Teaching Assistant's Handbook by Stephen Wilhoit

Designing A Course Syllabus

1. List, in order, the writing assignments you will cover in your class
2. Make a list of all the days the class will meet
3. Fill in all the days that class will not meet
4. Fill in the due dates for your major papers
5. From day to day, fill in any class activities and readings you will use to help students complete each assignment and improve as readers and writers

Preparing A Class Policy Sheet

• Course information
• Teacher information
• Required work for the course and grade information
• Late paper policy
• Plagiarism policy
• Essay format
• Daily procedures
• Missing class
• Tardiness
• Returning work
• Conferences

The First Day of Class

• Class syllabus
• Class policy sheet
• Department policy sheet
• A copy of each required textbook
• Class roster
• Note cards
• Ideas for icebreakers
• Impromptu writing assignments
• Pen or pencil
• Beverage

Purposeful Writing Assignments

1. To help students understand material covered in class
2. To help students learn about themselves
3. To help students learn more about the world outside their own experience
4. To help students develop particular skills

Designing Effective Assignment Sheets

1. Essay type
2. Due date
3. Desired length
4. Writing task
5. Rhetorical situation
6. Grading criteria
7. Format
8. Relationship between this assignment and prior assignments
9. Collaboration guidelines
10. Documentation guidelines
11. Options
12. The weight of the paper
13. Pointers or reminders
14. Warnings

Aspects Of Teaching Open to Reflection

1. Your Course content
2. Your Pedagogy
3. Your Students
4. Your Experience as a teacher, graduate student, and scholar
5. Your future in the profession

---