TA training, 8 January 2010

From Driscollwiki

Contents 1 People 1.1 Grad stds in res 2 Duty 2.1 Balance 2.2 Professionalism 2.3 Record keeping 2.4 Academic dishonesty 2.5 Students in danger 2.6 Consistency 3 Prep 3.1 Discussion sections 3.2 Contact sheet 4 Grading 4.1 Complaints 4.2 Performance 5 Tech 5.1 In class support 5.2 Classroom clickers 5.3 Backchannel 6 Annenberg 6.1 Selecting classes 7 Resources 7.1 Books 7.2 Links

People

USC Center for Excellenct in Teaching

• http://www.usc.edu/cet

Lawford Anderson

• anderson@

Grad stds in res

Richard Brown, gsir@

Duty

Balance

50% commitment

• Not more than 20 hours / week
• Averaging over the semester
  • Some weeks more, some weeks less
  • "Right the ship"

Be specific in asking for clarity

• What does a prof expect?
• Plan ahead

Professionalism

TA supports the prof

• "Buck stops" with the prof
• "Instructor of record"

Record keeping

Be meticulous

• For grading and archiving
• Attendance

Academic dishonesty

Present questionable material to the prof

• SJCTs ("es jax")
• Evaluating assignments for plagiarism

Do not approach students directly

• Faculty responsibility

School policy:

• Students receive zero grade for the assignment
• Repeat offenders subject to judicial review

Students in danger

Identify students in peril

• Don't pry
• Refer to prof
• Suggest students get help
• Suggest services on campus

Merriman, student services

• lmerriman /at/ usc

Consistency

Treat all students equally

• Fairness
• Students will compare experiences
• Absentee policy

Consistent across TAs

• Using the same grading system

Prep

Handouts, review sheets

• Run them by the profs
• Be sure they are consistent with the class

Discussion sections

Section details

• 50 minutes
• Tends to be ~25 students
• Worth 10-15%
  • Plan grading strategy w other TAs and prof

Prep

• Confer w professor regarding topic
• Make notes in advance (SBW: 5-7pp)
• Bring in additional info, artifacts
  • Videos, news, etc

Best practices

• Learn names
• Get copy of names + faces from myUSC
  • Ask prof for "roster"
• Mass emailing additional info, etc
  • Emails are also on "roster"
• Ask students (or assign) to bring questions
  • This might be graded

Contact sheet

Create a contact sheet

• PhD office phone
• USC email
• Dirs to the PhD office
• Office hours
• State expectations
  • punctuality
  • cell phones, laptops
• Grading policy, scale
  • Descriptive: "An A paper is..."
  • Timing: how long people should expect
• Contract
  • I will provide...
  • I will expect...

Grading

Complaints

Refer to the instructor

• Clear syllabus

Performance

Monitor student performance

• Reach out to ppl who are struggling

Tech

ASC Tech

Information services Division

• http://www.usc.edu/isd

Center for Scholarly Tech

• http://cst.usc.edu/

In class support

Master tools

• A/V
• Blackboard

Classroom clickers

PRS Clickers

• http://www.usc.edu/its/cst/teach/prsclickers.php

Backchannel

Be specific with students

• What do you find acceptable?
• Transparency
• Norms

Annenberg

Selecting classes

Priority goes to

• Professor preference
• Student seniority

Resources

Books

Bain. (2004) "What the best college teachers do." Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

• http://books.google.com/books?id=YwPCxQpxKbIC&dq=%22what+the+best+college+teachers+do%22&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=xmxHS_SyCpOqswP5p6C2Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Weiner, M. () "Learner centered teaching"

Links

USC CET TA Fellows wiki

• http://uscta.wikidot.com

USC Grad Ast Handbook

• http://www.usc.edu/schools/GraduateSchool./current_guidelines_forms.html

USC College TA Handbook

• http://college.usc.edu/teaching-assistant-handbook/

CET Website

• http://cet.usc.edu/resources/ta_resources/