COMMON TEACHING SITUATIONS:

Leading Quiz Sections

TA roles in quiz sections vary with department and course. To clarify your role, confer with your faculty supervisor. It can also be helpful to talk to other TAs who have taught the same section in previous quarters.

Possible goals for quiz sections may include any one or any combination of the following:

• answering questions about homework
• providing practice beyond homework
• clarifying difficult concepts from the lecture and reading by providing alternate examples, explanations and discussion
• applying theory presented in lecture through further discussion or problem solving
• reviewing for exams
• taking quizzes
• teaching material that the professor doesn't have time to teach

Questions about your responsibilities that might need clarification include:

• What are the overall goals of the section? In some cases your supervising faculty member may have very clear goals. In other cases, s/he may have suggestions, but no clear preferences. In other cases, faculty may have very definite notions of what the quiz section should accomplish.
• Are you expected to attend all lectures?
• Are there regular meetings with other TAs and/or the supervising faculty member?
• Who is responsible for creating quizzes and exams?
• Who is responsible for exam reviews?
• Who is responsible for grading homework? Quizzes? Exams? Papers?

At the beginning of the course, it is helpful to also ask students about their expectations for the course and to get their responses in writing. If, after conferring with your faculty supervisor, you find that you have some latitude with regard to the goals for your section, you may want to arrange your section according to student preference. If you do not have latitude and the goals for the quiz section conflict with student expectations, it's important to explain to students that the section will not be what they expect and to give a clear rationale for the section's goals.

Gathering student feedback mid-quarter can help you adjust your teaching to meet your students' needs more effectively. Students giving feedback in quiz sections across the disciplines at the University of Washington found the following particularly helpful:

1. Opportunities to ask and answer questions.
2. A basic overall structure for the section. Students appreciate the opportunity to ask questions, but most also expect the TA to come to class with a plan for highlighting key problems or theories and providing more practice.
3. A balance of reviewing key concepts from the lecture and practical application in the form of problems or discussion--usually, though not always, with an emphasis on practical application.
4. Explanations of or approaches to material that are different from those provided by the lecture or the book, as long as those approaches clarify the material and are clearly linked to the lecture.

Handouts, including:

• review sheets
• summaries of key points and concepts
• outlines to fill in during class
• practice problems and solutions
5. Clear links to the lecture. Students rate this as VERY important. This can be accomplished through:
   • The TA attending all lectures. When this is not possible, attending at least a few lectures will give you some sense of the faculty member's approach to the material and teaching style.
   • The faculty member e-mailing the TA after each lecture with a short summary of what was covered in lecture.
   • TAs taking turns going to the lecture and sharing their notes and observations with other TAs.
   • The TA making verbal and written links between lecture and quiz section material while teaching the section.
6. Frameworks that help cognitively organize the material
• outlines on the board at the beginning of class of key points that were covered in the lecture or of key concepts that will be covered in the quiz section.
• clear connections (visually represented on the board or overhead and emphasized orally) between theory and applications.
• hints on how to do types of problems and how to classify issues (i.e. help in prioritizing, ordering and classifying material).