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Sofa Gradin Queen Mary, University of London s.p.gradin@qmul.ac.uk. 7 mins. Your job as a TA…. Engaging students in subject. Ontology/epistemology gesture. Your job as a TA…. Engaging students in subject Helping students draw out key points from reading. Your job as a TA….
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Sofa Gradin Queen Mary, University of London s.p.gradin@qmul.ac.uk
Your job as a TA… • Engaging students in subject
Your job as a TA… • Engaging students in subject • Helping students draw out key points from reading
Your job as a TA… • Engaging students in subject • Helping students draw out key points from reading • Helping with particular questions
Essays • Explain to students how to write good essays – most students don’t know! • Marking & feedback: don’t spend too much time on it or overwhelm students with too much feedback. Give students 3 positives and 3 negatives for each essay.
Common obstacles to engagement • Shy students • Split up into small groups or pairs, then feed back to full group • Get them to take notes before they share their thoughts with the full group • Ask questions and offer options initially • Give praise when they say good stuff, but not in a patronising way • Acknowledge things people have said ('as X pointed out earlier…') • Dominant students • Facilitate. If someone is speaking all the time, ask them if they would mind waiting for second and ask someone else to answer the question instead. • Disengaged chatty students • Separate them. Divide and conquer. Set tasks for them. • Students who haven’t done the reading • Speak to them as adults, but make clear that skipping the reading is not okay. • Beware of students who haven't done the reading but who still like to talk out of their a** in the seminar. Ask students to relate what they are saying to the reading.