Blog/Meeting Topics

Topics can cover the entire semester, if the third week of the semester, and give them a few weeks
at the end to work on lab artifacts. This is also assuming that you meet weekly, and not biweekly.
If you met biweekly, then less and/or combination would have to be used in order to use all of the
topics.

 Indicate the follow things:

a. Name
b. Major
c. Year
d. How many times you have TA’d before?
e. What classes you are teaching (Foundations, Models I, Models II)?
i. What sections are you in?
f. What you are most nervous for this semester for TAing?
g. How do you think this honors experience with improve your leadership skills?
 https://www.fastcompany.com/1838481/6-leadership-styles-and-when-you-should-use-them
 Indicate at least two leadership styles and how they would be good for being a TA.
 Would the leaderships styles change based upon what type of students you are
helping (advanced versus struggling)?
 What leadership style do you believe you have been using while you are a TA?
 Are there any changes that you would want to make to your leadership style in the
upcoming weeks?
 https://www.ted.com/talks/ramsey_musallam_3_rules_to_spark_learning
a. How could you use these three rules from the video, “Curiosity comes first, Embrace
the mess, and Practice reflection” in your everyday style of being a teaching
assistant.
b. What do you do, if you cannot answer a student’s questions within your class?
c. Do you practice reflection after your recitation section, to see what you could have
done better in order to help the students first.
d. How do you help the students that are not grasping the concepts, and are just getting
by because of it? What can you do to help them understand the concepts better?
 Mid-Semester Check-in
a. Do you think that being a part of this honors experience is strengthening your skills
as a leader?
b. Has being a TA helped improve your leadership skills?
c. What is an aspect of leadership that we have not discussed and what can be done to
improve upon it?
d. What have you learned about leadership so far?
e. Have you noticed a difference with your leadership style/skills as you are progressing
through this experience?
f. Any additional comments, questions, or concerns?
 Read these excerpts from Small Acts of Leadership: 12 Intentional Behaviors that Lead to
Big Impact by G. Shawn Hunter:
Chapter 1: Believe in Yourself:
“The respect and regard we have for ourselves is our self-esteem. The strength of our belief
in our abilities to accomplish our goals and achieve our potential is our self-efficacy. These
are two different things, and without self-efficacy, we are likely to fail in leading others. When
we have a strong sense of self-efficacy, we take deeper interest in and make a greater
 commitment to our activities, we view challenges to be mastered, and we recover quickly
from setbacks and pitfalls.
It’s easy to think we don’t know what we’re doing, that those around us have a better
handle on the situation and are more competent. But often that’s not the case—often
everyone is in the same boat, looking for a captain. By believing in ourselves, we can
become a leader.
And, surprisingly, it’s not always the fear of failure that keeps us from acting but
rather the fear of success. We ask ourselves, if we succeed, will others have higher
expectations that we can’t fulfill? Will we be able to top our last success? When life comes at
us hard, do we panic or do we thrive?”
Some of the other behaviors within the book are: Build confidence, Introduce Challenge,
Express Gratitude, Fuel Curiosity, Grant Autonomy, Strive for Authenticity, Be Fully Present,
Inspire Others, Clarify roles, Defy Convention, and Take a Break
a. How many times have you thought that you are not good enough to lead this group,
or lead the meeting that you are attending?
b. Have you ever thought that someone that you are TAing with is more competent than
you are, and point your students to them to have questions answered?
c. What are your thoughts on this excerpt and how can you relate?
d. Was there a point this semester, or within a coop experience that you thought you
were going to fail, so you did not take on a leadership role?
e. Are there any behaviors above that you would like to know more about, or you think
would be helpful in order to build your leadership skills?
 Read this excerpt from Small Acts of Leadership: 12 Intentional Behaviors that Lead to Big
Impact by G. Shawn Hunter:
Chapter 6: Fuel Curiosity
“Challenge and curiosity go hand in hand. Firing up both in the workplace paves the road to
innovation and to happy, productive teams that are more likely to reach their protentional for
success. It’s easy to settle into thinking everything is on track, but is what we’re seeing just
an illusion?
We shouldn’t be afraid to challenge assumptions made within our organization and be
relentlessly, assertively curious, not letting over selves or others dampen our quest for
answers. We should also inspire curiosity in others and avoid complacency. The results can
be surprising—and highly productive.
a. What is a time that you felt your curiosity in a course or within your co-op lead you to
learn more?
b. How as a leader can we inspire the students to become curious and ask questions
that lead to answers instead of spoon-feeding the answers to those students?
c. How do you think curiosity could help students while they are in group projects? For
example, if being curious leads to more productive teams, is having a student who is
not great at MATLAB and a student that is excelling be a good group? Would the
student that is excelling invoke curiosity into the struggling student and in the
process, learn the material better?
 Read this excerpt from Small Acts of Leadership: 12 Intentional Behaviors that Lead to Big
Impact by G. Shawn Hunter:
Chapter 8: Be Fully Present
“Being fully present means listening intently, being aware of ourselves in each moment, and
being aware of our colleagues’ moods and dispositions. It also means focusing on the task at
hand, ignoring distractions. Focusing on that task not only helps get the work done but also
 sends a message that the conversation is important, we’re fully engaged in our work, we also
know the limits of what can be done and when our team is on the wrong track.”
a. Do you every notice yourself not focused while you are tutoring? Are you focusing
more on your classes?
b. What is a way to ensure we give the students our best selves and focus on them,
and not on our classes?
c. Have you noticed your students being less focused on their work? How can we
encourage our students to focus during recitation and not on other classes, or
missed work?
d. How do you find ways to stay fully present when there are slow points in the lab or in
the tutoring center?
 Read this excerpt from Small Acts of Leadership: 12 Intentional Behaviors that Lead to Big
Impact by G. Shawn Hunter:
Chapter 12: Take a Break
“New research demonstrated that even the mere presence of a smartphone, in our hands or
just sitting on the table between us, detracts from the quality of the conversation. That’s
right—even if we don’t actively look at it, the simple presence of a smartphone detracts from
the quality of conversation. Simply the anticipation of a text or alert distracts us from
meaningful conversation….’Mobile phones hold symbolic meaning in advanced technological
societies,’ researches concluded. ‘In their presence, people have the constant urge to seek
out information, check for communication, and direct their thoughts to other people and
worlds.’”
a. Do you ever notice yourself during a tutoring session, or a recitation section go to
check your email while you are waiting for students to ask questions?
b. How can we force ourselves to remained focused during the entire lab, and not just
when the students need our help?
c. Do you think that there are cues that we are missing while technology is around us
during our recitation sections?
d. How do you focus our students to put their phones down during class? Is there a way
to keep this students focused the entire time, without their phones on the table?
e. How about computers? They have to use their laptops in order to perform MATLAB,
how do we keep them off the internet so that they are purely focused on the lab?
 Read this excerpt from Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Anne McKee:
“Our basic argument, in a nutshell, is that primal leadership operates at its best through
emotionally intelligent leaders who create resonance. Underlying that proposition is a theory
of performance, one that surfaces the links between the neurology of the four fundamentals
of emotional intelligence and the EI competencies are in turn the building blocks of the
modes of leadership that prime resonance in a group.
Interestingly, no leader we’ve ever encountered, no matter how outstanding, has strengths
across the board in every one of the may EI competencies. Highly effective leaders typically
exhibit a critical mass of strength in a half dozen or so EI competencies. Moreover, there’s
no fixed formula for great leadership: There are many paths to excellence, and superb
leaders can possess very different personal styles. Still, we find that effective leaders
typically demonstrate strengths in at least one competence from each of the four
fundamental areas of emotional intelligence.”
“Emotional Intelligence Domains and Associated Competencies
Personal Competence: These capabilities determine how we manage ourselves
Self-Awareness
 -Emotional self-awareness: Reading one’s own emotions and
recognizing their impact; using “gut sense” to guide decisions
- Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits
- Self-confidence: A sound sense of one’s self worth
Self-Management:
- Emotional self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses
under control
- Transparency: Displaying honesty and integrity; trustworthiness
- Adaptability: Flexibility in adapting to changing situations or
overcoming obstacles
- Achievement: The drive to improve performance to meet inner
standards of excellence
- Initiative: Readiness to act and seize opportunities
- Optimism: Seeing the upside in events
Social Competence: These capabilities determine how we manage relationships
Social Awareness
- Empathy: Sensing others’ emotions, understanding their perspective,
and taking active interest in their concerns
- Organizational awareness: Reading the current, decision networks,
and politics at the organizational level
- Service: Recognizing and meeting follower, client, or customer needs
Relationship Management
- Inspirational Leadership: Guiding and motivating with a compelling
vision
- Influence: Wielding a range of tactics for persuasion
- Developing others: Bolstering others’ abilities through feedback and
guidance
- Change Catalyst: Initiating, managing, and leading in a new direction
- Conflict management: Resolving disagreements
- Building bonds: Cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships.
- Teamwork and collaboration: Cooperation and team building”
a. What are your thoughts on emotional intelligence? Do you think it would be helpful to
know as a TA for Models or Foundations?
b. How do you think you can use emotional intelligence while you are TAing to help
relate to the students better? Do you think by using emotional intelligence that you
could get the students to trust you more?
c. Do you think that you portray any of the competence in the four fundamental areas?
d. How could you use this within your co-op?
 Lab Artifact—Start after Spring Break
a. Create a Models I, or II lab that in tangible for what the students would be able to
accomplish.
i. One need to write the background information for the topics chosen
ii. Will need to produce a script that can be completed by the students
iii. Your documents should include some step-by-step instructions on how to
accomplish the lab.
b. For example, I did my lab on Kinetics:
 i. I split my lab up into four parts:
1. Part A was the background information: What the students would
need to know to understand the lab
2. Part B was a zero order kinetics problems
3. Part C was a second order kinetics problem
4. Part D was a first order kinetics problem.
ii. The final lab had a Matlab script that function, a fully written lab, and the
answers to the lab within the word document.
c. Try Brainstorming ideas for your lab and think of something that students could
completed within a two-hour window.
d. Write up a couple ideas and email me with those ideas. Talk about why you think it
would be a good lab for students to try.
 Read this excerpt from Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Anne McKee:
“The Leadership Style in a Nutshell
 Visionary
- How it builds resonance: Moves people toward shared dreams
- Impact on Climate: Most strongly positive
- When appropriate: When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction
is needed
 Coaching
- How it builds resonance: Connects what a person wants with the organization’s
goals
- Impact on Climate: Highly positive
- When appropriate: To help an employee improve performance by building long-
term capabilities
 Affiliative
- How it builds resonance: Creates harmony by connecting people to each other
- Impact on Climate: Positive
- When appropriate: To heal rifts in a team, motivate during stressful times, or
strengthen connections
 Democratic
- How it builds resonance: Values people’s input and gets commitment through
participation
- Impact on Climate: Positive
- When appropriate: To build buy-in or consensus, or to get valuable input from
employees
 Pacesetting
- How it builds resonance: Meets challenging and exciting goals
- Impact on Climate: Because too frequently poorly executed, often highly negative
- When appropriate: To get high-quality results from a motivated and competent
team
 Commanding
- How it builds resonance: Soothes fears by giving clear direction in an emergency
- Impact on Climate: Because so often misused, highly negative
- When appropriate: In a crisis, to kick-start a turnaround, or with problem
employees.
 a. Create a situation within tutoring during recitation where one of these leadership
styles would be applicable and how each aspect of the leadership style will help with
the situation?
b. Have you seen any of these leadership styles while on co-op or outside of being a
teaching assistant (in the classroom yourself, lab experience, etc.)?
c. How could you use these leadership styles while on co-op?
i. Are there any leadership style(s) that you would NOT use as a co-op
student? Why do you think they would not be appropriate?
ii. Which leadership style(s) would you use on co-op and why do you think it
would be appropriate?
 Read this excerpt from Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Anne McKee:
“To summarize the process, people who successfully change in a sustainable ways cycle
through the following stages:
- The first discovery: My ideal self—Who do I want to be?
- The second discovery: My real self—Who am I? What are my strengths and
gaps?
- The third discovery: My learning agenda—How can I build on my strengths while
reducing my gaps
- The fourth discovery: Experimenting with and practicing new behaviors, thoughts,
and feelings to the point of mastery.
- The fifth discovery: Developing supportive and trusting relationships that make
change possible.”
a. How could you use this process to become a better leader?
b. Is this cycle only good for helping you expand your leadership abilities? What else
could this cycle be applied to in everyday life?
c. Pick one of the leadership styles, go through the cycle and indicate very briefly how
you would use this style to improve a leadership sill (either emotional or a leadership
style).
i. What leadership styles would you try to improve?
ii. What steps would you take to ensure that you can follow through with your
plan?
iii. Who do you think you would have as your support team?
d. Do you think emotional intelligence is important to improve your leadership abilities?
Why/ why not?
i. If you do think it will improve your leadership abilities in what aspects do you
think it is important? (i.e. TAing, Full-Time Job, Co-op, Workout goals, etc.)
ii. If you do NOT think it will improve your leadership abilities: what is another
way to improve your leadership abilities without emotional intelligence?
I had enough responses for the entire semester, but here are some additional sources that I found,
but did not use:
Efective Engineers ijee996.pdf
--A pdf about effective engineers, it was a pretty long article, and the highlights are from a student
that had read it and thought it would be helpful for a response.
--There is also a ton of TedTalk videos about leadership and teaching, but some are hard to relate to
being a teaching assistant in particular.