York Lesson Plan- Genetics Department TA Training

TA Training 2017

Overview: As graduate students in the Department of Genetics, students are expected to TA in one
of the following general genetics lectures for undergraduates: Genetics 466 (General Genetics),
Genetics 467 (General Genetics I) or Genetics 468 (General Genetics II). Genetics 466 is for non-
majors, but for those in the biological sciences while Genetics 467 & 468 are part of a two-
semester sequence for undergraduate Genetics majors. Most of these students have never been
exposed to teaching before this course, so the department provides a brief training to guide them
through what to expect as a TA. The training is composed of two parts: introducing methods of
effective teaching with an inclusive environment and practicing their teaching skills.

Lesson Plan:

Day 1: Crash Course in Teaching

Day 2: Inclusive Teaching Session with Dr. Amber Smith and Dr. Christopher Trimby
Day 3: Practice Day
Day 4: McBurney Presentation

YORK LESSON PLAN TA TRAINING 1

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Monday (6/5) Day 1: Crash Course in Teaching

Objectives:  Students should be able to define active learning
(Students will …)
 Students should be able to brainstorm ideas they can implement active learning
in their discussions
 Students will learn strategies for engaging students in discussion
 Students will be exposed to effective communication strategies through
feedback
 Students will learn how to address student prior knowledge/misconceptions
through the use of critical thinking skills
Out of Class:  N/A
(for today)
In Class: 1. Class Introduction (~2 minutes)
2. “What do you know?” Activity (~10 minutes)
a. Tell students that are going to quiz them on the following video
afterwards, so they should pay attention to the video. Play music
video “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. (5 minutes)
b. Ask them how many and what presidents were named in the song
(Correct answer is 5: Truman, Nixon, Eisenhower, Kennedy and
Reagan)
c. Remind them that this is what it can feel like to students sometimes—
especially in the courses they teach. By clearly communicating with
students about expectations and concepts, students will be more
prepared. (b&c  5 minutes)
3. “Learning Pyramid” (~10 minutes)
a. Break the class up into pairs. Have one student from each pair come to
the front of the room and give them a sheet of paper with the Learning
Pyramid printed on it. This sheet provides information about average
student retention rates of different teaching methods, ranging from
lecture style to teaching others). Ask these students to memorize
what’s on the sheets because they are going to have to teach it to their
partner. (1-2 minutes)
b. Have everyone go back into their pairs. The other person in the pair
will have a blank sheet of paper in which they have to draw or
diagram what their partner remembers from the Learning Pyramid.
(2-3 minutes)
c. Come back as a group, and now give everyone a copy of the Learning
Pyramid. Discuss what we learned from the exercise and how this
could be implemented in their future classes. (5 minutes)
4. Critical Thinking (~10 minutes)
a. Ask students to break up into groups of three. Individual #1 will ask
the questions, and #2 will answer. #3 observes. Individual #1 is told
to ask questions about a topic in hand (Students you expect to have in
Genetics 466[the class they will teach]). They will be given a handout
(“Elements of Thought”). Student #1 will ask questions that are about
the purpose, question at issue or assumptions. Descriptions for each
of the following types of questions are found on the handout. (1
minute for introduction, groups, two for exercise).
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b. Now the roles switch. Individual #2 will ask the questions, and #3 will
answer. #1 observes. The questions will now progress to new
categories: point of view, information and concepts. (2 minutes)
c. Roles will switch one more time. Individual #3 will ask the questions,
and #1 will answer. #2 observes. The questions will now focus on the
categories of conclusions/interpretations and
implications/consequences. (2 minutes)
d. Discussion of 5 minutes: what did you learn from this exercise? The
goal was to develop harder questions over the different levels of the
exercise to get at more precise answers. By asking some of these more
developed higher order thinking questions, students will better
understand the material at hand.
5. Misconceptions of Students (10 minutes)
a. Prior knowledge learning (misconception of grad school)
i. What are some misconceptions you had about grad school?
What do you know now you didn’t previously before? Discuss
as a group.
ii. What are some misconceptions students have about the field of
science? Discuss as a group.
b. Evolution Articles Jigsaw activity (20-25 minutes).
i. Students will be broken up into pairs again, and each person in
the pair will get a different article.
(https://brnow.org/News/May-2017/Fossils-said-to-be-at-
odds-with-evolutionary-the)
(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/29/us/grand-canyon-
study.html)
ii. Give everyone time to read on their own (5 minutes)
iii. Ask students to pair up and each explain what their article was
about (5-7 minutes)
iv. Now, we will come together and discuss. What did you think?
How can you address misconceptions in your class? With
future students? How should one handle this appropriately?
6. Feedback Practice (10 minutes)
a. Provide a handout of the 7 principles of good feedback. Have students
read it.
b. Problem based learning  why so quiet?
7. Grading (20 minutes)
a. Students will work in pairs. They will be handed a worksheet (part A)
that gives three examples of answers to one question. Each pair will
be asked to develop a rubric on how to answer that question (5-8
minutes)
b. Ask them to grade and give each a score
c. Come back together as a group, and have each group write their
rubric on the board. Go through each rubric together and ask if
anyone would readjust now seeing other’s rubrics.
d. Give them part B and ask if they’d re-evaluate.
8. Group Work (10 minutes)
4 DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS TA TRAINING

a. Introduce productive/deductive group behaviors, and group

contracts for when they TA to set up expectations. Can cut if time is
short.
9. Canvas (10 minutes)
a. Show canvas to the students in case they’ve never used it before. Go
through some of the basics of the learning platform and useful tips
and resources if they need help. Can cut short if need time.
10. Reflection (3 minutes)
a. Hand each student a blank notecard. Ask them to write down one
thing that was most useful/what they enjoyed the most, and one
question they still had.
Assessments:
1. Reflection notecard
Activities:
1. Critical thinking (Critical Thinking exercise)
2. Clarity in communication (“What do you know”, “Learning Pyramid”)
3. Prior misconceptions (Evolution jigsaw, brainstorming session about prior
misconceptions)
4. Grading exercise (Feedback practice and Grading activity)

Assignments:
(due today)
Materials  Notecards
Needed:  Handouts
 Laptop with sound hooked up
 Blank paper

Rationale: 1. Since we had only 2 hours to cover “how to teach” in a sense, we tried to do many small
exercises to get them in the mindset of being an effective TA. We reflected on what would have
been useful to us when we were TAs, such as developing critical thinking questions, clarity in
communication, addressing prior misconceptions and issues when grading. Then, we created
mini “modules” to highlight those topics.
2. We also wanted to receive feedback about our lesson plan. We wanted to know what
worked/what could be improved on, so we solicited feedback from the students about what we
could further address.
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Tuesday Day 2: Inclusive Teaching Session with Dr. Amber Smith and Dr. Christopher
(6/6) Trimby
Objectives:  Gain awareness of varied experiences of students at UW-Madison
(Students will …)
 Reflect on their own identities and how that impacts the learning
environment
 Identify inclusive teaching approaches
Out of Class:  N/A
(for today)
In Class: 1. Introductions and Community Outlines (10 minutes)
a. Introductions: before class as people come in, have everyone make
a paper tent with their name on it. Then as the session starts, have
everyone introduce themselves and why they are here today.
b. Community Guidelines:
i. Speak from the “I” perspective
ii. Listen actively
iii. Step up, step back
iv. Respect silence
v. Share, even if you don’t have the right words
vi. Uphold confidentiality
vii. Lean into discomfort
2. Exploring Your Identity (30 minutes)
a. This will be done through using the social identity wheel in the
attached packet. In the inner circle, students are to record the
identities that are the most important or salient to them. In the
other circle, students are to record the identities that are less
important or salient to them. Encourage students after they are
done to move onto the questions on the next page (15 minutes).
b. Discuss the previous activity (15 minutes).
3. Student Experiences (40 minutes)
a. This exercise will focus on the #TheRealUW movement. There will
be images collected from #TheRealUW twitter feed, and displayed
on the walls. We ask for people to go around the classroom and read
all of the images (10 minutes).
b. After students have seen all the images, we ask them to come back
to their packets and reflect on the following questions: What do
these images make you feel/think? (5 minutes)
c. Address what microagressions and stereotype threat are, and have
a class discussion. Show grade trend data for classes here at UW-
Madison, including Genetics 466 which many of the students will
end up teaching. Are there grade biases amongst underrepresented
minority students? First Generation students? (25 minutes).
4. Inclusive Teaching (40 minutes)
a. Ask students to list attributes of inclusive and/or exclusive learning
environments (5 minutes).
b. Have everyone share what they brainstormed (5-10 minutes).
c. Have students take the inclusive teaching strategies inventory on
6 DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS TA TRAINING

the next page. Encourage them to make a list of things they can
actually implement in their TAing in the upcoming year (10
minutes).
d. Break into pairs and discuss their results (5 minutes).
e. Come together and discuss as a whole if there’s time (5 minutes).
5. Wrap-up
a. Have everyone share a final thought on the following question:
What is one thing you WILL try to do this fall to make your
classroom more inclusive?
Assessments:
N/A

Activities:
1. Social Identity Wheel
2. #TheRealUW activity
3. Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory

Assignments: N/A
(due today)
Materials  Paper for name tents
Needed:  handouts
Rationale: 1. This is meant to be an introductory session for TAs to be exposed to the philosophy of
inclusive teaching. First, students will define what about their identity is important to them
and examine why they have attachment to these various categories. Students will then reflect
on thoughts shared by students here at UW-Madison where they have experienced
microaggresions by others, and how to reduce stereotype threat in the classroom. Finally,
students will gain knowledge about possible inclusive teaching strategies in the classroom
and reflect on how to implement these techniques in the classroom when they teach in the
upcoming year.
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Wednesday Day 3: Practice Day

(6/7)
Objectives:  Students will practice their prepared problem and concept they chose to
(Students will …)
present on the first day of class
 Students will evaluate the strengths and areas of improvement of their
fellow colleagues for future implementation

Out of Class:  Students will have prepared for their practice problem and concept topic
(for today)
In Class: 1. Practice Problems and Concepts (120 minutes)
a. Students will alternate concept/problem, and take turns presenting
Assessments:
Activities:
1. Practice Problem/Concept

Assignments: N/A
(due today)
Materials N/A
Needed:
Rationale: 1. The goal today is to actually get low risk practice at teaching genetic problems and concepts
covered in the class. Students were able to choose what they were interested in covering. It
was encouraged for students to give positive but constructive feedback for their fellow
classmates. Instructors and department coordinator (as a outsider’s perspective!) also
participated.
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Thursday Day 4: McBurney Presentation

(6/8)
Objectives:  Students will become informed of the variety of services offered by the
(Students will …)
disability center on UW’s campus called the McBurney Institute

Out of Class:  N/A

(for today)
In Class: 1. McBurney Speaker: A representative from the McBurney speaker series
will come present to the students about all of their services offered and
what they would like for instructors to know.
Assessments: N/A
Activities: N/A

Assignments: N/A
(due today)
Materials N/A
Needed:
Rationale: 1. The goal of having a McBurney representative come is that most likely a TA will have to
deal with some student who uses the McBurney Institute during their teaching. This will
allow them to better understand what all they do and who they support. They will learn
about what a visa is, and how the TA is to accompany a student’s needs. Typically, a
McBurney speaker is actually a student themselves who uses McBurney and talks about
their experiences firsthand and encourages questions from others about the program. I
really enjoyed learning about everything the institute has to offer (and unforntuately it
was only after I had TA’ed myself), so I encouraged it to be a part of the lesson plan. It
seemed that many other former TAs wished they would have understood more as well
about what McBurney is and how to accompany their students.