This web page describes an activity within the Department of Mathematics at Ohio University, but is not an official university web page.
If you have difficulty accessing these materials due to visual impairment, please email me at mohlenka@ohio.edu; an alternative format may be available.

MATH 5120 (1543-100), Fall 2014

College Mathematics Teaching for New Teaching Assistants

Catalog Description:

This course prepares new mathematics teaching assistants for undergraduate-level mathematics instruction. Students will investigate the technical, pedagogical, ethical, and other professional dimensions of undergraduate mathematics instruction.

Desired Learning Outcomes:

A successful participant is able to:

Articulate specific teaching strategies that support students' mastery of content.
Identify and use a variety of resources (technologies, texts, experts...) to support teaching and learning.
Plan and implement a lesson.
Design assessments/evaluations that provide appropriate feedback and then analyze and respond effectively to the results.
Understands interpersonal and diversity issues and their relevance to effective teaching of all students.
Strike a balance between the demands of teaching and the demands of being a successful graduate student.
Write a complete and useful syllabus for a course, subject to guidelines issued by a coordinator.
Articulate an educational philosophy of teaching, learning, assessment, etc.

Requisites:

Permission. Mathematics Department teaching assistants will be enrolled automatically; others should contact the instructor.

Credits:

2 (This course counts toward your minimum enrollment but does not count toward the masters program.)

Instructor:

Martin J. Mohlenkamp, mohlenka@ohio.edu, (740)593-1259, 315B Morton Hall.
Office hours: Monday 9:40-10:35am, Wednesday 9:40-10:35am, and Friday 9:40-10:35am, or by appointment.

Web page:

http://www.ohiouniversityfaculty.com/mohlenka/20151/5120.

Class hours/ location:

Wednesday 6:20-8:10pm in 215 Morton Hall.

Text:

None; materials will be provided. You should read the MAA's A Handbook for Mathematics Teaching Assistants.

Homework:

Each week an assignment of some type is due. When it makes sense, these will be submitted through Blackboard as .pdf files. Late homework is penalized 5% per day.

Final Exam:

The final exam is scheduled on Monday, December 8, at 7:00 pm. We will substitute a final report/project due at that time.

Attendance:

Attendance is required and is counted as a percentage of your grade. Missed classes may be made up by doing additional course-related work.

Grade:

Your grade is based on attendance at 20%, homework at 60%, and the final exam/report/project at 20%. An average of 90% guarantees you at least an A-, 80% a B-, 70% a C-, and 60% a D-. Grades are not the point.

Academic Dishonesty:

Your work must be done by you, not by someone else for you. Your words must be your own; any text not your own must be properly quoted and cited. You can ask others questions, look in books, use resources from the internet, and generally use whatever help you can find; such help must be acknowledged by naming the person, citing the book, giving the internet link, etc. A minor, first-time violation of this policy will receive a warning and discussion and clarification of the rules. Serious or second violations will result in a grade penalty on the assignment. Very serious or repeated violations will result in failure in the class and be reported to the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility, which may impose additional sanctions. You may appeal any sanctions through the grade appeal process.

Special Needs:

If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please let me know as soon as possible so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You should also register with Student Accessibility Services to obtain written documentation and to learn about the resources they have available.

Learning Resources:

Your classmates are your best resource. Use them!

MAA's A Handbook for Mathematics Teaching Assistants.

Tools for Teaching eBook (on-campus access).

Tomorrow's Professor mailing list.

Good Problems writing program.

LaTeX, Python, and Matlab resources.

OHIO Center for Teaching and Learning

Guide for Teaching Assistants at Ohio University

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Teaching Programs, Tools, and Resources

MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Open course materials for Teaching College-Level Science and Engineering

Math section (pages 10-15) in the ACT College Readiness Standard

Math section (pages 4-6) in the Ohio Uniform Statewide Standards for Remediation-Free Status

Online Mathematics Teaching Community

Schedule

Subject to change.

Week	Date	Topic/Materials	Homework due
0	See the orientation page.
1	Wed Aug 27	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Course themes: Tools and knowledge you can immediately use in the classroom. Skill and attitude development for your teaching career. Skills useful for any profession. Set up your class in Blackboard login, select the class you teach. Select "Information", "Build Content", "Item". Put in your contact information, office location, office hours, etc. If you are teaching a coordinated course, link to its main page. Make the course available to the students. (optional) Set up the grade center to display test (or other) grades. (Further support) Homework for next week. Explore your classlist: Log into the Faculty and Advising Center; select "Teaching", "Class list and Grading". Hit the people icon by your class to get the classlist. Click the magnifying glass icon by a person to get more info and a little picture. Click the picture to get a bigger one. (There is no good way to get a photo gallery of your class.) Try out the "PDF listing", "PDF", and "Excel" buttons. ConnectMath practice	orientation evaluation
2	Wed Sep 3	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Who are your students? Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2006. Short Film. Initial Placement into Mathematics Courses Perceived Inhibitors to Mathematics Success (on-campus access) Making adjustments: What awesome things did you see your peers do? Are any of your students struggling already? What should you do about it? 101 Things You Can Do in the First Three Weeks of Class MAA handbook on The Active Classroom.	Peer observation (.tex)
3	Wed Sep 10	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Tests: Design: Biggs, J. "Aligning Teaching for Constructing Learning." (PDF) Higher Education Academy, 2005. MATH 1200 learning outcomes (course page, department listing). MAA handbook on Making up Exams and Quizzes How should you balance easy problems and hard problems? Homework for next week. Grading Logistics: How can you make sure the grading is consistent for students in different classes? How can you make sure the grading is consistent for different students in your class? MAA Handbook advice on Grading Issues. Assessment policies and problems: Should you drop the lowest test/quiz/homework? Should you give extra credit? When should you allow make-up tests/quizzes? How can you reduce cheating? What do you do if you think a student is cheating? Alternative Assessments: Writing: Good Problems. Groupwork: MATH 2301 guide on Giving Group Work	Mathematical and pedagogical autobiography (.tex)
4	Wed Sep 17	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. (Featuring Jenny Klein, Assistant Dean of Student Persistence and Success) Intervening: Tips for retention: If someone gets below a C on anything, tell them they have to come see you in their office hours. If a student misses more than one class period, call their cell phone (?or email first) and ask them if they are OK. Develop a buddy system for attendance -- have students introduce themselves to each other on the first day, and then when someone is gone ask their buddy where they are and why they are missing and to try to track the person down if they haven't heard from them. The Ohio University Academic Advancement Center offers Supplemental Instruction and a Math Center. The Allen Student Advising Center can help students who are academically adrift. If a student disappears from your class or is beyond your ability to help, submit an Academic Alert. If you think a student may need accomodation due to a disability, refer them to Student Accessibility Services. If you think a student may be a danger to themselves or others, report them. If you observe sexual misconduct you are required to report it; further guidance. Study skills vary and matter: VARK learning styles test Studying Students Studying Calculus: A Look at the Lives of Minority Mathematics Students in College (on-campus access) Developing study skills in a first year mathematics course The Five Elements of Effective Thinking (video) Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#1346 Ten Rules of Good (and Bad) Studying	Design a test (.tex)
5	Wed Sep 24	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Writing mathematics with \(\LaTeX\) LaTeX Wikibook MiKTeK portable proTeXt You can do \(\LaTeX\) in the Sage Cloud You can do \(\LaTeX\) at sharelatex.com Sample test in .tex and .pdf Master's study plan in .tex and required graphic (.eps or .jpg). Doctoral dissertation template Other samples and resources	Peer observation (.tex)
6	Wed Oct 1	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Active learning Why do it? Calculus Concept Inventory (New Math) -- (New Teaching) = Failure (on-campus access) Designing College More Like a Video Game Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research How to do it: Groupwork: MATH 2301 guide on Giving Group Work Lab classes: MATH 3600 Some Basic Active Learning Strategies Active Learning For The College Classroom Homework for next week.	Make your test from week 4 in \(\LaTeX\). Submit through blackboard the source (.tex, any graphics) and the resulting .pdf file.
7	Wed Oct 8	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Classroom Craft Own the room: Arrange the furniture; remove trip hazards; remove broken furniture; discard trash; close curtains; close doors. Questions: Wait at least 8 seconds for responses; ask "Are there any questions?" not "Does everyone understand?"; try using stoplight cards. Projector skills: Preload content; use presentation mode; use a large font; adjust lighting; check visibility from the back of the room; use a pointer; do not switch back and forth too much. Board skills: Work left-to-right and top-to-bottom; use the whole (visible) board; leave material as long as you can before erasing; organize with dividing lines and section headers; write objectives/outline; write large; develop board letters; use colors. Voice: Vocal Techniques for Actors; open your mouth wider; stretch your mouth; warm up your voice; face the class; shut the doors. Body language: Varies by culture and gender; be aware. Enthusiasm: If you are not enthusiastic about the topic, act like you are. Spice things up (a little).	Design an active-learning activity (.tex).
8	Wed Oct 15	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Active learning activities.	Faculty observation (.tex)
9	Wed Oct 22	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Syllabus preparation: University rules are in section IV.A.3. of the Faculty Handbook. MAA handbook on What should be on a Syllabus?. Example from my 3600 class Homework for next week. Unpleasantries: Academic Dishonesty: Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility; cheating; plagiarism. Dealing with Disruptive Student Behavior; talking, texting, over-participation, arguing,... What would you do if ...? (dilemmas) If you think a student may be a danger to themselves or others, report them. If you observe sexual misconduct you are required to report it; further guidance. Office of the Ombudsperson Stories.	Implement and report on your active-learning activity (.tex).
10	Wed Oct 29	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Teaching Philosophies and Portfolios (featuring Tim Vickers, Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning) Teaching Philosophies Writing Your Teaching Philosophy Teaching Perspectives Inventory Homework for next week. Teaching Portfolios presentation slides Teaching Portfolio Links of Interest Example teaching section of a promotion and tenure dossier.	Critique a syllabus (.tex)
11	Wed Nov 5	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Prep for next week: Provision your university webspace. Mathematical software: Wolfram Alpha Matlab: Official Homepage, tutorial, demos, file exchange, and documentation Ohio University Mathematics Matlab page MATH 3600 Sage: Sage cell server: MATH 2301 example usage Sage Cloud: get an account; start a project; add a collaborator; upload some LaTeX file; upload basics.sagews Python documentation	Critique a teaching philosophy (.tex)
12	Wed Nov 12	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for next week. Using the web: Instructions for setting up your university space; on the 314 Morton computers, make sure Filezilla and Notepad++ are installed. Homepage template and associated style file and logo html school video collections: Just Math Tutorials, Khan Academy	Make a syllabus for one of the Spring semester MATH classes here, pretending you will be the instructor. Clearly label this syllabus as an exercise and not real.
13	Wed Nov 19	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Homework for the last week. Doing better next time: Student evaluations. What to expect Fall 2012 MATH 1200 aggregate scores My Fall 2013 evaluations from MATH 2301 and MATH 5120 What do they mean? Evaluation of Our Courses Teaching at the University Level Other forums: Rate my Professors Self-critique: example (not from this course) Your Final "Exam"	Make your (university) webpage. Submit the url through Blackboard.
14	Wed Nov 26	Thanksgiving holiday, no meeting
15	Wed Dec 3	Questions, Problems, and Venting. Final "exam". End of semester tasks: Submit grades via the online grading system; stick to the MATH 1200 grading scale; for information on the meaning of odd grades, see the catalog Print a copy of your submitted grades and turn it in to the office. Print a copy of your grades spreadsheet and turn it in to the office. Turn the students' final exams in to the office. If you will not teach the same course next semester, turn in your textbook. Odds and ends: Motivation: Twenty Tips on Motivating Students Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding	Make your teaching philosophy (.tex)
16	Mon Dec 8	7:00 pm Final Exam (virtual; your physical presence is not required)	Substitute summative activity (.tex)

Martin J. Mohlenkamp

Last modified: Wed Dec 10 16:49:28 EST 2014