You are welcome to complete more than two activities if you wish. All activities must be chosen in consultation with the instructor.  This is a polite way of saying I want to know and approve in advance what you are going to do!

Deadlines

2.  All writing projects, and written follow-ups of other activities are due by the final class session, Tuesday, December 7.  You are encouraged to start your activities early in the quarter since your graduate courses and teaching appointments will demand more of your time at the end of the quarter.  Also, completing activities early in the quarter will give you an opportunity to practice some teaching skills before applying techniques in your own quiz sections and office hours.

Special deadlines for Learner's Autobiography, Literature Review, Short Research Paper or any extended writing: I would like to see an outline and a full rough draft two or three weeks in advance of the deadline.  Expect at least one re-write cycle and possibly a conference. 

Activities

Keep a record of your teaching experiences as a teaching assistant during fall quarter.  This journal does not need to be a polished piece of writing.  This activity requires that you start right away the first week of the quarter.  Try to update your journal at least once per week. I will ask to see it once or twice during the quarter.  Other than my viewing, this piece of writing will be confidential.

Choose a topic or activity which you have spent some time trying to learn (the topic definitely does not need to be computer science).  Write a 2 - 3 page paper about your experiences.  Think about the following questions as you write the paper:  How did you become interested in the topic/activity?  What types of teaching styles and/or learning styles worked best for you?  What teachers particularly helped/hindered you in learning about this topic or activity?

The CSE Department asks for volunteer tutors to help undergraduate students in their 300 and 400 level courses.  Typically, a tutor meets with a group of students for one hour per week.  The tutor serves as a discussion leader to help students understand concepts.  As a tutor, you get to select which course(s) you would like to tutor.  By the end of the quarter, write a 1 page reflection paper about your experience as a tutor.  Questions you might want to think about include:  Was tutoring more or less difficult than you anticipated and why?  What improvements did you make in your teaching skills?  What would you do differently if you tutor again in the future?  In addition to the reflective aspects of your essay, include practical details such as which course you tutored, number of students, number of meetings, etc..

Microteaching is a service provided by CIDR to help teaching assistants and professors improve their lecturing ability.  You will present a 3-5 minute lecture that is videotaped, watch other students present material, and then discuss how each student can improve their presentation ability.  We will do a few microteaching sessions as a group of 3-5 students.  Write a 1 page reflection paper about your microteaching experience.  Questions you might want to think about include:  Was microteaching helpful and why or why not?  What did you learn about yourself as a teacher?  What are some concrete things you can do to improve your presentation style?

Microteaching sessions will be scheduled for late October or November and will depend on how many people are interested. We'll have a sign-up once the dates are confirmed.  Please let me know if you are interested..

You can organize and help facilitate the discussion/activities of a CSE590IT session or topic.  If you are interested in this activity, please contact me early in the quarter to ensure enough preparation time.  After the facilitation, please prepare a 1 page reflection paper about your experience.  Questions you might want to think about include:  What were the difficult parts in planning the discussion/activities?  Did the discussion/activity go as smoothly as you hoped?  Why or why not?  What would you do differently if you led this session again for next year's 590IT class?

Special deadline: produce an outline and have a conference with me at least one week before your scheduled date.

Observe another (willing) TA's quiz section sometime during the quarter.  The person you observe could have more or less experience than you as a TA.  Attend the quiz section led by the TA and take notes about what you observe.  Take an observation notes form with you.  After the quiz section, set up a time to discuss the observation with the TA.  After the discussion, prepare a 1 page reflection paper about your experience.  This paper should not focus on the TA's strengths and weaknesses, but rather on what you learned about yourself through the observation.  Questions to think about include:  What kinds of things did you talk about in your discussion with the TA?  How did the discussion go?  How did the process of observation go?  Was it easy, hard, overwhelming, helpful?  Did you learn anything that could be applied to your own teaching practice?  Please include the name of the TA, course, date and time observed in your paper.

Sign up will be available later.

If you are an experienced TA in the department, you can volunteer to mentor a new TA or small group of new TAs.  You should meet with the new TAs a few times during the quarter to see what kinds of challenges they are facing as teaching assistants.  Please let me know early in the quarter if you would like to do this activity and we'll set up a group for you to mentor.  At the end of the quarter, write a 1 page reflection paper about your experience.  Questions to think about:  What are some of the similar experiences that the new TAs are going through that you encountered as a new TA?  Did you find that the mentoring process made you a better TA?  Why or why not?  What suggestions would you give to future mentors of new TAs?

Organize a group of TAs, other grad students, and possibly some faculty members to get together for a role-playing session.  A role-playing session provides opportunities for students to practice "challenging" situations involving professors, students, and other TAs.  Some situations include classroom disruptions, students dissatisfied with their grade, failing students, and cheaters caught.  After the session, please write a 1 page reflection paper about your experience.  Did the participants improve their skills in handling challenging situations?  What did you learn about resolving conflicts as a TA?  What other challenging situations would a TA in this department encounter?

This may sound mysterious now, but we'll discuss the value, use, and technique of role-playing when we talk about classroom management and interacting with students.

Pick an educational topic that interests you and write a short paper around it.   Unlike most of the activity types, this one is not meant to be reflective or personal in nature.  Same comment for the next item... 

Review some literature and write a report on it.  This could take the form of an annotated bibliography, a series of summaries article or report summaries, comments as to the applicability to computer science teaching, etc.  I can make some concrete suggestions for some areas that are of particular interest to me!  But you may have your own program, subject to negotiation.

there could be some special collaboration we could do, such as a writing up an account of a pedagogical experiment we did together, etc.   We might even find a conference to submit it to... no guarantees!  [For future reference... this offer extends indefinitely into the future to any TAs who work with me!]

If you have an idea for another activity, we can negotiate.