Winter 2001 Page 4

 

 

Successful Icebreaker Workshop

Annette Rogers
It was June 11. Able 2000 was over, and I was so excited about all I had learned. My mind was racing with plans to put everything I could into action before my retirement in December. The first day back at ECU, I approached the head of our Department with the idea of a TA workshop to kick off our Fall Semester. This translated into a 3-hour block of time opening the TA meeting day.

I had an audience of all the TAs (veterans and new recruits). This was perfect. My objectives were to break down barriers of unfamiliarity, better prepare the novices for their first teaching experience, and give the veterans the instruments to improve their performances in the classroom.

I had all the tools. The Clemson workshop on Effective Methods of Training Biology Laboratory Teaching Assistants had demonstrated that such was possible.

 I discovered ABLE in 1996 when I began my 5 years as the General Biology lab coordinator. Prior to this I had taught for many years in the areas of General Biology, Environmental Biology, Microbiology, Anatomy & Physiology, Zoology, & Entomology at ECU and UNC-W.

I resigned my lab coordinator position in Dec. 2000 to semi-retire and teach. Currently I am teaching General Biology for non-majors and Environmental Biology (my passion), for the ECU Weekend University. During the 80's and early 90's I took a midlife crisis break to experience many non-teaching areas and to pursue my other passion, travel. The most exciting three years of this period were spent sailing throughout the world with Greenpeace as their cook.
The training manuals from several of the more progressive universities with TA training programs already in place had graciously been shared. Copies of training videos were made available and, of course, the ABLE website and Proceedings from the 1999 conference offered information, ideas and games. From my tool box I created a workshop that included VERY short presentations from an excellent teaching professor and eight of the veterans who had demonstrated better that average abilities in areas of concern. These presentations, along with some comic relief from a TA with the reputation to support his ability to pull it off, and a viewing (and critique) of Clemson’s video about the Unprepared TA, constituted the bulk of the workshop. It finished with timed small group competitions using the Classroom Dilemma game and, of course, prizes.

Was it a success? According to the survey sheets the TAs filled out, and a review of the workshop day video, it was. Additionally, the Biology Department has asked me to return next fall to do another one. So, I believe it was a huge success. More importantly, it is serving as a cornerstone to develop departmental and university level training courses similar to those already in existence at places like Clemson University, University of Alberta, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

ABLE and it’s members are such a treasure house of information that works and I have never found a group more willing to share. I served as the General Biology lab coordinator for the last five years and during that time I attended four ABLE Conferences and ALWAYS came home with ideas that I put into place during the next year. As a result I have left the Lab courses better than I found them and that is due almost entirely to my ABLE experiences.

Thank you all for being such a great group of associates as well as an outstanding resource.

 

 

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