Week 1:

Hello Every One,

Week One is officially underway for my Practicum. As stated in my introduction this week I am a TA for HIST302 Classical Rome with Prof Andrew White. Class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1330 to 1445 in Rm 210 at Krug Hall. I had never been to Krug Hall previously, so that was a new experience on campus to find. Leading up to class, Prof White and I exchanged multiple emails going over the course and the syllabus, and even had a brief Blackboard Collaboration meeting on 20 January for about 45 minutes to meet “face to face” before class started.

I have had previous experience providing training during my time in the military and professionally, but that was definitely a more death-by-powerpoint form of instruction to people that were conditioned to absorb the information presented and act, not necessarily perform critical thinking. This has led me to approach the course with an open mind to learn to address teaching with the intent of fostering critical thinking and debate on the material, and from what I have gathered from Prof White so far, he also offers a similar approach.

Each week there are two lecture days supported by powerpoint slides, text reading and a selection of primary and secondary sources to read or watch. I am going to be looking to add some more supplemental reading for later in the course as I get a better feel for how the class runs and responds. The students are expected to submit a weekly summary on the lecture, text book reading and supplemental sources, which will be due before the Tuesday class for the previous week. Prof White and I divided the class alphabetically for grading, and this will provide me with approximately 20 students to oversee, pending any drops or additions.

I am looking forward to learning more from Prof White on this topic, and his personal teaching style to hopefully incorporate my own touches. We have discussed having me lead a few lectures later in the semester, especially when he will be away at the end of April. Thanks for reading.

– Adam Micallef

Week 2:

This week was an interesting developement. I had my first opportunity to grade an assignment for my half of the class, A thru N by last name. The assignment was a three paragraph summary of the lecture, the textbook reading and the supplemental material, one paragraph for each. It surprised me how many students did not complete the assignment by the due date, and actually the number of students that didn’t complete it yet at all. I confirmed with my supervisor on how he wanted the grading to go and provided him any issues I saw along the way. All in all, it went smoothly.

This week we were relocated from our room in Krug Hall to Innovation Hall, a much better, larger space for the class. The issue that arose from that change was we weren’t informed until class time on Tuesday when two classes were trying to occupy the same room. That caused a delay in start time while the class had to up and move across campus.

A further issue we are delaying with is the setup of the discussion boards in Blackboard, but hopefully the technical issue will be resolved by next class so that we can assign those and start grading them.

Looking forward to next week.

Week 3:

Definitely a hectic week lask week that is causing this post to be later than planned.

Last week followed the pattern of Week 2. Class lectures on both Tuesday and Thursday from 1330 – 1445, with grading the weekly assignments as they were submitted. I worked with my supervisor, Prof White, in getting a better understanding of his grading process and how he is working to combat the intrusion of Chat GPT into the academic process.

I devoted about an hour per chapter for course prep again, and an additional hour on the supplemental readings on Cato. I am looking forward to continue to work through the semester.

Week 4:

This week was a little different. Professor White was feeling ill at Tuesday’s class and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and would be leading the lecture on Thursday remotely. I arrived early at the class in Innovation Hall to setup the class room for those students that desired to attend the remote lecture in person. Ultimately only had 3 students show up in person, with another 25 online via Blackboard Collaboration tool, and about 10 no shows. In preparation for a potential longer termed illness, I am prepping to lead class on Tuesday, 21 Feb.

Otherwise, TA work continues as usual – grading assignments, answering questions as they may come in and prepping for each week through reading and research.

Week 5:

Very standard week overall as we have gotten into the rythym of the semester. Prof White was out with COVID still on Tuesday, so did the lecture via Blackboard collaboration tool while I was in the classroom in Innovation Hall for the 2 students that showed up in person. Thursday was a normal lecture day in person again. I continued to grade the weekly assignments and provided Prof White with a list of questions from the students prior to the Tuesday lecture to allow him to add to the slides and address them at the start of class.

Week 6:

This past week continued with the regular rhythm established in the semester. Tuesday and Thursday classes from 1:30 until 2:45 pm. I continue to provide a set of eyes to monitor the chat in the Blackboard Collaboration during the lecture and engage with the students when breaking into groups during the Thursday class. Following class I walk with Prof White for a 10 – 15 minute discussion on any questions that I had come across for grading. Over the weekend I grade the students weekly postings and provide feedback as need. I also summarize any questions and relay them to Prof White for inclusion at the beginning of class on Tuesday to be answered. I have scheduled my meeting with Prof White and Prof Chen for Tuesday, 7 March at 3:30 pm in Horizon Hall.

Week 7:

This past week, March 6th – 10th, continued the same pattern of Tuesday/Thursday class lectures with grading weekly assignments from the previous week’s lectures and readings. On Tuesday, March 7th, Dr. Chen, Dr. White and I met at Horizon Hall following class to perform a mid-semester assessment. I thought it went well, though conversation did start to get side tracked into ChatGPT and impacting grading assignments.

Students are expected to turn in their annotated bibliography by the 10th for their research papers, which will occupy grading for next week during Spring Break, and mid-term essays are due by March 20th.

Week 8:

This week was Spring Break, so no classes to attend. I began reviewing and grading completed annotated biblography assignments from students, providing feedback where applicable. Students have begun turning in late assignments for grading, along with their mid-term essays. I have begun to read those essays and making notes to discuss with Prof. White prior to providing a grade response.

Next week returns to normal Tuesday/Thursday lecture schedule.

Week 9:

This week we completed grading the mid terms before Friday so that all students that submitted had mid semester grades for situational awareness. I felt that I had to make sure that I was not applying the same standards to my assignments at the graduate level as to these the students were submitting for the 300 level course, but I also wanted to make sure I was giving constructive feedback to prepare them for their final research paper and if they desire to continue in the history field.

Returning to the same ebb and flow for the next week.

Week 10:

Nothing new this week. Standard class schedule of Tuesday and Thursday lectures. Pending submissions for the weekly assignments for grading by Monday.

I am also preparing for 20 April to give the lecture/lead the class myself due to Prof White scheduled to be away as a guest speaker at Princeton. I have reviewed the prepared slide deck and am familiarizing myself with the material, as well as extra research to add to the lecture to avoid just reading the slides.

In addition, for my College Teaching HE-602 course we are working on Teaching Philosophy and Syllabus design, so I have asked for advice and review from Prof White based off his experience.

Week 11:

This week we continued to the two lectures for class with some interaction with the student during a class activity on Thursday again. Normal grading process, though I have noticed that the number of students submitting work on time has diminished as we progressed this semester.

I am continuing to prepare for leading the class on 20 April and will be going over the slides in detail with Prof White next week. I have posted my Linkedin site to Blackboard and am working to familiarize myself with the OnMason site to build my portfolio page, though I do have issues with organizing it, but tinkering is ongoing.

Week 12:

Week 12 continued the same pattern of Tuesday and Thursday class lectures with the previous week’s discussion summary posted by Monday. I graded the 13 of 40 submissions before class on Tuesday and again provided a summary to Prof White of any questions that students might have asked in their assignment. These are then addressed at the beginning of the Tuesday lecture.

I continue to prep for leading the lecture on 20 April, and have even be provided with last spring’s recording for reference. I plan to review that this weekend to prepare for Thursday, and also be ready with any questions on Tuesday to be as prepared as possible.

Final paper topics are set to be released next week, so preparation for receiving those grades and getting them in before the deadline will be a big priority.

Week 13:

This week was a normal Tuesday, but ThursdayI was given the opportunity to lead the classroom due to Prof White being away for a guest lecturing opportunity. I was provided with a recording of last spring’s lecture for the same section and was able to pull information to include in my own lecture that was not in the slides or text reading directly, but professional knowledge Prof White had built up over the course of his own experiences and studies. This was greatly helpful so I did not feel like I was reading directly from the slides.

The presentation went smoothly, though I feel that I rushed myself. This is a known issue that I have when public speaking that I will need to continue to work on. Everything went smoothly, and Prof White attended via the Blackboard link and was able to offer answers to the few questions I did not have the answers to at the end of the class.

I will also be using this teaching moment to complete my requirements for face-to-face instruction for my HE602 College Teaching course, so it worked as a win-win-win.

This weekend and next will revolve around grading the 7-10 page research papers that are due on 21 April as we wind down the semester.

Week 14:

This past week was back to business as usual for the course, with discussion summaries due Monday for grading and lectures Tuesday and Thursday. I met with Prof White on Tuesday after class for 30 minutes to discuss how the lecture went last week and if I had any questions. I mentioned my concern with the shorter presentation than the full class time, but also discussed my delivery speed, which he assured me was fine and that sometimes the material doesn’t last the full class allotment. I also brought up other questions in relation to my College Teaching HE602 course where we were designing a syllabus, and wanted advice on how he goes about deciding which books to utilize as the main text for the course and a useable validation process for that.

Coming up this weekend I will be grading the Research Papers for my half of the class in advance of the end of the semester papers due in two weeks.

Week 15: