CHECK FOR A NEW MESSAGE 1/9/14 about our first formal meeting

Course Objectives: There are three major objectives for the practicum

1. Students will have first hand experience working with students in Introductory Psychology to understand their processes of learning.

2. Students will reflect on their experiences at the as a teaching assistant, through journal writing and reading research to gain insight into the nature of the process tutoring and learning process and their role in supporting it.

3. Students will gain an appreciation of the applying academic research to the process of tutoring and students' learning.

Readings: A set of reading are available on the web site in Readings page

Grading:  Your grade will derived from three sources of assessments.  First and foremost is the site assessment of your work site supervisor, who is the faculty member teaching the course.  This will include your attendance at classes, involvement in the class , and your work with students as per the requests of the faculty member. The second will be your performance in the practicum discussions with me, your supervisor.  This will include your involvement, attendance, and engagement in the weekly discussions with me during which time we the review of relevant research. Finally, your grade will depend on two written assignments.  The first assignment is to keep a journal reflecting your weekly experiences as a TA. The second assignment is a final paper, due at the end of the semester, which involves applying the reading and discussions to your actual experiences. 

Distribution of Grades:
Site Assessment.............................40%
Practicum Meetings..........................20%
Papers......................................40%
         Journal..................10%
         Final Paper..............30%

Practicum Structure: The over-arching question which will be a theme running throughout the practicum, is, "How do students learn introductory psychology and how can we promote their learning?"  Your practicum experience and course readings will be geared for you to think deeply about this question.  One focus of our energies will be to address what should the goals of Intro Psychology and how can we reach them.  We will read and discuss research on the the nature of learning and the most effective teaching to promote it. .At these meetings, you will first be asked to discuss your activities over the past week highlighting issues you have recorded in your personal journals.  Then we will address the reading(s) assigned for the week.  Before the end of the meeting, we will discuss the issues to focus upon  readings for the next meeting.  At first, these meeting will be very structured with specific readings.  But by the end of the semester,  students' particular interests in the practicum will be the source of discussions and readings.  

Class Policies:  To read the policies of the class, click here.