TEACHING ASSISTANT ORIENTATION (TAOR) Chantal Levesque-Bristol George HollichDirector CIEAssociate Professor of PsychologyProfessor of Educational Studies

FOSTERING OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

COMPLETE THE PRE-SURVEY

CTW-1 AND CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

TODAY’S AGENDA

WELCOME TO TAOR!

IN THIS SESSION YOU WILL BE ABLE TO…

1. Describe three domains of teaching knowledge

2. Identify TA roles and connect them to domains of teaching knowledge

3. Describe ways to foster optimal learning environments

SESSIONOBJECTIVES

DOMAINS OF TEACHING KNOWLEDGEInstructional knowledge

Pedagogical knowledge

Curricular knowledge

DOMAINS OF TEACHING KNOWLEDGEINSTRUCTIONAL KNOWLEDGE

CONTENT

(What?)

DOMAINS OF TEACHING KNOWLEDGECURRICULAR KNOWLEDGE

CURRICULUM

(Why?)

DOMAINS OF TEACHING KNOWLEDGEPEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

PROCESS

(How?)

WHAT WILL YOU MOSTLY DO AS A TA?VOTE FOR EACH ONE THAT IS APPLICABLE

Grade assignments ‘V134871’

Conduct labs ‘V134872’

Teach recitation sections ‘V134873’

Hold office hours ‘V134874’

Having full responsibility for the course ‘V134875’

TA ROLESAND CONNECTION WITH DOMAINS OF TEACHING KNOWLEDGE

Most of you will be involved with:

Grade assignments

Conduct labs

Teach recitation sections

Hold office hours

Only a few of you will be

Having full responsibility for the course

WHAT CAN YOU DO? WHAT DO YOU CONTROL?

Curriculum?

Content (Instructional Knowledge)?

Pedagogy?

INCREASING YOUR PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

WAYS TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING

QUESTION?

What are some words which describe teaching excellence?

Text M2895 followed by your reply

to (765) 560-4177

Or use the note cards provided

Inspiring

Thought Provoking

CARINGorganized

Passionateabout Subject

Learning Guide/Facilitator

Build Competence

Supportive

DESCRIBE WAYS TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING

Engage students in the learning process – Active Learning

Consider student motivation

STUDENT MOTIVATION

Self-Determination Theory is a motivational theory based in over 40 year of research

www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT

MAKE A CONNECTION

RELATEDNESS

RELATEDNESS

If dialogue is encouraged between students and teachers and among students (in and out of class), thus creating a community of learners, student motivation and engagement can be increased

Learning cooperatively, not competitively

RELATEDNESS - APPLICATIONS

What do you think? How could you foster students’ relatedness and community of learners in your role as a TA?

Text M2896 followed by your reply to (765) 560-4177

OR

Use a post-card, write one idea. Pass the post-cards to the left of the row when you are done.

GIVE THEM SKILLS

COMPETENCE

COMPETENCE

Clearly articulated expectations, goals, learning outcomes, course requirements, and timely feedback, increase student motivation and improve learning

Clear goals

Timely feedback

Informational feedback

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - COMPETENCEINFORMATIONAL AND TIMELY FEEDBACK

Instructors who provided information and timely feedback had students who …

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Informational and timely feedback

Motivation

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - COMPETENCEINFORMATIONAL AND TIMELY FEEDBACK

Instructors who provided information and timely feedback had students who …

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Informational and timely feedback

Performance and Success

COMPETENCE - APPLICATIONS

What do you think? How could you foster students’ competence in your role as a TA? How could you coach your students?

Text M2896 followed by your reply to (765) 560-4177

OR

Use a post-card, write one idea. Pass the post-cards to the left of the row when you are done.

SET THEM FREE!

AUTONOMY

AUTONOMY

When students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, they are more likely to develop higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

Engagement

Recognize and embrace diversity

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE – COMPETENCE AND AUTONOMY Positive feedback enhances motivation only when

• individuals feel ownership of their learning • autonomous regarding their learning or performance

Building competence in an environment that is not autonomy supportive does not lead to higher levels of motivation

• Deci & Ryan (1980, 2000)

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE – AUTONOMY CLEAR GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS

Controlling and overly prescriptive syllabus (focus on policies, prohibitions, contingencies to cover student violations)

• Decrease interest and self-regulation • Says “I don’t think you can do this!”

• “The typical syllabus gives little indication that the students and teacher are embarking on an exciting learning adventure together, and its tone is more akin to something that might be handed to a prisoner on the fist day of incarceration”– Singham (2007) p. 52

AUTONOMYLEARNING CLIMATE

This is how we assess and measure autonomy – this is how it sounds…

I feel that my instructor provides me with choices and options

My Instructor encourages me to ask questions; answers my questions fully and carefully

I feel that my instructor cares about me as a person

My instructor tries to understand how I see things

My instructor makes sure I really understand the goals of the course and what I need to do

AUTONOMYLEARNING CLIMATE

This is how we assess and measure autonomy – this is how it sounds…

I feel understood by my instructor; my instructor understands my perspective

My instructor conveys confidence in my ability to do well in the course

I feel a lot of trust in my instructor

My instructor listens to how I would like to do things

My instructor stimulated my interest in the subject

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - AUTONOMYOWNERSHIP OF LEARNING

Instructors who supported students’ autonomy by providing choices, had students who …

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My instructor provides me choices and options

Motivation

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - AUTONOMYOWNERSHIP OF LEARNING

Instructors who supported students’ autonomy by asking questions had students who …

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My instructor encourages me to ask questions

Problem solving skills

Satisfaction

Well-being

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - AUTONOMYOWNERSHIP OF LEARNING

Instructors who supported students’ autonomy by asking questions had students who …

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My instructor cares about me

Motivation

Engagement

Value academics

AcademicPerformance

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - AUTONOMYOWNERSHIP OF LEARNING

Instructors who supported students’ autonomy by capturing their interest had students who …

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My instructor stimulated my interest in the subject

Performance and Success

AUTONOMY - APPLICATIONS

What do you think? How could you foster students’ autonomy in your role as a TA?

Text M2896 followed by your reply to (765) 560-4177

OR

Use a post-card, write one idea. Pass the post-cards to the left of the row when you are done.

RELATEDNESS + COMPETENCE + AUTONOMY =

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

STRATEGIES TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Begin with the students in mind, not the subject matter

Give students choices and options

Start with something the students care about, that is relevant to them, or think they know

Begin with “real” problems that the students would be motivated to solve

STRATEGIES TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Capture students’ interest and curiosity

Work with students as a guide or facilitator of learning

Help students apply knowledge to their daily lives

Involve the students as co-creator of knowledge

STRATEGIES TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Promote interest while learning

De-emphasize evaluation and emphasize informational feedback

Give the opportunity to students to try, fail, receive feedback, and try again before receiving a grade for their work.

Give opportunities to students to spend more time on task

STRATEGIES TO FOSTER OPTIMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Introduce some collaborative and group work• Groups should be heterogeneous. Diversity creates meaningful

exchanges• Group work can be focused on events, problems and solving

problems

Minimize the use of evaluations tools that increase anxiety and competition

Treat students with respect

Teaching Assistant Responsibilities:

Supporting Learning Processes

Peter Hollenbeck, Biological SciencesMatthew Ohland, Engineering Education

Strategies for creating and maintaining effective relationships with students and faculty supervisors

Learn their names if you can – pronunciation matters. Ask their names, names / photos, seating charts, say theirnames whenever you can. Eye contact is also important.

If you can’t learn their names, ways to make them think you did

Managing faculty expectations:Discuss early, attend classes with faculty member, make sure you are on the class email list. Review syllabus and assignments.

Managing student expectations: Students are concerned about grades – they don’t needa guarantee, but they want to know what is required.Let students know you’re human.

How relationships vary by race and gender and person to person

Strategies and appropriate practices for facilitating effective communication with students

Stop, listen, respond. If you don’t have time, schedule a time. Particularly with minorities.

Email when appropriate, because you can choose words carefully and keep a record.

Never violate a student's confidence. Remain respectful.

Trust, but verify – “I need this for my records so that others know that I am treating all students fairly”

“If this is the only time this happens…”

If you’re not comfortable answering, get back to the student later… but don’t do this too much.

A student says:• I’d like to change sections• I missed class (or lab). Can I attend

another one and get credit?• I’m thinking about changing majors,

who should I talk to?• Susan’s homework matches

mine, but I got 5 fewer points.

A student says:• A friend of mine in another class

has an easier TA.• Can you make sure I’m not on a

team with any minority students?• I agree that I got this part of the

homework wrong, but you shouldn’t have taken off so many points.

• Can you please give me an estimate of my grade in the course?

A student says:• I’ll lose my scholarship if I don’t get an A

in this class, and I’m really close. If I lose my scholarship, I’ll have to leave school. Is there anything I can do to raise my grade?

• How do I do this lab task / HW?• Do you have a minute? (and you don’t)• I can’t turn in the homework because

Blackboard was down last night when I tried to print it out to do it.

A student says:• My room got broken into, and the

thief took my laptop, hard drive, wallet, all my IDs, and my school bag. In my bag are my course notes and my homework. The police said that the case may take a while or forever. I requested a report to prove what I say is true, and I may have to wait couple days for it. Could you please give me some advice?

A student emails• The homework asks us to

calculate the volume of a sphere, but all we’re given is the radius. How am I supposed to proceed?

Team issues:• One of the students on my team

never shows up for anything.• One of the students on my team

always dominates and gets his way. What should I do?

• My team can never find a time to meet.

• My team never listens to any of my ideas—they constantly interrupt me when I’m speaking.

Team issues:• The other people on my team are

useless. Can I just work on my own?• My team worked on a solution

together, but the person who submitted it changed it first without discussing it with the rest of the team first. The version submitted wasn’t as good as what the team did as a group.

Team issues:• I think my teammates are plagiarizing

material for part of our project, but I can’t prove it.

• My team changed our solution completely after I left our last meeting. I totally disagree with the direction the project is taking now, but the team is sticking with this second approach that’s being pushed by another person on the team.

Team issues:• I did not answer the peer evaluation

honestly because I thought my team members could see it. I would have been honest if I knew it affected my grade. Could you reopen it for me?

Scenarios:• You’ve finished grading homework #4,

and now you’re returning it. You don’t have a paper to return to a particular student, because there wasn’t one in the pile of homework you graded. The student says he turned one in. What do you say?

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Why are office hours important?

One-on-one interaction is helpful for each student in different ways and for different reasons.

Questions often come up during studying, reading, reviewing lecture notes, working problem sets, or doing writing assignments – not during lecture, lab or recitation.

Asking questions in large lectures can be intimidating or even impossible.

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Strategies for getting students to attend office hours when they need help.

Make sure that time, place and purpose are absolutely clear. Try to get all TAs in a course to hold hours in the same place.

Set office hours at times when students can make it. Try an informal poll of students, or the Banner algorithm, to put useful office hours on the weekly calendar .

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Realize that you are there to do several different things

You will answer questions about topics, concepts, problems in the course.

You might be clarifying material from lecture or lab (so you need to know what’s going on there).

You might be helping with problem-solving, so understand the problems very well!

You might be calming down a confused/upset student, or providing an essential personal connection in their education.

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Guidelines for dealing with students in office hours Listen carefully and try to identify the core problem is that the student is having. Is it an incorrect grasp of facts? Trouble integrating information?

When a student is struggling and not making it clear where they are stuck, ask them to walk you through what they DO understand. A very confused student is capable of confusing you, too! Know the material very well so you can help them to understand it without getting sucked into their confusion vortex.

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Guidelines for dealing with students in office hours

Treat every student with respect and empathy, even when they make that difficult for you. (Teaching is a service profession.)

There are no stupid questions! You were new to this subject once, remember your experience when you were learning it.

Remember your role – you are neither an unapproachable, omniscient being nor the student’s best friend. You are there to help them learn something new, succeed in a course, progress as a learner.

Strategies for answering student questions during office hours

Some general issues in dealing with students

Personal and cultural issues: different kinds of students have different styles of learning – and of asking for help, too! Learn to recognize students who are hesitant to ask for help.

Recognize problems that you can’t handle. Students may need to talk to the course instructor about absences, excuses for exams, disability/accessibility issues.

Strategies for grading student assignments.

Learning objectives – have them and share them with your students. (Examples provided)

Rubrics – have them and share them with your students. (Examples provided)

Blind grading where possible.

Grade all of the same problem together if it is a long complex problem.

Policies regarding grade appeals

Handling student anxiety and begging

Handling / minimizing disruptive classroom and/or lab behavior

If assisting, follow the professor’s lead, but maintain eye contact with students and know what they are doing.

Have ground rules for classroom/lab behavior. If possible, have the students develop those ground rules and the consequences for not following them. Make sure students know why the rules are in place even if you make them up.

If you have to discipline a student in class/lab – particularly if it is severe, you don’t want to create a bigger disruption by addressing the issue – hand the student a note that says, “you are being disruptive in a way that is unacceptable. Pack up your things and leave quietly and see me later.”

Have students help enforce in-class behavior through team activity.

I will have role playing exercises for this if there is time. 

Scenarios:• A student’s laptop starts playing music in class

– after you’ve already warned them not to let that happen.

• A student’s cell phone rings. They answer it. And have a conversation.

• You notice a student playing video games during a team activity.

• The professor in my last class kept us late. Can I still turn in my HW?

• There is a total technology failure in the classroom.

Strategies for connecting the learning activities of labs, recitations, and office hours to broader course objectives

Know what is going on in the different parts of the course. Be sure that you understand the overall course objectives, which are often elucidated in the syllabus and lecture.

Query the instructor about how the different parts of the course are supposed to work together.

In your work with students, use “markers” to point forward, back and across the course.