Leading Discussions With Students… When Should I? How Should I?

Event Date & Time

Event Description

***Note: This session is intended for Graduate Students, and Undergraduate and Graduate TAs only. We invite Faculty and Staff to sign up for our sessions during CTLT’s Spring, Summer, and Winter Institutes.

As TAs, we want to contribute to, and enhance, active and engaged learning for students. One of the strategies we might consider is the use of discussions in the classroom. However, sometimes introducing and leading discussions in the classroom can be daunting and fraught with uncertainty. Other times, we may question the value of discussions for student learning. This workshop will provide strategies to run discussions successfully in the classroom. 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Articulate the rationale for including a discussion in a lesson
• Align a specific discussion technique with the learning objective(s) of the lesson
• Describe solutions to challenges that arise while leading discussions

Eligibility

The TA Institute is open to all undergraduate TAs, graduate students who are interested in teaching, and all graduate student TAs. This session is not open to general undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, staff, or faculty.

Facilitators

• Andrea Johnson is PhD Candidate in the School of Social Work. She has been a Graduate Student Facilitator in CTLT for the past few years. She is committed to TA learning and loves seeing TAs un-pack and reconstruct their teaching practice.
• Cassandra Elphinstone is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Botany. As a member of the CTLT Graduate Facilitator Team, she recognizes the value in understanding the purpose behind incorporating certain teaching techniques in a lesson.

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To be completed – Pre/Post Session Online Module

Theme(s)

If you wish to complete this workshop as part of the theme Teaching Fundamentals, you must complete the pre-session online module by January 13 at 9 AM and the post-session online module by January 20 at noon to receive the letter of completion. 

If you wish to complete this workshop as part of the theme Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning, you must complete the pre-session online module by January 13 at 9 AM and the post-session online module by January 20 at noon to receive the letter of completion. 

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TA Institute

This year’s TA Institute includes sessions on Inclusive, Student-Centered Learning, Teaching Career Preparations, Teaching Fundamentals, Transformative Growth in Learning, and Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning. If you are interested in impacting your current or future TAships, or in improving your teaching skills, be sure to join us for one or more of these 2 hour, interactive workshops.

This year, workshops in the TA institute are organized into 5 themes, and if you complete 3 workshops in a theme, and do the related pre- & post-session online modules, you are eligible for a letter of completion that you can include in your Teaching Portfolio and CV. These letters will include a brief description of any themes that you completed, and how the work you did in those themes supports your development as a teacher.

This year’s themes are:

• Inclusive, Student-Centered Learning 
• Teaching Career Preparations 
• Teaching Fundamentals 
• Transformative Growth in Learning 
• Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning