Class begins as a real day-one discussion section in 264 Evans. Students are broken into groups and lead through an activity that emphasizes group work and student-student interaction. The remainder of the discussion section will discuss what happened and overarching themes of running a discussion section, teaching at Berkeley in general, and teaching an astronomy class in particular.

Notes for instructors:

1. During all group activities, instructors are circling the room and seeding ideas in the groups, identifying groups with good ideas for the discussion, and modeling good teaching practices.

• Get out relevant logistical info that students want/need to know. This includes handing out a syllabus.
• Break the ice, warm up the students to section, and get students participating with each other and you.
• Set the tone and atmosphere that will persist throughout the semester.
  • (This means using the same techniques you plan to employ later.)
• Implement effective teaching techniques from the start, including good boardwork and question taking.

• Give GSIs an idea of how a first day should feel like
• Show GSIs first hand what peer-instruction techniques are like – “get a feel for it”
• Highlight the ways in which the classroom atmosphere can be set on the first day of section
• Isolate effective teaching practices
• Give examples of ice-breaking/first-day activities (should be fun, and somehow related to the rest of the semester, through content or otherwise)
• Point out the resources they can use to plan section
• Help them create a section syllabus and a first day lesson plan
• Think critically about what teaching means to them, what do they want out of this class and their teaching experience

• The passcode to get into the discussion room is 1-9-4-4.

• Our names, contact info, office locations
• Classroom time and location for Day 2
• Any announcements?
  • Code for 264 Evans (1944)
  • Sign up for the class if you haven't done so yet (de Pater's Ay300 ; CCN: 06239). E-mail Dexter Stewart (dstewart@astro) if you get waitlisted.
  • Bring your semester schedules on Day 2?
  • E-mail Nina Ruymaker (ninanina@berkeley) your full name, student ID, and card number (on the back, bottom right of card) to gain late night access to Evans.

• Welcome to Astro 300: Instructional Techniques in Astronomy!
• What to call us: Therese and Jonnie
• What's our purpose in here?
  • To give YOU the confidence to hold a discussion section.
  • To bring to your discussion sections (and any future courses you may teach) confidence, enthusiasm, and good technique. What do you want your students to leave with at the end of your 50 minutes together? Keep this question in mind throughout the semester as you develop your own teaching philosophy.

(Front of Card)

• Last, First
• E-mail
• Dept or Major
• Year
• Class you are GSIing for

(Back of Card)

• Astro/Physics Background
• Any prior teaching experience?
• Are you enrolled in Ay300?

Getting this information from students is important for any first-day. Don't make it too long, but you could also include questions like

• Astronomy background
• Reason for taking the course? (remind them that “because I need a science course” is a perfectly acceptable answer!)

Instructors: Poll the class to see who's enrolled in AY 300, Section 002 (CCN: 06316). The number of credits is variable, but technically it's two credits for the course plus one discussion section and three credits for the course plus two discussion sections. If you get waitlisted in the class, E-mail Dexter Stewart (dstewart@astro) and ask to be added to the course.

• Hand out the syllabus.
• Hit the major points, but don't dwell on this (will return to it later).

Taken from Modelling Discourse Management by Desbien

• (10 min) Put together a set of instructions on how to make a paper airplane or the small object made of toothpicks and marshmellows in small groups.
  • Instructors: This is the only instruction given.
• (10 min) Exchange your instructions with another group and then follow the instructions exactly as written.
  • Must interpret meaning of “lengthwise,” etc.
  • Instructors are going around making groups question meanings of words (i.e., what is “lengthwise” if holding paper in landscape orientation, etc.)
  • The idea is to get crazy things out of the instructions.
• (10 min) Bring together into circle and discuss the activity (Instructors are also in the circle).
  • Point out that this is how we will hold discussions in this class (Precedent setting)
  • Questions:
    • Why did we get crazy-looking airplanes?
    • What terms were ambiguous?
    • What assumptions needed to be made that weren't explicit
    • Why would we do this?
  • Where we hope to get them (meaning consensus):
    • Terms/definitions must be agreed upon before being used
    • Pictures are often better than words
    • People come with prior knowledge of the material presented

Section is “closed” off as if a real day one section.

• Re-iteration that this is how they should expect classes to proceed in the future.
• Announcement/reminder of any homework, etc.
• (Feedback and Assessment) Answer on your notecard:
  • “What about section could have been improved? If everything was fine, draw a face representing how you feel about teaching.”

• (5 min) Brainstorm in small groups about what we did/accomplished. Use the small whiteboards to make a list. Consider the following questions:
  • What atmosphere developed? How?
    • (Comfortable (hopefully!) and collaborative. Humanizing ourselves with answers to questions, humor. Putting ourselves in the circle, not in front of the room.)
  • What precedents were set? How (be specific)?
    • (Group activity will be the main mode of learning. Students are responsible for developing main points. Consensus must be reached. Placing in small groups. Very little lecturing on our part. Not placing ourselves in front/middle, etc.)
  • What did you like? Not like?
  • (10 min) Gather in big group and discuss what they came up with. Reach some consensus.

• Syllabus (and the other handouts we'll pass out later today) are all online on the course wiki page. It is useful to occasionally check for updates since the syllabus may evolve slightly (e.g., the list and order of topics).
• (5 min) Discuss in groups the following questions:
  • Brainstorm in small groups what makes a good SECTION (not course) syllabus? What about ours is good? What is missing? Use the small whiteboards to make a list.
  • (10 min) Gather in our circle and discuss/come to a consensus.
    • Where we hope to get them:
      • There's no need to be very long or hard-edged.
      • The course syllabus should have the key information, but you should emphasize your contact info and any section policies that you want to enforce.
      • It's important to be yourself in your syllabus and try to strike the same tone and tenor as section will in general.
• More Examples:
  • AY C10 Section Syllabus by Dan Perley.
  • AY C10 Section Syllabus by Josh Shiode from 2007.
  • AY C10 Section Syllabus by Aaron Lee from 2009.
  • Ay C10 Section Syllabus by Therese Jones from 2010.

• Course website contains copies of handouts and links to relevant pages. Point out main lesson plans, assignments, and teaching log prompts. Tomorrow we'll visit the page again and talk about the EBRB and other links.
• GSI Teaching and Resource Center Website. A wealth of information.
• We'll cover other resources tomorrow.

1. Draft a syllabus for your section. Bring a copy with you to Bootcamp Day 2.

2. Draft (at least a skeleton) lesson plan for your first-day. Think about introductory materials/statements, icebreakers, activities, assessments, and the time each activity takes. What atmosphere do you want to create? How will you accomplish your goals?

• Based on today, you should be ready to put together at least the intro and icebreaker, but jot down some ideas for the rest.

• Enroll and complete the GSI Resource Center's Online Ethics Course. You are all required to enroll in this course and complete all five online modules during the first 3 weeks of the semester. You can do one module at a time (or all of them at once) and each module will take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes to complete.
• Take a quick poll of who's finished it and who's started it.
• Poll who has a computer account and who receives astro.berkeley.edu email (or at least the first email I sent) in a timely manner.
• Remind everyone to see Nina Ruymaker (ninanina@berkeley ; HFA building B) so that she can see your student ID and get it coded for entry into Evans after hours.