Some effort to test the effectiveness of teacher assistant training programs is common, but these evaluations are typically limited to measures of student satisfaction. Two forms of assessment commonly used in elementary and secondary teacher training programs, measuring levels of teaching anxiety and teacher efficacy, may be of use for sociology programs interested in formally evaluating the effect of teaching seminars. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of a newly established teaching seminar using the Teaching Anxiety Scale and a Teaching Confidence Scale. Findings from pre- and posttest data show that the seminar lowered graduate students’ feelings of anxiety about teaching for the first time and increased their levels of confidence regarding mastery of common pedagogical skills. Qualitative feedback from evaluations further illustrates the positive effects of the seminar on students’ senses of themselves as teachers and their knowledge of effective teaching practices.
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