Fall GTA Orientation Tom Muenzenberger How to be

Fall GTA Orientation Tom Muenzenberger

How to be an effective GTA • • Definition “Big Picture” Major Duties Helpful Hints Additional Advice Avoiding Pitfalls Your Teaching Assignment

Definition • GTA – Graduate Teaching Assistant – Funded by the Department of Mathematics – Teaching Assistant in undergraduate courses – Teaching Assistant in help sessions and computing labs

“Big Picture” The greater your satisfaction with your job responsibilities, the more effective you will be as an instructor • What’s in it for me? • What if I have no previous experience?

Major Duties • Hours – How many? The Department Head determines teaching hours, office hours, help session hours, computing lab hours, and the preparation time needed

GTA Assignments Fall and Spring Semesters – The Head assigns GTAS to teach 1 - 5 hours per week, hold office hours, and work help sessions so that: • Teaching hours + Help session hours = 5 hours per week • Help session hours + Office hours = 4 hours per week • Special case: If T = 1, then H = 4 and O = 1.

GTA Assignments Fall and Spring (Continued) • GTAs will spend time teaching, working help sessions, holding office hours, preparing for teaching and help sessions, grading exams, entering grades, and thinking about how mathematics relates to teaching, so as to work for the Department a total of 20 hours per week. • The Head also assigns other duties to individual GTAs.

GTA Assignments Summer Semester • The Head assigns some GTAs to coordinate and/or teach a service course so that: – 3 credit course: 5 hours teaching and 5 office hours per week – 4 credit course: 6. 25 hours teaching and 3. 75 office hours per week

GTA Assignments Summer Semester (Continued) • Instructors will spend time teaching, holding office hours, preparing for teaching, grading exams, entering grades, and thinking about how mathematics relates to teaching, so as to work for the Department a total of 20 hours per week. • The Head assigns other GTAs to grade homework in a service course and work help sessions or labs. Grader/helpers will spend time grading homework, working help sessions or labs, preparing for grading and help sessions, providing feedback to instructors, and thinking about how mathematics relates to teaching, so as to work for the Department a total of 20 hours per week. • The Head also assigns other duties to individual GTAs.

The Importance of Help Sessions to You • Help sessions are an important part of your teaching responsibilities and professional development for many reasons. • The most important benefit for you is that help sessions provide opportunities to improve your communication and teaching skills. • When you encounter students who do not understand a concept or theorem or solution to a problem, you have to expand your mind to think of the right words or alternative explanations or examples or pictures that enable such students to see and really understand the mathematics. • When you encounter a problem you have not solved beforehand, you have to solve it quickly and well. • When you encounter a problem from a course you are not teaching, you have to review or learn the necessary mathematics on the spot. • Learning how to handle these encounters will help you learn how to teach and develop the professional skills employers want you to have. • In particular, skills such as fluency, mental agility, and problem solving ability will prove important throughout your career.

The Importance of Help Sessions to the Department • Help sessions are important to the mission of the Department because they help students succeed and improve the success rates and enrollment numbers in our courses as well as the over-all retention rates in many degree programs on campus. • Help sessions are important to the reputation of the Department in the larger University community because the experiences students have in help sessions influence their opinions and perceptions of the Department. Our reputation is adversely affected when students cannot get help from us. • To help our TAs succeed in their important role of providing teaching assistance, help session coordinators will provide assistance and guidance to GTAs in help sessions.

Help Session Procedures • A form to indicate your day and time preference for help sessions will be placed in your mailbox. The form will be due back by 4: 00 p. m. on Thursday of the first week of classes, and your help session assignment will be placed in your mailbox the next day. Help sessions begin the second week of classes. • The help session schedule will be posted at https: //www. math. ksu. edu/courses/helpsche. pdf • The help session schedule may be accessed via the Courses -> Help link in the top bar on the Department of Mathematics homepage. Announce these help sessions in your classes and encourage your students to use the help sessions to get help outside class.

Help Session Procedures (Continued) • Prepare for your help session assignment. Be sure you can work all the problems currently being covered in the course you are teaching. Discuss with other GTAs the problems being covered in the courses they are teaching. • Help students with their problems and questions when you are in help session. Ask them what they tried. Suggest the next step in their solution. Suggest another method or helpful result. Refer to a similar problem worked as an example in the text. Do not do all their work for them. • Interact and be proactive with the students when you are in help session. Ask students if they need assistance and do your best to help students with any math problem in any math course. When you do not actively help students during your assigned help sessions or are not even there, then you are not doing your job and are causing other GTAs to do your job for you. You should not be doing your own personal work when students are seeking help in help session.

Help Session Procedures (Continued) • Anyone with a K-State e-ID can use an online form on the computers in the back of Cardwell 41 to make comments and suggestions about the help room. • Close and lock the door to Cardwell 41 at the end of the last help session of the day. • If you need to be absent from an assigned help session, find a substitute and inform Reta who will cover the hour for you. • If you want to switch an assigned help session hour, find another GTA who is willing to trade with you and inform the Undergraduate Director and Deb of the trade so that the posted schedule can be updated.

Major Help Session Duties Summarized • Be there • Be prompt • Come prepared • Seek out someone to help • Teach, do not do all the work for students • Only leave when your hour is completed • Encourage students in your section to attend

Major Teaching Duties • Make it your policy to be as much a part of the teaching experience as you can – that approach will make you a better GTA and ultimately enhance your career options. • Know the material you will be assisting in teaching like the back of your hand • Study to show yourself as an expert resource to answering student questions.

First Day of Class • Exude confidence! – Your enthusiasm goes a long way! • Introduce Yourself • Course expectations – Clearly state classroom policies as well as your personal preferences • Students can’t follow your policies if they are unaware of them • Policies may be different in different courses. Ask the coordinator. • Safety – Your class size limit is less than the number of chairs in the room. Ask Tina if you want to add someone over the class size limit. – The Fire Marshall does not allow students sitting on the floor or standing.

Be Prepared for Teaching • Know the material • Work through the problems beforehand – know the pitfalls • Be concise and accurate in your teaching • Create your own course and study materials for the students you teach. – This will help you teach better and help your students succeed • Accept that you can’t know it all – there will be questions you can’t answer • Read the Instructional Manual for Math Teaching Assistants at: https: //www. math. ksu. edu/handbook/dept/inst-man. htm • Help session and computing lab work is teaching.

Additional Advice • • Emulate the methods of great teachers Seek advice from your professors. Communicate frequently with your coordinator Meet regularly with your peers – Discuss issues you’re having (confidentially) – Seek out TAs who’ve taught or are currently teaching the course – Build your knowledge base so you can help more students.

Avoiding Pitfalls: Common Student Issues • Familiarize yourself with University policies linked to the Department of Mathematics Handbook at: https: //www. math. ksu. edu/handbook/dept/ – Know your authority ahead of time – Handle unethical behavior (dishonesty, plagiarism, cheating) – Handle problems and situations promptly – Check with your professors on how they want you to handle such situations – Be alert for disability, gender, multicultural, and respect in the work place issues

Return to the “Big Picture” The greater your satisfaction with your job responsibilities, the more effective you will be as a Teaching Assistant

Your Teaching Assignment • • • Teaching assignments will be distributed next week. Meetings with the course coordinators are scheduled for next Friday afternoon and are listed on the GTA Training Program schedule that was emailed to you. You will be assigned a faculty teaching advisor who will visit a class you are teaching and advise you on your teaching. Advice on your teaching is also available from the course coordinator, the other GTAs in the course, and the Master GTAs. The Department has hired paper graders to grade homework in the courses you are teaching. The course coordinator will give the graders some general guidelines, but you should also give your grader detailed and precise deadlines and instructions. Your grader’s contact information will be placed in your mailbox. The Office of Assessment will send you an email with information on the GTA Communication Survey and will email a survey link to every student in each class you are teaching. The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) will send you an email with information on setting up online Teaching Evaluations (TEVALS) for the classes you are teaching. When you set up an online TEVAL, be sure to use the Math Template as well as the TLC Core Template. You will be required to release your TLC TEVAL reports to the Department Head who will place the reports in your graduate file.

Questions?