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Teaching Sample Assignment

This is an overview of the "teaching sample assignment" for PHIL512 - Graduate Seminar in Logic.

Description

Earlier in this semester, you created a syllabus for a hypothetical logic, critical thinking, argumentation course. Let’s build on this prior assignment by creating something you can use in that course.

Sample Submissions

Create something you can use in your hypothetical course. Here are some examples:

  1. Unpolished Video: Create a video that (1) explains a component or concept in logic, e.g., validity, imagination test or (2) works through some sample practice exercises, e.g., a step-by-step solution to a set of proofs, a truth table, or a truth tree. You can record yourself using screen-recording software (e.g., OBS).
  2. Handouts: Create a handout that you will make available to your students when they attend class. Since you are creating a handout, think about its purpose. Do you want a short, concise sheet that gives the structure of the lecture? Do you want it to contain exercises that students will complete in class?
  3. Lecture Notes: Create some lecture notes for a lesson you plan to teach.
  4. Classroom Activity. Suppose you wanted to develop an activity where students solve truth tables in small groups (or proofs on the board). Write a description of the activity where you describe its goals, group size, how it is supposed to be played, how you would assess whether the activity was successful, and, of course, the exercises they would complete in the activity.
  5. Class Assignment: Create an exam, quiz, and / or question bank. If you are planning on using CANVAS, research (1) how to put logical notation in CANVAS and (2) how to extract all of your data from CANVAS so you can use this at a different institution (note! Canvas turns formulas into images, these images are rendered as images with corresponding links, so you can just QTI export and import. I recommend writing everything in plaintext then using text2qti to import your stuff into CANVAS).
  6. Extra Credit: Students love extra credit, but instructors tend to hate that students ask for it at the very end of the semester. Combat this problem by creating a bunch of extra-credit opportunities that occur throughout the semester. I use puzzles, hard proofs, conceptual exercises, applications (e.g., logic’s relation to Excel, search engines, Python).
  7. Create a group activity or game. You do not necessarily need to think of your own activity or game. Take a look in logic textbooks or Teaching Philosophy for activities or games other teachers have used.

Suggestions

Pointers

  1. If you don't plan on ever teaching logic, try to create something that you could potentially use in the logic course and in courses your might actually teach.
  2. If you create handouts or slides for your students (and you want them to look polished), you'll want to learn how to input logical notation into a document. Try to create a page that explains some topic in logic. For example, if you wanted to explain conjunction elimination, you'll need to learn how to typeset proofs in either WORD or LaTeX. You can use my custom typesetting package ProofPack Video, Proofpack Github, Proofpack Documentation