Teaching Assistants' Training Program

Robin Sutherland-Harris, TATP Humanities Coordinator
Alex Stewart, TATP Sciences Trainer

Lesson plan templates can be helpful, but can also feel restrictive. Winging it can be exhilarating, but can also backfire! Is it possible to strike a balance between an ordered approach to lesson planning and encouraging students to let their learning take the lead in your class? In this workshop, participants will explore the 5 E’s – Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate – as phases of learning that can help us both structure tutorials and guide students in learning new content. This model of lesson design is flexible, focused on student learning, and has proven especially useful in environments where students are exposed to raw data (e.g. many sciences as well as courses focused primarily on historical/literary/religious texts). Participants will experience each of the five phases as we explore the theory behind this model of instructional design, identify discipline-specific applications, and draft a plan for applying this approach in your own teaching context.