Course Description
The variety of methods appropriate to instruction in college-level survey history courses. Students will develop syllabi and course materials in preparation for teaching their own surveys.
Athena Title
TEACHING HIST
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in HIST 7910
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
Course Objectives
Course Objectives: The goals of this course are rather straightforward -- this class is intended to help you prepare to teach your first college-level history class. To accomplish this, I have organized the class as a workshop more than a seminar. We will do a series of exercises and read materials that will force you to make some decisions about how to organize your own class. In addition, you will be asked to give one presentation to the class. In this presentation, you will teach us all about an innovative teaching method -- and let's use a rather broad definition of innovation here. In order to do this, you will need to do some research and to identify a "non-traditional" teaching method. Then you will tell the class about it and provide a bibliography and any other additional materials that will allow us to become familiar with this teaching method. (The idea here is to challenge our conceptions about teaching, but also to create an exercise in which the students -- e.g. you -- do some of the teaching.)
Topical Outline
Note this is from a previous course, and will be changed, but does give you a sense of how the course will be organized. Course Schedule: Week One -- August 23 -- Some Ideas About Teaching Reading: Blackey, pp. 1-25. Simon, "Self-Defense for the Mind," www.uga.edu/gm/399/FeatDef.html From Ganschow Reader: Ganschow, "A Few Ideas About Teachers and Teaching," "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Teaching," Eble, "Seven Deadly Sins of Teaching," and Myer, "The Aims of the Teacher" Week Two -- August 30 -- Getting Ready Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 1 McKeachie, Chapters, 2-3 From Ganschow Reader: "Ten Tips for First-Time Teachers" Week Three -- September 6 -- The Syllabus Reading: Ganschow Reader: Rubin, "Professors, Students, and the Syllabus" Assignment: Create a syllabus for the course you plan to teach. Pass this out to everyone in the class the night before we meet. Please come to class prepare to make construction suggestions on everyone's syllabus. Week Four -- September 13 -- The First Class Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 2 McKeachie, Chapter 4 Ganscho Reader: "Planning the First Class Period" Week Five -- September 20 -- The Lecture Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 4 McKeachie, Chapter 6 Norman L. Christensen, "The Nuts and Bolts of Running a Lecture Course" (handout) Ganschow Reader, "Suggestions for Improving Lectures," "Some Concrete Suggestions for History Teachers" Assignment: Arrange to visit a large -- more than 50 students -- lecture class. Observe what the teacher does. Take notes on the style and content of the lecture. Report back to the class. Week Six -- September 27 -- Your Lecture Assignment: Everyone will do a brief -- 15 minutes -- lecture. We will critique and comment on the content, style, and organization of your presentation. (If you are TAing for a class where you are doing a lecture, we can all try to come to that lecture as well.) Week Seven -- October 4 -- The Discussion Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 3 McKeachie, Chapter 5 Scott, "Why I Teach By Discussion" Ganschow Reader: "Classroom Structures Which Encourage Student Participation" Week Eight -- October 11 -- Our Discussion Reading: Miller, The Crucible Blackley, pp. 43-50 Assignment: Prepare a class discussion -- a lesson plan if you will -- for The Crucible. Come to class prepared to discuss how you plan to teach the book. Week Nine -- NO CLASS Week Ten -- October 25 -- Web-Based Teaching Assignment: Create a class or a discussion using the web. Ideally this assignment will get students to actively engage in their own learning -- for example, you could set up a research project on, for examples, the Civil War or the 1960s. Come to class with several useful websites to share with everyone. Week Eleven -- November 1 -- The Multicultural Classroom Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 9 McKeachie, Chapter 20 Bernice R. Sandler, "The Classroom Climate for Women" Week Twelve -- November 8 -- No Class -- Go to the Southern Week Thirteen -- November 15 -- Testing and Evaluation Reading: Brinkley, Chapter 6 McKeachie, Chapter 7 Blackey, Chapter 4 Assignment: Write a mock midterm exam for your course. Remember to consider if your class is a MWF class or a T/Th class. In addition, please create a writing assignment for your class. Pass both your test and writing assignments out to everyone in our class the night before we meet. Week Fourteen -- November 22 -- NO CLASS -- Thanksgiving Week Fifteen -- November 29 -- Evaluating Your Teaching Reading, Brinkley, Chapter 6 McKeachie, Chapter 23 Ganschow Reader: "Documenting Excellence in Teaching" Assignment-- Design your own evaluation for your class. Think perhaps of doing a midterm evaluation. Week Sixteen -- December 6 -- Problem Solving and Problem Students Reading: McKeachie, Chapter 23
Syllabus
Public CV