Phy 398T - Supervised Teaching in Physics - Spring 2002

Unique # 57530
Mondays 3:00-5:00 in RLM 6.114 and Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 in RLM 5.114

A hard copy of this Syllabus will be handed out in class. Be sure to see the Phy 398T links page for other documents pertaining to this course.

Instructor: L.C. Shepley - Office: RLM 9.208 - Hours: M,W 1:30-3:00 - Phone: 471-9272 - E-mail: larry@einstein.ph.utexas.edu - Homepage: http://wwwrel.ph.utexas.edu/~larry

• 398T Handout Sampler, edited by Karron Lewis; booklet available at the Texas Union Copy Center
• The Manual for Teaching Assistants, Assistant Instructors, and Graders

Other Texts:

• The Survival Guide, which also has some helpful teaching tips
• A.B. Arons: A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching
• W.J. McKeachie: Teaching Tips - A Guidebook for the Beginning College Teacher

Outline & Objectives: Review of physics teaching strategies, administrative procedures, and classroom responsibilities. Includes a review and critique of each participant's classroom teaching. You will learn thinking and communication skills, theories and practices of learning, how to lecture, and when not to lecture. I hope that you will go beyond mere comprehension and application to analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; appointment as teaching assistant. Each Physics TA is required to pass Phy 398T within the first two semesters of appointment.

Grades: Offered on a CR/NC basis only. To get cretit for this course you must:

• have no more than three absences and participate in the discussions---arriving after the opening bell counts as one-half absence; arriving 15 minutes late counts as a full absence;
  
• make presentations before the class -- one presentation about every two weeks;
  
• give a microteaching lesson to the class -- including a quiz on the material presented;
  
• be videotaped, including criticism and your response, in connection with one of your presentations.
  

Notes: From time to time I will assign homework. It will not be overly long, and of course you may collaborate with others on it (as well as on all other aspects of the course). For example, your first homework, due the first class day, is in two parts:

• Send me an e-mail message.
  
• Bring to class two examples of a first-day handout, one of which you have created if you are teaching a lab or which was used for a class you are grading for, and one of which you received in a class you are taking.
  

Most of your presentations will be done with a team of two or three members. But one of your presentations will be a microteaching project, which you will do alone. It will either be a seminar, a classroom demonstration, an innovative guide to teaching a specific topic, or some other item which will bring together your teaching and research interests. Early in the semester I will ask you for a specific topic, so start thinking of one. You will note in the schedule that I have left room for you to present your topic to the class. As part of this project, you will have to prepare a short quiz (two questions) to test whether you have effectively communicated your subject.

Specific Objectives

You will make friends who will help you in your research and teaching and offer constructive criticism.

You will formulate a philosophy of learning, teaching, and grading. You will become familiar with UTAustin faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. You will be able to plan courses and lectures and when to use various teaching and grading methods.

You will learn how to teach a laboratory class; topics: (a) syllabus; (b) starting and conducting class; (c) discipline; (d) preventing and coping with cheating; (e) emergencies; (f) questions; (g) homework, quizzes, & tests; (h) electronic or other aids; (i) lab supervisor and head TA.

You will learn how best to give a seminar: (a) what to talk about; (b) how to use an overhead projector, the blackboard, & other audio/visual aids; (c) when to be funny; (d) how to move and to gesture; (e) how to answer questions; (f) when to stop. You will, in particular, learn techniques appropriate for your Qualifying Seminar.

Schedule

My method of teaching this course relies on student presentations and on discussion groups. Most of the following subjects will be covered in these ways, though I may invite a few guest lecturers. These are general topics for each week; I'll give more details as the semester progresses.