2000 January Teaching Workshop

Monday, January 17, 2000

Sponsored by the Teaching Resource Center and the University Teaching Fellows Program.

The January Teaching Workshop provides both experienced and less experienced instructors, whether faculty members or graduate teaching assistants, an opportunity to explore new perspectives about teaching our disciplines. Please attend whatever sessions you can. Part of keeping ourselves professionally active as teachers involves taking time to discuss and analyze teaching issues with our colleagues.

8:15-9:00 Registration & Reception
If you reserved a box lunch, please pay your $5.00 when you register. (Details about lunch appear in the 12:30 lunch break notice.)

9:00-9:10 Welcome
David Gies, Commonwealth Professor of Spanish, Chair of the Faculty Senate

9:15-10:45 CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Oral Presentation Skills for Teachers
Judith Reagan Associate Director, TRC; Drama
Tense? Nervous? Strained voice? Dull delivery? If you've experienced any of these conditions when teaching, this participatory workshop will help you increase concentration, use nervousness to your advantage, develop vocal strength and variety, and create a relaxed and assured physical presence.

Student Performance in the Classroom
Karen Chase, Cavalier Distinguished Teaching Professor of English, 1998-2000
Michael Levenson, Professor of English; Teaching + Technology Initiative Fellow, 1995
Classes of any sort can be greatly enhanced by requiring dramatic enactment as an in-class exercise. This provides students with an opportunity to contribute to the learning process in creative ways without risking failure which "oral reports" often produce. Even shy students find a way to communicate, often with surprising success, when expected to perform scenes, speeches, or occasions. This workshop will explore a variety of ways in which dramatic performances can enrich and enliven the classroom experience.

Better Read than Dead: Encouraging Student Preparation
Jann Lacoss, Faculty Consultant, TRC; Slavic
"So, what part of the reading did you find most intriguing?" (silence) "Did anyone DO the reading?" We'd all like to avoid this situation. How can we get students to think critically about the readings? This workshop will explore strategies to encourage learners to prepare adequately for class, as well as ideas for dealing with unprepared students.

Active and Web-based Learning Strategies in Large Science Classes
Carol Hurney, Faculty Consultant in Science, Math, Engineering & Technology, TRC; Biology
This workshop will emphasize strategies you can use during science lectures to engage your students in grappling with difficult scientific concepts. After seeing some traditional and web-based strategies, participants will work in teams to design new activities.

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30 CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Teaching Cases is Like.
Sherwood Frey, Ethyl Corporation Professor of Business Administration, Darden; Mentor, University Teaching Fellows Program, 1997-98
Through metaphors offered by the attendees and the presenter, the session will discuss various perspectives/applications of the case discussion pedagogy and the learning styles implicitly assumed by those perspectives. The discussion will consider case teaching techniques that can be effective in any discussion setting.

Designing and Presenting Effective Writing Assignments
June Griffin, Director of First Year Writing; English
This workshop offers strategies for creating writing assignments with appropriate goals and for communicating those goals to your students. Addressing a range of assignments but focusing on mid-length essays and reports, the session should interest faculty and TAs who create their own assignments as well as TAs who work with assignments designed by others. We invite participants to bring and discuss assignments they plan to use in the future.

Learning from Teaching Analysis Polls: Effective Teaching Across Disciplines,
Willie Young, Graduate Student Associate, TRC; Religious Studies
Drawing on student comments in Teaching Analysis Polls, this session will explore techniques that make teaching effective across disciplines. We will also propose and discuss solutions to several of the most challenging impediments to learning: for instance, students' resistance to secondary, critical articles and problems of organizing and presenting assignments.

Assessing and Evaluating Laboratory Work
Linda Johnson, Graduate Student Associate, TRC; Biology
Teaching laboratory sections presents a unique set of challenges to TAs both for evaluating graded assignments and for assessing students' understanding of the concepts covered. This workshop will focus on assessment issues and techniques for laboratories in the sciences, engineering, and related disciplines.

12:30-1:15 CONTINUE OR BEGIN CONVERSATIONS OVER LUNCH
Did you miss a good session? Or want more ideas on a particular topic? Grab your box lunch (see below) or bring your own lunch to one of the following information-sharing discussions:

• How have you used the Internet effectively in your courses?
• What types of writing assignments or approaches have worked well in your courses?
• How can we best engage students with scholarly material in our fields?
• What strategies encourage student preparation?
• How do you get students involved in discussions?
• What makes an effective lecture?

Across the Teaching Spectrum: Large Lectures, Small Socratic Seminars
Kenneth Elzinga, Cavaliers' Distinguished Teaching Professor, 1992-97, Economics
Many faculty members are called upon to teach both relatively large classes and small classes. These diverse types of courses demand different skills and approaches. In this single session, participants will hear about techniques that work in the largest course taught at U.Va. and will then consider one interactive method that works in small discussions.

Designing the Syllabus for Your New Course: Timing, Tactics, and Tools
Cristina Della Coletta, Associate Professor of Italian; University Teaching Fellow, 1998-99; Teaching+Technology Initiative Fellow 2000
How can you choose and organize materials, specify goals, and identify expectations in the syllabus for your brand new course? Providing case studies from syllabi for small, discussion-oriented seminars, this workshop addresses methods and strategies for effectively creating a successful course. Especially designed for TAs teaching undergraduate courses in the humanities.

Hollywood Goes to the Classroom
Bill McAllister, Faculty Consultant, TRC; History
See clips from well-known movies about teaching to analyze attitudes and assumptions about teaching. Participants will examine what kind of teaching persona they want to present in class.