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PREPARING TO TEACH

 "Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves."  
                                                                       
from Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

TOPIC 4: Planning active-learning activities  / Deciding on methods of assessment

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:  (due in class Feb 9th -- nothing to submit in advance, but be prepared to discuss your initial plans for your micro-teaching learning activity and what you learned about your approach to grading by taking the LOGO survey )

  • Read about: Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education  [pdf]
                                For more on the principles do a Google search

  • Refine your syllabus and begin to define ways in which you will assess your students' attainment of your specified learning outcomes via class activities, assignments, tests, etc.

  • Read Tools for Teaching Chapter 21-25  (chapters describing differnt types of learning activites)

  • Begin to plan a 15-minute learning activity that addresses one of your desired learning outcomes.  (This is what you will "demo" or "micro-teach" at the end of the semester.)

  • Read Tools for Teaching Chapter 44  (on calculating and assigning grades)

  • Reflect on the differences between standards-referenced grading (aka criterion-referenced or absolute grading) and norm-referenced grading and take the LOGO SURVEY to compare your attitudes toward grading with your grading behavior (or your expected grading behavior based on the course or activity you are designing).

  • Read Assessment Tools, Testing and Grading [pdf] (workshop handout by Elena Berman, PhD)
     


USEFUL FOLLOW-UP READING: 

On Teaching Methods:

Science Teaching Reconsidered: Chapter 2 - How Teachers Teach: Specific Methods & Chapter 3 - Linking Teaching with Learning

On Group Activites (what makes a good group activity):

Designing effective group activities: Lessons for classroom teaching and faculty development LK Michaelsen, LD Fink, A Knight - To Improve the Academy, 1997


On Grading and Assessment

 

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