Fall 2013: Questions on Teaching

What should you do in case of an emergency?     Fire alarm: evacuate. Earthquake: duck and cover. Please read Emergency Procedures  

General Teaching Questions

How to manage emailed questions from students? Is it appropriate to ask them to stop by office hours?
Is it ok to divide questions between multiple GSI's?
How to be approachable?
How to put yourself in a proper frame of mind for teaching given other life priorities?

Discussion Section Questions
How to make a lesson plan for a discussion section? Discussion Section Lesson Plan
(How to decide what to talk about in a discussion section?)
How do I I know the students understand? in lecture? 1 on 1?
How do I know if students are bored?
What if I'm interrupted too much?
How to handle discrepancies in students' knowledge?
How should I solve problems- start immediately or ask the class to participate?
Should I have multiple was to explain every concept? How many should I have?
What if they ask me a question I don't know the answer to? Or don't have time t o explain?
Is there a good way to get students afraid to ask questions to ask them?
How to deal with multiple learning styles? i.e. showing multiple ways to solave a particular problem or not?
How to provoke student's participation?
How to get good attendance in section?

Lab Section Questions
How best to help students as a lab instructor? Lab Section Lesson Plan
How proactive should you be in the lab class?
How much should I help if they get stuck in lab>
If its not their mistake, should I troubleshoot?
How to enforce finishing labs on time?
How to make students debug their own work?
How to deal with physical limitations fo students in a lab (e.g. clumsy)

Homework and Grading
How to design homeworks in the most effective way? In general, how to allow room for creativity while keeping grading fair and manageable.

Office Hours
How do I I know the students understand? 1 on 1?
Balance between showing how to do problems and asking them to do problems?
Expectations for lab TA's office hours? (e.g. familiarity with home work/lecture, or just lab related questions)
How to ``draw the line'' in office hours (e.g. giving away too much of HW answer)

Technology
What are people's opinions about Piazza?
What is the appropriate role of technology?
Can online education be as efective as in person training?




Spring 2009: Questions on Teaching

  1. What should you do in case of an emergency?
    Fire alarm: evacuate. Earthquake: duck and cover. Please read Emergency Procedures  

General Teaching Questions


What are appropriate boundaries/limits of responsiveness? 24/7 email/phone contact?

Discussion Section Questions

How to make a lesson plan for a discussion section? Discussion Section Lesson Plan
How to decide HW vs. new material coverage?
How much needs to be prepared for a discussion section?
How to come up with discussion material that is not just doing the HW problems or repeating the lecture?
Focus on conceptual ideas versus tactical steps?

How to deal difficult, uncooperative, or disruptive students?
How to deal with struggling students, and students at different levels?
How to teach motivated and unmotivated students?
How to handle angry students (conflict resolution)?
How to handle cell phones, lap tops, etc.
How much time to cover random ideas/digressions?

How to know the level of students knowledge of the material?
TIme management in discussion (not going over/under).
Problems with handwriting?
Problems with accent?
What are the best ways to get feedback (and not just from a few students)?
What to do with a question too difficult to answer?
What if you make a mistake in solving an equation?

How to use a 10 minute lecture format in a real class?
How best to motivate students to do work themselves and not solve problems for them?



Lab Section Questions
How best to help students as a lab instructor? Lab Section Lesson Plan
How proactive should you be in the lab class?


Academic Honesty

How to deal with HW workflow issues, e.g. wrong formulas, right answer? Is this considered cheating?



Technology
How is bspace useful? How to make best use of it?
Should you handout your notes or should students write their own?


Fall 2008: Questions on Teaching

  1. How do you identify the source of a student's confusion?
  2. What do you do if you can't get an idea across to a student (you have run out of ways to explain)?
  3. How to get feedback and encourage students to ask questions?
  4. What to do if you get stumped by a student?
  5. How to manage a student who dominates class time?
  6. How to create new homework problems?
  7. What are good strategies for teaching?
  8. How to increase enthusiasm? How do you teach ??
  9. Effective ways of communicating using tools?
  10. Effective ways of communicating with different learning styles? 
  11. How to choose a teaching style to best suit your students?

Discussion Section Questions
 
  1. How to make a lesson plan for a discussion section? Discussion Section Lesson Plan
  2. What balance should there be in a discussion section between a lesson plan and answering questions?
  3. What are expectations for discussion section TAs?
  4. What to teach when nothing has been covered yet?
  5. How to handle grads and undergrads in same class?
  6. How to encourage people to come to discussion/office hour?
  7. How do you keep students awake and continually engaged?
  8. How do you teach to students who are in a major other than the class?
  9. What should you do when students want you to do their homework for them?


Lab Section Questions
  1. How best to help students as a lab instructor? Lab Section Lesson Plan
  2. How can a teaching class help a lab instructor?
  3. How can you handle all students needing help at once? Lab load suggestions

Academic Honesty

  1. What do you do if someone offers you a cup of coffee?
  2. What are standards for misconduct?
  3. What are typical offenses to be aware of?
EE301 Home Page