Teaching Program

Doctoral students become eligible to teach in the department after successful completion of their 1st year in the program. Prior to starting their second year in the program, they are given teaching assignments as recitation leaders for the undergraduate “Introduction to Performance Studies” lecture (PERF-GT 101.001) offered in the Fall term. After successful completion of these assignments, in the third year they will be assigned as recitation leaders for the graduate “Introduction to Performance Studies” lecture (PERF-GT 1000.001) offered in the Fall term. The following semester the same cohort of students are assigned as recitation leaders for the MA “Final Projects” Lecture (PERF-GT 2000.001). After successful completion of these assignments, they will be eligible to apply for graduate adjunct openings in the undergraduate program as a recitation leader positions in the BA “Capstone Project” course PERF-UT 400.001.  

Doctoral students interested in starting their teacher training with the department must opt into the program by January 31st of their first spring semester. If a second-year Ph.D. student opts out of the PS Teaching Program, vacant recitation sections will be posted and offered by application to Ph.D. students in good academic standing in years 3 and above.

Open teaching positions are posted by the department prior to the start of each term and eligible students are encouraged to apply for these positions by using the application portal link, shared with the job postings. They will be required to submit a statement of intent, a CV, and a sample syllabus for each course they plan to apply for. They can schedule a meeting prior to the application deadline with their Dissertation Advisor or the Assistant Director of Programs about formulating their application materials. 

A call for open positions is sent out twice a year and applications are submitted during the following periods, these dates coincide with the NYU Registrar schedule to post courses and are subject to change:

• February-March- fall teaching positions and

• August- September- spring/summer term positions

  Once all of the applications are submitted a faculty committee will review all the submitted materials and make their selections.

Each year the department will offer professionalization workshops and seminars focusing on teaching and pedagogy. First-year doctoral students who have opted into the PS Teaching Program are required to attend in order to be prepared to teach recitation sections. 

All Graduate Adjuncts within the Department of Performance Studies are provided additional teaching support as they develop their pedagogy. Ph.D. candidates teaching a recitation section will schedule at least one class observation by a PS faculty member over the course of the semester.

-  Observation: The observer will attend the observee's class and take notes on both the content of the class and how the observee teaches.

-  Post-observation meeting: Ph.D. Candidates will then schedule a post-observation meeting. This meeting, which should be held within two weeks of the observed class, will allow the observer and observee to talk together about what worked in the class session and what did not. The focus of this conversation should be feedback and reflection.

-  Observation Form: The final observation feedback form will be shared at the end of the semester after the Chair and DUGS have reviewed it. 

PS also offers the Graduate Info Session Series linked here. This Friday workshop series covers a range of topics relating to professional development and teaching related skils.