Microteaching Mini-Course “Public Speaking for Physicists” for First Year Graduate Students, U of T Physics, Fall 2009

Welcome! The goals of this mini-course are to practice talking up in front of a small group, and discuss the challenges and joys of public speaking. We believe that oral presentation skills are important to your future. These skills do not come naturally, but can be practiced and learned.

Coordinator: Jason Harlow

Office: MP129A, in the North Wing

Email: jharlow at physics

Phone: 416-946-4071

Senior TA:

Behi Fatholahzadeh

Office: MP 915

Email: behi.fatholahzadeh at utoronto dot ca

Phone: 416-978-8478

Students: All 1st Year Physics Graduate Students + some interested higher level graduate students

Duration: 3 meetings, 5 hours total, spread out over Sep. 9 - 25, 2009.

• 1st meeting is an hour: 9:00 – 10:00, Wednesday Sep. 9, 2009 in MP125-A
• Each group will then meet for two hours twice (4 hours total), in MP713, once during the week of Sep.14 - 18, and then again exactly 1 week later.

Course Outline (PDF)

Feedback Form (PDF)

Groups [Please alert Jason Harlow by email if you note are any errors or inconsistencies!]

#	Time	Place	Senior TA	Students – 4 students	per session plus TA
1	Mon.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Lynn McDonald 1
	2-4
2	Mon.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Hai Jun Cho 1	Zuoming Qian 1
	5-7			Wolfram Helwig 1	Phil Heron 1
3	Tue.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Aylia Mohammadi 1	Dan Sun 0
	2-4			Siavash Aslanbeigi 1	Zhamak Abdi Dezfooli 1
4	Tue.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Cuauhtemoc Salazar	Hoi Kwan Lau
	5-7			Juan Rosas	Kemp Plumb
5	Wed.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Andreea Lupascu	Vijay Shankar Venkataraman
	4-6			Zen Mariani	Eric Lee
6	Wed.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Andres Covarrubias
	6-8			Matt Russo	Greg Dmochowski
7	Thu.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Laura Handbury	Ramin Saleh
	2-4			Julia Odegova	Nikolina Ilic
8	Thu.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Anjan Reijnders	Azadeh Talebnejad
	5-7			Michael Sprague	Gabriello Pitman
9	Fri.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Ardavan Darabiborojeni	Ashleigh Ingle
	12-2			Hao Zhang	M. Erfan Shalchian
10	Fri.	MP713	Behi Fatholahzadeh	Dylan Mahler	Hass AbouZeid
	2-4			Keven Roy	Aida Delfan Abazari

Schedule
Group 1: Mon. 2:00 – 4:00. Sep. 14 and 21  – MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 2: Mon. 5:00 – 7:00pm. Sep. 14 and 21 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 3: Tue. 2:00 – 4:00. Sep. 15 and 22 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 4: Tue. 5:00 – 7:00pm. Sep. 15 and 22 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 5: Wed. 4:00 – 6:00pm. Sep. 16 and 23 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 6: Wed. 6:00 – 8:00pm. Sep. 16 and 23 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 7: Thu. 2:00 – 4:00. Sep. 17 and 24 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 8: Thu. 5:00 – 7:00pm. Sep. 17 and 24 – MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 9: Fri. 12:00 – 2:00. Sep. 18 and 25 - MP713 - Senior TA: Behi Fatholahzadeh

Group 10: Fri. 2:00 – 4:00. Sep. 18 and 25 - MP713 - Senior TA: Johann Bayer

Payment and relation to TA work

• This course is not for marks. Attendance will be taken, and an official record will be kept by the graduate chair of who participated as Pass/Fail only.
• An unofficial rankingof your public speaking abilities (on a scale of 1-5) will be sent to the undergraduate chair to help determine your future TA assignments.
• All 5 hours are considered “TA Training” and you will be paid for this.

During the Two Hour Sessions

• There will be 4 students and 1 Senior TA.
• Each student will deliver a 10 minute "teaching-style" presentation on a topic of their choice. Four suggested topics are listed below. The level of delivery should be understandable to a typical first-year undergraduate.
• After each presentation, the presentation will be reviewed for 20 minutes, and comments may be made for the benefit of the speaker.
• 4 speakers with 30 minutes each = about 2 hours

Suggested Topics (choose one, make it fun, discuss specific examples!)

• Newton's Third Law
• Conservation of Angular Momentum
• Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
• Polarization of Light

First Session

• Only the 4 students and the Senior TA will be present.
• Each presentation will be timed and video-taped. Immediately after each presentation, the tape will be reviewed by everyone, with minimal commenting.
• After watching the video, the remaining 10 minutes will be used for discussion and constructive comments about the delivery.
• For each presenter, the 3 peers and the Senior TA will fill out a Feedback Form. The presenter will receive all 4 feedback forms to aid in preparing the second presentation. Results of this first presentation will NOT be shared with the course coordinator, undergrad chair or graduate chair.

Second Session

• The Second Session will take place exactly 1 week later, with the same group members and Senior TA. Each student will either repeat the original 10 minute talk with improvements, or give something totally different.
• Guest observers will be welcome in the second session.
• Comments, questions, discussion, and comparison with the first presentation will last 20 minutes after each talk.
• For each presenter, the 3 peers may fill out a Feedback Form and share it with the presenter. The Senior TA will fill out a Feedback Form which will be then be given to the course coordinator, Jason Harlow. The numerical results of the Feedback will be averaged and shared with the undergraduate chair as an informal assessment of your public speaking ability.

Preparing your talk:

• You are encouraged to use visual aids, such as powerpoint, or the chalk-board. A laptop with projector will be present in each room; you may bring a talk on a USB key, CDRom, or bring your own laptop.
• Time yourself! You must not go over the 10 minute limit – the Senior TA will be timing each presentation and cutting you off at 10 minutes.

Speaking Tips:

• Be well prepared; plan and rehearse the timing of what you will present.
• Have eye contact with the audience members.
• Speak clearly, and loud enough so everyone in the room can hear you.
• Make sure your visual aids are easily readable to all.
• Smiling, open hand-gestures, and voice inflections are okay – don’t monotone!
• Relax and be yourself!

This web page is maintained by Jason Harlow.