Astronomy 500 Course Calendar

Astronomy 500 -- Course Calendar -- Autumn 2009 (Wednesday: 1 - 3 credits)
Lecture/Discussion Topics		Reading**	On-Line Resources
Week 01 - 30 September - Reading from the UW TA Handbook: Getting Started
3:00	First day activities; syllabus; introductions; ice breakers	Tips: Ch. 1, 3	+ The First Day of Class + Putting Together Your Syllabus
4:00	You are a teacher; components of a course; lecturing	Tips: Ch. 1, 3	+ The First Day of Class + Putting Together Your Syllabus
Week 02 - 7 October - Reading from the UW TA Handbook: Common Teaching Situations
3:00	Facilitating discussions; 101/150 exercises; class planning	Tips: Ch. 1, 3	+ Facilitating Discussions + TA Office Hours
4:00	Practice, plan, present	Tips: Ch. 1, 3	+ Facilitating Discussions + TA Office Hours
Week 03 - 14 October -
3:00	Student interactions; cheating; grading; motivation techniques	Tips: Ch. 11, 12	+ Academic Honesty
4:00	Discussion of possible lecture topics	Tips: Ch. 11, 12	+ Inclusive teaching
Week 04 - 21 October -
3:00	Active learning; peer learning; teaching to objectives	Tips: Ch. 3, 4, 7	+ How to write learning objectives
4:00	Develop learning objectives for lecture
Week 05 - 28 October - Reading from CIDR Bulletin: Using PowerPoint
3:00	Teaching the large lecture class; lecturing in sections	Tips: Ch. 5	* CIDR Lecturing Tools
4:00	Astro 500 2-3-credit student lectures		* Changing lecture format
Week 06 - 4 November - Reading from the UW TA Handbook: Evaluating Student Learning
3:00	Bloom's Taxonomy	Tips: Ch. 2, 9	+ Major categories Bloom's Taxonomy Bloom's Revised Taxonomy
4:00	Astro 500 development of questions to go with lecture		+ Classroom Assessment
Week 07 - 11 November - HOLIDAY
Week 08 - 18 November -
3:00	Grad student visit
4:00	Role of tutorials in lecture and in sections
Week 09 - 25 November - No formal class meeting
3:00	Teaching with technology ON-LINE LESSON [Topic: Addressing misconceptions in astronomy]	Tips: Ch. 8	+ Bad Astronomy + Comins "Heavenly Errors"
4:00	Independent study for Dec. 2 report
Week 10 - 2 December -
3:00	Addressing individual goals
4:00	Addressing individual goals
Week 10 - 9 December - Reading from UW TA Handbook: Assessing and Improving Your Teaching
3:00	Addressing individual goals; Development of a teaching philosophy	Tips: Ch. 14
4:00	Addressing individual goals
*Tips refers to Teaching Tips* by David Royse
List of personal goals for Astronomy 500 from class members: How to prepare for situations while teaching I wouldn't have otherwise anticipated. How to respond to questions I don't (but should) know the answer to. More tips on how to be a good TA. Tips for good/efficient grading techniques. How would I design a review worksheet for a course I'm TAing. Explain "simple" astronomy topics without confusing introductory students. How do you design tests/homework? What resources are out there for people at the grad/prof level to improve their teaching skills? After you have your learning goals for each lecture, how do you know the best way or ways to organize your lecture so that the content is clear and the students comprehend what they are supposed to? How to tell if it makes sense to others other than trial and error? How does one gain confidence in his/her ability to TA ways to approach planning my section for the week dealing with specific situations that may arise between me and a student The most important part of teaching in my opinion is organizing information to make it retainable and accessible. Is there any research that demonstrates what information structures are most effective? Certain techniques are used to make talks more engaging and memorable (story telling?). I'm bad at both. Are there any tricks we should keep in mind while lecturing? How does one become more assertive and authoritative in the classroom? Tips on developing in-class labs and exercises Help with using analogies to teach complicated topics How to make lectures more interesting and interactive for students Advice on developing testing/quizzing questions How to test student comprehension in class with good non-memory-dump questions Constellations and other "public outreach" astronomy stuff