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A significant fraction of graduate students in chemistry come from abroad and most also serve as graduate teaching assistants, at least for a year or two. International graduate students face several problems as teachers. English is ordinarily not their native language; even more significantly, they are usually not familiar with the American educational system nor with American culture, particularly the folkways of the American student. This concise book developed by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University provides a wealth of practical advice for international faculty and graduate teaching assistants about to confront the American student for the first time. Not only will the beginning teacher find this book valuable, so will those of us who train, supervise, or mentor international graduate students or faculty.
The book begins with an essential introduction to the background and expectations of American students, assumptions that affect the way we teach. For example, the first point made is that American students come to college with a variety of backgrounds and take courses for very different reasons, something that is not true in many other countries. This overview is followed by a chapter that provides practical advice on how to bridge this gap, such as keeping a sense of humor. There are two chapters on teaching techniques: giving effective presentations and leading a discussion. The last chapter, Understanding Meanings beyond Words, includes brief discussions of the roles of body language, voice, and eye contact in communication. The final and very important point is that inexplicable behavior can often be understood if one knows the cultural values that underlie it. The book concludes with 15 brief appendices on essential pedagogical topics and a carefully chosen list of print references and university Web sites on teaching.
Although most of the information and advice in this book is quite general, the special needs of science teachers are addressed explicitly in the appendices, which include Some Issues in Science Section Teaching, Grading Problem Sets, and Teaching Students to Write Lab Reports, among others. The chapters with a broader scope use examples from science courses throughout, which will help chemistry teaching assistants to see the relevance of the advice to their own teaching.
Since one of my current responsibilities is planning the annual training program for new teaching assistants in my department, I will find this book very useful. I am certain that the international graduate students will find it to be a valuable resource during their first year of teaching. Read in a broader context, this book is also a good introduction to teaching for any new teaching assistant in chemistry or any other field. It is informed by the best thinking in pedagogy and its simple, practical advice will help anyone become a better teacher.
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