Orientation 2012

Thursday, August 9

9:00-9:30AM, Lanier 209: Introductions

1. Introductions

9:30-10:30AM, A&S 315 or 363: Start of Semester and Syllabi

1. Administration
• Teaching Fellows Site
• Start of Semester
2. Professionalism
• Titles and Addresses
• Class Cancellation
3. English 1101 Goals and Policies
• English 1101 University Profile System
• English 1101 Aim and Scope
• English 1101 Aim and Scope Supplement
• Supplemental Reading and Fair Use
• Syllabus Checklist
4. Assignment for Friday: Syllabus Workshop
1. Use the Syllabus Checklist and Sample Syllabi and Assignment pages while constructing your syllabus.
2. Bring a copy of your syllabus to the next orientation meeting (Friday, August 10) to be workshopped.

10:45-11:30AM, A&S 315 or 363: Grading

1. Grading
• Grade Distribution File
2. Assignment for Friday: Grading Workshop
1. Grade the three sample papers handed out to you: Assess and provide feedback on punctuation and grammar, theses, organization, analysis, and so forth; then assign a grade. Be ready to discuss your grades and how you determined them.
2. Design an assignment grade weight system for your syllabus.
3. Develop a grading rhetoric for your students and a grading rubric for yourself that rewards revision without giving it an automatic A.

11:30AM-12:00PM, A&S 315 or 363: Policies and Plans

1. Lesson Plans
• Come to each and every class prepared with a goal, a purpose. A typical class will consist of 1) conducting business (taking attendance, collecting or handing back assignments), 2) answering questions about the previous class, 3) presenting a hook or introduction into the topic of the day, and 4) using whatever classroom management strategies (see next section) necessary to convey to your students the key idea and issue of the day. It's better to be overprepared than underprepared. I strongly recommend that you write out your lessons. Don't wing it!
2. Classroom Management Strategies
• While most class periods will be taught by the lecture and discussion format, in order to engage as many students and learning styles as possible, you should also utilize audiovisual materials, hold in-class debates, bring online discussions into the face-to-face classroom, have in-class individual writing, and break students into small groups to do work. Moreover, you should create a balance of reading and writing assignments. For instance, you don’t want to plan a lot of reading on the due date of a major paper. After a particularly heavy week of reading and writing, you may want to schedule a short film (course related, of course).
3. Textbook Adoption Committee
• nominations and secret ballots (if necessary) to elect 1 first year Teaching Fellow and 1 second year Teaching Fellow
4. Due Friday
   1. syllabus (samples and checklist)
   2. graded papers
   3. grade distribution system, grading rubric, and revision design (handout)

Friday, August 10

9:00-10:00AM, A&S 363: Business and Grading Workshop

1. Textbook Adoption Committee
• Daniel Plunkett, first year Teaching Fellow representative
• Emily Chamison, second year Teaching Fellow representative
2. Observations and Assessments
   • You will receive four kinds of teaching feedback this year: 1) your class will be visited by both the Coordinator and 2) a peer, 3) you will select a GIFT or SALG, and 4) students will evaluate your teaching.
   • Coordinator Observation: Every Teaching Fellow's class will be officially observed at least once in the year by the Teaching Fellows Coordinator. If schedules conflict, then another faculty member may observe you. MA students will be observed by the MA Coordinator, Dr. Lopez. If possible, I'd like to observe first-time Teaching Fellows and those wanting a letter of recommendation in the fall. For the observation, select a day that will showcase your teaching, provide written lessons plans, and make copies of a sampling of graded papers (an A, a B, a C, and so forth). After the observation, we'll discuss the class and the graded papers. The Chair, Dr. Whitaker, is glad to observe your class, particularly for those job seekers desiring a letter of recommendation.
   • Peer Observation: Every Teaching Fellow's class will be unofficially observed at least once in the academic year by one of the other Teaching Fellows. The expectations for this peer visit are the same as an official visit: select a day that emphasizes teaching, provide the observer with a syllabus and lesson plans, debrief with the visitor after the class. I recommend that first-time Teaching Fellows schedule their peer observation in the fall before the Coordinator visit.
   • GIFT Midterm Course Assessment: I need two or three volunteers to be trained by me today to administer a Group Instructional Feedback Technique (GIFT) midterm course assessment. You can ask any one of them to give one to your class. You must complete either a SALG or a midterm course assessment during the semester that you are not observed by the Coordinator.
   • SALG Survey: The Student Assessment of Learning Goals survey, created by me and former Teaching Fellows Matt Jurak and Roger Sollenberger, is administered online around midterms. You must complete either a SALG or a midterm course assessment during the semester that you are not observed by the Coordinator.
   • Student Opinion Surveys: All courses with ten or more students are automatically surveyed online in the last few weeks of class.
3. Grading Workshop (handout)
   1. graded papers
   2. grade distribution system
   3. grading rubric
   4. revision design

10:15-11:00AM, A&S 363: Syllabus Workshop and Reminders

1. Syllabus Workshop
• syllabus checklist
2. Reminders
   1. Optional meeting Monday, August 13, 12:00PM in A&S 315 for those interested in GeorgiaVIEW and TurnItIn. GeorgiaVIEW can be used for assignment submission and return, peer review, course reserves, discussion board response and chat, and syllabus and assignment prompt repository. TurnItIn can be used for originality verification, assignment grading, and peer review. Email wesley.smith@gcsu.edu Friday for a TurnItIn license today.
   2. Syllabi are due to Alex (electronically) and Melinda Martin in A&S 303 (in print or electronically) by Monday, August 13.

11:00-11:30AM, A&S 363: Questions

1. Catch up time / Ask Alex anything.

11:30-12:00PM, A&S 363: Midterm Assessment Training

1. X, Y, and Z will be trained to administer Midterm Assessments by Alex.

Monday, August 13

12:00-1:00PM, A&S 315: Courseware

1. Optional meeting for Teaching Fellows interested in setting up GeorgiaVIEW and/or TurnItIn sites. Bring your laptops.