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About this course: I taught three discussion sections (20 students each) as an weekly independent supplement to a large lecture course in child development (250 students).

About this document: These are my results from the University of Virginia’s official end-of-semester student evaluations (Fall 2005). The psychology department’s average scores are shown for purposes of comparison. Overall, my ratings are comparable to these averages, but I have more favorable scores in leading discussions.
(See student comments, and supplementary questions I included.)

Those interested in more details can view the full original result forms
(by section: 1,2,3)

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About this course: I led a 90-minute session entitled “Teaching the First Days of Class,” in the University’s August Teaching Workshop (8/22/07). This workshop is designed for new faculty and graduate teaching assistants, and was attended by 300 people. (This small group session was capped at 30 attendees).

About this document: Since this workshop is open to the entire university, this session drew participants from a wide range of departments (everything from Engineering to Slavic literature). However, participants gave uniformly positive evaluations at the end, and their comments suggest that the workshop met my goals of reducing nervousness and stimulating “big picture” thinking and planning. Participants also praised the format and delivery of the workshop: 26 out of 30 students mentioned either the interactive nature of the session, the presenter’s approachable manner (enthusiastic, friendly, etc.), or both.

See also videoclips from this session.

The complete compilation of evaluations, as provided originally by the Teaching Resource Center, is also available as pdf.

University of Virginia, Teaching Resource Center
(August Teaching Workshop)

About this course: I led a 90-minute session entitled “Teaching the First Days of Class,” in the University’s August Teaching Workshop. This workshop is designed for new faculty and graduate student teaching assistants, and was attended by 300 people. (This small group session was capped at 30 attendees).

About this document: In the early moments on this session, I explain my goals for the workshop. This is part of my efforts to make my teaching consequential: to hold myself accountable to focused goals and clear outcomes. I include students in this goal-setting process, encouraging them to share their needs.

See also a clip of an activity from this workshop, where I had participants think about their own goals as teachers, and student evaluations.

University of Virginia, Teaching Resource Center
(August Teaching Workshop)

About this course: I led a 90-minute session entitled “Teaching the First Days of Class,” in the University’s August Teaching Workshop. This workshop is designed for new faculty and graduate teaching assistants, and was attended by 300 people. (This small group session was capped at 30 attendees).

About this document: One of my aims in this session was to reassure new teachers; however, I also wanted to shift their focus away from their own nervousness, toward the great opportunities they faced. Prior to this clip, they discussed in pairs the greatest teachers they remembered. Here, I encourage them to think about their larger goals for their own classes, and to envision the first class as setting the stage for the semester. Since this is a question of personal motivation, I ask participants to write individually for a few minutes (rather than lecturing). They are then comfortable enough to have a good discussion about their plans. Following this activity, we were ready to address syllabi (having a proper goal framework in which to discuss details).

See also the student evaluations from this session.

I welcome any comments, and would also be happy to answer questions.

You can leave a comment here, or write to me at “lima at virginia dot edu.”

University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: I led review sessions for this a 250-student lecture course in child development.

About this document: The lecture professor offered an opportunity for all TAs to present their research in class. This is the presentation I gave (modified to include more text for the reader’s ease).

University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: Undergraduate assistants in this developmental lab received course credit for their work, so we made every effort to make their experience educational. I was responsible for supervising 1-2 RAs directly each semester, and also contributed to lab-wide initiatives.

About this document: I decided to write this survey for the 6 RAs in our lab one semester. We had experimented with multiple new ways of working (a contract, graduate student supervision of RAs, and a wiki to centralize communication & provide resources), and I wanted to evaluate their success. The results of the survey were encouraging: RAs seemed generally to be satisfied with the lab and the guidance they received (also, 5/6 found the wiki both helpful and easy to use).

*Caveat: Although students responded anonymously to this survey, we had only 6 RAs in the lab, so complete anonymity could not be expected. The results should be read with the understanding that they may be skewed positively.

University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: Undergraduate assistants in our developmental lab received course credit for their work, so we made every effort to make their experience educational. I was responsible for supervising 1-2 RAs directly each semester, and also contributed to lab-wide initiatives.

About this document: In discussions with the professor, we were concerned that expectations be made very clearly to RAs, so there were no unpleasant surprises along the way. We also wanted to show how individual tasks fit into our overarching goals. The professor asked me to draft the contract, which was used for the first time in Fall, 2006 (see assistants’ evaluations of that semester).

University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: I taught three 20-student discussion sections as an independent supplement to a 250-student lecture course in child development.

About this document: The following comments are drawn from students’ end-of-semester evaluations, conducted online by the university. The comments are organized as they address my teaching goals, both general (student trust and my efforts to engage them) and course-specific (learning to analyze evidence and write clearly, and learning to discuss ideas cogently and respectfully).

All original comments are also available in pdf, in the university survey compilation (by section: 1,2,3).

American School of Languages (Belem, Brazil)

About this course: I taught advanced ESL to students ranging from middle school to adult.

About this document: This school did not conduct routine student evaluations, but I designed an anonymous evaluation form for my students to complete each term. The following comments are ones that students from various classes chose to add at the end of this form. They are organized as they address my teaching goals: high standards, student trust, and my efforts to engage students.

A scan of the original survey compilation and handwritten comments (in Portuguese) is also available in pdf.