Date: Mondays

Time: 4-6pm

Place: 544 Campbell

Instructors: Jeff Silverman (JSilverman@astro) and Dan Perley (dperley@astro)

Syllabus

End of Semester Summary

Articles/Website - Interesting astro-related news articles and websites (usually with more of an emphasis on pop-culture type stuff).

Things You Should Have Done ALREADY!!

An important resource for GSIs is the Electronic Big Red Binder and, to a lesser extent, its hard copy equivalent, the Big Red Binder (located in the seventh floor library) . Reuse and modification of any and all of the materials in these resources is highly encouraged!

• Ferah & Adam – 10/22 final presentation (10/15 initial presentation)
• Brent & Jason & Dustin – 11/5 final presentation (10/29 initial presentation)
• Josh & Suzy – 11/19 final presentation (11/12 initial presentation)

Week 1 Lesson Plan (8/25) - Intro and first section

Week 2 Lesson Plan (9/1) - Section structure, group learning, and TALC

Week 3 Lesson Plan (9/8) - Ethics & cheating, lecturing & boardwork

Week 4 Lesson Plan (9/15) - Quizzes, homework, and demos

Week 5 Lesson Plan (9/22) - Exams, worksheets, and more demos

Week 6 Lesson Plan (9/29) - Q&A / classroom interaction, review sessions, and grading

Week 7 Lesson Plan (10/1) - Midsemester evaluations

Week 8 Lesson Plan (10/8) - Reading discussion

Week 9 Lesson Plan (10/15) - Teaching stars

Week 10 Lesson Plan (10/22) - Mock lecture activity

Week 11 Lesson Plan (10/29) - Pedagogy: theory of teaching

Week 12 Lesson Plan (11/5) - Teaching for advanced classes

Week 13 Lesson Plan (11/13) - More pedagogy, teaching cosmology

Week 14 Lesson Plan (11/19) - Teaching your own course (guest lecture)

Week 15 Lesson Plan (11/26) - Teaching portfolios (guest lecture)

Week 16 Lesson Plan (12/3) - Professor visit, teaching in the community

• GSI Basics - getting started as a GSI (some basic ground rules)
• Assignments - required assignments
  • Designing a Demo Project - further info on the Design a Demo assignment
  • Peer Visitation - worksheet to fill out for the Peer Visitation assignment
• Teaching Resources - quite extensive list of teaching resources
• Topics & Activities - special topics and in-class activities that will probably be covered
• Mid-semester Evaluation - The .tex source is here.
• Teaching in the Community - opportunities for teaching outside of Cal
• Supplementary final evaluation - MS Word source is here.

• Academic Honesty and Cheating Policies - information regarding both the University and Department policies
• Section Teaching Strategies - peer learning vs. lecturing
• TALC - information about The Astronomy Learning Center (TALC)
• Teaching Effectiveness Essay - JonJon's winning Teaching Effectiveness Essay on TALC
• Your First Section - tips and suggestions for your very first section
• Writing Homework Assignments - tips and suggestions for writing good homework assignments
• Writing Midterms and Quizzes - tips and suggestions for writing good exams and quizzes

Sample syllabi and first section lesson plans can be found on this page of the EBRB.

Sample mid-semester evaluations can be found on this page of the EBRB.

• Astronomy Education Review - Awesome journal like publications on astronomy education published a couple times a year; quite a few readings will be pulled from here.
• Teaching Discussion Group - Jennifer Hoffman's (former Cal postdoc) page on teaching and resources for current and future teachers.
• Reaching the Second Tier: Learning and Teaching Styles in College Science Education - Interesting essay on learning styles and how to improve teaching styles.

Fall 2006 (Holly Maness)