I'm Donna Flint- I am an Associate Professor at South Dakota State
University, and took the role of TA supervisor last year. I had an
eventful first year and a half, to say the least- this is the first
semester when I have not had new TA's and new "experiences."
We have a Master's program only. Our graduate students start teaching
their first semester and have complete control of their classes from day
one. The only training we have before they start is a two-day
orientation session which includes discussion of "the rules," "the first
day and writing a syllabus," and "good teaching practices." Then they
each teach a couple of topics to the group. During their first semester,
they take a one-credit course in which we talk more about teaching,
review topics to be covered over the next week in their classes, and
talk about problems that arose during the week.
I attended both workshops on training TA's and learned a lot, but found
that many programs, since they have PhD programs, are able to invest
more time in training before the TA's start. I'm interested in how
programs that don't have the luxury of that extra semester for
preparation train their TA's.
My job is to organize and carry out the orientation sessions, teach the
class, observe the first semester TA's, and supervise all TA's,
generally by stopping by their office and asking how things are going
and answering questions. I also leave little "teaching tips" in their
boxes periodically. My job does NOT include choosing who gets to be a
TA, though it has included recommending dismissing TA's (three times
already).
I'm looking forward to hearing more!
Donna
Dr. Donna Flint
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
South Dakota State University
http://learn.sdstate.edu/flintd/flint/flint.html
He who laughs, lasts.
-----Original Message-----
From: pstum-list-bounces(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu
[mailto:pstum-list-bounces@lists.fas.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Derek
Bruff
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 9:58 PM
To: Preparing and Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics
Subject: [PSTUM-list] Welcome again!
Since we've had several dozen people subscribe to the list in the last
24 hours, I thought I would welcome everyone again to the Preparing and
Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics (PSTUM) mailing list.
The list has a lengthy name (and an acronym that unfortunately doesn't
roll off the tongue), but I think it describes the purpose of the list
very well. For more information about the list, consult the list's web
site:
http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list
To get some discussion started and to get a feel for who has joined the
list, please introduce yourself and describe your roles in preparing and
supporting teachers of undergraduate mathematics. Do you work with
graduate students, junior faculty members, adjuncts, or some
combination? With what types of orientations and training sessions are
you involved? In what ways do you mentor and support the teachers with
which you work?
Also, feel free to post specific questions you might have about
mathematics TA and faculty development. Odds are, one of the 59 current
members of the list will have some experience from which you can
benefit.
Thanks!
Derek
--
Derek Bruff, Preceptor
Department of Mathematics, Harvard University
Email: bruff(a)fas.harvard.edu
Web:
http://www.derekbruff.com/
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