PIE Teaching Training Recognition report Kien Anh Vu

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Cover page
1) Name: Kien Anh Vu
2) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
3) Number of students I will teach in Fall 2014: 45






















PIE Teaching Training Recognition report Kien Anh Vu

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First Reflective Statement

1) Through the conference training on the following university policies; ADA, FERPA,
sexual harassment, and academic integrity, what insights did you gain as you start your
assignment as a TA?

After all the training sections above in the PIE conference, I gained some insights that
can be used in my TA career
In the academic integrity section, there are some general cheating ways from
undergraduate students like sharing assignment (65%), unauthorized collaboration (41%),
copying a few sentences from internet without citation (35%), copying a few sentences
from written source without citation (38%), and helping someone cheat on test (10%). As
a TA, I will be careful with these ways, and also prepare myself to solve these problems
when they happen. Moreover, plagiarism is one of the most common with undergraduate
students. From the PIE conference, I gained some ways to prevent this phenomena, such
as mutual respect between student and instructor and confident verbal reinforcement,
mention the plagiarism in the syllabus with the students, teaching meaning of plagiarism
especially paraphrasing versus quoting, introduce some websites about this problem to
the students like turn-it-on.com, and make cheating more difficult
In the FERPA section, I know the importance of the first class meeting. So I will ask all
the students attend the first class meeting as a mandatory requirement. In addition, I know
that all grades are collected online, and if I fail to turn in grades by deadline, I can pay a
fee of $10/student. Besides, I should not discuss progress of any student with anyone
other than student without students consent, or avoid providing list of students enrolled
in classes to anyone, private or commercial.
In ADA section, I know that my behavior with students should be not only friendly but
also serious enough. Then I need to prepare for the questions from students about their
assignments, exams, grades. On the other hand, be prepare with the call or questions from
student parents about their grades, try to explain the situation and actual reasons for these
problems
In the sexual harassment section, I know it is defined as the uninvited and sexual
touching. Moreover, it is formed as the demands for sexual favors in exchange for a
benefit or to avoid a negative consequence. Then I gain some examples of sexual
harassment, such as requesting sexual favors in return for good grades, inappropriate
display of sexual photos, posters, cartoons, or rating co-workers/students based on sexual
activity or attractiveness, calling someone doll, baby, sugar, fine or similar terms,
obscene gestures, sounds, jokes, practical jokes, emails, texts. From all examples, it is
obvious that a TA cannot date with students. If the students complain that my behavior is
too offense, I should say thank you, stop that behavior and apology them

PIE Teaching Training Recognition report Kien Anh Vu

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Second Reflective Statement

2) What are three teaching strategies that you learned about at the conference that will be
useful when you start teaching? How, specifically, do you plan to use these strategies?

After the conference, there are three teaching strategies that I will apply for my TA career
The first one is respect, which includes respect students, institution, diversity (of
approach, perspective, opinion, truths). This is the basic behavior in the relationship
between a TA and others in every situation, inside and outside class.
The second one is reality. I must be honest to myself, and teach as whom I am, not copy
from others. Then I should think of my mentors, and use them for inspiration. I also need
to be mindful, try to share my enthusiasm with students that make them feel excited with
my class and lecture.
The third one is reflection, which includes plan, tweak, and adjust the lectures based on
the students feedback and ideas. It may be done by focusing on what students need to be
able to do, not what needs to be covered. Moreover, it is necessary to be flexible with
students, especially in specific situation to solve the problems.
The forth one is regeneration. I need to have a plan for regeneration, set up a regular
renewal process for my courses, research, and career. Then I should link my research to
my teaching, which will save my time to explore about the lecture, and also have more
enthusiasm with the teaching and research.
Otherwise, I should move beyond rules to concepts, inspire student with the lecture and
class, and make them want to attend every class.















PIE Teaching Training Recognition report Kien Anh Vu

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A Beginning Teaching Philosophy Statement

1. Teacher planning practices
1.1. Before the course begins
There are three tasks in this period: identify the course objectives, select activities,
and assessment methods. These three tasks have a very close relationship to each
other
1.2. Before class
I need to identify the objective of this lesson, review and revise the previous
activities, based on that plan the new activities, then design and select the media
(PowerPoint, website, excel) to show the lectures and examples in the best way.
1.3. After each class session
In this period, I will think what worked and what did not work with my lectures
and teaching style, which based on the feedback and ideas from students
1.4. After course ends
I will look at note student performance on test and assignment, from that figure
out what I should improve in the teaching style and lectures.
2. Classroom
2.1.Motivating students
One of the best ways is to remember students name as soon as possible. This will
create a closer relationship between TA and students. Then I will try to include
the enjoyable activities in every lectures/class, which will bring more exciting
emotion to the class. Otherwise, I will remain enthusiastic and, stand and not
deliver move over. More specifically, I will try not to have private talk when one
student ask question, instead of that, I will try to bring that question to the whole
class by repeating it loudly, so that everyone can hear it and discuss about this
question.
2.2. Promoting active
I will try to arrange the students sit in semi-circle if possible, which will help
students focus more on the lecture. Then in the lecture, I will try to ask lots of
questions to the students, which will help them to attend in the lecture and class.
Besides, I will provide the positive feedback, ask students to respond to
classmates comments, refer to earlier student comments, and uses lots of
structured small group activities.
2.3. Providing structure for students
I will structure the homework assignments by keeping reading assignment short,
informing students of objectives of assignment, and giving students study
questions. Moreover, I also structure my small group activities by changing group
membership every class session, circulating and listening to group discussions if
necessary, and providing support outside of classroom.