Next Two Individual Fall Workshops

The next two workshops will both be during the week of Oct 31st. Having seen what the workshop leaders have in store I'm super excited to announce, 


CREATING INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS FOR ALL STUDENTS


Date: Tuesday, Nov 1st 
Time: 4:00 - 6:00pm 
Place: 1360 Surge III 


As educators, our ability to effectively improve the lives of our students is connected to our ability to establish a learning environment that is simultaneously challenging, supportive and inclusive. Creating such an environment for all students requires sensitivity to societal subtleties that are often unseen. This workshop is designed to increase our self awareness, positively contribute to our ability to effect change in the classroom, and augment our lives and the lives of our students through cultural awareness. 


Presented by: 
    Jeff Anderson, Mathematics
    Matt Nesvet, Anthropology 


EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY: THE OLD, THE NEW, AND THE UGLY 


Date: Friday, Nov 4th 
Time: 1:10 - 3:10pm 
Place: 27 Olson Hall 


What role does technology play in your classroom? From gizmos to gadgets, advancements in the tech world have made their way into our curriculums, affecting the way we teach and the way our students learn. This workshop will provide creative tools to enhance your knowledge about productive (and not-so-productive) uses of classroom technology. With hands-on demonstrations, we aim to minimize the TA/faculty workload and enrich student learning at the same time. Expect to gain skills in streamlining your use of SmartSite tools, creating more effective PowerPoint presentations, and mastering online tools like blogs and wikis. 


Presented by:
     Jamiella Brooks, French
     Erin Hendel, English
     Henry Yeung, Nutrition

Life of a TAC - Professional Development

For those of you interested in becoming a TAC or in what we do, we're going to start writing about what happens in our weekly TAC meetings. For those of you who don't already know, as TACs we meet once a week for two hours to train on how to do consultations, plan workshops for the UCD graduate student and post-doc community, and have professional development. After new TACs have learned the ropes, the program likes to give each TAC a chance to lead meetings through professional development. 


Professional development can take the form of philosophical discussions, education videos, team building exercises, or reading a relevant paper. This week's professional development was lead by Jamiella Brooks. Jamiella is active in various campus groups and was developing a workshop for undergraduates on how to stay focused and not procrastinate. Jamiella ran a condensed version of the workshop for us. 


We started the workshop by thinking about and discussing what causes us to lose focus. For our group specifically, there was often an emotional component of either dreading the thing we were suppose to do, or wanting it to be so perfect that we don't want to start (i.e. writing our theses, which I'm also currently procrastinating doing by writing this blog post). 


We also talked about the myth of multitasking. Jamiella demonstrated this the best by having Henry Yeung try to send a text, draw a cow, and stomp his foot every two seconds all at the same time. We talked about how each of the things Henry was doing suffered from distraction (he never sent the text, and the cow looked like a chicken with spots). And we discussed if there was ever anytime multitasking does work. 


We then talked about what we do to avoid the work we should be doing, and what helps us do the things we are avoiding.  For our group it seemed the internet was the biggest distraction. To prevent that distraction, Jamiella showed us some software that will lock out specific webpages for a set amount of time. Erin Hendel offered up the tip to set the lock out when you go to bed so that when you wake up you can only visit websites you need to do your work. I don't know that I have the willpower to do it, but I gotta admit I'm glad the programs are there. 

**Update** The the suggestion for minimizing internet distractions that Jamiella suggested can now be found at the bottom of this post. Thanks Jamiella!

Jamiella's professional development was only 30 minutes, but I wished I could be a participant for a longer amount of time. Maybe come up with some tips that don't involve getting rid of the internet? Who knows, maybe this will become a future TAC workshop! But in the mean time feel free to offer your tips to avoid procrastination in the comment section.

Workshop 1 - Community in the Classroom: How to make connections in the classroom to improve student learning

We are excited to present our first of three individual Fall Workshops! 

Community in the Classroom: How to make connections in the classroom to improve student learning

Date: Monday, Oct 24th
Time: 2:30-4:30 pm
Place: 2342 Storer Hall

Description: Remember that great TA or professor you had as an undergraduate, the one who inspired you to enter your field? Want to connect to your students like they did to you? Want to create a classroom where students learn from each other? Research shows that students’ learning is affected by their relationships with the instructor and other students in the classroom. Come to this workshop for tips on building a positive learning community and leave a lasting impact through stronger connections.

This workshop will be presented by:

• Heather Dwyer, TA Consultant, Ecology
• Ann Chang, TA Consultant, Ecology
• Dalia Magana, TA Consultant, Spanish

Henry's Blog!

Hi All,

I am excited to be part of the TAC team. As a fourth year nutritional biology graduate student I've TAed in four different departments and 11 different courses. I enjoy teaching and learning from my students. Through my experience with other TACs, I"ve became more aware of my teaching style and have worked hard to improve my adaptability to the different learning capabilities of my students. This is currently my first year in the TAC program. I believe it is one of the most creative and inclusive of the numerous on-campus programs I've been involved with.

As a graduate student, I would say academics and research occupies a majority of my life. However, outside of this bubble, I enjoy doing outdoor activities (such as white water rafting, backpacking, and going to the ARC) and social hobbies (such as  going out to the bars, restaurant hunting, and playing IM sports). Thanks to the TAC program, I have improved my networking skills and ability to generating discussion which have made a significant impact in my life outside of academia.

In the future, the skills I've acquired from the TAC programs will be very useful whether I decide to work for industry, stay in academia, or  better yet ... going on vacation.

Cheers,

-Henry