[PSTUM-list] Pre-Service Courses for TAs

PSTUM-List, It's been a couple of months since we've had any traffic on the list, and I attribute that to the busyness of the end of the semester. Now that it's summer, I'm hoping folks will have more time to contribute to the list. Here's a question to get things started: The preceptor group at Harvard is in the middle of designing a seminar for our "pre-service" TAs -- graduate students who haven't taught yet, but will be teaching calculus sections soon. It will be either a semester- or year-long seminar featuring presentations/discussions led by preceptors on various topics (lesson planning, presentation skills, understanding student misconceptions, managing interactive classrooms) as well as practicum components (observation of other teachers, tutoring in our math help center, guest-lecturing a few times in an actual class). They have some good ideas for structure and content of this seminar, but I'm eager to hear your experiences with similar courses or seminars. Have you been involved in something like this? If so, what has worked well? What pitfalls should they look out for? Thanks in advance for your contributions! Derek (By the way, the reason I speak here of the Harvard preceptor group in the third person is that I have recently taken an assistant director position at the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. In this role, I will be working with many departments on faculty and TA development issues, not just mathematics departments. However, I plan to continue the PSTUM list, and I hope it can continue to bring people together with similar interests.) -- Derek Bruff, Assistant Director Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University Email: derek.bruff(a)vanderbilt.edu