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[jaws2006]

*How do you conceive your role as a teaching assistant in a discussion section?
* How do you structure your sections? What are the more successful pedagogical methods you have deployed in your discussions sections?
* What kind of small group activities you found fruitful as a pedagogical tool? What kind of exercises did you assign students in such small group activities?
* What kind of short in-class assignments do you give students in section?

What would be the suggestions (things that worked or did not work) that you would provide on conducting a discussion class of 20-25 students?

Thanks & Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

[mountainguy]

Hi, Jaws! Good question. I think it largely depends on one's field and the type of class.  In my humanities-based field, I've found the following strategies to be helpful. They may or may not translate into other fields:

*Round-robin: Tell students to select a concrete image or significant idea from their reading or the previous lecture. Go around the room and have them share with the rest of the class, and list these ideas on the board. I've found this to be a good way to get discussion started when probing for overall themes or trends about a particular concept.

*Jigsaws: It's complicated to explain, but basically, you split students into groups that are each responsible for teaching a different concept (or sub-component of a concept) themselves. If you Google "jigsaw and teaching strategies," you'll find more information about it. This has worked well for me when a class is dealing with complex material.

*Fishbowls: A panel of students in an inner circle are responsible for actively discussing a topic, and the students outside the circle takes notes and/or ask probing questions. I've never done this, but some of my colleagues swear by it. It requires more preparation than the other two techniques above.

*Case Studies: Give students a short case study of some sort and ask them to come up with a response to it in small group. This strategy tends to work well with ill-defined problems that don't have one "right solution."



In terms of discussion pedagogy, I think two points are key. First, I always try to explain at the beginning of the period what the discussion is intended to accomplish ("Okay everyone, today let's try to probe some of the themes in ____________."). Second, I try to de-brief the discussion at the end of the period to see how well students grasped the main ideas. You can do this either verbally, or by assigning a minute memo (what was the most important thing you learned today? What's one point you still need help understanding??). The minute memos are a particularly good way of taking attendance without explicitly calling it such.

Anyway, I look forward to reading other people's ideas!

[bread_pirate_naan]

*How do you conceive your role as a teaching assistant in a discussion section?

Developing understanding of material taught in class and relating it to their lives or how that material brings their live in conversation with the lives of others.

* How do you structure your sections?

Fairly democratic, high expectations.  Much like MG's first entry I want questions and the things they found most interesting, confusing or boring/irritating.  I am very enthusiastic about critique, which helpful for a room full of yes people who are often afraid to think independently or disagree with authority figures.

What are the more successful pedagogical methods you have deployed in your discussions sections?

Madcap tangential lectures tying the class to my research, current events, and great moments in stuff.

* What kind of small group activities you found fruitful as a pedagogical tool?

Group activities are just to buy me time or energy when I am having an off period.  I like them to summarize readings together, because they aren't big on doing the reading.  Why have we read this piece?  How does it fit in with course themes?  What are some essay topics or exam questions that might benefit from applying this reading?

What kind of exercises did you assign students in such small group activities?

Totally course/discipline specific.

* What kind of short in-class assignments do you give students in section?

Again.

What would be the suggestions (things that worked or did not work) that you would provide on conducting a discussion class of 20-25 students?

Figuring out why you are asking the grad board for info that is probably available from your uni's TA training or development materials/orientation when you are at the dissertation stage of your program.

Your prior posts say you are working on a PhD in the humanities and looking for social science postdocs.  What's up with that?  Is this for your teaching, your research, or a teaching philosophy?

[jaws2006]

@Moutainguy: Thanks for your suggestions.

This is for an actual teaching assistantship.
Seems no luck with the post-docs this year.

[bread_pirate_naan]

I am confused.  How can you TA if you can apply for postdocs?

Regarding your last question, any strategy can fail if the students are not prepared, or if you cannot adapt.  I never get too specific about prep without understanding the Professor's goals, preferences and syllabus. In the Classroom is a good board to read in the interest of developing your teaching.  There are many threads to learn from amidst the griping and ridicule.

Of course, I am sure that current and past TAs will have additional feedback for you here,too. 

As a grad student(?), if I were in your position, I would think that now is the time to direct my energy into developing areas that are marketable, like finishing my diss or publishing. 

[polly_mer]

I am confused.  How can you TA if you can apply for postdocs?   

Failing to schedule a defense so that one can continue as a graduate student instead of graduating and leaving to be unemployed is pretty standard in some places.

When I was a TA in charge of discussion section, I demonstrated additional problems related to the homework, assigned a couple problems that pushed a little on combining the topics, and had students work in small groups on those problems.  I also answered questions about the homework and lectures.  My advisor gave me the firm advice to spend as little time preparing for the class as I could get away with because

in your position, [...] now is the time to direct [your] energy into developing areas that are marketable, like finishing [your] diss or publishing. 

Your job as discussion section leader is to complement the professor's lectures and provide a little feedback to the students in a smaller group that is more personal.  Your job is not generally to be professor junior with an additional couple hours of lecture.

[jaws2006]

@bread_pirate_naan Well I have no other earnings this term, so if I don't TA it means a) blowing up all my savings b) have nothing to eat and live in a homeless shelter.

[bread_pirate_naan]

@bread_pirate_naan Well I have no other earnings this term, so if I don't TA it means a) blowing up all my savings b) have nothing to eat and live in a homeless shelter.

At least you aren't dramatizing it.

My advisor gave me the firm advice to spend as little time preparing for the class as I could get away with because

I was going to say something along these lines, but we wouldn't have the thread if there was much comfort with gonzo methods.

Cardinal rule of the TA:  DO NOT ASSESS ANYTHING YOU DO NOT HAVE TO!  Do not give assignments that have to be graded.  Every assignment can be geared towards a productive discussion, not a paper trail.  While in class responses will give info about attendance, I find it much easier not to read anything I don't have to.  I prefer to use my role as discussion leader to find out what they are learning through discussion, not written work.

I invariably tell sections that when I was an undergrad sections were useless, boring, and mandatory.  I tell them I don't want that to happen to us again, except the mandatory part.  I want everyone to know how to earn the grade they want.  I start out with a firm hand and let up as the term goes on.

Your job is not generally to be professor junior with an additional couple hours of lecture.

No, not generally.  The apprentice colleague model is highly dependent on departmental culture and/or individual faculty.  Even if I am teaching my own perspective, I can't find out if they are getting the material if I lecture more than 30% of the time.  It is easier to work in this way if TAs are also included in writing the exams and talk informally among themselves.  Micromanaging, programmatic profs who like to require [lots of] TA meetings are The Devil.

[mountainguy]

Jaws, is it correct to assume that you've been on a research assistantship or fellowship until now?? In any case, here are some books you might find helpful for discussion section ideas. I've read or skimmed all of them at some point:

Collaborative Learning Techniques

Active Learning: 101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject

Classroom Communication: Collected Readings for Effective Discussion and Questioning

[jaws2006]

Yep. Have been on fellowships and RA thus far.
I also don't want to read/grade extra assignments.
Thanks for the suggestions and inputs folks. Really helpful.

On second thoughts, I feel like just giving this offer up and finish
this god damn never-ending PhD.

[thundering_m]

A toast to Mountain Guy and Bread Pirate, especially

Cardinal rule of the TA:  DO NOT ASSESS ANYTHING YOU DO NOT HAVE TO!  Do not give assignments that have to be graded.  Every assignment can be geared towards a productive discussion, not a paper trail.  While in class responses will give info about attendance, I find it much easier not to read anything I don't have to.  I prefer to use my role as discussion leader to find out what they are learning through discussion, not written work.

The point is to get them to talk, which means planning the trigger questions for small groups to discuss and you bring them back to report out. Use metacognitive questions. Classic seminar sequence: general question about individual experience of the text ('Tell the people in your group which parts were familiar and which parts were new'), then questions that explore nuance and motive, then some extension that connects it to other contexts, and finally, a reflective question that asks how this ties in which the course goals.

the point is also to get them to listen, that is, to be curious about others' ideas. They don't need the discussion section for remedial reading comprehension. So, when you ask for each group to report out, they should not know who is going to report, and they should be asked to mention their colleagues by name as having said something specific. This is not for accountability but for people to know they have been heard.

If you feel a need for accountability, the easiest is a routine of writing some closing thought on a card or halfsheet at the end of every discussion period. You make the prompt different each time. This can serve as your attendance. You can simply check off done/not done.

Finally, if you practice any skill, it is the firm, fair, and friendly neutrality of being interested but nonintrusive. Make a point of saying that you respect their intelligence, and that brain research has made encouraging progress, finding that talking uses a different part of the brain and you are smarter for having said something in your own words out loud and if you have tried to translate someone else's ideas. So the discussion is not for new information but to digest and organize and synthesize the information from their reading, the lectures, and their real world experience. You are simply giving them an opportunity to do what cannot be done by themselves. If they want to play with their own ideas by themselves, well, that's self-gratification that doesn't require tuition.

[polly_mer]

Your job is not generally to be professor junior with an additional couple hours of lecture.

No, not generally.  The apprentice colleague model is highly dependent on departmental culture and/or individual faculty.  Even if I am teaching my own perspective, I can't find out if they are getting the material if I lecture more than 30% of the time.  It is easier to work in this way if TAs are also included in writing the exams and talk informally among themselves.  Micromanaging, programmatic profs who like to require [lots of] TA meetings are The Devil.

Wait, you guys have multiple TA's in a given topic who had supervision instead of simply attending an orientation workshop for all the TA's in the college that basically covered what to do if you don't speak English (instruction all given in English) and what stereotypes to avoid (again, a hugely amusing thing to do with >80% foreign nationals who first had to be taught the stereotypes that they were not prone to hold).

You weren't just assigned a couple of discussion sections and told when the lecture was if you wished to attend?  Huh.  Meetings with the profs who actually taught the class?  Now who's the one with gonzo methods?

[bread_pirate_naan]

Um, yeah.  I don't call it Fort Happy Camper for nothing.

The big orientation was when we were invited to join the union.  We also had a focused session within the department of fancy pants, and one of our experienced colleagues is always designated as the go to person for questions. 

Campuswide: There is opportunity for supervision and support to develop your teaching as well.  To say nothing of the faculty track teaching development programs for blooming TTers who want that edge on their CV.  And tech training.  If you are afraid of multimedia.

Your stereotype training sounds interesting.  Kind of like our sexual harassment session (discipline specific).  "It would be harassment if you had this up in your office in the department of stereotypes.  If you do research on it, you are a pant fancying scholar and it's totally fine."

Now who's the one with gonzo methods?

You know I can't write that down. 

[polly_mer]

Your stereotype training sounds interesting.  Kind of like our sexual harassment session (discipline specific).  "It would be harassment if you had this up in your office in the department of stereotypes.  If you do research on it, you are a pant fancying scholar and it's totally fine."

Over in the college of engineering the focus was more that women aren't necessarily nurturing, Asians aren't necessarily good students, and Mexicans aren't necessarily lazy.  Considering the large number of Asians and Mexicans in that particular department and the kind of woman who goes into engineering, I nearly choked on the "Duh" that kept rising to my lips.

Somehow the sexual harassment training either slips my mind or we didn't have it.