Artifact #9: Lesson Plan for Genetics Department TA Training
In summer 2017, a fellow WISCIENCE Teaching Fellow and I were asked to co-instruct our department's training for new TAs. I was excited to do this because I felt I had very little practice or support going into my TA appointment, and I wanted to provide a session with a sample of effective teaching practices based on the literature. While developing this lesson plan, we reflected on what we had learned in the teaching fellows course that we wish we would have known or would have been useful to us when we were TAs. We found a couple major things emerged: we felt TAs should be aware of the impact of diversity in the classroom, the struggles of grading, learn how to active critical thinking skills in the classroom, and how to address student's prior knowledge and misconceptions they may come in with. We felt we were not equipped with the tools to handle these situations well as TAs, so we developed collaborative activities that would provide some practice or introduction to these ideas.
Below is the lesson plan we used for the sessions. It was comprised of 4 two-hour sessions over the course of a week.
Below is the lesson plan we used for the sessions. It was comprised of 4 two-hour sessions over the course of a week.
Reflection
I really enjoyed running the TA training. It was a small group of six, which I also think helped make the experience nice. We had already met most (if not all) of the students before so they felt comfortable with us, which can be a barrier when teaching. While limited on time, I felt we were able to give exposure to the topics we wanted to. We solicited feedback from the students to let them ask what topics they still had questions about, and what activities they liked the most after the first day. The students unanimously said they most appreciated the practice grading activity, which made sense given a huge portion of their position is focused on grading questions. If I were to improve the first day's plan, I think I would structure the critical thinking exercise a little better to make sure the students got the most out of the assignment, ie. best understand how to structure questions. I would also think about replacing it with facilitation strategies since the point of the exercise is for them to learn how to ask better questions to receive the answers what they looking for from the students. While not all students will have discussion sessions, being able to facilitate a discussion is a highly transferrable skill.
The diversity training seemed to go very well. I would consider it one of the most impactful parts of our training since our department has now made it mandatory for all graduate students to participate in such training. The training provided a great reflective exercise where we could better understand what about our identity is important to us, and share with the group what about other's identity is of high importance to them. This encouraged people to think more critically about the way they teach and work with others, since perhaps they had behaviors that may be exclusive to others such as using sports metaphors. I also found the list provided about different inclusive strategies to implement in the classroom was great and I still reference it today to evaluate my own teaching. Again, like facilitation skills, this training provides experience that is useful for whatever career path pursued in the future.
The practice session was something we had kept from our TA training experience, because it allows everyone to receive feedback both from their colleagues and others with more teaching experience. Students seemed to really find that experience valuable. Much like advising students, you only get better with practice. This provided a safe space to practice in and get honest feedback for improvement.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the day we organized the McBurney Speaker to come because I had a thesis committee meeting, but I was told it was a good experience from the students. In a 100+ person class, it is likely to come across a student that requires disability services and possibly will need accommodations. The speaker helped the TAs become familiar with how McBurney, the disabilities center, works and what services they provide so the TAs can better assist their students. By understanding how the visa process works, this will hopefully de-stigmatize the process and help make the classroom a more inclusive place.
The diversity training seemed to go very well. I would consider it one of the most impactful parts of our training since our department has now made it mandatory for all graduate students to participate in such training. The training provided a great reflective exercise where we could better understand what about our identity is important to us, and share with the group what about other's identity is of high importance to them. This encouraged people to think more critically about the way they teach and work with others, since perhaps they had behaviors that may be exclusive to others such as using sports metaphors. I also found the list provided about different inclusive strategies to implement in the classroom was great and I still reference it today to evaluate my own teaching. Again, like facilitation skills, this training provides experience that is useful for whatever career path pursued in the future.
The practice session was something we had kept from our TA training experience, because it allows everyone to receive feedback both from their colleagues and others with more teaching experience. Students seemed to really find that experience valuable. Much like advising students, you only get better with practice. This provided a safe space to practice in and get honest feedback for improvement.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the day we organized the McBurney Speaker to come because I had a thesis committee meeting, but I was told it was a good experience from the students. In a 100+ person class, it is likely to come across a student that requires disability services and possibly will need accommodations. The speaker helped the TAs become familiar with how McBurney, the disabilities center, works and what services they provide so the TAs can better assist their students. By understanding how the visa process works, this will hopefully de-stigmatize the process and help make the classroom a more inclusive place.