WORKSHOP AND PANEL DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE 2018 WINTER TA CONFERENCE

PREPAREDNESS: ASSESSMENT AND GRADING – MEASURING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

How much are your students actually learning in your classroom? In this workshop, we will discuss various assessment techniques to help you evaluate student growth. You will learn to: identify appropriate ways to evaluate student knowledge and develop a system for gauging your own effectiveness in the classroom. Additionally, we will identify and generate solutions to potential problems that can arise when grade- norming with other instructors.

PREPAREDNESS: CREATING INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS

This workshop will cover relevant research from psychology and education that addresses strategies to proactively set norms supportive of an inclusive classroom, and to respond to moments of friction in class. The focus of this training is intentionally broad: It will touch on inclusive pedagogical practices with respect to race/ethnicity, language, gender, religion, ideology, ability, nationality, etc. Instructors will be explicitly encouraged to reflect on how these inclusive practices can be applied inside and outside of their classes.

PREPAREDNESS: HOW STUDENTS LEARN

This workshop gives an overview of how students learn and teaching techniques that will help your students achieve their goals. Examine why material you’ve learned has stuck with you, and the best ways to help your students hold onto the content you teach. We will discuss the merits of student-centered instruction and when to use it in your classrooms. Our focus will be on practical application.

PREPAREDNESS: THE NUTS & BOLTS OF LESSON PLANNING

Good lesson plans mean more effective instruction that maximizes student learning. This workshop is designed to be useful to TAs in many fields. Participants will learn how to craft an effective lesson plan based on student-centered, specific, and measurable learning goals, and to revise lesson plans after teaching them so they can be used effectively in the future. This workshop will also help TAs understand how much they can cover in a section, and how to tailor lessons to students with diverse levels of experience in your discipline.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR DISCUSSION SECTIONS

Discussion sections are often the most rewarding part of a class. Yet, as moderators of these discussions, TAs are often terrified that they will be staring at blank faces for an hour. Participants will take home strategies for eliciting participation from reluctant students, developing procedures for stimulating thoughtful discussion, and keeping discussions going beyond the classroom.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: CHEATING, GRADE COMPLAINTS, & DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR – PREVENTION & MANAGEMENT

In this workshop, participants will discuss strategies for creating respectful class communities that will minimize instances of cheating, grade complaints, and disruptive behavior. Topics addressed will include setting clear class expectations, fostering students’ sense of personal responsibility, creating a course culture (in and out of the classroom) that facilitates active learning and participation, and methods for dealing with disciplinary/behavioral issues. We will practice a variety of classroom management scenarios as a group, as well as discuss individual questions and concerns.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: GIVING FEEDBACK – ASSESSING STUDENT WRITING

Students are often asked to communicate what they have learned in writing. But strengths and weaknesses in their writing can boost or hinder their ability to communicate what they know. During this workshop, participants will learn how to identify the writing issues to address and ignore; how to preempt plagiarism and grade complaints; how to empower students to effectively edit their own work; and how to manage their time.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: TIME MANAGEMENT: MEETING MULTIPLE GOALS AS A GRADUATE STUDENT, TA, AND HUMAN

Being a TA can be challenging. We all have to juggle research, teaching schedules, important meetings, and our personal lives. There is no universal roadmap for how to keep all of these priorities in the air and in the right place. This workshop will guide participants as they organize their schedules for the quarter, while accounting for varyingly demanding weeks, and as they prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency. Participants will learn strategies to achieve balance and identify online and campus resource to support their time management goals.