RES.7-005 | Fall 2021 | Undergraduate, Graduate, Non-Credit

Biology Teaching Assistant (TA) Training

Session 1: Organizing a Recitation Section to Promote Student Learning

Creating a plan for your recitations

Intended Learning Outcome

  1. Articulate strategies for recitation organization that keep students engaged

Facilitation Notes

What is the goal of recitation? Begin with a discussion of the “I Do, We Do, You Do” model of teaching (guided practice). Emphasize that this requires creating a dialogue with students. Ask TAs to brainstorm what this dialogue might look like in the classroom and take notes. Follow up by summarizing their ideas and providing some suggestions.

What material should be covered? Make sure that it is clear to TAs how they should prioritize material. Some possibilities: Ask the faculty for guidance in what students need to know, consult with your fellow TAs on what they plan to cover, ask students what they need the most help with.

How should the material be covered? For every topic covered, suggest to TAs that students should have an opportunity to both 1) actively engage with the knowledge or background that they need on this subject, and 2) practice the skills they need to successfully master the topic for future assessments (calculation, analysis, description, justification etc.).

Have students explore what knowledge and skills practice might look like in their specific context. Activities are provided for three different contexts: Introductory courses, core or upper-level courses, and lab courses. Each has two slides to review and discuss.

  • Introductory course (when problems are provided to TAs to use in their teaching): Select an example problem from an Introductory course that TAs can discuss how they would work through it with their students.
  • Core/Upper-level course (when TAs design their own problems to use in their teaching): TAs generate their own examples, thinking about how to help students identify and practice the skills needed to master topics in their course. Suggest TAs look at their syllabi for specific topics if needed.
  • Lab (experimental-based work): Identify scenarios that TAs can explore to reinforce students’ laboratory skills. Three example scenarios are provided.

It can be helpful to first give TAs time to think individually, then break them off into groups. Have groups report back key points of their discussion to the class. Wrap up the discussion by highlighting the lesson planning worksheet that helps TAs to apply the structure of knowledge and skills practice.

Finally, provide an opportunity for TAs to reflect on what they will do on their first day of teaching using the provided prompts. A free write or think-pair-share works well here, depending on the amount of time you have left.

Close with an Exit Ticket that prompts folks to think about what they are taking away and what they still have questions about.

Files

Lesson Planning Worksheet

Session 1 Slides: Organizing a Recitation Section to Promote Student Learning (PDF)

Course Info

Instructor
Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2021
Learning Resource Types
Activity Assignments with Examples
Lecture Notes