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I am currently a graduate student, who will (hopefully!) graduate in the next year (or two..). I have slowly come to realize that I enjoy teaching, and consequently want to do more of it! My main reasons are such:

  • to gain experience
  • to bolster my CV
  • to learn to be a better teacher

That last point is particularly important to me, because I feel I have received insufficient training in how to teach mathematics well.

Now, I have done the usual TA thing. For the past year, I have also been an adjunct instructor at a local four-year college, so I pretty much know what it's like to be "fully responsible" for a course. What I am looking for are challenging opportunities which allow me to do some - or all - of the following:

  • teach fairly sophisticated math to bright high school students / undergraduates
  • engage them in innovative thinking/research
  • be consistently mentored/evaluated throughout the duration of this experience

Again, the last point is rather important to me. So my question is:

Do such programs exist?

I am sure they do, but when Googling, I invariably come up with graduate summer schools, or "local" opportunities. (By "local" here, I mean those which are only eligible to students in that particular school's graduate program.) So I am hoping someone (or several people) here know more about it than Google does.

I know that most opportunities for this summer have probably already expired, but I want to stress I am not only focused on summer sessions. In particular, I would gladly forego my usual TA appointment for a semester, to be a part of a more difficult and rewarding experience somewhere else.

Finally, I am on the fence about whether this question should be CW or not; as of now, it isn't. If people feel it should be, I will change it.

Thanks in advance.

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  • $\begingroup$ I think this is a good question in the wrong place. My (very limited) view of the world says that most programs that are trying to encourage or motivate young students do not have mentors for the teachers as well. I suggest you contact people who conduct excellence in math programs, and also contact successful teachers of such students, and ask them if there is any overlap. Also ask if they would be willing to mentor you. You may get some response here, but I think you can find a better forum for this. Gerhard "Ask Me About System Design" Paseman, 2012.03.27 $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 16:33
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    $\begingroup$ If you are aware of a forum better suited for this question, please let me know. As it stands, I believe this is the best place to ask this question. For if I was aware of programs with mentoring, etc. in the first place, I wouldn't have asked the question! $\endgroup$
    – Steve D
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 16:42
  • $\begingroup$ This should be a CW question since there is no right answer. $\endgroup$
    – Benjamin Steinberg
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 19:18
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    $\begingroup$ I think this question is better asked at academia.stackexchange.com $\endgroup$
    – JRN
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 0:54
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks Joel, I did not know about that site. I have crossposted it there: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/918/… However I still think there can be good answers here. On the other hand, 3 anonymous people have voted to close this question already, so let's see how long it lasts. $\endgroup$
    – Steve D
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 2:17

1 Answer 1

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Many small liberal arts undergraduate colleges in the US have temporary adjunct positions often or usually filled by new Ph.D.s. These colleges generally focus more attention on teaching than do research universities, and consequently have infrastructure for mentoring and improving teaching. Many have special fellowships whose goal is specifically to mentor young postdocs interested in a teaching career. At my school, these fellowships require teaching only six courses over a three-year appointment, a generous arrangement.

The US National Postdoctoral Association maintains a list of such teaching fellowships, although I am uncertain of its comprehensiveness. One can also find specific school fellowships by web-searching "postdoctoral teaching fellowships in mathematics."

I suspect analogous summer teaching opportunities would be less useful in terms of development, but perhaps(?) easier to secure. There are many summer math programs for high-schools students; teaching at one of these would be quite enjoyable. I can only mention examples (again, in the US) rather than point you to a comprehensive list: Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, Cornell Summer Math Institute Awesome Math at Cornell/UTDallas/UCSantaCruz, Berkeley Math Path Summer Camp, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, etc.

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  • $\begingroup$ Cornell's SMI is an amazing program, but it is targeted at students preparing for graduate school. The age range is comparable to an REU (or even a year older). $\endgroup$
    – Matt Noonan
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 20:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Matt: Thanks for the correction, I meant "Awesome Math," which I now see is at UTDallas, UC Santa Cruz, and Cornell. $\endgroup$
    – Joseph O'Rourke
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 20:40
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for the wonderful answer! The National Postdoctoral Association seems to be almost exactly what I was searching for. $\endgroup$
    – Steve D
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 0:24
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    $\begingroup$ I've talked to several people who had the opportunity to take part in REUs as grad students. They all seemed to find it a valuable and fairly unique experience. $\endgroup$
    – Thierry Zell
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 0:31
  • $\begingroup$ @Thiery: Is it common for grad students from other institutions to participate in REUs? So someone from Michigan can be a part of an REU in Minnesota? $\endgroup$
    – Steve D
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 2:18

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