NIU Sociology's Accreditation In Teaching

The Department of Sociology has designed a system by which those who are interested in pursuing a treaching career might become accredited.  This system combines instructional techniques with hands-on training.

To achieve the NIU Sociology Accreditation in Teaching, you need to build a Teaching Portfolio that includes the following:

• A teaching certificate from the NIU Faculty Development, which requires that you:
  • Attend one of the two TA orientations, held just before the start of each semester. http://www.facdev.niu.edu/facdev/programs/index.shtml
  • Attend five additional TA classes over the course of one year.
  • Supplements: The TA leader in FACDEV also runs a small group each year for current TA's in which they talk about building a teaching portfolio - writing a teaching philosophy, peer-reviews, sudent reviews, and anything else that one might want to include in their portfolio as they are applying for teaching jobs.
• Develop your own syllabus for a SOCI 170 course, including reading and assignments.
• Compose your teaching philosophy and how you would integrate that into SOCI 170.
• Guest lecture two times in SOCI 170 courses, with faculty evaluations of these lectures.

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Contact Dr. Keri Burchfield, Director of Graduate Studies kburchfield@niu.edu