Presentation by Michael Filmowicz on September 21, 2011. First Practice Session in Surrey TA Training series organized by the SFU Teaching and Learning Centre.

1. THE ADVICE I NEVER GOT – AND THE EXPERIENCE I NEVER HAD: Sergei Eisenstein Soviet Filmmaker and Montage Theorist Michael Filimowicz SIAT

2. The TA role is NOT UNIFORM across courses and instructors, there are different course needs, different teaching styles, etc. Maybe you will Grade- or maybe you will just Enter the Grades, etc.

3. BUT FIRST, A GENERAL NOTE ABOUT THE TRAJECTORY OF MY APPROACH OVER TIME: LESS NEW TO TEACHING NEW TO TEACHING Improvise Winging It Riff Loose Notes Seeing what seems to work Mode of “inspiration” Prep before each class Systematize Organize Constrained Riffs Overbuild Make informed guesses Enthusiastically love PPT Prep Once -Gradually Refine More Romantic (heroic) More Bureaucratic

4. There’s nothing wrong with this, except perhaps (in my case) extreme unevenness of results NEW TO TEACHING LOVE ME Improvise Winging It Riff Loose Notes Seeing what seems to work Mode of “inspiration” Prep before each class HATE ME BI-POLAR STUDENT EVALUATIONS (same course, different sections)

5. WHY I LOVE POWERPOINT- narrows the range of response to my delivery LESS NEW TO TEACHING They like me more Systematize Organize Constrained Riffs Overbuild Make informed guesses Enthusiastically love PPT Prep Once -Gradually Refine They like me less

6. As the average grade given goes lower Student evals scores dip accordingly

9. WHY DO WE NEED TAS? BECAUSE CLASSES ARE HUGE ! (basically- I think this is the reason)

10. IN AN IDEAL WORLD (UTOPIA), JUST GIVE THEM ALL AN AUTOMATED MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ALL THE TIME:

11. UNFORTUNATELY multiple choice evaluation doesn’t really solve all of our learning needs.

12. TEACHING ASSISTANTS GET TO INTERACT WITH STUDENTS MORE THAT THE LEAD INSTRUCTOR (TYPICALLY) - You get to do more of the fun stuff (talk to students, help them….)

13. TEACHING ASSISTANTS GET TO MANAGE ALL THE SPREADSHEETS - You get to do more of the DREARY stuff (inputting grades….)

14. Main Lecture INSTRUCTOR’S RESPONSIBILITY Breakout Labs TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility

15. Main Lecture Ocassionally (e.g. instructor is out of town) TA’S RESPONSIBILITY Breakout Labs TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility

16. Breakout Labs TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility TA & Instructor’s Responsibility • Instructor should guide/advise on CONTENT (so if you’re not being adequately advised as to what to do, bring this up as an issue) • TA often has a lot of AUTONOMY for running the labs (gives useful teaching experience) • LABS accomplish : software training, critique/feedback, hands on experience

17. I WAS ASKED TO TALK ABOUT THIS KIND OF STUFF:

18. TAs are Really Annoying When: They take too long to enter grades They take too long to grade assignments (the above principal- students want regular and timely feedback) • They give me last minute notice that they’ll be out of town for a conference. • Students send me an email during the lab time asking where the TA is. • Don’t do a run-through on equipment in the lab ahead of time, waiting til the first day of class to discover software doesn’t launch (IT folks can also be annoying when…..see future slides) • They don’t respond to emails from me. • I get lots of emails from students staying the TA isn’t responding to emails from them. • They miss lectures and don’t know the content to be of use in the labs

19. Regular Meetings with Instructor Depends on the course needs. For example, CAPSTONE requires a weekly summative email announcement (administrative) and the TA does NOT grade. Occasional emails may work ok. CC’ing instructor on key student communications.

20. Preparation Recall beginning of this presentation- over prep always E.G. make a lecture that’s always too long, what you don’t cover begins the next week’s lecture (so you’re always ahead) Make handouts (helps students who fall behind or shoot ahead) if appropriate Create a systematic (and thus repeatable) document set for the next TA (to improve on for future iterations). Be more proficient at the technology then the students (know enough to trouble shoot, use the position to getbetter at digital craft).

21. Using WebCT It’s the TA’s job to figure out WebCT so I don’t have to  (no one taught me) Look at the online help. Ask me if that doesn’t work. Bug the WebCT folks if I don’t know. Avoid multiple postings of the same info in different sections (make each tab mean something) Avoid dating anything (use week 1, week 2 etc.), this is great because it drives students crazy. Savestime next time around. Instructor should tell you how much to use or not useWebCT. I happen to like it, many hate it, it’s not perfect, nothing is. Gradebook is particularly useful. Lecture notes are evil because students use it as an excuse to skip class, and insist that you put your lectures there. Great Rule- allow no grade changes on assignments after week 13, force students to review their gradebook and bring up any issues prior to week 13 (keeps grade changes down).

22. A Little Trick I Do: Dummy Calendar Appointments

23. Resources and Help Your union experts (enforce your TUG, don’t be exploited, unless you don’t mind) Nice TLC folks Lynne Jamieson SIAT Grad Chair Your instructors Other TA and grad students with TA experience Facebook rants

25. Many won’t understand anywayExpectations for support requirements - like office hours: - By Appointment is (imo) more effective than regular office hours (no one will come) Common issues that emerge and a "best practice" way of dealing with it (see next slides)

26. ETHICAL DILEMMAS: GUTLESS CHEATING (TOO CHICKEN TO CHEAT PROPERLY) A student produces a video, and in the end credits there’s a title the rushes by saying “inspired by the video X by Y” Another student complains that the work is a plagiarized version of another video. You check on it- indeed, it’s a scene by scene copy of another work on Youtube.

27. THE WORLD DID MY HOMEWORK FOR ME A student turns in a collage. You give it a good grade. One semester later you find out from another student that the collage was produced by an automated Facebook application.

28. LITTLE GPA BOOSTER STOOLS A student is .5% away from a higher grade – should you round up?

29. HELP ME JUST ‘CUZ A student writes you saying they want a higher grade because they plan on applying to law school, or to an MBA program after they get their undergraduate degree, and they could use a higher GPA toward this end.

30. TISSUE PAPER IS USEFUL A student doesn’t show up to class and doesn’t turn in assignments. One day they show up in your office and cry for half an hour without saying anything. Then they tell you they think they’re dying, based on analyzing their symptoms online.

31. I REALLY LIKE MY OLD WORK A student turns in old vacation photographs for a photography assignment, or turns in an essay they wrote for another class.

32. THE SIAT ENDEMIC Some member of a student team didn’t pull their weight and contribute as much as the others. Three students complain to you about the fourth…..

34. Do you understand Reasonable Accommodation?

35. Is there a discrepancy between effort and talent?

36. Did they violate something that was EXPLICIT and CLEAR?

37. Cover yourself with at least one reminder (two statements)