Course:MATH TAAP/2014
| Faculty of Science Department of Mathematics | |
|---|---|
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| MATH TAAP TA Accreditation Program | |
| Coaches: | Vincent Chan and Carmen Bruni |
| Course pages | |
Welcome to the Teaching Assistant Accreditation Program Course wiki! This a non-official course being offered for the second time.
During the prep weeks, we will be meeting in MATX 1101 on Mondays 2:30PM-4:00PM and Thursdays 2:00PM-3:30PM. (Note that we will be in MATH 126 on Monday, January 13.)
During the core weeks, we will be meeting in MATH 103 on Thursdays 2:00PM-3:30PM. (Note that we will be in MATH 126 on Friday, March 28 from 1:30PM-3:00PM.)
Next homework
- For Friday, March 28
- Read chapter 6 of Bain and write a blog post about the chapter. Here are some seed questions to help you think of what to write (it is not necessary to specifically answer the questions, they are meant as a guide):
- What was the relationship you had with your favourite teachers?
- What are the concerns you have abut having relationships which are either too closed or too open?
- Teaching dossier:
- By now, most of you should have a few items in your teaching dossier: teaching philosophy, description of teaching responsibilities, and a section on reflection and improving your teaching. Consult with your partner about your dossier, and provide feedback on their dossier.
- On-line activity:
- The goal of this online activity is to practice giving good, targeted feedback on student work.
- Read chapter 6 of Bain and write a blog post about the chapter. Here are some seed questions to help you think of what to write (it is not necessary to specifically answer the questions, they are meant as a guide):
The activity has three parts, but they are really simple, fun parts. Note that Part 3 will involve your TAAP partner.
PART 1. This part should take no more than 45 minutes. Complete it by Tuesday, March 25.
Print and solve the exam in the link below like an average student would. Be sure to make some mistakes that a student might make. Scan your completed exam as a pdf (using the scanner in the copier room, for example) and post it at: http://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:MATH_TAAP/2014/OnlineActivity On the edit page, the picture icon lets you embed a file.
Exam: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~kliu/math100and180/samplemidterm1.pdf Exam Solutions: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~kliu/math100and180/samplemidterm1_solns.pdf
PART 2. This part could take 30 minutes or up to 120 minutes, depending on how much you want to do. Complete it by Friday, March 28.
Download and print (at least) your partner's completed exam. Mark the exam exam and try to provide good, targeted feedback. To get an idea of what you should aim for with your feedback, refer back to Chapter 3 of How Learning Works (in particular p.137-144, 148-152). Don't worry about any marking scheme. Focus on the feedback. It is probably unrealistic practice to provide a paragraph of feedback for each question. Therefore aim for concise, targeted feedback.
If you want, you can also mark and provide feedback on other completed exams as well. I would suggest marking at least two exams.
Scan the exams you marked and post them on your blog in a single blog post.
Your blog post is also a great opportunity to provide group-level feedback. For example, you can list some common errors you saw and explain or demonstrate via an example how to correct them.
You may even prefer to give more very little feedback on the exams themselves and focus more on the group-level feedback. It's up to you.
PART 3. This part should take 30 minutes. Complete it by Sunday, March 30.
Read the feedback your partner gave in his/her blog post and comment on it. You can give feedback on the feedback (Xzibit-style), remark on a piece of feedback your partner gave which you think is particularly valuable, or whatever.
Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together. Keep your stick on the ice.
Upcoming Schedule
Core week schedule
A = {Vanessa, Rob} B = {Matt, Laurent} C = {Kyle, Alastair}
| Monday | Thursday | Online Activity | In Class Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 10 | February 13 | A | B,C |
| February 17 | February 20 | None | None |
| February 24 | February 27 | B | A,C |
| March 3 | March 6 | C | A,B |
| March 10 | March 13 | A | B,C |
| March 17 | March 20 | B | A,C |
| March 24 | March 27 | C | A,B |
Main References
Our main resources in this course will be the two following books:
- How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching, by S. Ambrose, M. Bridges, M. DiPietro, M. Lovett, M. Norman, The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series, Wiley & Sons Publishings, 2010.
- What Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain, Harvard Univeristy Press, 2004.
Blogs/podcasts/videos about education
Youtube videos
- Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur
- Youtube Channel: Math TV
- Youtube Channel: Numberphile
- [1]
TED talks
- Let's use video to reinvent education - Salman Khan
- What we're learning from online education - Daphne Koller
- The 100'000-student classroom - Peter Norvig
- School kills creativity - Ken Robinson is an international advisor on education.
- Bring on the revolution! - Ken Robinson's second TED talk.
- The child-driven education - Sugata Mitra is an Indian educator doing some research on the topic of education without teachers. His talk describes some of his research between 1999 and 2010. There are some truly amazing things in there!
- Dan Meyer TEDxNYED talk - Dan Meyer gave this short TEDx talk that explains well his philosophy. Check out his blog as well.
- Teach Statistics before Calculus! - by Authur Benjamin.
- A Passion for Math- by Elly Schofield
- Motivation (candle problem) Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation
Blogs
- Blog on teaching mathematics by Whit Ford
- Blog on math education - actually by Izabella Laba here at UBC!
- Dan Meyer is a high school math teach that has some excellent ideas on how to change math education.
- Blog by Keith Devlin that occasionally discusses math education
- Blog by Shawn Cornally with loads of ideas
- Math with Bad Drawings on Students
- Blog roll highlighting blog posts about math, with an emphasis on math education
- Blog by Mario Asselin on education. A lot of views on the place of technology in the classroom as well as reactions on Normand Baillargeon's work on the philosophy education (in French).
- | ProfHack Advice for professors, on teaching (amongst other things). This particular link talks about an interesting alternative course evaluation methods.
Essays
- A mathematician's lament by Paul Lockhart, 2002
- Is Algebra Necessary? by Andrew Hacker, 2012: An eyebrow raising article published in the NY Times.
- Valuing and Evaluating Teaching in Academic Hiring:
About the Teaching Dossier
- Teaching dossier guide elaborated by the Canadian association of university teachers.
- Teaching dossier guide by the Office of Health Sciences Education of Queen's university; look in particular for the teaching philosophy section.