Developing Content Knowledge and Modeling Instructional Techniques
One purpose of the weekly preparation session is making sure the LA has a deep understanding of the course material. Deep understanding is especially important in inquiry based instruction as the LA often needs to diagnose where students are in their understanding and then ask questions, with appropriate scaffolding, to help students develop understanding.
Asking high quality questions requires deep content understanding. In the weekly meeting LAs and faculty can model the types of questioning and listening strategies that are effective in the classrooms. LAs are putting into practice what they are learning in the LA Pedagogy Course. In these clips, LAs are developing deep content knowledge and are engaging in guided inquiry. The clips show how modeling questioning strategies, including articulating predictions, wait-time, and supporting claims with evidence are valued. This serves as a practical example on how to implement student centered teaching practices.
This video [from the University of Colorado - Boulder] shows LAs in a Genetics Course working through the development of content knowledge. The instructor models best practices by asking the LAs questions as they refine their understanding.
This video [from Chicago State University] shows two faculty working with an LA [middle] who is supporting the Physics Course. The faculty member on the right is seeing this particular laboratory for the first time.
In this video [from Texas State University - San Marcos], the LAs are developing deep content understanding and reflecting on student understanding in addition to thinking about how to explain certain ideas. We see how experienced LAs interact with novice LAs.