Topic outline

  • Introduction

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    This seminar is guided by the philosophy that postgraduates can prepare for the large variety of responsibilities they will encounter at the next stage of their careers, including balancing high-quality research with excellent teaching.

    Sessions will follow two main areas:

    • Development of teaching practices within mathematics
    • Creation of a professional portfolio as a mathematician

    The first area focuses on TA Training and best practices in the classroom specific to the effective and clear communication of mathematics and mathematical concepts.  We will also propose mini-projects which should help participants develop meaningful Teaching Statements for postdoc/academic job applications.

    The second area addresses a variety of issues surrounding life as a mathematics Ph.D., including formation of a "complete" academic portfolio, giving talks, writing papers, looking for postdocs, and life beyond your viva.

    Sessions are intended to provide you with mentorship and interaction with staff and colleagues outside of your immediate research group, and to help you build important secondary relationships within the School. 

    We are planning the seminar this year flexibly so that we can prioritize activities based on your interests and input!  The seminar is meant to be dovetailed with the existing training in place at QMUL, including the 1st-year induction, PGR Teaching Support Day and available CAPD courses and can be claimed on the PGR Skills Points database (required at each of your annual reviews).

    Over the course of the seminar, we will be compiling resources with commentary for your use: suggested reading on effective teaching of mathematics, websites to look for postdocs and academic jobs, LaTeX templates for your CVs, outreach opportunities, etc. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have something you wish to add to the list or if you would like to see a particular topic included.


    Your teaching support network:

    The Module Organizers : Dr Shabnam Beheshti and Dr WolframJust

    PGR Student Representatives:

    Teaching and Student Support Manager: Simon Rawstron

    PGR Programme Officer: Katie Hale

    Director of Education: Mark Walters

    Director of PGR Studies: Alex Fink

    Student Support Officer: William Ng

  • A- The First Weeks

    We will discuss some of the key issues of your new life as a PhD student at SMS. Find a few tips and guidelines in the pdf below:

  • A- Marking Strategies & Study Skills

  • A- Assessing Student Writing

  • A- Peer Observations

  • A- Technology in the Classroom

  • A- Selected Topics in teaching and learning

    We save this last session of the term to discuss any items of concern you may have regarding what it has been covered already in the seminar or any other issue.

    • More on mathematical writing, secondary skills, etc File
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    • Student Feedback Forms Folder

      TAs/Demonstrators often do not receive personalised feedback from students, since our module evaluations do not explicitly ask for this.  One workaround is to create your own feedback form and pass it out sometime near the star and/or end of term (depending on whether you want to make real-time changes or have students reflect on your overall teaching approach).  Here is a tex file that you can edit as you like, to get you started.  The intended output and necessary logo file are also appended.

  • B- The Academic Job Portfolio

    • General guidelines and tips File
      50.5 KB
    • Examples of academic CVs Folder

    • Suggested goal: Try to create/polish your CV and start writing drafts of the Research and Teaching Statements. We will have a working session in several weeks, where you can solicit feedback on any and all of your writing from a panel of worthy and willing staff members! 

  • B- Public Engagement and Outreach in Research & Teaching

  • B- Working Session: CVs, Applications, Research Statements, etc.

  • B- Writing Abstracts, Publications, Research Statements, Grants

  • B- Faculty-Postdoc Panel: Things I wish I knew at stage X of my career

  • B- Possible Excursion Opportunities

  • Useful Information

    Additional Funding

  • Feedback

    I would still like to know what has been useful and and what could use improvement for next year. Please print and fill out this updated

    Feedback Form

    and put it in my pigeonhole on [the 3rd floor] when you have a few free moments. Many thanks in advance!

  • Topic 110