By Avra Spector (Guest Curator)

In March, the TLC launched the Open Teaching Initiative (OTI): a two-week project designed to support and expand cross-disciplinary dialogue about teaching among Graduate Center students. The OTI also provided a structure for introducing those who will be teaching their first college courses in Fall 2017 to CUNY’s undergraduate classrooms.

To that end, during “Open Classroom Week,” participating GC instructors opened their classrooms to students interested in observing and learning from experienced peers. Class visitors had the opportunity to sit-in on a range of classes across CUNY’s campuses, and to observe a wide array of teaching practices and methodologies. After the visit, visitors sat down with the host instructor for a conversation about the class and about teaching at CUNY. As part of our third Teach@CUNY series, we invited the participants, both visitors and hosts, to share their reflections on taking part in Open Classroom Week.

Avra Spector is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center and a TLC Fellow.