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Department of
Political Science
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Department of
Political Science
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DRAFT SYLLABUS DRAFT SYLLABUS
Spring, 1999 Professor Joel Schwartz
Political Science 380: The Teaching of Political Science
Monday: 2:30 - 4:50 + Class Observations
Greenlaw 321
I. Course Goals
This course has a short-term and long-term goal. The first is to prepare
you to be an effective and successful instructor in carrying out your
teaching responsibilities here at UNC. The second is to help you help
yourself obtain the skills that will make you an effective teacher
throughout your career.
II. Required Texts (Available at Student Stores)
Davis, Tools for Teaching
Lowman, Mastering the Techniques of Teaching
Ory and Ryan, Tips for Improving Testing and Grading
Materials published by UNC's Center for Teaching & Learning (to
be distributed by instructor)
Teaching at Carolina
Diversity in the College Classroom
Graduate Students and the Teaching Portfolio
For Your Consideration a packet of monographs dealing with a wide
range of
teaching and learning issues)
Reprints of Articles which will be periodically distributed
Requirements
A statement of learning outcome goals with a description of ways to
achieve them
A course syllabus
Presentation to seminar members which illustrates how the graduate
instructor will use class time so as to maximize the possibility of
achieving his or her generic and discipline specific learning outcomes
Observation and evaluation of a class taught by a departmental faculty or
graduate student instructor
Grading
Your grade will be determined by the quality, thoughtfulness,
thoroughness, and effectiveness in executing the above requirements.
There may also be required, but non-graded exercises.
Course Content By Week
January 11 First Day of Classes (a) What do you do and what might you do the first day you meet your class? (Submit one page summary)
(b) The dramatic changes in the employment market for PhD's in higher education: the causes and consequences for doctoral candidates in Political Science (reprint handouts). Positioning oneself to maximize one's employability in and out of higher education.
(c) Statement of generic and discipline specific learning outcomes and how one would achieve these outcomes (submit two-page statement)
Read Teaching at Carolina: Introduction FYC No. 1. Complete Health Resource Allocation Exercise January 18 Holiday
January 25 Instructor - Student Interactions (a) How to respond to student initiated requests, complaints, personal problems criticisms, disruptive classroom behavior etc? Bring to class one page List of problems, issues, you have encountered as a teaching assistant and what you anticipate you may encounter as an instructor responsible for your own class. Class discussion - How best to respond to such issues? (b) Bring to class completed health resource allocation exercise. Execution of allocation exercise. What are the learning and teaching outcomes of such class participation exercises?
Read Davis, Part XI, Chapters 44, 45
February 1 Preparing a Class Syllabus (a) Class discussion of students' pedagogical statements. (b) Preparing a course syllabus. Compare syllabus for Poli 65 to syllabus for Poli 171. What are the similarities and the differences? Compare both to Center for Teaching and Learning list of student expectations of a course syllabus.
Read Davis, Chapter I February 8 Preparing a course syllabus (continued) (a) What are the essential and minimal kinds of information any good and helpful syllabus should include? (b) Student presentation to seminar on topic of his or her choice.
Read Lowman, Chapters 1, 2, 3 February 15 Organization of Class Presentations (a) Student evaluation of an observed class (before visiting class review handouts on peer observation.)
Read FYC Nos. 15, 16 Lowman, Chapter IV
(b) How to organize and execute successfully a class presentation Read Lowman, Chapter 7 Davis, IV, Chapters 12, 17 February 22 Interactive Teaching (a) Student presentation to seminar
(b) The interactive teaching model. Prerequisites for success. Read Davis, III, Chapters 8, 11 Lowman, Chapter 6 FYC, Nos 2, 12
March 1 Selection of Materials (a) Student evaluation of an observed class (b) Selecting Course Materials Minimizing ideological and partisan orientations of the instructor in teaching. Acknowledging openly and clearly that there is no such thing as value-free social science. How to structure the content of assigned reading and class presentation of materials so as to expose students to the whole continuum of political- ideological view points. What criteria should one use when selecting required reading? The purpose and instructional value of such materials.
- Textbooks and monographs - Scholarly journal articles and popular magazine articles - Reprints of selected newspaper articles
(c) Assigning a national daily paper (N.Y. Times, Washington Post, News & Observer) as a required text.
Non-pedagogical considerations in decisions about assigned readings.
- The cost of books and photocopying. - The time burden--assessing the difficulty level of reading. - Remembering that your course is only one of five that students are taking each semester. - Remembering that 28 per cent of students are financing their education through work-study jobs and other on and off-campus employment positions. - Remembering that students come to college with vastly different motivations and vastly different extra-curricular interests. - Remembering that 60 percent of students are financing their education with student loans.
Read Lowman, Chapters 5 FYC, No. 19
Submit draft of course syllabus
March 15 Prelims Change of dates Test Construction (a) Student presentation to seminar. Designing and constructing tests (students submit a model exam they would give to their class and explain what they see as the pedagogical value of the kind of exam they have written)
Read Ory, Chapters 1, 4 Davis, VIII Chapters 28, 31 FYC, Nos 7, 8
March 22 J. Resnick Research and Grants Evaluation of Students' Work (a) Student evaluation of an observed class
Evaluating student work. What criteria doyou use in arriving at an assessment of the quality of a student assignment?
Read Lowman, Chapter 9 Ory, Chapters 5, 7 Davis, VIII, Chapters 32, 34 FYC, Nos 9, 10, 18 March 29 Instructional Media (a) Student presentation to seminar
(b) Using instructional media
How to use to enhance both the teaching and learning experience in class. One picture is still worth more than a thousand words. Varieties of visual instructional materials.
- Films - Video cassettes - Overhead transparencies - Slides - Photographs - Artifacts Read Davis, 1x Chapters 35, 39 FYC, No. 11 April 5 Visitations to:
Center for Teaching & Learning Center for Instructional Technology Writing Center Classroom Scheduling
April 12 Community-Based Learning (a) Student presentation to seminar
(b) Non-traditional instructional strategies. Using the community environment as a valuable learning resource, when appropriate. Combining cognitive learning in the classroom with experiential learning in the community, when appropriate. Accessing the opportunities for community-based learning and effectively integrating it with classroom cognitive learning.
Read Davis, V, VII Lowman, Chapter 8 FYC, Nos. 3, 4, 13, 14, 17 April 19 The Changing Student Body (a) Student evaluation of an observed class
(b) The teaching challenges posed by the changing demographic characteristics of today's students
Read Teaching for Inclusion Davis, II, Chapters 4 & 7
April 26 Final Discussion (a) Student presentation to seminar (b) Improvement through self-evaluation
Read Davis, X, Chapters 41, 43 Lowman, Chapter 4 FYC, No. 16
Submit final version of 1. Course syllabus
2. Personal statement of learning outcome goals and how best to achieve them
To contact Professor Joel Schwartz