The seminar will meet five times in the Fall and five times in the Spring. In response student feedback from earlier offerings of this practicum, the emphasis in each meeting, wherever possible, will be on group discussion and shared experiences. To enable this format, it is important that everyone come to each meeting having completed the assigned reading and preparatory assignments.
Assignment (to be completed in advance):
1. Review the candidate practicum topics proposed for the unassigned meeting in the Spring Term below. Decide which you prefer. Is there another practicum topic you would prefer to see covered?
2. Reflect on your many years as a student in the classroom. Be ready to report on a good teaching experience; and on a bad teaching experience.
3. On the basis
of your reflections, formulate a recommendation on something an instructor
should DO; and something an instructor should NOT DO.
Advance Reading: Davidson & Ambrose, “Planning a Course,” in The New Professor’s Handbook.
Advance assignment: Review the three course syllabi provided. Choose one of them. Select two things you like and suggest two improvements. Be ready to discussion your choices in the practicum.
Advance reading: Linda Nilson, Teaching At Its Best: A Research-based Resource for College Instructors (4th edition, 2016): ch 24-28. Available online through University of Pittsburgh library link, Pitt ID required.
(For second year students.)
To begin preparation of your writing of a syllabus for a fantasy, dream
class of your choosing (due end of Spring term):
1. Read in advance TA
Handbook: The Teaching Assistant Experience University Center
for Teaching and Learning, University of Pittsburgh. pp. 21-38. (Or pdf here)
2. Identify a syllabus online that you find interesting or instructive and
be prepared to explain why to the practicum. For example, is there a
syllabus for a course you would love to teach? Or is there one that you
could adapt to something you'd love to teach? Or is there one that has a
novel instructional model that you find appealing?
(Discussion time for this topic will be limited. Most of the meeting will
be spent on the fourth year's project.)
(For fourth year students.)
Optional advance reading: Worksheet for developing a teaching philosophy
statement, Components of a teaching portfolio, Worksheet for developing a
teaching portfolio, linked from Graduate Student Teaching Resources at https://teaching.pitt.edu/graduate-student-teaching/resources/
Handouts given in presentation: Handout
1, Handout
2
Read in Advance. How Learning Works. Available through University of Pittsburgh Library link, Pitt ID required for access.
Complete the following assignment and email it to smitchel@pitt.edu before
9 am on Friday (so she can read them before you meet).
You are assigned to teach a course on “Introduction to the Philosophy of
Scientific Explanation”
1. Write learning outcomes for the course.
2. Write learning outcomes for the unit in that course on “Causal
Explanation.”
My plan is to discuss some concrete strategies for inclusive pedagogy in
the classroom. Please take a look at the guide to Universal Design for
Learning:
https://udlguidelines.cast.org
Choose one or two elements, and share an example of these elements from
your own teaching practice, or from your experience as a student. In
describing your example strategy, try to be very specific. We'll discuss
these with the aim that any of us could leave the meeting and use these in
our own teaching going forward.
The Case of Scientific Creationism
Please read the first chapter in Henry Morris’ Scientific
Creationism. This book was proposed by creationists as
a general high school textbook.
Bring with you to class a lesson plan for how you would use this source in
an HPS class for undergraduates. (The course could be a general philosophy
of science course, a history of science course, or a course focusing on
scientific controversy.)
Your lesson plan should address your goals in terms of
content and skills.
You should describe how you would guide students to
understand this source.
Please also reflect on how you would approach this material in such a way
as to be respectful of a diversity of religious viewpoints among students
in your course.
Reading (to be completed in advance)
John Dewey and Elizabeth Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow.
Selection.
Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method. Selection.
Topic selected by vote, August 28, 2020
Advance assignment: You have all now had considerable
experience teaching and leading discussions. On the basis of that
experience, identify:
one good idea (that does work)
one bad idea (that does not work)
for promoting good discussion. We will each contribute what we have found
in a roundtable discussion in the meeting.
(Alternative suggested during class meeting: Discussion clinic: Describe a specific problem in a class you are or have taught and ask the seminar for suggestions on how to address it.)
Optional advanced reading: There is an abundance of material available on the web on this topic.
If you are interested or would like further ideas for practicum
discussion, there is material on Pitt's website at https://teaching.pitt.edu/graduate-student-teaching/resources/,
that is:
"Activities Which Promote General Class Discussion," p.47 in
University
of Pittsburgh TA Handbook: the Teaching Experience or here.
"Examples
of classroom activities for active learning" or here
"Tips
for Encouraging Student Participation" or here
"Tips
for leading successful class discussions" or here
A simple Google search, such as on "how to promote discussion in teaching" will lead to much, much more. The proposals you will find there are often more adventurous and interesting than those in the brief "Tips" sheets.
(For second year students).
Present your syllabus for a fantasy, dream class for discussion.
(Be prepared to display your syllabus in
Zoom screen sharing as a focus for your presentation.)
(For fourth year students).
Present the teaching statement of your teaching dossier for discussion.
August, 2020, and later.