Teaching Logs
Below are the weekly prompts for your teaching logs. In general all teaching logs should have a brief summary of what was covered in section and comments on whether things went according to plan. In addition, each week will have specific topics to write about. A typical teaching log entry need not be longer than a page, but should be substantive (i.e., a few sentences will not suffice). The instructors will check your logs from time to time.
| Week of | Topic To Think About | Log Prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 29 | New experiences | Congrats on having your first astro discussion sections. How did they go? Give a brief recap of your lesson plan (or attach a lesson plan into your physical log) and comment on each section. Did it go as planned? Did it take longer or shorter than you anticipated? How did you feel afterwards? |
| Sep 5 | Effective Group Work | You were asked to pick one group work activity that was discussed on Day 3 and implement it in your section this week. In your log, after recapping section, write about the group activity. How did you introduce the activity? What did you see when students were working (mention at least one good and bad)? Anything unexpected happen? How did you assess whether the activity was a success? What would you do different if you were to use the activity again? |
| Sep 12 | Effective Group Work… takes work | You were asked to pick a different group activity from Day 3 and implement it in your section this week. In your log, after recapping section, write about the group activity. How did you introduce the activity? What did you see when students were working (mention at least one good and bad)? Anything unexpected happen? How did you assess whether the activity was a success? What would you do different if you were to use the activity again? |
| Sep 19 | Administering and Grading Quizzes or Phrasing | If you gave a quiz this week: Pick one question from your quiz and write out your initial and final rubrics. The initial rubric should be the one you have before you start grading any quiz, and the final is the resulting rubric that evolved after you graded. Comment on what changed and why. What problems did students have (and were these problems unexpected)? Are they the result of the wording on your quiz, or because of a misconception you were unaware of? If you did not give a quiz this week: Pick a moment from your sections where you were explaining a concept to the class. Think back to how you worded your response and criticize your wording. If you had a “do-over”, how would you have phrased it differently. If you come to the conclusion that your wording could potentially confuse students, send an E-mail to the section with your new explanation. |
| Sep 26 | Ay10/7a Students Think Differently Than We Do | Pick a moment from one of your sections over the past week or so where a student asked an unexpected question, that is, a question you did not anticipate students having. What do you think was the source of confusion? (e.g., Prior knowledge and misconceptions, or something you said that wasn't clear?) How did you handle the situation? Did you take the time to see if others in the class had a similar misunderstanding? How would you change your discussion of the subject material in the future to avoid this question from arising (if the confusion could have stemmed from your explanation)? |
| Oct 3 | Exam/Exam Reviews can be eye openers, for everyone | How are your students doing on the fundamentals that you reviewed in the first weeks of class? Have you noticed (in section, on a quiz, in office hours) if certain people are still struggling with basic concepts? Have you offered assistance to them already? If so, did they take you up on it? Think back to one of your previous sections and comment on how you could have worked in a review of the fundamentals without taking loads of time going over the concept. Is it worked in via group work activities or in your board work? (You should try doing this in a near-future section!) |
| Oct 10 | Unit 1: Complete | You have completed the core unit of Ay300. How does it feel? What have we covered that was most surprising to you? How did you section this week compare to one you gave a few weeks into the semester? What was different and how has it (hopefully) improved? |
| Oct 17 | Students want the truth! | All too many students feel that the teacher's task is to tell them the facts and larger truths and the student's task is to listen to the truth, learn it, and be able to give it back on exams. This seems to be true especially for first-year students (Perry 1981, in The Modern American College, A. Chickerin (Ed.), 76). Have you experienced this mentality in section? How did you handle it? If you haven't dealt with this yet, how might you handle it if it arises? |
| Oct 24 | Free form | Summarize your section and comment on anything that went particularly well, bad, unexpected. |
| Oct 31 | Free form | Summarize your section and comment on anything that went particularly well, bad, unexpected. |
| Nov 7 | Free form | Summarize your section and comment on anything that went particularly well, bad, unexpected. |
| Nov 14 | Free form | Summarize your section and comment on anything that went particularly well, bad, unexpected. |
| Nov 21 | Looking Back | How did your section this week differ from your first few sections? Where have you made significant improvement? What aspects do you need to keep working on (we all have at least one!). Do you enjoy teaching? Is it gratifying to you? :) |
