Fall 2018 MAT 598: Teaching Practicum

Schedule: TuTh 8:30-9:50 in Math 4-130, plus individual class visits

Instructor: Samuel Grushevsky; TA: Silvia Ghinassi; Video: Mu Zhao

This course is for PhD students who are first-time teaching assistants. The class will meet regularly at first, and then as needed to review the progress and issues that arise during your teaching. We will discuss Cases from Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities: Case Studies for Today's Classroom by Solomon Friedberg.

Each student will do a 10-minute mock recitation in class (+5 minute discussion), and each student's recitation will be visited twice in the course of the semester, by the instructor and/or TA, and normally at least one of these visits will be videotaped. After these visits, the instructor and/or TA will meet with the student individually to provide feedback/comments, and review the video.

The grading is S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory). The S grade will require the attendance of all scheduled regular meetings, and demonstrated attempted progress between the two class visits.

Here are some links; some of you may find some of them somewhat useful. None of these are pre-screened, or endorsed, or guaranteed to work. Remember, there is no clear-cut recipe for how to teach, though there are certain things that work statistically better or worse. Whatever you do, come to class prepared, do your best, and try to convey your enthusiasm for mathematics and for teaching.

MAA handbook for TAs
University of Washington handbook
Bruce Reznick "Chalking it up" and teaching philosophy

Course Schedule

Disability Support Services: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may affect your course work, please contact Disability Support Services (DSS) office: ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, room 128, telephone (631) 632-6748/TDD. DSS will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. Arrangements should be made early in the semester (before the first exam) so that your needs can be accommodated. All information and documentation of disability is confidential. Students requiring emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and DSS. For procedures and information, go to the following web site http://www.ehs.sunysb.edu and search Fire safety and Evacuation and Disabilities.

Academic Integrity: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instance of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/.

Critical Incident Management: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, and/or inhibits students' ability to learn.