Maria Pia Gómez-Laich

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Associate Teaching Professors of English Jeffrey Squires and Maria Pia Gomez-Laich, together with Educational Support Specialist Sheren Saad, designed the English CA Practicum to enhance the professional capacity of English Course Assistants (CAs) while aligning with CMU-Q’s broader goals for academic equity, quality, and institutional effectiveness. . The practicum not only prepares CAs to provide consistent and high-quality support to students but also advances the Committee on Institutional Excellence’s (CIE) priorities in supporting equity in student experience and accountability. The program’s goals are: 1. Fostering Consistency and Equity in Student Experience We conduct calibration and norming sessions with CAs to strengthen their practices in responding to student writing. These sessions help reduce variability in the quality of feedback students receive across English courses. 2. Building Capacity for Continuous Improvement Through guided reflection sessions, we encourage CAs to assess their roles and evaluate their own effectiveness and to bolster their confidence as peer mentors. Embedding reflective practice into their daily work can help cultivate a culture of continuous improvement. 3. Strengthening Communication and Accountability Aligning with restorative practices, we use tutoring scenarios to prepare CAs to approach challenging situations with professionalism. 4. Supporting Innovation and Best Practices We introduce CAs to contemporary approaches in writing pedagogy, peer feedback, and educational support. This ensures that CA practices remain aligned with evolving standards of excellence in the teaching of writing in higher education. Four sessions were delivered in Fall 2025 and three sessions were delivered in Spring 2026.

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