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发信人: haven (避风港), 信区: AdvancedEdu
标 题: How to be a good TA(9)
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Tue May 12 21:51:47 1998)
8 Continuing to teach and learn
In this final section, we consider ways that TAs can continue to
improve their teaching through the processes of student-evaluation,
peer-evaluation, and finding new venues in which to teach.
8.1 TA evaluations
At the end of the term, TAs (and instructors) are requested by Yale
College to distribute evaluation forms to their students. Some TAs
also create and distribute their own mid-semester evaluations. If you
do so, ask them to focus on the class rather than on yourself, since
students are unlikely to give personal criticism while a TA is still
responsible for grading them. The following sorts of questions might
be helpful at mid-term:
What has worked especially well in section?
What could stand improvement?
How effective are specific strategies, projects, or texts? (Be
sure to name explicitly the ones that interest you.
If you solicit mid-term evaluations, take particular care to respond
to your students' comments. They will be discouraged if they have
taken the time and effort to fill out an evaluation only to see it
apparently ignored. At both mid- and end-of-term, you will benefit
most from your students' evaluations if you discuss them in advance
with your students rather than simply handing them out. From the
students' perspective, filling out evaluations often seems like
formality from which they will not benefit. Therefore, you should
think carefully about the evaluation process. What do you want to
know about your teaching? To what end will you put the
information? Are you really going to change anything based on the
information you receive? How will the evaluator benefit? Having
answered such questions for yourself, you can assure your students
that you will take their evaluations seriously, and make every
attempt to respond to both positive and negative criticism (when it is
constructive). Remind your students that by completing evaluations
in a serious and responsible manner they are exercising one of the
most direct and useful controls they can on teaching at Yale.
It is a good idea to give students ample time to write their
evaluations, perhaps by setting aside time at the beginning of class
rather than at the end. It is usually not a good idea to have students
write evaluations immediately after taking exams.
According to Yale College guidelines, neither TAs nor lecturers
should read end-of-semester evaluations until after final grades have
been calculated and submitted. Most TAs will agree that because
TA evaluations tend to focus more on their abilities than on the
course itself, this policy helps them avoid the subtle influence their
students' evaluations may have-whether positive or negative-on the
sometimes highly subjective process of grading.
Evaluations do not replace more informal means of discussion with
students about how the section is going. You will usually know when
something has gone wrong in section. Try to approach these
moments with an eye toward what you might have done differently
and what was completely beyond your control. If you can
distinguish these aspects, you may avoid obsessing needlessly about
the problems. Honesty may be your most important tool here. For
those who feel comfortable doing so, there is no shame in returning
to section the week following a class in which problems occurred
and apologizing for them or soliciting for advice. Also consider
asking particular students whom you know and trust for feedback.
8.2 Classroom visits
Having someone visit your section and give you feedback can be a
valuable experience. What works for your visitor may not always
work for you, but visitors are helpful because they can assess the
dynamics in your classroom from an outside point of view. You
should request beforehand observations and suggestions about your
teaching behavior and also information about what the students
appear to be experiencing in your section (which may not explicitly
have to do with you). You can arrange visits in a number of ways.
Ask your lecturer to visit your section. One advantage is that
she will see first-hand how students respond to the material
on her syllabus. As an experienced teacher she is also likely
to be able to offer valuable insights into your teaching style.
One disadvantage is that the mere presence of the lecturer is
bound to affect dynamics among you and the students in often
unpredictable ways.
Alternatively, ask a fellow TA or your WAT facilitator to visit
your class, either as a participant or observer. Such visits are
an integral part of Working At Teaching's program, so don't
hesitate to ask.
8.3 Your teaching file
Many departments keep "teaching files" on their TAs. These consist
primarily of your official Yale College TA evaluations and any
references regarding your teaching which your faculty or your
students have submitted. References from faculty may be useful to
you in the future when you apply for jobs at Yale or elsewhere.
References from students are generally of less interest to future
employers. However, you might want to photocopy your most
positive student evaluations and keep them in a file of your own.
Student references do help you get nominated for Prize Teaching
Fellowships (see below).
8.4 Teaching on your own
To apply for a Prize Teaching Fellowship, you must solicit student
nominations. You must also submit two course proposals to your
department if you wish to compete for this award. Prize Teaching
Fellows are awarded higher than normal compensation for their
teaching in the year of the award, and are usually allowed to teach at
least one of their proposed courses. Publicity about the fellowship
varies widely by department. In some departments, faculty are
encouraged to advertise the prize and encourage nominations. In
others, this responsibility falls solely to TAs. Feel free to encourage
your lecturer to solicit nominations on the behalf of all the TAs in
your course. Also feel free to solicit nominations directly from your
students.
If your are looking for some extra income, you can also register as a
tutor in the Yale College Tutoring Program. To do so, you should
obtain a letter of recommendation from the DGS or DUS in the area
you wish to tutor. The pay is $10/hour. For more information,
contact your department and the Yale College Dean's office.
8.5 Lecturing
If you plan to go into teaching at a college or university, the skills
you learn from your TA experiences and from Working At Teaching
should serve you well. But they are not the only skills one needs in
becoming a professor. Lecturing is an activity which is regular
feature of an academic career, so you may want to take up an
opportunity to lecture if one is presented to you. When you are
TAing, your instructor may invite you to give one or more of the
lectures for the course. Lecturing is an activity that is not an "official"
TA duty, so you may decline such an invitation. However, it may be
a good way to practice speaking in front of a group, receive
feedback on your lecturing style, and consolidate your thinking on a
topic. If you do not have a chance to lecture for a course, you may
still find it a good idea to work up sample lectures and practice them
on friends as you prepare to go on the job market.
In planning your lecture it is critical to gauge the level of you
students' understanding of the topic and pitch your presentation to
that level. In preparation, you might want to read an introductory
text or piece on your topic as well as literature that goes into more
depth. It is also important to read whatever the students are
assigned, so as to keep your lecture consistent with course material
and its themes.
One of the most important elements of a good lecture is the order of
presentation. It may seem obvious, but if understanding y requires
understanding x , then you must discuss x before y. Reflecting on the
main points you want your students to take home, and making a
good outline will assist you.
Limit the number of main points or sections of your lecture.
(Experienced lecturers often recommend no more than three.) You
should probably also decide ahead of time what material you will cut
if you run out of time. It is best to provide some closure to a lecture
even if certain material will have to be picked up next time.
Some lecturers like to build a sense of anticipation and even drama
in their lectures by leading up to an important point rather than giving
it away at the outset. Others follow the classic journalists' advice: tell
'em what you're going to say; say it; and tell 'em what you said.
Whether you speak from a full text, detailed notes or a more
skeletal outline is probably a matter of personal style. However, try
to avoid simply reading what you have written-you will lose your
listeners' attention. If you are using a text, you may want actually to
write in notes to yourself: e.g. Repeat this or Say this slowly; or you
may want to highlight your text with a colored pen. This can help
cue you, preventing you and your listeners from getting lost. You
can also use overheads and the board for diagrams, illustrations,
charts, etc. (see section 4.3.3). In any event, you will feel more
comfortable with the material if you go over it a few times, and
possibly even do a dry run in front of some friends.
The level of "flair" in a good lecture is also a matter of personal style.
Some lecturers view the lecture as a sort of performance -- after all,
teaching is in many ways akin to drama -- while others prefer to
communicate intensity and interest in more subtle ways. Most agree
that the important thing is to share with your students your own
enthusiasm and love for the material. Finally, if you're nervous about
speaking in front of a group, you are not alone. The point of
lecturing as a TA is to gain experience and to take a step toward
being more comfortable with lecturing in the future.
For more infomation about WAT, please send email to
WATteach@pantheon.yale.edu
Last modified: Friday, November 07, 1997
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