Matthew Dallas (Mathematics)
• Sam Dillon (Physics)
• Garrett Ellward (Microbiology and Cell Science)
• Mohammad Hasan (Microbiology and Cell Science)
• Christos Litos (Physics)
• Lillian Martinez (English)
• Shelby Mikkelson (Sociology and Criminology & Law)
• Claudia Mitchell (English)
• Tiffany Pennamon (English)
• Loida Rosado Del Rio (Physics)
• Bhavna Sharma (Sociology and Criminology & Law)
• William Sims (Computer and Information Science and Engineering)
• Frank Solis (Classics)
• Alina Sunoo (Theatre and Dance)
• Shanna Thompson (Music)
• Hannah Treadway (Spanish and Portuguese Studies)
• Ivonne Zelaya (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures)

Calvin A. VanderWerf Award Winners

• Joseph Angelillo (History)
• María Mecías (Spanish and Portuguese Studies)

The members of the Graduate Student Awards Selection Committee for 2023-2024 are: Lynn Sollenberger (Chair), Sharon DiFino, Julie Dodd, Ifigeneia Giannadaki, Paula Golombek, Valeria Kleiman, Sujata Krishna, Linda Lombardino, Jon Reiskind, Henri Van Rinsvelt, Grady Roberts and Bradley Walters. Lorna Dishman, executive assistant in the Graduate School, provides administrative support for the committee.

I’m honored to serve on the committee and have the opportunity to recognize outstanding graduate student teachers. In our committee meetings, we discuss the best teaching practices and innovative class design that we’ve observed.

Thanks to Dean Nicole Stedman and the UF Graduate School for their support of excellence in teaching for graduate students. The award ceremony was part of UF’s Graduate Student Appreciation Week, held each year during the first week of April.

Scaffolding writing assignments enhances student learning and reduces teacher grading

Dr. Danielle Bradley (fourth from left) was recognized as one of the Teacher of the Year Finalists for Broward County Public Schools. Photo from the school district’s Twitter post.

by Dr. Danielle Bradley

Almost every teacher has heard the overwhelming and unanimous groans when announcing it’s time for students to write.

Writing assignments are not usually a crowd favorite, and often teachers struggle to make this instruction meaningful and even fun.

So how does the teacher avoid grading hundreds of unimpressive writing samples while also garnering buy-in from students? The answer is scaffolding writing lessons.

What is scaffolding?

Scaffolding in education is a technique that allows teachers to use various levels of support while helping students reach higher levels of comprehension and independence. In basic terms, scaffolding involves breaking up concepts or skills into smaller parts and then providing the assistance for students to learn each component.

Scaffolding lessons can be incorporated into any classroom K-12 or at the college level. This strategy works great with any curriculum and level of learner as well. Whether a new or veteran teacher, slowing down the pace of teaching challenging content is a win for the teacher and students.

University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award Winners for 2022-2023

University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award winners with Dean Nicole Stedman at the Graduate School Awards Ceremony. Brianne Lehan Photography

Congratulations to the 2022-2023 University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award winners. The winners were recognized at the Graduate School Awards & Recognition Ceremony.

Rebecca Austin-Datta – Public Health and Health Professions
Hannah Brown – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Anusha Chadhary – Liberal Arts and sciences
Khari Clemmons – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Rayven Crisafulli – Health and Human Performance
Caleb Davis – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Alex Garcia – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kenesma John Meenan – Agricultural and Life Sciences
Chelsea Moss – Journalism and Communications
Heather Nesbitt – Agricultural and Life Sciences
Jack Orces – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Joshua Pace – Arts
Michael Scofield – Education
Schuyler Strum – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Brendan Sweeney – Arts
Holly Tumblin – Arts

Calvin A. VanderWerf Awardees
Maria Munoz – Liberal Arts and Sciences
Thomas Vazquez – Arts

Teaching: suggestions, advice and mentoring

For faculty the time between semesters includes reflecting on the previous semester, developing and revising courses, and adopting a few teaching resolutions.

Over the years, I have spent many hours during the breaks between terms updating class plans for the next term. I often read books, articles and blog posts related to teaching for inspiration and strategies.

So I read Shayla Love’s New York Times article on seeking and assessing advice — ”How Should You Be? Try Taking Suggestions” — with interest to see how her insights could apply to teachers.

Love’s article included her research on the origin of the suggestion box and interviews with five university faculty who study different aspects of advice – from communication science to workplace psychology.

One of the people Love interviewed was University of Chicago philosopher Dr. Agnes Callard. Dr. Callard discussed the differences between instructions, suggestions, advice, and mentorship. And all of these apply to reflecting on and improving your teaching.

Creating your teaching philosophy

What is the value of writing a teaching philosophy? And why is a teaching philosophy required in most faculty job applications and teaching award nominations?

Even experienced teachers say that writing a teaching philosophy can be difficult. Writing a teaching philosophy would be more challenging for graduate students, most of whom have been teaching for only a year or two. So why are teaching philosophies a required part of one’s teaching career?

During my faculty career at the University of Florida, I was fortunate to teach a pedagogy course for graduate students in the College of Journalism and Communications. I really enjoyed working with the graduate students to help them develop and expand their teaching competencies and their outlook on teaching and learning.

As a major assignment for the course, the students developed a teaching portfolio to be used in applying for faculty positions. The portfolio included their created instructional materials, a syllabus, and a teaching philosophy.

As a current member of UF’s Graduate Student Teaching Awards Committee, I’m reading some very effective teaching philosophies that are part of their nomination portfolios.

Writing a teaching philosophy can help you look at the big picture

Developing a teaching philosophy can help determine how you view your students, structure your course, and present as a teacher.

Let me share a few examples from some of the candidates (and some winners) for the Graduate Student Teaching Award.

Promoting your new college course

The new academic year is starting at almost 4,000 colleges and universities around the country. What will make this a special year for many faculty is offering a new course that they have developed.

Typically when you develop a new course, you are excited about exploring and teaching a new topic and sharing a great learning experience with your students. But that excitement can turn to disappointment when you find that only a few students have registered for the course, and your course is cancelled because it doesn’t have the required minimum number of students.

Let me offer some suggestions for promoting your course based on my own experience in creating new courses and from my experience serving on the University of Florida’s General Education Committee and the College of Journalism and Communications Curriculum Committee.

Don’t count on the course to draw students without your active involvement in promoting the course. Even if you have developed a great course, the first time you offer a course, you are likely to have some difficulty attracting students.

Your new course probably isn’t listed in the university’s catalog and may not be included in your college’s advising materials. So students may not be aware of the course.

University of Florida Graduate Student Teacher Award winners for 2021-2022

Graduate Student Teaching Award winners and members of the Selection Committee. Photo by Eric Zamora

Congratulations to the 19 graduate students who were selected as the University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award winners for 2021-2022.

Award Winners

Pearis Bellamy – Psychology
Recep Celebi – Mathematics
Savannah Gramze – Astronomy
Joseph Hoft – Sociology and Criminology
Haley Johnson – Theatre and Dance
Lindsay Lloveras – Psychology
Nicolas Macaluso – Chemical Engineering
Ioannis Michaloliakos – Physics
Cristovão Nwachukwu – English
Emily Pappo – Natural Resources and Environment
Anthony Smith – Classics
Ar’Darius Stewart – Theatre and Dance
Nathaniel Strauss – Physics
Nieves Villaseñor III – Music
Anita Walsh – Economics
Lauren Weisberg  – Teaching and Learning
LingQin Xue – Physics

Calvin A. VanderWerf Winners

Leandra Merz – Geography
Hank Samuels – Teaching and Learning

Microphone use: Tips for instructors

Some teaching situations require the instructor to use a microphone, such as when I made a presentation at the University of Florida’s orientation for new teaching assistants. (That’s me at the front of the auditorium. Thank goodness I had a microphone.) Photo by Daniel Brotherton

An increase in microphone use by instructors is one of the results of the pandemic and the increase in online and hybrid teaching.

Prior to the pandemic, most instructors taught in classrooms that didn’t require microphone use. Many instructors had never used microphones in their classrooms and, perhaps, had only used a microphone for making a conference presentations.

Even auditorium teaching doesn’t always require a microphone, depending on the design of the auditorium and the instructor’s voice projection.

With the pandemic, most instructors moved to teaching with microphones. Teaching via Zoom, using their laptops. Teaching in an in-person setting and wearing a mask. Teaching in a hybrid environment, with some students in the classroom and others participating online. Recording classes – or entire courses – for asynchronous learning.

Kevin Hull converted a portion of a room at home into a studio for his online teaching, complete with a Blue Yeti microphone.

I asked University of South Carolina faculty member and former sportscaster Dr. Kevin Hull to join me to discuss microphone use for instructors.

Hull is associate professor of journalism and Sport Media Lead in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He was named a “Breakthrough Star” by the University of South Carolina and named “Promising Professor” by the Association for Education in Journalism and Communication’s Mass Communication and Society Division.

Julie Dodd: Let’s talk about the microphones instructors might use for in-person teaching, online teaching or conference presentations.

Colleagues create textbook during pandemic

Published! Middle Tennessee State University colleagues (from left to right) Dr. Sally Ann Cruikshank, Dr. Keonte Coleman and Dr. Christine Eschenfelder pose with their newly published textbook in the  School of Journalism and Strategic Media’s student news studio. Photo by Dan Eschenfelder

When I received word from Dr. Christine Eschenfelder that she and two of her Middle Tennessee State University colleagues had written a textbook during the pandemic, I wanted to hear how they did it.

Dr. Eschenfelder, Dr. Sally Ann Cruikshank and Dr. Keonte Coleman, all faculty in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media, were motivated to write “A Complete Guide to Television, Field, and Digital Producing” to fill a need in the curriculum in their school and in other communication programs.

During the pandemic, they developed the concept for the book, secured a publisher, and wrote the book, in spite of all the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

I asked the three to share their experiences in writing the book.

Dr. Christine Eschenfelder is an associate professor and recipient of the MTSU Outstanding Teaching Award and broadcast industry awards. Her research focuses on broadcast journalism education, newsroom diversity, and women in broadcasting.
Twitter: @cceschenfelder

What inspired you and your two colleagues to write “A Complete Guide to Television, Field, and Digital Producing”?

We all worked in television news before our careers in academia. I was an on-air reporter and producer. Sally Ann and Keonte were also producers. Television news producers are in great demand. It’s an important and exciting job that many students don’t know about.

Librarians assist faculty in using Open Education Resources (OER) and library-licensed materials

When you design a new course or update a course you’ve previously taught, consider talking with your librarian to help identify course resources.

April Hines encouraged library use during the Student Involvement Fair, held in the courtyard of the College of Journalism and Communications.

I asked April Hines, librarian for the University of Florida College of Journalism and Mass Communications, to share insights about the work of librarians and how librarians can enable faculty to utilize Open Educational Resources (OER) to provide up-to-date, free course materials for students.

Hines is chair of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from UF and a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida.

Faculty often think campus librarians are solely focused on helping students who are in the library. What are some of the ways you are involved in helping faculty? 

April Hines: Much of my work happens beyond the physical library space – especially during COVID-19. Faculty will often ask me to be a guest speaker in their classes (either in person or virtually) to teach specialized research skills or to discuss topics related to information or media literacy.