Text 1 Teaching Team Foundations: Pre-Term Planner

Objectives

By the end of this page participants will be able to…

Utilize the Pre-Term Planner for Teaching Teams to facilitate a discussion establishing roles and responsibilities with their team

Pre-Term Planner

Download the Pre-term planner HERE

This document is designed to be an informal reference sheet for your own personal use as you prepare for the course you’ll be teaching this semester. The course head and TFs should discuss these points before classes start. This is also a great time to establish your team meeting cadence for the semester.

The goal is to make sure all members of the teaching staff have the same expectations of students and of each other from the beginning and to avoid miscommunication and avoid surprises later in the term.

Below is a snapshot of the planner:

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Section 1: Syllabus

Before your first meeting with your teaching team, examine your course syllabus and check off the elements that are clear to you. If you can't find specific content or need clarity on specific topics, for example the attendance policy then use this document as away to formulate questions to pose to your course director and teaching team.

Section 2: Teaching Team Meetings and Modes of Communication

Use this section of the pre-term planner to decide how often the teaching team plans to meet. Will you meet in person or use Zoom or Teams for your meetings?

Also, discuss the preferred modes of communication your teaching team wants to use in between meetings. For example, does your course director and TAs/TFs want to create a Slack or Teams channel for the semester? Other course directors may prefer email chains or other modes of communications. Whichever mode you all decide on as a team should be used consistently to cut down on miscommunication and ensure smooth execution of course logistics.

Section 3: Roles and Expectations

Use this part of the pre-term planner to help you discuss the specific roles and responsibilities each person the teaching team will undertake. Are you the only TA/TF for this course and will be taking on all these responsibilities? If you are working with multiple TAs and TFs then who will be responsible for these various roles? This is also a great time to have a conversation with your course directors on expectations. You can discuss topics like how quickly they expect assignments graded, how quickly they want the canvas page updated, and general communication expectations when it comes to a challenging student situation.

Prepare for your first team meeting

After reviewing the content from the last two pages, please complete the questions in the discussion board: Your first team meeting