The First Class
Getting to Know Your Students
Hopefully you will start the semester with a list of the students in your
precept. You may find this has little relation to the students who appear
in your classroom. Although professors should strongly encourage students
to limit precept switching to the first week (if at all) it can sometimes
take weeks to get a final precept list settled.
Take a few minutes at the start of the first precept to introduce yourself and find out who your students are. Having students go around the room and introduce themselves can help you avoid mangling the names. For upper level courses, you might also ask what labs they are in, to get an idea of the range of interests within the group. In addition to verbal introductions, have each student write their name, class, e-mail, phone number, and interests on a card, so you can update your precept list.
Setting Policies
Before the start of the semester, the TAs and faculty should meet to decide
on and record policies for the course (see Section 2). The first precept
is a good time to distribute copies of this policy, review the policies
with your students, and discuss the mechanics of turning in assignments,
making up labs, etc.
In addition, you will want to let your students know how they may reach you. You may want to set office hours and then give out your e-mail and lab phone number for students to contact you with additional questions. Some TAs find e-mail to be a useful forum for helping students-it can be checked at the TA's convenience, and also helps force students to ask well-defined and carefully-considered questions. If students wish to make anonymous suggestions about improving the precept they can also contact you through the Teaching Pilot Program website (see Section 9).
Be firm about acceptable and unacceptable times and places to find you. If you do not want students wandering into your lab to ask you questions, make this clear. If you choose to give out your home phone number, set boundaries on the times of day (or night) that students can call you.
Precept Structure
The first meeting is a good time to decide on a structure for the precepts.
Discuss your plans with the students and then ask for feedback. Ask your
students why they are taking the course and what they hope to gain from
the semester. Take advantage of the first meeting to find out what the students
would like to cover in precepts, and in what order. If precepts are not
mandatory, students may like to get problem sets back at the start of the
precept (or have them left for pickup at another site). They may also want
to discuss the problem sets first and leave questions on the course material
for the end of the precept or for office hours. Finding out in advance what
their preferences are is the best way to set up a precept that will be helpful
and well-attended.