Graduate Student Teaching Association of APA Division 2 Society for Teaching of Psychology

Division 2 of APA is a group devoted to the development of graduate students and early career faculty members. One area of graduate student development
that seems to be neglected in many graduate training programs is teaching. Sure, all of us are well trained in experimental desgin, clinical
responsibilities, research methodology, and the like. Yet, many graduate students fail to thrive in the classroom, and are conditioned to see their
classroom responsibilities as burdensome or unimportant. They receive little training in how to teach, or how to think about the value of being a good
teacher. Teaching is an important vehicle that can be used to influence the lives of young people.


Last year, Division 2 of APA voted to form a Graduate Teaching Association of APA. This group, comprised entirely of graduate student members, is
responsible for developing services for graduate student teachers, alerting them to opportunities to develop as teachers by attending workshops and
conference presentations, and putting them in contact with experienced teachers willing to assist them in negotiating the challenging topography of
the classroom. Division 2 emphasized their dedication to the development of novice teachers by giving the chaiperson of this organization full voting
priveleges within their Executive Committee.


Our membership base is increasing rapidly, and feedback from our graduate student members has indicated to me that the services we provide have been
needed for a long time. We also have a lot of other ideas for services that we plan to implement in the coming years. For instance, we are looking into:
establishing an online graduate student teaching journal, setting up a listserv whereby only graduate student teachers can exchange ideas on best
practices in the classroom, and a multitude of other exciting services.

STP SPOTLIGHT: STP’S GRADUATE STUDENT TEACHING ASSOCIATION
The STP Graduate Student Teaching Association (GTSA) is now up and running under the direction of Jason Sikorski, Chair and Jared Keely,
Associate Chair. Read a message from these officers at <http://teachpsych.lemoyne.edu/teachpsych/div/gsta.html> and visit the GTSA’
new Web site at <http://www.auburn.edu/~sikorjf/gsta.html>.


Contact:
Jason Sikorski
<sikorjf@mail.auburn.edu>