In this special episode of High Theory, Ramsés Martínez Barquero and Abigail Cowan interview their graduate student colleagues about teaching. They turn our attention to graduate study as one of the foundational aspects in building academic knowledge, and show us graduate instructors encountering the classroom as a learning environment for teachers and students. Abigail and Ramses recorded interviews with eight fellow graduate students in a story circle they held at the PennState Humanities Institute as part of their Public Humanities Fellowship program. The episode weaves together stories of anxiety and humor, pushing against self doubt, and finding community while pursuing graduate studies.Ramsés Martínez Barquero is a M.A/PhD student in the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.Abigail Cowan is a graduate student for the Department of English and a teaching assistant for English and Comparative Literature.Kristina Bowers is a PhD student at Penn State University studying Rhetoric and Composition and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.Vani Gupta is a doctoral student in the HDFS Department at Penn State University.Ash Mayes is a master's student in the English department.Ana Sofía Semo is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and now she teaches Spanish 2 in the Spanish Basic Language Program.María José Andrade Gabiño is a Ph.D. student in the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Department.Alex Mika is a second-year PhD student in the Penn State English Department studying Shakespeare's cultural legacy via literary, cinematic, and dramatic adaptations of his works.The image for this episode was made by Saronik Bosu in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices