AY 300 - Fall 2011: Third Day Lesson Plan

Today's class will discuss ethics, continue talking about good lecturing and board work techniques, and effective group strategies.

• Review the ethics policies of UC Berkeley.
• Understand the role of group work versus lecturing.
• Review the role of TALC, The Astronomy Learning Center.
• Continue practicing good board work technique.

Ask everyone to write down their section times, so the instructors know.

The person on call for this week will share their section experience. Some questions include:

• What did you do?
• How did you implement your activities?
• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• What would you do differently?
• How did you assess learning?
• Did you receive any unexpected questions/reactions/etc.?
• Did anything unexpected happen?
• What were you thinking about while you were running section? Any moments of panic?

During this (and after), open the floor up for general questions and sharing about how sections are going. We will do this every week for the rest of the semester.

Make sure everyone has finished the online Ethics course.

Quickly touch on the main points from the Ethics course (extended blurbs below).

Finish up with a class discussion of several case studies of situations that have arisen in C10. These could include a subset of the following (perhaps put each on a power point slide and project it). Some comments from the author are given in parentheses at the end:

1. The final exam was this morning, and all the GSIs have just finished grading. You are back in your office when one of your students knocks on your door. They are very distressed about the final, and is standing next to you at your desk. The conversation goes something like this: “I think I am going to fail the class. I know the final is curved, but I don't know if that cuts it. How much does HW and lab count towards the grade again? *sigh* I don't know what happened, is there *pause* anything *pause* I can do?” You assure the person they probably are fine and quickly look at the final grades and see this person is getting a 'C'. (As the head GSI, I was able to access the final grades at this point. A normal GSI would not have been able to do that…)
2. You have decided that Facebook-friending your students is OK. This is the 21st century and social networking is here to stay. When you're on Facebook one day, one of your students opens up a chat window. It is friendly at first, and somehow gets into him asking for help on one of the homework problems. You take the time to help him. Once that is done, he starts to talk more freely and begins sharing personal stories, including how he came out to his parents recently, etc. (Friendship with students, establishing boundaries, etc)
3. One on cheating
4. Another

Ask the class to think about what should have been done and (if possible) how the situation could have been avoided.

• Some topics covered in the online course:
  • Diversity
    • Berkeley is a minority-majority school
    • Unlikely to be a major issue (especially in an intro astronomy course since the classes tend to be pretty diverse). However, be aware that we all have unconscious biases and try to make an effort to be open and inclusive. For example, try to equally call on males/females, different races, etc.
  • Disabled Students
    • Berkeley allows students with documented learning disabilities (or physical disabilities affecting their ability to learn) to have extra time (and occasionally a 'quiet' or private room, etc.) on quizzes and examinations. Students must have their disabilities diagnosed or approved by the Disabled Students' Program, or DSP.
      • For examinations, this is typically dealt with by the professor. If a student comes to you about a disability-related problem, tell them to contact the professor and/or Head GSI.
      • In Alex's class, students take quizzes in section twice during the semester. Alex usually lets DSP students know that taking the quiz normally has turned out successfully in most cases, since it is designed to last well under the allotted time. However, if students insist on it, then you must accommodate them. If possible, the exam may be extended in situ, or a small group can repair to another room. Otherwise DSP can help with arranging for a proctored exam with additional time (Most general solution: borrow another GSI's quiz and give it in your office during office hours.)
      • If a student in your section is having major difficulties with the course but seems intelligent and really is trying, consider talking to him/her about being diagnosed for a learning disability. Obviously this is something to be dealt with delicately.
      • FAQ for faculty and staff about DSP
  • Sexual Harassment
    • Should be common sense - don't get involved. Power difference → potential for serious problems.
    • Policies on Sexual Harassment - Title IX: Sex Discrimination and Harassment (UCB Equity Standards and Compliance)
    • If you see something between your students that you think might qualify as harassment, you're not required to do anything (as I read the policy), but keep in mind that you're the authority figure in the room. You can report instances of harassment, but that's a fairly severe step. A reasonable start might be talking to the parties involved informally and individually. You should probably find someone with experience in dealing with such situations.
      • One person we suggest is Colette Patt (colette@berkeley) who “works directly with the dean on issues associated with diversity in science” and is supposed to be an excellent resource for harassment-related issues as well diversity issues.
• Tons of information can be found on this list of resources (all of which are mentioned during the Ethics Course).
• It is very unlikely that a serious issue will come up as long as you use basic common sense. If it does, know where to turn for help!

Cover the main points of TALC: what to do, what not to do, common pitfalls, it's easy to be lazy and destroy the effectiveness of TALC, etc.

History of TALC:

• TALC was designed to be a great place for all of this “peer learning” stuff to happen.
• Founded by JohnJohn; has been rolling for many years
• Now incorporated into the syllabi of almost all intro classes (majors and nonmajors)

Rules of TALC:

1. GSIs DON'T give out answers.
   • This is rule #1 for a reason.
   • Students will try and bend it. (“I know you can't give me the answer, but can you tell me if this makes any sense?”) Use the same strategy right back at them.
2. GSIs won't look at your paper.
   • Crystal-clear: there should never be any exceptions to this, ever.
   • Feel free to ask the student to come to the board and work out their steps. But have them leave the homework at home. If they get the same answer… they'll probably realize they didn't even need you!
3. Board work gets PRIORITY help.
   • Always encourage use of the board.
4. NO COPYING: Homework must be written up independently.
   • Scan the room and constantly erase any completed problems.
   • Get those pens and paper away from the boards!
5. TALC Tax: Getting help from a GSI means that you be asked to give help to other students.
6. GSI busy? Ask students.
   • Remember who did what problem, and point students to each other if someone is curious about an old problem.

TALC tips:

• Read The Tao of TALC
• Entry - Evans is locked after hours! Make sure your ID card is coded and have a system going to be sure students know how to let each other in. Make sure that the second floor is not locked (it keeps changing). If it is, let us (and your Head GSI) know.
• TALC operates best above a critical mass of students, so definitely encourage your students to come!
• It can (and often does) happen that you're just not needed some of the time. Try to find ways to pass the time, but make sure that students will feel comfortable disturbing you to ask for help. (I.e, don't get engrossed in a crossword puzzle or whatever and tune out the students. Your job is to be as helpful to the students as possible, and boredom is not an excuse for not doing your job.) But if the students are all working well without your assistance, don't go around distracting them.
• With that said, it can be a good idea to kinda quietly wander around the room from group to group every once in awhile and try to eavesdrop. If you hear something really good, praise the student, if you hear something totally wrong, try to ask a question that will make the student confront the information that's incorrect.
• You should pretty much never be working on stuff that's not related to the course you're teaching in TALC.

What NOT to do in TALC:

• Talk to a student individually if it can ever be avoided
• Sit down with a student or group
• Write on the board (except very minimally, i.e. start a sketch, then ask a student to finish)
• Leave stuff on the board
• Look at a students' paper or distribute/check answers.
• Anything that's more appropriate for office hours.

Dealing with problem students (and GSIs):

• Point to the rules!
• In the past, some non-300 GSIs have been unaware of the TALC rules and have not followed them. Please approach them about this immediately as it sets a devastating precedent. If this behavior persists, you must report them to your Head GSI or else all of TALC completely falls apart.

Abuse of TALC / cheating:

• Make it clear to students the line between collaborative learning and cheating. 'Too much' help will be considered cheating and dealt with as such!
• Strategies to stop it
  • Be very clear early. Students will help uphold the law for you if they know you're serious about it.
  • Force students to write on the board. Make them earn their help.
  • NO pens/paper while working at the board … just watch and learn.
  • Erase immediately. If they protest, offer a marker and have the student step through with your help. Keep an eraser with you at all times and be at the ready to erase a group's work after they've finished a problem and explained it to you and you're convinced that just about everyone in the group understands what's going on.
  • Force small groups, but watch for pair-to-pair copying.

Examples:

• Student approaches you with his/her assignment asking you to check the answer.
• While working out the problem, student at table is clearly copying.
• Once the problem has been solved as a group at the board, what now?
• A few minutes later, another student/group is seen working on the board at the same problem.

Copies of handouts:

• Pass out a TALC handout and a copy of the Tao of TALC.