To earn one credit hour of academic credit, do three activities, which must include at least one service project and no more than one writing project. Special gold stars will be awarded to people who complete an exceptional number of service projects. You should get my OK for each project before you undertake it.
Week 1 (Wednesday): Please give me a tentative list of your proposed activities. You will be free to change them up to and including....
Week 3&4: Each student will make an appointment for an individual conference with me, at which time we will firm up the activities plan.
1. Keep a journal of your teaching experiences this quarter. Record events, anecdotes, reactions, reflections, etc. Let me see the journal every week or so. Don't word-process or polish it. I would like to see your stream-of-consciousness recorded in longhand. If you plan to do this, start it immediately and bring it to our first conference.
2. Write your autobiography as a learner. Pick some area you have spent a lot of time trying to master. It doesn't have to be computer science -- it doesn't even have to be an academic discipline. Think about how you first got interested in the topic; how your learning progressed; whether there were teachers along the way who particularly helped or hindered; recall memorable breakthroughs or stumbling blocks, etc. This you can word-process and polish to any level you wish. Show me a draft by week 6.
3. Write your autobiography as a teacher (see above).
4. Learning techniques comparison. Pick an area (see above). Think about the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of that area, and how you acquired them. How are the teaching and learning techniques of that field similar to/different from those of computer science? Do they give any novel insights into teaching CS? Show me a draft by mid-quarter.
1. Pick an aspect of educational theory or practice about which there exists a substantial amount of research or published writing. Investigate to find out whether it has been applied to computer science education. Present your findings in the form of a short summary followed by an annotated bibliography.
1. Act as a volunteer tutor to undergraduates in the department (contact Paula Belcher pbelcher@cs). As you tutor, reflect on how the experience relates to what we are doing in the seminar and how might make you a better teacher. Write a short report on your experiences.
2. Volunteer to be an observer for a (willing) fellow TA in the department. This does not have to be a person at the same experience level as yourself, but it could be. Attend a class taught by the person and afterwards talk with them about what went on in the classroom. Prepare a short report that focuses on what you got out of it, rather than what the other person was doing. (We will discuss the practice of observation during the course, and it would be best to wait until after that discussion before doing your observation.)
3. If you are already experienced as a TA/teacher, volunteer to mentor a new TA or a small group of new TAs. Meet with your mentoree(s) on an agreed schedule. You could act as an observer for them, but only if they wish that. Report on the experience.
3. Volunteer to be the "star" in a microteaching episode. Report on how it went and how you felt about it afterwards. Everyone will have an opportunity to do this if they wish; we'll talk about scheduling early in the quarter.
4. Help me run a part of the seminar. This might take the form of reading up one of our official topics and: giving a mini-lecture, leading a discussion, etc.
5. Organize a practice teaching session (outside the scheduled class time) Browbeat fellow TAs, ACM student chapter members, random students, your advisor, street people, etc. to participate. Try out (and let others try out) techniques we're discussed in the seminar or that you're read about or that you invent. You might do mini-lectures, group activities, assessment techniques, etc. It doesn't have to be fancy or advanced -- it might be some basic technique you just want to practice with friends before introducing in to your own classroom. Or it could be some crazy idea of your own. Report on what happens.
6. Organize a role-playing evening to practice dealing with student situations. We'll be doing this in class part-way through the quarter, so you'll get an idea of what's involved. Browbeat as above (try for some drama students, too). Work on whatever problem situation you think would benefit you -- classroom disruptions, dissatisfied students in your office, cheater caught red-handed, failing student, gender/race/class tensions, etc. Report on what happens.
7. Organize a TV-watching party to view Patrick Henry Winston's video "How to Speak." Lead a short discussion with party-goers afterwards. Write me a short report about the experience.
8. Attend all of my 142 lectures (9:30 MWF Kane 210), videotape furtively, and prepare a compilation of "bloopers." Show the tape publicly at some moment of maximum embarrassment potential.