TA e-meeting: November 11 , 2011

Hi Ladies.  Hope everyone had a fantastic week!

I.                    New lectures

II.                  Jordana Lenon’s talk

III.                Meeting with Don

IV.                Next week’s lectures

I.                     My students are really taking to the revised lectures.  I did an informal survey in my class, and almost every student liked the idea of shifting our current lecture format to one that that incorporates daily applied exercises and group activities.   What have been some of the reactions from students in your respective sections?

II.                  What did your students think about Jordana’s talk?  My students were pretty engaged and they asked several questions at the end.  They also seemed to make the connection that Jordan was the embodiment of what we are trying to teach them in the persuasive unit…Jordana said after my class that she was going to modify her talk for each section.  How did things go when she gave her talk to your students?

III.                I took from the email thread the meeting with Don was productive! I like his suggestions. I’m game for using Google Doc to brainstorm new ideas for the class.  It’s probably a more effective tool than the blog…Also, Haley mentioned that Don suggested some texts/activities for the class.  I’d like to hear more about those!

IV.                So, this week’s lecture:

i.                     From the email thread, I gathered that we all want to do the same thing on Monday, which is to have the students peer-review their outlines, and then have the students complete a brief activity.  Molly suggested a persuasive argument exercise (page 7 of the document http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cedwards/Teachingmodules/modules/Teaching%20Persuasive%20Speaking.pdf).  Do we want to go with this?

ii.                   We have Wednesday and Friday to show/discuss example of good/bad speeches.  I envisioned using Wednesday to discuss the “famous” speeches; on Friday,  we I thought we could cover a few of the “not-so-famous speeches” and then briefly discuss presentation tools.  We have a PP presentation in the TAC about PP presentations; however, Haley said that Don gave her a great book about visual presentation that she wanted to adapt in a brief tutorial for the students.  Haley, is that still the plan?

OK, I’m off to enjoy my Saturday…by doing homework.  Have a good one

Camille