Lesson Plan 1

Students and instructors are seated in a circle to encourage discussion and engagement

[15 mins] Part 1: Welcome Icebreaker

• Ice breaker: Going around the circle and have each person say their name, major, why you are here, and a fun fact about you.

[30 mins] Part 2: Discussion of Course Mechanics, Purpose and Structure

• Explaining the point of the class
  • It is unfortunate that if you want to be faculty you have to get a PhD, but a PhD teaches you how to do research not how to teach, and part of being faculty is teaching. Teaching is something you can learn and get better at. So, the point of this class is to teach you the things that can help you get better at teaching.
  • This class has value to people even if you don’t do into a traditional teaching faculty role because teaching is a universal skill that can be used in many other contexts
• Briefly discussing the mechanics of the class
  • Optimized class for busy PhD lifestyle
  • Only one day of class (Fridays) to help make it more accommodating to schedules
  • A longer class period with a break in the middle where getting up and moving around is supported
  • We assume this a highly engaged and motivated group of students, so grades are deprioritized, and more focus is placed on self-motivated learning and growth through high-quality feedback that is divorced from grading (within reason)
• Discussing topics that will be covered in class
  • Some of the topics/discussions that will be covered in the class include:
    • Education philosophy, whether teachers are born or made
    • Learning goals, assignments, grading,
    • Meta topics, including education research and bringing education research into the classroom

• Q: What topics would the students like to cover in the class?

• Give disclaimer about the books
  • Professors don’t agree fully with everything in all the books, the books are used to represent the way the world currently works (especially Bain’s book). And any disagreements you have with the books, we can discuss during class
• Discussing the high-level course structure
  • Syllabus including links to books on Canvas
  • Mostly use Slack for communication
  • Reading assignments are due every week (they are generally short and easy to read)
  • The class will be broken into two parts (with a bio break in the middle). The first half of class will be a discussion based on readings, sometimes with lectures, and the second half will be a hands-on activity

[25 mins] Part 3: Icebreaker About Learning Experiences

• Going around the circle and having each person discuss:
  • If you have any experience teaching (e.g., as an instructor or TA)
  • A positive teaching experience
  • A negative teaching experience
  • (Note: Mentoring or tutoring can be teaching; it doesn’t have to be lecturing in front of a classroom room.)
• Candy jar is used to reward students for sharing their experience

[10 mins] BREAK

[30 mins] Part 4: Hands-On Activity: Demo Lecture

• Each student takes 5 minutes to teach a lecture on whatever topic they want (ideally not CS-related)

• A shared Google doc is used so the class can share feedback about each student

• Example topics Include:
  • How to prepare for a Bangladeshi/Indian wedding
  • The rules of texas holdem poker
  • How to teach children to tie their shoes
  • How to make probiotic soda
• Things to discuss & highlight (that were common feedback given to students):
  • Be careful with asking questions you think the students don’t know the answer to. Asking questions you think students have no clue on can be awkward because they don’t know the answer and sometimes they can feel bad if they’re really off when guessing
  • Be mindful when writing on a whiteboard, if you are talking while writing on the whiteboard, it can be difficult for students to hear you because your back is to them
  • Be careful with jumping straight into details, it can be helpful to start with a high-level abstraction so students have more context on what you’re talking about