======= Date Modified 13 33 2009 16:33:40 =======
Hi chaps, I wonder if anyone can help me?!
I agreed to become a 2nd year Seminar leader as they were getting a bit desperate - I was told that it just involved leading a one hour seminar per week and marking 3 essays per student (there are 9 students) per term. This all sounded fine. However, what I didn't realise til today was that how you spend the seminar is completely up to you (though they have suggested that the students might like a lesson on essay writing, exam essay writing and presentations skills). I think I assumed that there would be a list of things to complete and the materials with which to do it (clearly, this was naive). I have NO teaching experience, and I thought the seminars would be structured. I'm completely bricking it as I have no idea what to do! Also, I don't feel I could "teach" someone how to write an essay - I mean, I can mark them, but I don't know if I could actually take a group through writing one!

Does anyone else have to plan their own seminars?

Oh, I feel very sad at this prospect
:-(

Hi Bobby

Don't panic! *grin* You may not have teaching experience, but you do have experience... I'm assuming you have more than these 2nd years at least. Are they undergrads? So... get yourself a plan - how many weeks have you got, what essays will you give them (topics, titles) or if they come from elsewhere, what will they be? Then, target the seminars to the essays. If you feel you can mark an essay, then you can teach someone how to write one... just think structure, tips, etc. If you're still scared - try this site for some ideas: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/caplits/writingcentre/ Another option is to brainstorm with students what they might like to learn (although that may get a bit clunky). One thing to remember - you probably won't get through too much in a one hour session - so sessions on essay writing could take 3-4 sessions and you could chunk them... e.g. Getting started (and ways of brainstorming ideas, arguments, structure, etc.), finding a structure (intro, background, problem, debate, discussion, conclusion), illustrating concepts (using graphs, diagrams, pictographs, etc.). Here's an example of a study guide: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/teaching/movingon/7.pdf Other than that, you might consider getting a couple of good books if you want to teach research/writing/presenting skills... Another good tactic is to set a topic and get students to do the work... get them to work in groups problematising a topic and present back at the end of the session. If you're really smart, build this kind of activity across a couple of sessions and finish with a student presentation session or two. As you appear to have free rein... choose something that interests you and may be useful to them.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like some more specific advice. :-)

the best advice i was ever given when i started teaching was 'make the buggers do the work' (ie not you). Its all too easy, when starting out, to over-prepare to cover a lack of confidence but do remember that youve got the degree, they havent, so they need to be doing the work. The advice above is really good - definitely focus on getting THEM to take responsibility in the seminars e.g. get them to deliver presentations, do group tasks etc, and see yourself more as a facilitator. Otherwise you'll be bouncing around at the front for an hour, trying to entertain/inform/cajole them, and exhausting yourself trying to do it all, so to speak...

You've already got plenty of experience in passing exams etc. so share your experiences with them. I often find that if you explain that what you're telling them is not out of a book but has been learnt by your own experience, they respond much better. Another approach is to give them short essay writing tasks and get them to critique each other. They're often more critical that you would be and in addition you don't have to do much work. Even better, get them to give presentations about essay writing etc.

Seminars aren't lectures so don't feel you have to be the one speaking - make them do some.

Hi Bobby - I had a similar experience last term and was similalry terrified. In the end, I spent a huge amount of time preparing - particulalry for my first 2 seminars - so that, when it actually came to doing it I knew exactly what I was meant to be doing - even if I didn't know quite how it would work with the students. This meant that at least my pre-seminar terror was lessened when I was actually in the seminar. As I'm not good at talking 'off-the-cuff' and as it didn't seem the appropriate format to deliver a full-on lecture I made the seminars completely interactive and made sure each one had a balance between the students working in pairs, in small groups and in a larger group. When I could (i.e. with the appropriate kind of material) I would set up kind of debate-type games - for e.g. 1. getting the students into three groups, 2. giving each group a short summary of a different theorectical perspective on the same issue to discuss 3. then getting the groups to briefly present a summary of the argument to the other goups and then 4. discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the arguments with the whole group. Exercises like this can take up to an hour and, I found, where very enjoyable. To my complete amazement I actually did enjoy teaching the seminars and found it very rewarding! Hope this helps and good luck!

This reminds me of my 1st teaching experince. The seminar was on how to write an essay (based around the essay titles they had to do for coursework) It was a complete nightmare cos I just didn't prepare enough so I will echo what has been said on here, make a plan of what to do during the session.

One thing you could do is give them a couple of essays (though I dunno where you'd get them) and get them to mrk them in small groups to get them thinking about what makes a good essay. Or you could cut up the paragraphs/ or the ides that could go in an essay, and get them to put them into order.