How to Increase Participation in Section

by Ravit Dotan, Philosophy Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019 One of the most common problems GSIs encounter is low student participation in sections. Too often, only a handful of students ask questions, interact with the instructor, or interact with one another. This situation is unfortunate. First, active participation is crucial Continue Reading >>

R&C Workshop Added to Fall Series

Researchers in college composition and second-language acquisition have a lot to say about correction and feedback strategies on student papers, especially when improvement of student writing skills is the dominant objective. In this workshop, GSIs will explore some of the research and, using samples of student writing, work on feedback strategies that Continue Reading >>

Highlights from the Spring 2016 Teaching Conference

The Spring 2016 Teaching Conference provided an orientation for graduate students new to the GSI role. Discipline-Cluster (D-C) workshops led by experienced GSIs addressed pressing questions about getting started as a GSI. The afternoon featured a performance by Berkeley Interactive Theater, which led to a discussion of how GSIs in their role as teachers Continue Reading >>

Creating Community Agreements

Crafting discussion guidelines with your students at the start of the semester gives them a stake in maintaining a respectful and productive climate in the class.

Interdisciplinary Team Peer-to-Peer Learning with Guided Inquiry

by Dwight Springthorpe, Integrative Biology
Students come from many backgrounds, including biology, engineering, and physics, and range from second-year undergraduates to Ph.D. candidates.… I addressed this difficulty with carefully structured group problem solving during discussion sections.… Since the problem sets drew on all the group’s skills, students would find themselves alternating between teaching and learning roles.

The Tipping Point: Encouraging Inclusive Participation Through Productive Failure in a Highly Diverse Student Setting

by Sandile Hlatshwayo, Economics
There are several benefits to this warm-up approach. Primarily… students who must first attempt to solve problems with very little instruction tend to learn the concepts better once they are given formal instruction. Second, students experience less fear over offering incorrect answers as making public errors becomes a normalized part of the classroom experience. Finally, and centrally, students that tend to be non-participators participate…

A People’s History of the English Language: Dialect Communities

by Matthew Sergi, English
Composition students tend to approach punctuation, grammar, usage, and spelling standards through unquestioning (and usually futile) rote memorization…In my R1B section, I combined Howard Zinn’s People’s History techniques with a traditional History of the English Language syllabus, demonstrating to my students that the rules of good English have always been, and are still, changing and subject to conflict, politics, and urgent debate.