THE GTA* HANDBOOK
Department of Mathematics
The
Grateful acknowledgement is
made to: Former Department Head, Dr.
George E. Andrews, who founded the Mathematics Mentoring Program; present
Department Head, Dr.
Jo
Battaglia
August
2002
*GTA-Graduate Teaching
Assistant
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Why a GTA Handbook?
What is the Mathematics Mentoring
Program?
Pre-semester
Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Three essential preparations
Mentoring Meeting
Departmental GTA Training and Induction
Program
Course Coordinator Meeting
Week 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 9
How-to’s on making the best impression
Addressing
eight (8) student learning needs
Week
1 Administrative check list
Week 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 12
Week 1 review and reflection
Developing
classroom awareness – compiling student profiles
Tips
on giving quizzes
Effective
use of grading help
Week
2 Administrative check list
Weeks 3 and 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Discussion of Classroom Observation #1
Compiling
a teaching profile
Keying
lesson plans
Preparing
for Exam I review
Weeks
3 and 4 Administrative check list
Weeks 5 and 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Exam I analysis
Keying
lesson plans, updating profiles
Weeks
5 and 6 Administrative check list
Weeks 7 through
9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Administering and interpreting teaching
evaluations
Keying
lesson plans
Updating
teaching profile
Self-reflecting
to heighten effective teaching
Weeks
7 through 9 Administrative check list
Weeks 10 through
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Developing specific student learning
skills
Four
specific exercises
Developing
student independent learning skills
Weeks
10 through 12 Administrative check list
Weeks 13 through 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Discussion of Classroom Observation #2
Updating
teaching profile
Self-reflecting
Final
Exam preparation—maintaining the pace
Compiling
a teaching portfolio
Weeks
13 through 15 Administrative check list
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Resource List
Mathematical
Sequences Course Listings
Why a GTA Handbook?
It is often not until graduate teaching assistants (GTA) are well into their first teaching assignments that they come to realize that there is much more to the transmission of knowledge than originally meets the eye. Consequently, common complaints such as the following begin to emerge:
Experienced teachers understand that such complaints, some of which they themselves once had, are indicative of missing teaching skills, strategies, techniques, and course organization. Consequently, the purpose of this Handbook is to guide the new GTA through his/her first teaching assignments. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the Mathematics Mentoring Program.
What is the Mathematics Mentoring Program?
This Program provides for the pairing of a mentee, who is a new graduate teaching assistant or an older graduate assistant new to teaching, with a mentor who is teaching the same course or who has previously taught the course to which the mentee is assigned. Mentors include tenured faculty, instructors, and experienced GTAs.
Mentees meet with their mentors on a regular basis. During these meetings, mentees explore effective, course-specific teaching skills, techniques, and strategies. Course policies, course organization, and additional technical/administrative information are also discussed. In addition, GTAs are observed by their mentors twice throughout the semester, and mentees, in turn, are expected to observe other experienced teachers.
According to The Association of Graduate Schools in the American Association of Universities:
Since virtually all doctoral candidates,
whether or not they
enter the academic sector, will be engaged
in not only the
creation but dissemination of knowledge,
the skills acquired
in learning how to teach will be
fundamental to their future
work.
And according to the magazine
Consequently, the Mathematics Department believes its Mentoring Program to be a vehicle through which the University mission of excellence in teaching is supported and enriched.
GTA Pre-semester Preparation
Checklist
(explanations of the listings follow)
§
Mentoring Meeting
Your mentor will arrange a meeting with you, usually via email, the week before classes begin.
This program, organized by Dr. John Roe, Mentoring Program Director, is for all new graduate teaching assistants. It is a three-day orientation session, held the week before classes begin in August.
This meeting is conducted by the course coordinator for everyone teaching the course that you are teaching and is usually held a day or two before classes begin. Be sure to receive the name of your course coordinator during the Training and Induction Program.
Mentoring Meeting
At this meeting with your mentor, you will be expected to discuss a number of issues related to teaching. You will be asked such things as:
To help you develop a general teaching philosophy, think about what your present beliefs are in terms of teaching and the learning process; of what you expect in a teacher; and of what you expect in a learner. If you are not familiar with the American public school system, ask your mentor (or the Mentor Coordinator) for resource materials that will deepen your understanding. The general teaching philosophy that you adopt will develop more fully as your knowledge of teaching and learning increases over the next fifteen weeks.
be certain of its location;
familiarize yourself with its size and layout;
assess the amount of blackboard space; how much of the
blackboard can be seen from the back of the room; and how
large you will need to write to ensure easy reading from the
back of the room;
survey visual aid capabilities and other features you may
consider important to your teaching.
Notice that the syllabus packet does not inform students of the number of quizzes that are to be given; how the quizzes are to be graded; and whether makeup quizzes are permitted and under what conditions make-ups may occur. Consequently, you will need to provide such information.
Further, on the first page of the syllabus packet, under Grades, you will see that 50 or 100 quiz points are assigned. Instructors often split these points in order to have a homework policy, an attendance policy and/or a participation-point policy. If you would like to do this, the following information, together with your mentor’s suggestions, may help you develop specific policies and the accompanying point distribution. Examples include:
Homework policy
homework is never assigned;
homework is assigned but not turned in;
homework is assigned and graded either weekly or per class:
usually 8 or 9 problems are assigned and graded,
more than 10 problems are assigned but only 8 or 9
are graded,
late homework may or may not be accepted;
other suggestions by your mentor.
Attendance Policy
an attendance sheet is posted for students to sign before or after
class;
attendance is taken visually once student’s names are learned;
other suggestions by your mentor.
Participation
Point Policy
While rarely used, some department faculty greatly favor it.
Discussion with your mentor will provide you with the help
you need should you want to institute such a policy.
Office Hours
Office hours are required of all who are currently teaching—
at least two hours per week, which is the average. Various
methods are used in the selection of these hours. For example:
-office hours are set before classes begin;
-office hours are based on class discussion:
-students are given a choice—majority wins
-students submit their schedules so that the instructor
may choose the most appropriate times
You will need to provide information about your policies, in writing, to your class.
Thinking about the issues listed above before your
mentoring meeting will help you and your mentor make this the most productive
session possible.
Departmental GTA Training and Induction Program
This three-day seminar, conducted by Dr. John Roe, is intended to provide you with crucial information necessary to perform effectively as a graduate assistant and teacher. Here is a partial outline of the program:
§
Class Administration
§
Tour of Department
§
Technology Training
§
T.A. Responsibilities
§
Introduction to the Administration of a Class
syllabus, class lists, grade sheets, exams, classroom assignments, etc.
§
Student Information
composition, education backgrounds, etc.
§
Strategies for Teaching
case studies and panel discussions
§
Evaluation and Assessment
exams, homework, quizzes, etc.
§
PSU Policies and Issues
If you do not already know the names of your mentor and/or course coordinator, be sure you receive this information at the program.
Course Coordinator Meeting
This meeting with your course coordinator will provide you with:
§
Packets of syllabi and course policies to
distribute to
students the first day of class
§ An estimate of current class enrollment
§ Notification of which exam(s) you are to construct. Usually you
are paired with a fellow instructor for this purpose
§ An opportunity to ask any questions you may have about teaching
the course. Experienced instructors will be invited to share any
course information they think will be helpful to you
§ Answers to questions you may have that have not been answered at
your mentoring meeting or the Training and Induction Seminar
Week 1: The impression you make this week, particularly on the first day, is usually the one that most students will retain throughout the semester. There are a number of questions uppermost in students’ minds at this time. For example:
§ What is expected in terms of classroom behavior?
§ How many exams are there?
§ Will there be unannounced quizzes?
§ Will the class be a waste of my time?
§ Will I be able to learn from this instructor?
§ Will he/she be easy to talk to?
§ How much work will this involve both in and out of class?
§ Is tutoring help available?
The underlying concerns prompting these questions may be readily addresses by attending to such learning needs as:
How will you react if a student reads a newspaper during class,
falls asleep, puts his/her feet up on a nearby chair? What will you,
the instructor, choose to address and to ignore? Your mentor will work
with you beforehand on the development of such a policy.
As mentioned previously, these handouts will be given to each instructor
at the course coordinator meeting held just prior to the first day of
instruction.
Regarding attendance, homework, missed quizzes and other related class- time policies already formulated with your mentor.
In these introductory classes, some students may need to be reassigned to a more appropriate level of learning. There are a number of ways to ascertain this quickly:
- Give a short quiz at the end of each class this week in which students recap key concepts or explain a specific concept in detail
- Give a quiz after the third class
- Call on as many students as possible during class in order to gauge their levels of understanding
You may then wish to talk privately, during your office hours, with students who score at either extreme of the scoring range, informing them of the opportunity to retest in order to enroll in the next higher sequence class, if that is the need, or to acquire tutoring help or to drop-down in the pre-calculus sequence. In the latter case, this should be done under the guidance of your mentor as extreme care must be taken not to offend a student.
To help you achieve this level of preparedness, practice each lesson
beforehand. This will help assure that:
- You know exactly what you will be covering. In so doing, you will be certain of the information you wish to emphasize, and that you are keeping pace with the syllabus.
- You have worked each example and/or problem you will be using in class. (Other non-text examples and analogies also aid understanding.) This will help keep blackboard calculation errors to a minimum and to assess the clearness of your handwriting. In addition, you will be better able to anticipate the amount of student-instructor interaction necessary to student understanding.
- If you anticipate language problems, you have practiced using the blackboard to emphasize terms you have difficulty pronouncing.
- You have developed an organized approach pertaining to administrative matters, such as writing announcements, class agenda and homework answers on the blackboard before instruction begins (arriving early helps); collecting and/or returning homework; and taking attendance. In addition, you will have assured that the amount of class time needed for such activities is held to a minimum.
Your mentor will be of great help in this area as he/she has taught the course a number of times. During this discussion you will also be urged to contribute your own ideas. Please remember that teaching is a learning situation—for all of us.
This may be achieved in a number of ways. For example, by
- Frequent questions by you, the instructor, during the lesson. In turn, the type of interaction, whether sparse, slow, uncertain, or frequent, will indicate to you the degree of student comprehension.
- Participation in a short quiz at the end of class. This, in turn, permits not only a daily assessment of student understanding, as previously mentioned, but, also, an extension of that participation into the next class period, i.e., by using the quiz results during your next lesson discussion with the students.
- Submitting homework whether on a daily or weekly basis. Collected, graded and then returned by next class period, homework assignments require students to take responsibility for their learning. In addition, the instructor receives information useful in building student profiles. (Your records will immediately indicate absences, lack of performance, etc.)
- Being addressed by name. Students appreciate this! Consequently, they become comfortable with you not only during the lesson but also before and after class. They are also more likely to visit you during office hours, to submit homework and to attend class regularly. Consequently, they are more likely to perform at a higher level than might otherwise be the case. In turn, you will have created a classroom climate conducive to learning.
Some of our math professors believe assigned seating during the first
week is an excellent method of learning student’s names quickly. Others
take the class outside on the first day for a Polaroid picture of the entire
class. Still others rely on constant interaction with students as their tried and true method—as they return quizzes and homework before and after each class.
Students need to realize that most of their learning will occur outside the
classroom. You may want to alert them to the two-hour rule, that for
every 50 minutes of class time, two (2) hours of study outside of class is
often required. Students often assume incorrectly that they may easily get
by with less. However, it is because they are at such introductory levels of
understanding that the two-hour rule particularly applies to them.
In addition to office hours:
-
The
- Some instructors also conduct weekly review sessions. (Your mentor will provide you with the necessary details concerning room reservations.)
- You may want to encourage the formation of study groups as students become acquainted with each other.
Further, according to Biology Professor R. B. Mitchell, “If you are able to pay more attention to what the class knows than to what you do or do not know, and if you are able to improvise and respond to the class while making clear progress towards defined goals—then you are prepared enough.”
Administrative checklist: Room reservation procedures
Exam I construction responsibilities
Grader request form submission
Week 2: Quality teaching involves the use of the learning acquired during mentoring discussions; from other resources such as the literature and your associates; and during your daily classroom experiences. Consequently, quality teaching involves a constant integration of the old with the new, just as does our own personal learning, no matter our field of major study. During this week, then, as you prepare your lesson plans, it may benefit you to:
§
Review and reflect on last week’s activities
Are you keeping pace with the syllabus?
What questions do you have regarding the construction and/or results
of your first quiz?
How do this week’s lesson plans reflect last week’s mentoring discussions and teaching experiences?
On a scale of 1 to 5, what is the frequency of student participation, of overall student comprehension?
What other questions come to mind?
§
Develop classroom awareness
Which students are not turning in homework?
Which students participate the least and which the most?
How many absences have occurred? Has a student been absent more than once or never come to class?
Which students scored poorly on the first quiz, which scored well? Is there a correlation of quiz grade with homework performance, class participation, and/or attendance?
Review and Reflection
Keeping pace with the syllabus
Sometimes there is a tendency to move ahead of the syllabus believing its pace is too slow, and the elementary concepts are self evident. However, your students have tested into these classes and, subsequently, lack such basic understandings. The syllabus is paced to ensure that such understanding occurs.
This is not to say, however, that the syllabus is inflexible in its use. For example, being slightly ahead of the syllabus, perhaps a half a class, is often beneficial because it permits greater review opportunities. However, being two classes ahead is usually inviting trouble. If you strongly believe that your class would benefit by this faster pace, then you may want to weave constant review work into each class period so that you are able to measure the degree of student retention and thus, be certain that your belief is correct.
Constructing the
first quiz and/or interpreting quiz results
How many problems were there? What kind of problems were given? How long was the quiz? Was it given at the beginning or at the end of class? How many quizzes will you give during the semester? How often will you give a quiz? Will quizzes be given on the same day each week?
Be sure to discuss questions such as these with your mentor. You will find that:
- three to four problems is typical for a 10-12 minute testing period. Have your mentor check their degree of complexity in order to assure appropriateness.
- using old exams as examples of problem type is helpful. This also serves to familiarize students with exam format.
- quizzes are usually given at the end of class. Students may then take advantage of extra after-class minutes.
- quizzes are usually given once a week, often on Fridays. However, both frequency and day do vary among faculty.
Constructing lesson
plans that reflect gained learning and experiences
For example, as you discuss lesson plans with your mentor, point out some ways you are using what you have learned—in presenting a specific concept, in encouraging student participation, and in gauging the degree of student learning taking place.
This is a larger undertaking than it appears to be as you
may need to step beyond what you feel comfortable in doing in order to increase
your teaching effectiveness. For
example, you may feel the need to establish more eye contact, more student
questioning, and/or more movement about the classroom—adjustments that will
feel strange at first.
Developing Classroom Awareness
Reread the previous questions that appear under this topic heading. Do you notice the common thread tying together the answers? That is, you, the GTA, need to be engaged in some form of record keeping in order to answer each of these questions. Maintaining a record of each student in terms of his/her homework (see the tips below), class participation, quizzes, exams and attendance performance, provides data that enhances your awareness of each student’s general performance at any point in time; presents contrasts among students; and permits analysis of each student’s learning situation. This is called developing student profiles.
The data that student profiles provide will carry you into a deeper analysis of your teaching. For example, if a student is doing poorly, you will be able to judge quite accurately the condition(s) responsible for such performance and the action needed to be taken.
If the student seldom turns in homework, has been absent, and so forth, then, clearly, the student is not acting responsibly. How would you use this information? What action would you take?
If, on the other hand, that student is working hard, is never absent, and so forth, then the student is taking responsibility, but…how would you use this information? What action would you take?
At this point in time you may believe that paying such a degree of attention to your teaching will take up too much of your time. That, of course, is a good point, however, it is not true. As is true in your own academic learning, it is just a matter of organization.
Here are some tips that may help you: (Excel and other similar spreadsheet software programs are useful in organizing such data.)
- Have your grader keep a record of homework performance, enclosing a weekly update with the latest homework return.
- Provide manila collection envelopes for homework pick up by your students/grader, and for homework returns, handouts, etc., not picked up in class. Some GTAs and graders prefer to use GTA/grader mailboxes for pick ups and returns. Some GTAs also prefer to keep a binder containing all lesson plans and handouts for easy referral and access to students.
- Photocopy your class list without student ID numbers and use as monthly attendance sheets that students fill in based on either passing around or posting during class.
- Photocopy your class list without student ID numbers and use as a record of quiz performance. (You will receive a running record of individual exam performance after each exam.)
- Learn student names as quickly as possible so that you may identify students readily. This together with student profile information will enable you to handle various matters concerning individual students quickly and efficiently as they arise.
- Ask your mentor, peers, and other associates for other tips.
Your mentor will also discuss with you at this time the details regarding your first classroom observation. Sometimes GTAs wish to observe an experienced teacher before their own first observations. Your mentor will be able to provide you with suggestions.
According to Prof. W. J. McKeachie,
Administrative check list: Student reminders of date/time/location of Exam I/conflict exam/make-up exam
Date/time/location/procedure for grading of Exam I
Classroom observation procedure
Drop/add protocols
Weeks 3 and 4: By this time you will have had your first classroom observation. Your mentor will discuss the results with you. The assessment form you receive will be of great help in providing you with a profile of your current teaching capabilities. Just as student profiles enhance your awareness of student learning needs, compiling a teaching profile of strengths and weaknesses will serve as a guide for enhancing your teaching abilities in the coming weeks.
Many GTAs find that it is good practice to use the teaching assessment as a check list when preparing lesson plans, and as a daily reminder of particular areas of performance that are less than desirable. Consequently, it is often helpful to mentors that GTAs bring their teaching assessments with them to future discussions. GTAs can then more clearly show how lesson plans are keyed to those results.
This is also the time to be reminding students of the upcoming exam and to provide them with the dates, times and locations of the conflict and make-up exams as well. During Week 4, you will be providing students with practice exam packets. The course instructors assigned to write the exam will notify you when they are ready for distribution to your students. The intention is to provide students with review opportunities concurrent with the material that is yet to be learned and that is included in the exam.
Course instructors use these packets in a variety of ways:
- Students work on the packets outside of class. Questions are answered before and after class, during office hours, and/or during class. (Instructors who conduct weekly reviews use the packets at that time as their primary review source.)
- Specific parts of the packets are assigned as homework. Questions are answered as suggested above.
- Instructor and students work together on selected problems during part of each subsequent class. Students are also urged to work on the packets outside of class.
- Towards the end of each class, students break into groups to work on selected problems. The instructor helps answer group questions. Students are also urged to work on the packets outside of class.
- Some combination of the above is used. The instructor also helps students organize study groups.
- Other suggestions by your mentor.
Review is important to both students and instructor. For example:
- Students become acquainted with the exam format and the types of questions that will be asked.
- Students are provided the opportunity to firm up areas of weak comprehension, and of which they are often unaware.
- Instructors are provided the opportunity to further assist those students who will need extra help in order to perform well.
- Review often lessens the tendency for instructors to overestimate student comprehension.
- Review often encourages student-student interactions which, in turn, encourage study group formation.
During this time frame it is important that you remember to continue improving upon
those activities that you believe aid the teaching-learning process. For example:
- Continue to work on learning students’ names so that teaching may become comfortable. You may notice that as students come to know you, they will ask and answer more questions during class even though they may not be sure of the correctness of their responses. And you, the instructor, will begin to sense an appropriate reaction to that student whose response is incorrect.
- Continue to develop student profiles. Doing so enables you to face each class more fully aware of each student’s current capability. This is particularly beneficial during this review period. In turn, you will be better able to tailor your review more specifically to students’ learning needs.
At this time, you should also verify with the course coordinator the time and location of Exam 1 as well as the grading procedure you are to follow.
According to Dr. L. S. Shulman, President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, “The taxonomy of learning impediment consists of three basic taxa: amnesia – learning is not remembered; fantasia – students think they know what they do not; inertia – students subsequently cannot use what they think they have learned.”
Administrative check list: Practice exam distribution
Conflict exam/make up exam sign-up form submissions
Exam I date/time/place – classroom posting, including conflict/make-up exam information
Review session room reservation
Extra office hours/review session – postings
Study group posting
Exam grading process
Exam return protocol
Weeks 5 and 6: Exam I will have been graded and returned to students by this time. You will have received a print out of the exam results from your course coordinator. Your mentor will help you analyze this information. For example, look through the listing to see if, in general, students performed as you expected. If not, ask your mentor to help you with a further analysis in order to more clearly understand why.
You may need to adjust teaching strategies as you move into your second segment of teaching. This will mean re-examining current student profiles and current teaching practices. Using additional information from your mentor, and from the rest of this section, will also be useful.
Calculate the exam average for your class and compare it to the course average. If your class average is below the course average by more than a point or two, then further analysis, like that suggested above, will help you discover whether you simply have a lower-performing class, what other causes are responsible, or whether it is some combination of the two.
In addition to the tabulation of individual test scores, it is a good idea to also review the Response Table (Figure 1) tabulation that is also return with the results of a multiple choice exam. (If you do not receive one, ask your course coordinator for a copy.) This tabulation lists the percentage of students selecting each of the problem options. It further delineates the degree of difficulty of the test and provides insight into the types of errors that are occurring.
For example:
- Study the A through D frequencies listed for each problem in order to determine the specific problems students found easy, moderately difficult, difficult and extremely difficult. Then with the help of your mentor, examine the specific types of errors that were made. Do they imply a lack of attention, retention or comprehension?
- Notice that the resulting implications will determine the need for future lesson plans keyed to the particular types of errors that are occurring.
- Use the additional plus and minus information contained in the Response Table to help you further analyze student responses. The + symbols, for example, will indicate to what degree higher performing students were overconfident; and the types of errors such students make given this circumstance. The – symbol will indicate ineffectual test items; and the quality of responses that make them so. Your mentor will help you with these implications.
GTAs are often not sure of what further use to make of examinations. Practices vary among faculty. These include:
-
Posting the solution key either on the bulletin boards
located on the first floor of
- Requiring corrections as a homework assignment. Time in class may or may not be used answering questions--usually, a study of the solution key is sufficient.
The approach you choose often evolves from the analysis of the examination.
Your mentor will also discuss with you information pertaining to the teaching
evaluations to be conducted in the coming weeks.
According to Neil Johnson, Penn State CELT Program Director, “Classroom research is
the teacher’s systematic application of her (his) own investigative skills in the learning
environment for the express purpose of documenting what and how students are
learning…”
Administrative check list: Exam I analysis
University Testing Services (exam analysis help)
Evaluation protocol
Exam II construction responsibilities
Date/time/location for grading of Exam II
Weeks 7 through 9: Students will be evaluating your teaching during Week 7. Although you have the choice of whether or not to share the results of your evaluations with your mentor, it is a good idea to do so in order to get the most benefit out of the evaluations. Your mentor will help you to interpret the results in terms of keying the review of each item to your current teaching practices. For example:
§
Quality
of the instructor (or of the teaching):
Tabulate the average student response.
-
If the response has been positive
Think about the good things that you are doing that cause such a rating. You will want to reinforce such methods in the future lesson plans.
-
If the response has been negative
Discuss with your mentor ways to improve that incorporate additional students’ evaluations of the clarity of your examples, of your explanations, and of your responses to student questions.
§
Effectiveness
of homework:
Tabulate the average student response. (This item is not included in Math 110 evaluations)
-
If the response has been positive
Recount the strategies that you use so that you will not forget them in future lesson plans.
-
If the response has been negative
Discuss with your mentor ways to improve—do you return such feedbacks as homework, quizzes and examinations promptly (during the next class); and how do you provide feedback during class time?
Students need to know you are making use of their evaluations. After all, that is the point of mid-term evaluations—to be evaluated in terms of student thinking so that you may make adjustments that are more in keeping with their learning needs throughout the rest of the semester. Consequently,
- thank the students the next class period for their evaluations.
- in future lesson plans, always try to think of appropriate comments that refer to their evaluations whenever you are using a teaching method or strategy that has been influenced by their evaluations. Or if you need to return feedback more promptly—as you make that adjustment during the next return, mention their appreciation of early returns.
The self-reflection in which you are presently engaged and that has occurred over the previous weeks will serve to sharpen your teaching growth curve to the point that may now enable you to:
- use your student profiles to single out those students in need of extra help before the second exam; and to prepare students for the coming exam with a review that, based on observed rather than assumed, strengths and weaknesses.
- Use test feedback to address attention, retention and comprehension issues. For example, you are providing learning opportunities that sharpen students’ abilities to differentiate between slightly contrasting meanings or details; to use pertinent algorithms readily and efficiently; and to explain concepts clearly and concisely.
- Use the classroom observation and your teaching evaluations as teaching aids for each class preparation in order to
· remind you of those areas in which you may need to improve, such as, pace or presentation.
· Continue those practices on which you were complimented, such as, approach or availability.
· Motivate yourself to make other adjustments, such as, in teaching style or in teaching strategies.
- Use your mentor’s additional teachings not only to heighten your technical diagnostic expertise but to deepen personal analysis. For example, at this point in time try to think about
· Whether or not teaching is comfortable.
· How easily you communicate with students.
· Which concepts are most troubling to students.
· Those students who were absent and the frequency of such absences.
Consequently, you may also find that as the review day approaches for Exam II, that you have already done much in the way of preparation. For example, you
- regularly include problems from previous material in homework assignments in order to boost retention.
- solve a review problem or two at the start of each class.
- use the practice exams as soon as they are received for additional review.
- are working with poorer performing students.
- provide opportunities for students to practice troublesome concepts.
- have encouraged student interactions so that the formation of study groups is more likely.
Review day should be a natural extension of previous class activities. If it is not, but is more like being asked to figure out an intricate schematic in 50 minutes, then we instructors have not done our homework.
According to Emerita Prof. Mary McCammon, Dept. of Mathematics, Penn State, “…just because you explain something logically and clearly does not mean that the students will understand everything the teacher dictated, and the students must understand what you are trying to teach them.”
Administrative check list: Submission of conflict exam/make up sign-up forms
Student reminders of date/time/location of Exam II/conflict exam/make up exam
Exam III construction responsibilities
Teaching evaluation discussion with your mentor
Weeks 10 through 12: During this time period mentors will urge you to take
advantage of the many insights you have gained to increase the learning success of your