This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Supporting Teaching At York (STAY) Symposium. The anniversary will be officially recognized during the 2017 STAY Symposium on Friday, May 5.
To celebrate, the 2016-2017 cohort of Senior Teaching Assistants will be designing and facilitating sessions for the STAY Symposium, incorporating everything they have learned from the Senior Teaching Assistant Program. They will take an interdisciplinary approach to the development and delivery of each session and offer active, hands-on concurrent sessions to maximize learning for each participant. “The STAY Symposium offers Teaching Assistants at York a wonderful opportunity for professional development and to enhance your teaching,” says Natasha May, an educational developer in the Teaching Commons at York University.
“The STAY Symposium offers Teaching Assistants at York a wonderful opportunity for professional development and to enhance your teaching,” says Natasha May, an educational developer in the Teaching Commons at York University.
The idea of having a symposium for Teaching Assistants at York came from the inaugural Senior Teaching Assistants (STAs) who were designing and facilitating workshops for their peers, but struggling to have more than a few of their peers attend their workshops, says May. When brainstorming with each other how they could overcome this difficulty, they recognized, being TAs themselves, it was hard to make the two-hour trip to York for an hour event. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a whole day of events for TAs to attend? Hence the STAY Symposium was born!
Now five years later, the Supporting Teaching At York (STAY) Symposium, facilitated by Teaching Assistants at York for Graduate Students, promises to be an extraordinary experience. STAY runs for the full day on May 5, from 9:30am to 3:30pm in Life Sciences Building, Room 103 and registration is now open.
“It was a great pleasure to participate in the symposium and benefit from interesting sessions offered by fellow TAs. I think that Teaching Commons has continuously provided support to TAs and graduate students to grow professionally in their career and has always guided them in their profession.” – Mashal Riaz, one of the 2015-2016 Senior Teaching Assistants
Created by graduate students at York for graduate students at York, the symposium is an opportunity for graduate students to collaborate in a multidisciplinary way to enhance both the learning experiences of their undergraduate students in their classrooms as well as enhance their own professional development.
The STAs (facilitators of the STAY Symposium sessions) will build on their workshop design and facilitation skills, combining research informed practice with active learning strategies to engage the participants and model and share good teaching practices with each other.
The STAY Symposium is also an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of the STAs (facilitators of the STAY Symposium) and their mentorship of their peers all year.
“So, if you are interested in teaching, want to learn more as well as share your own experiences, connect and network with other graduate students and faculty members interested in teaching, and celebrate with us, please register for the STAY Symposium today and join us on Friday May 5, from 9:30am to 3:30pm in Room 103, Life Sciences Building, Keele campus,” says May.
Everyone is welcome! The event is free and open to all Teaching Assistants at York University. Register early as space is limited.
Graduate students who attend at least 4 workshops offered by the Teaching Commons in addition to the STAY Symposium will earn a Senior Record of Completion Certificate. For more information, contact Natasha May by email maynat@yorku.ca.