Practicum in Physics Education

Phy399/Phy600

M 12:45-2:05 (All students)

Syracuse University, Fall 2015

Instructor:  Lisa Manning, mmanning@syr.edu

Office hours: Mondays 3-4pm, Tuesday 3-4pm, or by appointment.

Grader: Kathleen Kelly (kekell05@syr.edu).
Kathleen is an experienced TA who will help on consultations with semester-long projects

Class Website: https://mmanning.expressions.syr.edu/practicum

Course Organization: All students attend the weekly discussion section on M.

Course Description: This course helps Undergraduate Learning Assistants (LA) and Graduate Teaching Assistants (TA) integrate educational theory, pedagogy, content, and practice. Course meetings will focus on practical concerns as well as associated theoretical models. You are responsible for weekly readings, in-class discussions, out of class data collection, electronic reflections, projects, and project presentations based on your LA or TA experience.

Course Goals: LA and TAs will

• Reflect on their own teaching and learning
• Reflect on and develop their views on teaching and learning
• Make connections to relevant education theory and literature and share with lead faculty member
• Try out a variety of strategies with students and revise these strategies according to experience
• Listen to students, make claims about students’ ideas, and take action to address those claims
• Develop awareness of the intellectual, social, cultural diversity of students and begin thinking about differentiating instruction
• Begin thinking about the ways in which education could change, and begin to influence this process

Course Credit: 

All graduate students will receive one credit for passing this class.  

Undergraduate learning assistants can elect to take the course for 1-3 credits. The number of credit hours will correspond to the number of recitations sections (1 recitation section = 2 meetings per week) for which you wish to receive course credit:

• 1 course credit — no course credit for recitation
• 2 course credits — course credit for one recitation section
• 3 course credits — course credit for two recitation sections.

This class must be taken for credit. It cannot be taken for NC (no credit), Audit, or P/F (pass/fail).  All enrolled students must be a TA or an LA in a physics course the same semester in which they are taking this course.

Class Materials: Bring a tool (e.g., laptop, tablet) to access the Google Site during class to view readings, documents, or alternatively you can bring hardcopies of readings to class. You will also need to print a poster for the final project.

Assignments/Deadlines: Four types of projects are listed below (elaborated on below)

Weekly	Beginning/Ending	Semester-Long Project (pick one)	Single Event
Class Readings (due each week for class)	Video of Teaching (sign up due dates)	Research/Observations (due throughout the semester)	LA/TA-CQs Your Students’ Evaluations (due week 10)
Online Teaching Reflections (due Sunday by 8:00 pm)	Views of Teaching (due first/last week)	Tutorial/Intervention (due throughout the semester)	Poster Presentations (due week 14)

CLASS ASSIGNMENTS

The personal relevance of this class experience depends on the active participation of all members.  Our primary activity will be in-depth discussions of course topics and readings.  

I. WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

1. Class Readings, Discussion and Participation: You are expected to contribute to class discussions, lead one or two class reading discussions, and come prepared each week with (1) a provocative question, (2) something interesting you found in the article, and (3) something you are confused about. The purpose of these discussions is to help all of us as individuals, and as a group, develop meaningful interpretations of the ideas found in the readings and to make connections to teaching experiences. You are expected to attend every class session and participate in the discussions and activities each week.  Please work with any other class instructors who schedule tests or special class sessions the night of your Seminar section.  Most courses offer alternative testing times.  If you need assistance working with the instructors, please contact your Lead Instructor.  Seminar sessions will last approximately one hour each week.  Access articles on the “Reading and Video Assignments” tab above. You will need the password given in class.
   
2.  Weekly Teaching Reflections: You are expected to spend 2-6 hours per week working with undergraduate physics students in collaborative, learner- centered environments. Using this experience as a guide, you must submit a teaching reflection electronically each week by Sunday evening at 8pm.  You are encouraged to answer the questions in a word processing document and email to the TA every week.
   

II. Beginning/Ending ASSIGNMENTS

1. Video of Your Teaching:  You will video record yourself (or have someone video record you) working with students. You then need to pick out a 3-5-minute segment that you will share with and get feedback from your pedagogy course instructor and the class.  It may be from an office hour or help desk setting involving only one student, or from a  larger class session with multiple students. Here is a link to a document with detailed instructions.
   
   1. The video segment must show:
      1. You asking questions of students that are intended to find out their current thoughts about a concept
      2. You using this information about the students’ current state of thinking in your next stage of instruction or questioning to help the student build or revise his or her thinking
      3. Show the students’ response to your interaction discussed in the two bullets above
   2. The class will review at least one of these videos at the beginning of class each week so you will need to sign up for a day in the first half AND in the last half of the semester. Sign up here. (Depending on class size we may have time for only one video share per semester.) On the Friday before you will show your video,  you also need to email the instructor with a 1-page handout that describes the assignment that the student(s) were working on so that others who look a the video will have an additional context available.
      
2. Views of Teaching and Learning: At the beginning and end of each semester, the teaching reflections questions will ask you about your thoughts about teaching and learning. Please respond to prompts as usual. This will be useful for considering what you have learned through the LA/TA Experience. 

 

III. SEMESTER-LONG PROJECTS – Choose ONE OPTION from list below:

Educational Research and Instructional Interventions: This semester-long assignment is designed to help you apply what you are learning from the readings, discussions, and experiences working with students. You may choose to work individually or with a small team, and you will receive periodic written and verbal feedback from your pedagogy instructor throughout the semester. DUE THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER – SEE INSTRUCTIONS FOR EACH OPTION FOR MILESTONES AND CHECK-IN POINTS, DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PROJECT, AND GRADING RUBRICS.

1. Intervention/Tutorial to Help with Student Difficulties: You will design an instructional intervention that can help students work through a specific difficulty that you have observed. The product of this assignment will be something like a tutorial session, a recitation activity (or sequence of activities), a YouTube video, a Screencast or some other media that can help students work through a difficulty you have noticed to be particularly common among students within a particular subject or concept. You will use a template (found on the course website) to document your ideas and you will receive periodic written and verbal feedback from your pedagogy instructor throughout the semester. You should also meet with the Lead Instructor of the course to trouble shoot and share/develop ideas. The product of this assignment will be a written or video summary of your findings.
2. Insights into Student Ideas and Thinking or Classroom Contexts — Student Work: In this project, you will analyze student written work, such as homework or exams, to investigate their ideas or problem-solving strategies related to a conceptual area of interest. You will collect and photocopy / scan samples of student work a few times throughout the semester (removing names to protect their identity). You may choose to analyze more work over time from a small group of the same students, finding how their ideas develop over the semester. Or you may choose to collect a larger set of work from the class focused on one or two points in the semester to analyze the breadth of students ideas represented. The product of this assignment will be a written or video summary of your findings, including recommendations for instructors.

IV. SINGLE EVENT ASSIGNMENTS

1.    Your Students’ Evaluations “LA/TA-CQ” Once during the semester, you will hand out an evaluation form (LA/TA-CQ) to the students you work with and then analyze the resulting data. These data should be prepared in graphical/tabular form for presentation in the seminar and also submitted to your Lead Instructor for the course. DUE IN CLASS ON WEEK 9

2. Poster Presentation

 You will develop a poster presentation that describes the questions, process, and outcomes of your semester-long project from section III Semester Long Projects above. This poster will first describe the difficulty (Option A) or the research question (Option B) you were trying to address, the methods and learning theory you used to address these difficulties and or research questions and your instructional product (Option A) or research findings (Option B) from this project. Finally, discuss the relevance to your discipline and to teaching and learning.  DUE – Nov 30 (WEEK 14).

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GRADING INFORMATION

Assignment	%	Criteria	Additional Notes
Weekly Class Readings, Discussion, and Participation	30	Active participation in #of classes: 14 = 100% 13 = 90% 12 = 80% <12 = 20% (max)	In the case of an excused absence, you should write a one-page description of the article and how you would use the main ideas with your students. Due Friday of the week the class is missed. You are allowed one excused absence without any penalty.  NOTE: Four missed classes, regardless of make-up will earn 20% maximum.
Weekly Teaching Reflections	15	Submitted on time: 15 = 100% 14 = 90% 13 =  80% 12 =  70% <12 = 60% (max)	On-time reflections will receive full credit. Reflections submitted late will receive half credit. No reflections will be accepted after Wednesday in the week they are due.
Beginning/Ending: Video and Class Discussions of your Teaching	20	See Rubric for this Assignment	You will need to bring your video on your computer or tablet to class along with any special adapters that you think you will need (or arrange with instructor to get one). This will be projected on the projection system in the class. Also bring questions/issues you would like to discuss.
Beginning/Ending: Views of Teaching and Learning	5	Adequate attention to detail in question responses, submitted on time = 100 %	This is administered through the weekly teaching reflections. No special preparation necessary, but they may be a bit longer and require some deep thought.
Semester Long Project	15	See Rubric for each Option	Incomplete documentation will result in a grade reduction to be determined by instructors. The full “Template” for each option must be complete and revised by the 13th week of the class.
LA-CQ Student Evaluations	5	Completed and documented on time = 100%	Bring your graphs, tables, findings to Week 9 class. We will discuss them in our group.
FINAL Poster Presentation	10	See rubric for this assignment	This poster will be presented in at a year-end poster session. The lead instructors for your course will attend and this poster is intended for a general audience, not just this class.

  

If you have any issues with these assignments or dates, contact your instructor.

Student accommodations:

Disability-Related Accommodations: If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact the Office of Disability Services(ODS), http://disabilityservices.syr.edu, located in Room 309 of 804 University Avenue, or call (315) 443-4498 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. ODS is responsible for coordinating disability-related accommodations and will issue students with documented disabilities Accommodation Authorization Letters, as appropriate. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact ODS as soon as possible.

Academic Integrity Policy: The Syracuse University Academic Integrity Policy holds students accountable for the integrity of the work they submit. Students should be familiar with the Policy and know that it is their responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources in written work. The policy also governs the integrity of work submitted in exams and assignments as well as the veracity of signatures on attendance sheets and other verifications of participation in class activities. Serious sanctions can result from academic dishonesty of any sort.

For more information and the complete policy, see the Academic Integrity Policy.

Religious observances policy: SU’s religious observances policy, found at http://supolicies.syr.edu/emp_ben/ religious_observance.htm, recognizes the diversity of faiths represented among the campus community and protects the rights of students, faculty, and staff to observe religious holy days according to their tradition. Under the policy, students are provided an opportunity to make up any examination, study, or work requirements that may be missed due to a religious observance provided they notify their instructors before the end of the second week of classes. For fall and spring semesters, an online notification process is available through MySlice/Student Services/Enrollment/MyReligious Observances from the first day of class until the end of the second week of class.