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Not really about meeting me at the airport, alas, Pat and all of you,
though all these tempting morsels are enough to make me want to throw
responsibility to the wind and join the Family in sunny Winnipeg.

Two things: please note a change of e-mail address to [log in to unmask]
.ca  (i.e. all as before except change the 'lief' to 'plato').  Leif is
being phased out here and after the end of May and we're told our messages
won't be forwarded.  So Russ or any other kind gremlin who understands how
these things work, can you please change my address on the list so I don't
miss out on the next exciting installment of CASSL.

Second thing: another request.  Who can help me with info about teaching
graduate students to teach, both in English and other disciplines?
I'm especially interested in updates on what is happening in Canada, but also
 in the USA and elsewhere. I gathered a fair bit of material
on this from some of you about 4 years ago, and of course have the books I
think of as our own: Roger's, Laurence and Cathy's, Henry's as well as
Andrea's MLA report on the future of the profession.

The immediate impulse
for this request is that I'll be giving a presentation at the Learneds (
ACCUTE)  on May 25th in a session  on the Ethics, Pragmatics and Politics
of Teaching Graduate Students to Teach.  I'll be talking mainly about the
program that some of us started here a couple of years ago, with
grad students from different disciplines taking part in weekly meetings
throughout the Fall and Winter semesters
on everything from planning courses and assignments, to using MUN's new high-
tech classrooms to dealing with sexual harrassment. I lead some sessions,
but most are led by faculty or staff who have special expertise in each
topic, and each student has a teaching supervisor from her or his
own discipline who observes,mentors,etc. Students who complete the program
get a certificate and a notation in their transcript.

I'll be arguing for the desirability of combining such a program with one
within each discipline, and specifically in English, including an orientation
of several days before term begins for all grads
 students who will be working as TA's and (especially) for those who will be
teaching their own classes. (Yes, I know, this a really revolutionary
proposal: for years here we have thrown brand new Phd
students into their own classes, with only the most perfunctory guidance in
most cases). What do you do in your own institutions?  I remember being
tremendously impressed at what some of you reported  e.g. Janet
Giltrow and her team at SFU (related in the lounge at Banff, if I
remember correctly, when Inkshed met there).
But I'd love any additions,updates,etc. that you have time to report
.. .. not just for this session, but to pass on to interested colleagues
here (there are a few!).

Phyllis