MAILING LISTS

Hi All,

I am hoping that you can help me with a problem. I have been using TBL for
three semesters in a couple different undergrad sociology courses (Soc of
Gender and Mass Media) with courses that are 120 enrollment and 25
enrollment. For background, I am a grad student instructor and I've been
teaching for 3-4 years. I am interested in pedagogy and use TBL because I
feel it is a good format for helping students meet course goals (working
with readings, being accountable for their learning, application of course
concepts in class, etc).

I am thinking about redesigning my fall courses (Intro Soc and Families) to
also be TLB but I feel stuck. My course evaluations are "in the middle" but
low for my department and I worry that there is something I'm "doing wrong"
with TBL. I've read the book and I went to a workshop that Larry Michaelsen
did on my campus. I talked to someone about this and she suggested I post on
here for some examples of how others lay out their classes. 

My questions and requests are:
1. For your units, how many do you have in the semester? What do they "look"
like? I do about 5 units in a 16 week semester. Starts with a RAT (with
IF-AT forms), RAT Review/discussion of the reading, Activity or two, end
unit. I spend time framing the current unit and the activities as a part of
the larger course issue (i.e. "This unit we are talking about masculinity
and femininity. Today's activity will get us thinking about the relationship
between the two"). Here, if you have a syllabus you would be willing to
share (any discipline) that would be awesome. I think it would help me to
"see" how others are successfully putting their courses together. 

2. I would really like to see some sample ideas for activities that work
well. I generally follow the 4S of activity design but some fail. I also
feel like I do the same kind of things over and over. I would like to get
some ideas about different activities, esp ones that might involve working
with data, a film, or something other than a discussion question/scenario.

3. I feel like I have a hard time convincing my students about the benefits
of TBL. Half are on board and the other half make it hard. I'm discouraged
at times, my midterm evals had comments like "Stop the team stuff" and "quit
teaching" in them. I feel the norm in my department is heavy based on
lecture and students are not expected to read (or at least are not held
accountable for reading). If you have any ideas for readings, activities,
etc that might help me out that would be great. 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer,
Erica 
Department of Sociology
University at Albany