assume students will be at both talks — for a job talk, use jargon sparingly and be sure to explain terminology and stats so that a lower-division student could still follow your work. "quizzing" students on interpretation of p-values or correlations also goes a long way.
for teaching demo — bring your A-game… pick a topic that you can do something interactive and/or discussion based. (note: this may be on a concept that is NOT your research-specialty and that's okay). you may also be asked to prepare a demo within a specific subfield (e.g., an abnormal psych class).
less is more — you usually only have 30 minutes or so… so pick ONE major topic (with a few sub topics — e.g., Attachment Theory and the 3/4 subtypes). we see so many talks that are "full lectures"… we can get a snapshot of your teaching in 15 minutes or less. it's less about the topic you pick and more about how you engage the audience.
questions to ask the committee before coming out:
- appx how many people will attend (so you can make appropriate # of handouts or demo materials)
- who is invited (students, staff, faculty)?
- will it be a stand alone talk or will you be presenting in someone's class? (which class?)
- is there a rubric that you will be evaluated on that they would share? (we now provide one to our candidates)
things to mention before your demo:
- I would give this lecture to students in X course, who are mostly lower division / upper division / non-majors / majors?
- we would have covered XXX and YYY, so the students would have the foundations for ZZZ, which I cover in more depth today.
things to ask your self:
- do i have a coherent narrative for my demo (intro, middle, conclusion)?
- will my demo fit within the time constraints? with enough time for questions?
- is my interactive activity really necessary? have i explained why i've selected this activity or made clear the purpose? do i adequately tie it back to the lecture/concepts?
- if students were listening to my lecture, would the main points be clear? clear enough that they would know what to study for the exam?
- if the students were asked to tell a friend the main point of my talk, could they do it?
