MIT BE TA-Training-2014

Welcome and Goals

Welcome to the 2014 Teaching Assistant (TA) training run by the Biological Engineering department at MIT!

Our goal these two days is to begin to prepare you for the challenges and rewards of teaching, and to introduce mentors and other resources for you to rely on this year. Whether you are currently excited or apprehensive (or anything in between) about TAing, we hope you will view it as an opportunity not just to make a difference in the lives of your students, but also to develop your own communication and management skills.

Putting time and effort into your TAship now will pay dividends later: managing UROPs in your lab, identifying and understanding different learning styles (your students', your peers', and your own), training and collaborating with peers, speaking and giving presentations at conferences, and dealing with industry colleagues' widely-varying backgrounds and expectations.

The BE department takes great pride in its commitment to both undergraduate and graduate teaching and learning. We also take your professional growth and development seriously - and we know you'll take your new role as educators and mentors equally seriously.

Agenda

Day 1: Tuesday, August 26th in room 56-614

Time	Event	Speaker(s)
9:00-9:15 AM	Coffee/light breakfast, pick up materials, mingle
9:15-9:30 AM	What a TAship means in BE	Doug Lauffenburger, department head
9:30-10:30	Lecture: training goals and introduction to TA role	Shannon Hughes and Leona Samson
10:30-10:40	Recitation tips part I	Agi Stachowiak
10:40-10:50	Intro to BE Communication Lab	Jaime Goldstein
10:50-11:00	Stretch/bathroom/coffee break
11:00-12:00	Team discussion: reflect on learning and teaching; chalkboard exercise	Small groups
12:00-1:00	Meet/Q&A with TA mentors over lunch	Small groups
1:00-1:45	Recitation tips part II, microteaching demonstration and practice feedback	Rotem Gura, G (and interactive)
1:45-2:45	On effective teaching in diverse classrooms	Agi Stachowiak (and interactive)
2:45-3:00	buffer time, wrap-up discussion, and confirm Day 2 plans

Day 2: Wednesday, August 27th in room 56-614

In groups of 3-5 people, you will participate in a practice teaching session ("microteaching"). Microteaching is required for students teaching lecture subjects. If you are a lab subject TA and want a chance to practice, please see us – we may have a few additional slots available.

Please sign up for a problem below by putting your name under the appropriate column. (Sample sign-ups are shown below as prb x, grp y.) Email an instructor for assistance if you have trouble signing up.

Within a group, each person should do a different problem. The problem statements can be found in the "handout" section below. This year we have also included the problem solutions (in a separate handout), so that you may focus your efforts on determining the best approach to teaching the material rather than double-checking the correctness of your answers.

Before your session on Wednesday, please read the following two links on effective observation and feedback during microteaching:

• What to observe
• Constructive feedback

Problem #	Problem topic	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5
1	Free energy and ATP hydrolysis		prb 1, grp 2
2	Protein-ligand binding parameters	DR	BQ	SK	JS
3	Conformational entropy	KV
4	Metabolic network adaptation			NKD
5	Proton availability in a cell		LC		AMR
6	Protein mutant structure & thermodynamics		AC
7	Interplay between reaction, convection, and diffusion				IG
8	Three short answer, independent questions about fluid dynamics				KS
9	Short answer biomechanics questions, 1
10	Short answer biomechanics questions, 2			BS

Groups for Team-Building and Microteaching Sessions

Group	Classes	Mentor(s)	Participants
1	20.110, 20.111	Raven R (110), Simon G (111)	Asmamaw W, Deena R, Karinna V, Hao X, Alexander H (part of time)
2	20.330, 20.310, and 20.320	Rotem G (330), Tu Nguyen (310), and Ryan K (320)	Jaideep D (D2 only), Lynna C, Bo Q, Andrew C
3	20.380 and electives (G and UG)	Georgia L and Tony K	Naveen M, Breanna S, Jennifer H (part of time), Nick D, Sean K, (maybe Jacob B)
4	G core classes	Wes C and Nav R (430), Gabriela P (440), and David F in absentia (420)	Ishan G, Kevin S, Jacob S, Adrienne R
5	20.109	Kim D (Fall), Chris B (Spring)	Isaak M, Yongjin P, Tahoura S, Djenet B, Nova P

Day 2 Schedule

Sessions to be led by Shannon H, Agi S, and Forest W.

Session Time	Faculty Leader	Group
10-11am	Forest W	1
11am-12pm	Agi S	4
1-2pm	Agi S	2
2-3pm
3-4pm	Shannon H	3

Handouts and Links to Resources

Handouts for Lectures and Activities

Final versions will go here and select hardcopies will be available at the session.

Event	Associated Handout(s)
What a TAship means in BE	N/A
Lecture: training goals and introduction to TA role	Introductory Talk Part I, Shannon H Introductory Talk Part II, Leona S Introductory Talk Part II, fuller/textier handbook version, Bevin E (PDF)
Recitation tips part I	Recitation Tips Talk, Agi S
Intro to BE Communication Lab	Communication Lab Talk, Jaime G
Team discussion: reflect on learning and teaching; chalkboard exercise	Team Activities
Meet/Q&A with TA mentors over lunch	TA-Prof Meeting Framework
Recitation tips part II, microteaching demonstration and practice feedback	(all chalkboard and discussion, Rotem G)
On effective teaching in diverse classrooms	Diversity Talk, Agi S Diversity Talk with Supplementary Notes
Day 2 microteaching	Microteaching Background Microteaching Problems Microteaching Solutions Starter Feedback Form (DOCX)
End of training	Feedback form (DOC) Feedback form (PDF)

Links to Resources

Teaching Resources and Tools

• TA Rights and Responsibilities (PDF download)
• School of Engineering TA Page and 2014 Workshop Details
• Teaching and Learning Lab
  • Room 5-122; 253.2850
  • See especially Teaching Recitations and The Torch or the Firehose under Teaching Materials
• Term Regulations (scroll down)
• FERPA (see especially FAQ)
• Stellar course website manager
• Athena class lists
• Library class guides

Helping Students

Please do not hesitate to talk to the faculty member(s) teaching your subject if you encounter a student having unusual difficulties that you are not in a position to address. For your reference, some resources for students are listed below.

• MIT Together website
  • Overview of MIT support system and links to resources categorized by population and need
• MIT Student Resources website
  • Covers the gamut of student needs: academic, personal, professional, etc.
• Student Support Services
  • Room 5-104; 253.4861
  • Students who are experiencing academic or personal difficulty can be referred to the S³ office.
• MIT Mental Health
  • E23-3rd floor, 253.2916 (253.4481 after hours)
  • advice for helping students in distress
  • community wellness resources
• Yet more resources lists (just in case!)
  • Resources overview from Institute-wide planning task force
  • Question/issue-based resource list
• BE Tutoring Service
  • Juniors and seniors in BE are available to tutor for many UG core classes.
  • Tutoring hours are typically set for each subject toward the beginning of the semester.
  • Tutoring occurs in the student lounge (56-046).
• BE Communication Lab
  • The communication lab offers writing and speaking support by appointment and through workshops.
• Office of Minority Education
  • Room 4-113; 253.5010
  • OME offers a tutoring service open to all students by appointment.
• Student Disabilities Services
  • Room 7-145; 253.1674
  • Note that faculty should be the primary contact for working with the SDS; this link is provided in case you need additional support or information.

Taking Care of Yourself

Many of the student-centered resources above apply not just to your charges, but to you! A few particularly relevant ones are listed below.

• MIT Together website
  • Overview of MIT support system and links to resources categorized by population and need
• Office of the Dean for Graduate Education
  • Essentially the graduate student version of S³
  • Advising from Blanche Staton or Jason McKnight
• Ombuds Office
  • For conflict resolution