TA TALK
Web-based newsletter of TA/AI issues for
The University of Texas at Austin

Welcome (or welcome back) to TA TALK.

TA TALK is an on-line newsletter published by the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at UT. Its goal is to provide timely information for TAs and AIs regarding teaching, learning, and university resources. If this is the first edition of TA TALK that you've received and you would like to receive future editions, subscribe to receive three electronic copies of TA TALK each semester by following the directions at the end of the newsletter. In this issue, we would like to touch on a couple of relevant topics for TAs this semester: how to promote success with your freshman students and how to discuss controversial topics.

Please e-mail me (jholladay@mail.utexas.edu) if you have suggestions for topics for future articles. Thanks to our graduate student contributors, Mickey Achacoso, TA Programs Intern and Jessica Summers, CTE Research Associate.

How to Help Freshman in the College Transition

The freshman year: What is normally a difficult transition semester both socially and academically, this year's freshmen (and women) are also having to cope with the recent world events without their families and other familiar support networks. At the same time, we as teachers may find ourselves frustrated at what we perceive to be students' lack of effort or motivation. Even if you do your jobs well in your labs or discussions, students must do their jobs too. So, how can we assist students in making this transition? Helping freshman to become more self-aware in the classroom and to develop help-seeking behaviors is a great way to help them cope with a new situation at a difficult time.

A recent issue of "The Learning Curve" a newsletter published by the UT Learning Center identifies five "success traits" of UT freshmen. These include: exhibiting help-seeking behaviors, self-discipline, academic readiness, a positive attitude, and adaptability to a new environment. To read the entire article, go to: http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/

How can you as a TA help students develop these characteristics?

Encourage help-seeking behaviors: Encourage your students to form study groups and allow some time during class for them to arrange these. Give them specific "assignments" to bring to your office hours for feedback and suggest that they come to office hours (yours or the professors') with a classmate. Finally, learn and use students' names and utilize collaborative class activities so that they get to know one another. And finally, make them aware of departmental or campus resources to assist them, such as the UT Learning Center. (http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/).

Help develop self-discipline: First, we can discuss with them the expectations of the course, and whatÕs involved in achieving these. For example, ask students who are doing well in the class to describe how (and how much) they study. Also, provide your students with some tools and models of how to structure and organize their study time. For example, consider constructing a time line for students to write a paper or prepare for an exam to model methods of managing study time.

Support academic readiness: Students frequently don't know what's expected of them until after they've received their first grade. Some TAs help students develop this readiness by providing ample opportunities for practice. Administering quizzes, brief writing activities, using group work and other activities provide students with feedback prior to exams thus helping them develop a more realistic sense of the expectations and information to inform changes in their study approaches. These activities need not be graded, or even collected, but incorporating brief assessment techniques into your classes go a long ways towards enhancing learning.

Encourage positive attitudes: TAs frequently report that some students have belief patterns that are self-defeating. For example, you may hear students say things like: "I've never been good at math." Or "There's no way I'm gonna pass this test!" How can we help our students improve their self-confidence and self-efficacy? First, we should convey a "can-do" attitude, even when students are struggling. These new attitudes should be supported by helping students develop more successful learning strategies and experiences. Some students may need an easier problems, or a simpler question, or may need to refer to additional resources such as an easier textbook or a tutor. We should also learn how our students are studying to determine if their negative attitudes may reflect inappropriate learning strategies. We can also remind students of the role that positive thinking has in improved motivation and learning, and help them "reframe" negative statements and make them more realistic.

Help students adapt to the environment of a large university: We can try to "make UT smaller" by promoting learning communities in our classes, by arriving to class early (or staying late) to get to know our students, and by thinking of creative ways to engage students in the course material, and to connect the material to their own goals and interests.

Discussing Controversial Topics

With the tragic events that stunned our nation on September 11, 2001, emotions are running high for everyone at UT. As a TA, it is important to consider and prepare for a variety of reactions in the classroom, especially if you are teaching relevant content. You may notice students taking strong positions and arguing very passionately, which can be difficult to handle or mediate in the context of classroom discussion. If you have questions on how to handle such heated discussion in the classroom, we would like to provide some guidance about how you might integrate the discussion of opposing positions in your class while at the same time helping all of your students feel safe. In a diverse community like UT, students may have many different opinions. In his address at the September 14 memorial service, President Faulkner stated, "The university community is made up of people from all over the globe. The UT family is a reflection of all people who share our planet. We share this campus together. We aspire to common goals and values." We at CTE therefore think it is appropriate for students to express personal opinions as long as it is done in a sensitive and constructive way. The following sections will explore how cooperative learning can be used as a forum for discussing controversial issues in your class, helping to reduce an otherwise tense situation in your classroom discussion.

Controversy...is it always bad?

Lots of folks purposely avoid controversial issues in the classroom because of the difficulty involved in managing heated discussions. Typically, conflict is viewed to be negative and unless it is managed properly, conflict can be destructive or harmful to various parties involved. However, controversy can be useful, powerful, and memorable tool to promote learning. Here's what education research has to say about managing conflict and controversy in the classroom...

Conflict can be used as part of cooperative learning to promote the intellectual growth of students. Research has demonstrated that conflict or controversy during classroom discussion can improve communication and enjoyment of learning because the situation itself forces complex thinking and effective communication. Participation in heated discussions in the classroom can result in various personal cognitive gains such as creative thinking, the development of understanding and integration of other positions, the use of complex reasoning strategies, higher achievement, and retention, higher quality decision-making, continuing motivation, and even perhaps a change in attitude. These types of cognitive gains rarely occur in other learning situations that focus on individuals working alone. Additionally, societal benefits of managing conflict in cooperative learning situations can result in the development of more tolerant attitudes towards diversity and the reduction of prejudice and discrimination.

Here are some tips for handling controversy in the classroom:

1) Don't get rattled. Calmness in the face of any kind of intense situation is the first step to rising above the emotion and focusing on problem-solving. It also opens the door to possible learning if you can begin to recognize and manage your own emotional response to tense situations in the classroom. Ideas: Take a few deep breaths, call a time-out if necessary, and agree to take up the topic at a different time, if necessary.

2) Remember your role. First and foremost, remember that you are the instructor and your main goal is to facilitate the learning process. Whether you like it or not, many students are looking to you to provide guidance on how to process and develop positions on controversial issues. How you behave and manage yourself in heated situations will be remembered and modeled by your students. Ideas: Ask for other opinions held by other students. Question the class as to why someone would hold such a position.

3) Remember the goal. The goal, of course, should be learning rather than winning. If there is a "winner" in a heated discussion, there will, no doubt, be a "loser". Keep your students thinking by having them present different sides not considered and try not to let one person dominate the discussion. Encourage exploration of all different sides if the issue. There are generally more than two ways of looking at something. Ideas: Ask students if there is someone else who agrees or disagrees and why. Ask students to generate other ways of looking at the situation. Have students do some writing on the topic and present their ideas in smaller groups.

4) Promote tolerance. Seeking to understand various ways of looking at the world promotes tolerance. Encourage students to try to take another point of view, even if just for an academic exercise. Ideas: Ask your students to look at the situation from another angle by asking questions like "If you were someone else, how might you view the situation differently? Why might you view the situation differently?"

5) Don't let it get personal. If dialogue degenerates into character assassination or name calling, be sure to protect your students and yourself. Stop the conversation immediately and regroup. Again, the goal is not to tear others down in order to win. The goal is to learn. Remind your students of this fact. After all this is school...not a battleground. Ideas: Set ground rules. Take a break. Call your students on inappropriate behavior and insist that it stops. Resume the discussion another day, if necessary. In the end, remember that disagreement and controversy are a natural part of the educational process. How we handle controversy as educators makes all the difference. If you have limited teaching experience or are not sure how to handle controversy in the classroom, remember to take it one step at a time.

For additional information on using cooperative learning techniques: http://www.collaborate.com/

To learn more about the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center's services: http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/

References:

Henderson-King, D. & Kaleta, A. (2000). Learning about social diversity: The undergraduate experience and intergroup tolerance. The Journal of Higher Education, 71, 142-164.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T. & Smith, K. A. (1986). Academic conflict among students: Controversy and learning. In R.S. Feldman's (Ed.), The social psychology of education: Current research and theory (pp. 199-231). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (2000). The three Cs of reducing prejudice and discrimination. In S. Oskamp's (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination: The claremont symposium of applied social psychology (pp. 239-268). Mahawah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Maruyama, G. M., Knechel, S. & Petersen, R. (1992). The impacts of role reversal and minority empowerment strategies on decision making in numerically unbalanced cooperative groups. In R. Hertz-Lazarowitz & N. Miller's (Eds.), Interaction in cooperative groups: The theoretical anatomy of group learning (pp. 228-249). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Warren L. (2000). Hot moments in the classroom. NEA Higher Education Advocate, 18(1), 5-8. National Education Association: Washington, D. C.

Announcements

The Office of Graduate Studies is eager to provide TAs with information on policies that may affect them in their work. For information on policies, funding sources, and methods for filing a grievance, go to: http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/Employment.html

Services for TAs at the Center for Teaching Effectiveness

Conferences: On September 15, the Center for Teaching Effectiveness and the UT Learning Center co-sponsored a conference for new TAs: Good Beginnings. Approximately eighty TAs participated in the activities.

In January, we will again sponsor a seminar for experienced TAs to help them hone and develop their skills as instructors. This seminar will be held prior to the beginning of classes. This newsletter will provide you with updates and registration information, so stay tuned ! And for you experienced TAs, let me know if you'd like to help organize the seminar or give a presentation.

Departmental Consultations: Would you like to see changes in the TA experience in your department? Would you like more feedback on your own teaching? Contact Joanne Holladay, TA Program Coordinator at the CTE. (jholladay@mail.utexas.edu) She would be happy to reply to your e-mail questions or concerns, or to meet with you or a group of TAs to brainstorm ways to enhance your teaching or to improve student learning.

Do you want additional ideas on teaching and learning? Check out the CTE website at http://www.utexas.edu/academic/cte/ . Here you'll find suggestions on everything from how to encourage student participation to methods for assigning grades.

Finally, do something for yourself. Check out the self-help opportunities through the Counseling Center's Food for Thought groups: http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/outreach/ffttops.html

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