The Graduate Teacher Certificate is designed to encourage teaching assistants (TAs) to develop their teaching skills and reflective practice. It provides opportunities to document teaching experience, professional development, and the constructive use of student feedback.

Like all of the certificates, the Graduate Teacher Certificate requires you to complete a series of requirements at your own pace. If you need clarification of the requirements, want us observe your teaching or review your student feedback, or if you have any other questions, contact CITL. You are encouraged to start working on the certificate as soon as possible in your graduate career. However, there is no time limit for completion of the requirements.

Certificate requirements

• Teaching development: Participate in either the Graduate Academy for College Teaching or a pre-semester departmental teaching orientation which includes such topics as active learning, grading, leading discussions, lesson planning, and relevant campus policies.
• Teach two semesters at U of I: Document formal teaching experience for a minimum of two semesters at Illinois. Teaching is defined as having regularly scheduled teaching duties with students in a classroom, studio, lab, or online, where you are responsible for leading learning activities over an extended period of time.
• Observation of your teaching: Arrange to have a faculty member or CITL consultant observe your teaching and discuss the observation with you. Write a reflective essay on what you learned from the process.
• Collect and use student feedback: Analyze and reflect on informal and formal student feedback: For two semesters, collect Informal Early Feedback (IEF) from your students at mid-semester and formal feedback (ICES) at the end of the semester. Meet at least twice with a faculty member or CITL consultant to discuss the student feedback. Write an essay reflecting on the use of student feedback in your teaching.
• Additional teaching development: Attend a minimum of six hours of teaching development workshops or activities beyond the pre-semester training. Teaching workshops, classes, and seminars offered by CITL, as well as other campus groups, may apply.

Get started

All certificate requirements must be documented using the Graduate Teacher Certificate Application, in consultation with a faculty member and/or your CITL consultant. The application contains more details for completing the certificate. The completed application must be submitted to CITL for review by your CITL consultant. The submission deadline is April 15.