MATH 599: Mathematics Teaching Techniques

When: MWF 12:00 noon–1:00 pm
Where: Mathematics 102
Textbook: Stephen G. Krantz, How to Teach Mathematics: A personal perspective (American Mathematical Society)—can be obtained from the instructor

Instructor: Prof. Greg Martin
Office: Mathematics 212
Email address: gerg@math.ubc.ca
Phone number: 822-4371
Office hours: Tuesdays 10:00–11:30 am, and Wednesdays 2:30–4:00 pm

Description: The purpose of this course is to provide students with training to help them become more effective teachers, and also to give the mathematics department a means for evaluating the suitability of students to teach undergraduate courses in mathematics. Virtually everybody is capable of becoming a competent and skillful instructor, but virtually nobody would do well if made to teach a course without preparation or forethought about effective teaching practices. Structuring a course, preparing lectures, delivering information, responding to questions, assigning homework, dealing with problem students, and so on are all areas where a little consideration of certain guidelines can vastly improve a teacher's performance.  Much of what comprises excellent teaching is quite different from individual to individual; most of what comprises bad teaching, on the other hand, is universal yet easily avoided with some experience.

Evaluation: The course is graded on a pass/fail basis. Passing the course is based on the following criteria:
Students will give two presentations during the semester, one of length 20 minutes and one of length 50 minutes. Students will teach typical topics from first-year calculus as if the audience were actually a first-year calculus class, after which they will receive feedback from the rest of the class and the instructor.  Clearly, the focus of the class will be not on the final grade but rather on thinking about issues of teaching and course management and giving and receiving constructive feedback on our skills in the classroom.

You can also download this course outline in PDF format.

The list of topics and the schedule for the long teaching presentations is now online.
The list of topics and the schedule for the short teaching presentations is still online.

Reading assignments