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Allerton Beneficial to Instructors, Teaching Assistants
Each spring, professors, instructors, and teaching assistants (TAs) from across the state of Illinois gather at the The Allerton Articulation Conference to meet their peers and discuss issues in teaching composition. For NIU’s instructors and teaching assistants, Allerton provides the perfect opportunity to present their teaching strategies and solutions to a professional audience.
“TAs need to go to at least one conference per year for professional development,” says Professor Michael Day, Director of First-Year Composition. “Allerton is the best one.”
The Allerton Conference gives instructors and teaching assistants the chance to add a new line to their curriculum vitae, network with teachers from other institutions, and show off their knowledge of the field. “Both grad students and instructors are clamoring for this type of professional development,” says Day. “They want it, and they deserve it.”
The Allerton Conference provides benefits far beyond the individual attendees. Not only does it make for better teaching in individual composition classrooms, but it makes NIU as a whole look good. According to Day, “other schools don’t usually think about the professional development of their TAs and instructors. This is one way that we can show that we are better than other schools at providing this kind of development.”
In the past, NIU has been able to provide funds for instructors and teaching assistants who wished to attend the Allerton Conference, but recent budget cuts are making it increasingly difficult for the department to do so at a significant level. “TAs and instructors are historically a population that doesn’t make much money,” says Day, “and a lot of people who would benefit greatly from this conference aren’t able to attend because they don’t have the finances. We don’t want anyone to miss out on this important opportunity.”
“We will continue to send people to Allerton,” he continues, “but with outside funding, we could ensure that many more people could attend and represent NIU in what we do so well.”
If you are interested in making a contribution to our Allerton fund, contact
Jan Vander Meer at jvander@niu.edu. Please
use the subject line of “Allerton.”