Summer Session
Team Teaching
Elizabeth Nichols
Graduate Student TA Training Workshop
January 8, 2007
&
Summer Session
Teaching
Why teach summer school?
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Gain experience planning a course
Gain experience in public speaking
Great addition to your CV
Learn to explain complicated concepts clearly
You get paid
What should I teach?
• Intro Course
– Not the same as an intro course taught during
school year
• Specialized Course
– Something done previously (Abnormal Psych, Conflict
Negotiation, Peak Performance, etc)
– Something new
• Usually must have at least 5 students enrolled
Who attends summer school?
Wide variety of education levels and ages
• High school students
• Undergrads (Stanford and non-Stanford)
• Grad students (Stanford and non-Stanford,
usually not psych majors)
• Random others
What problems have others
experienced?
• High-school students can act like high-school
students
– Don’t know how to take notes or follow lecture
• Provide outline and/or cheat sheets
• Talk to students after first exam
• Provide emotional support if needed
– Talk or sleep throughout class
• Take charge early on
– Do poorly and don’t care
• Refer to Summer Session at Stanford
What problems have others
experienced?
• Teaching to wide variety of education levels
– Keep everyone interested and involved
• Various other student-specific problems
– Plagiarism
– Don’t show up for exams or make-up exams
– Students that don’t want to be taught by females
What resources are available?
• Center for Teaching and Learning
– 723-1326
– http://ctl.stanford.edu/
• Stanford Disability Resource Center
– 723-1066
– http://www.stanford.edu/group/DRC/
• Summer Session at Stanford
– 723-3109
– http://summersession.stanford.edu/summer/
How do I make the class go well?
• Make coursework site and put books on
reserve before class starts
• Come to class prepared (notes, slides, etc.)
• Clearly state expectations and grading basis
• Be available to students
• Ask for feedback (mid-course evaluations)
How do I make lectures go well?
• Complement text with other materials
• Encourage discussion
• Don’t assume any background knowledge
• Take break if teaching more than 50 min.
• Expect to be surprised
Teach alone or with others?
Each method has benefits:
Teaching Alone
• Complete control over
course
• More money
• Looks great on CV
Team Teaching
• Dynamic and interactive
learning environment
• Inspire collaborations
and new ideas
• Less work per person
Team Teaching
“Team Teaching: Benefits and Challenges” by Melissa Levitt, 2006
Models of Team Teaching
• Interactive Model- all instructors present and
active throughout course
• Rotational Model- each instructor teaches
subset of course
• Dispersed Model- some lectures taught by
all instructors, some taught by only one
instructor
Be a Team
• Plan everything together
– Before school starts
– Throughout the course
• Attend one another’s lectures
• Refer to co-instructors ideas
• Use common grading procedures
Talk Even When Not in Charge
• Acting like an exemplary student encourages
discussion and feeling of equality in class
– Model learner
– Observer
– Discussion leader
– Devil’s advocate
Encourage discussion
• Model debate with co-instructors
• Ask open questions
• Let the students speak
Conclusion
• Summer school teaching and team teaching
are both valuable and educational
experiences.
• The more you put into to each the more you
will gain.