CONGRATULATIONS to our Divinity School students who have won the following prizes for teaching:
Rick Elgendy, Ph.D. candidate in Theology, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Divinity School Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Lauren Osborne, Ph.D. candidate in Islamic Studies, received a 2013 Karen Dinal Memorial Award in recognition of her teaching as a writing intern in the Humanities Common Core.
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The University of Chicago Divinity School is an exciting place to learn the craft of teaching. Our unique and innovative pedagogical curriculum--the Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion--seamlessly interweaves our commitment to preparing outstanding educators in the field of religious studies into the experience of graduate education at Swift Hall. Through a year-round program of seminars and workshops, we sustain a vigorous conversation on religious studies pedagogy both within and across all the Divinity School's diverse areas of study. Doctoral students who complete our Craft of Teaching Program will have reflected upon the challenges of teaching religion in a range of institutional contexts, on different religious traditions and topics, and in conversation with faculty and peers within and beyond their own areas of specialization.
The Craft of Teaching Program Description
The Craft of Teaching Program reflects the Divinity School's high regard for lively workshop-style interchange among students and faculty. Our unique model of teacher training utilizes an integrated series of workshops and seminars as the locus of pedagogical reflection and practice. The result is an abundantly diverse, ever-evolving, and year-round offering of programs that is especially responsive to student and faculty interests.
The core elements of Divinity School's Craft of Teaching Program include:
- The Dean's Craft of Teaching Seminar Series: Each quarter one of our distinguished alumni/ae or another accomplished educator is invited by the Dean to lead a seminar related to issues of course design, instruction, and evaluation as these are lived out in the various institutional contexts in which religion is taught in higher education. A full audio archive of past Craft of Teaching Seminars may be found here.
- Annual Syllabus Workshop: Led by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, this annual three-hour workshop centers on course and syllabus design. Participants draft course titles and descriptions that are peer-reviewed during the workshop.
- Pedagogy Workshops offered by Area Clubs and CAS Workshops: Over a dozen of the Divinity School's Area Workshops and Clubs devote one session per year to the subject of teaching. Topics vary in response to the needs and interests of conveners and participants, resulting in a robust and changing array of pedagogy-related programs offered to Divinity School students.
In addition to the above offerings, the Craft of Teaching Program offers other occasional special programming. The full schedule of this year's programs can found here.
Questions?
Please contact Brandon Cline, the Area Assistant for Pedagogical Initiatives, for more information about the Craft of Teaching Program.
