Before the Semester Starts
Policies and Rules
Before the semester starts, you should have clear in mind the
policies and rules for the course you are teaching. Having well-defined
course policies is essential to avoiding conflicts and confusion as the
course progresses. These policies should be discussed by faculty and TAs,
agreed upon, written down and distributed to all faculty and TAs for the
course. This can be done during the TA training at the beginning of each
semester. Giving this handout to your students on the first day of class
can help clarify your expectations to the students.
It will be necessary to consider such items as:
When and where are assignments due?
Beginning of class or end of the day?
Turned in to you, or slipped in your mailbox?
When will you have assignments graded and handed back?
Are late assignments accepted and will they be penalized?
What is the policy for making up missed labs?
Is homework to be done individually or is group work permitted?
How much help will you give students on problem sets?
Does course/precept attendance and participation count?
How will the final grade be calculated?
What is the policy for regrading homework and exams?
What if you find evidence of cheating?
How can students contact you outside of class?
Will there be office hours?
Should they call you at home?
Can they stop by your lab?
Can you be reached by e-mail?
Can they make appointments for extra help?
Goals
After setting the ground rules for the course, now you will want
to consider the major objectives you, the faculty, and the students have
for the course. You should think about what you consider to be important
or realistic goals.
Give some thought to what things you want to include in your precepts (course
review, problem solving, additional material) and how you will structure
each session. Also decide what skills you want your students to gain and
how you can emphasize these points in your precepts. Thinking back to great
classes you took as an undergraduate (or looking back at old notes) can
give you ideas about how to clarify the material and will remind you of
the level of understanding which you can expect from your students.
Find out what the faculty member considers to be the purpose of the course. (Is it to learn specific factual details? Is it to gain an appreciation for a field of study? Is it to develop problem-solving skills useful in this subject matter?) Synthesizing the goals of the faculty with those of a variety of students may be difficult, so plan to ask students mid-way through the course if they feel that your sessions are helpful to them, and whether they have suggestions for a better focus. You may also want to make use of the midterm evaluation forms which are distributed by the Teaching Pilot Program.
As you prepare for the semester, ask yourself the following sorts of
questions: What are the three most important concepts I want the students
to remember from this course?
What is the main idea they will learn each week?
What technical skills should they take away from this course?
Classroom Mechanics
Attention to details that may seem minor can make a major difference
in how smoothly your sessions run, and thus how confident you appear and
feel. Before your first class, find the room where your class will be held.
Make sure it has all the things you anticipate needing-enough chairs for
all of the students, chalk and erasers, working lights, etc. Know how to
run laboratory or audio/visual equipment BEFORE all of the students come
in and rattle your concentration. To obtain A/V equipment, see Mary Zikos
in the Mol Bio Stockroom in the LTL tunnel.
Consider what you will be doing during the session, and arrange furniture and equipment accordingly before the students arrive. For labs, think about the flow of the experiment, sort supplies into logical groupings, and leave pathways for students to walk up and get supplies without tripping over each other. For seminars, if you want the students to sit in a circle, arrange the chairs before they arrive, so that late or reluctant students are not left out of the group.