Wrap-Up and Homework for Tomorrow

Overview

Teaching: 5 min
Exercises: 15 min

Questions

• What have we learned today?

• What needs to be done to prepare for tomorrow?

Objectives

• Describe overnight homework.

• Produce a paragraph, drawing, or diagram that summarizes what was taught today.

Today we have focused on understanding some core findings of pedagogical research about how the learning process works and the importance of creating a positive classroom environment. We also introduced the idea of lesson study and gave some opportunities to practice teaching. Tomorrow we will continue our discussions of how we build teaching skill and will have more chances for practice and feedback. We will also look in some depth at how the Carpentries operate to prepare you for the logistics of teaching a workshop.

To prepare for tomorrow, please:

1. Read about the two types of Carpentry workshops: self-organized and centrally-organized and the checklists these pages link to. These summarize commonly asked questions about organizing and running workshops. When you arrive tomorrow, we will ask you to add one question about our operations to a list. We will then do our best to answer all of those questions during the day.

2. Prepare for the live coding exercises. If you haven’t already, pick an episode from an existing Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, or Library Carpentry lesson and read through it carefully. Tomorrow, you will use this to practice live coding for 3 minutes in groups of three. Your group members will comment on the delivery and content. The episodes we recommend were listed in the welcome message sent to you before the start of this course, and are:

   • Data Carpentry
     • Faceting and Clustering in OpenRefine
     • Basic Queries in SQL
     • Starting with Data in R
     • Starting with Data in Python
   • Library Carpentry
     • Working with Files and Directories in the Unix Shell
     • Faceting and filtering in Open Refine
     • For loops in Python
   • Software Carpentry
     • Working with Files and Directories in the Unix Shell
     • Tracking Changes in Git
     • Selecting Data in SQL
     • Repeating Actions with Loops in Python
     • Exploring Data Frames in R

Feedback

The Trainer(s) will ask for feedback on the day in some form.

This exercise should take 5 minutes.

Reflecting on the Day

Before we wrap up for the day, take 5 minutes to think over everything we covered today. On a piece of paper, write down something that captures what you want to remember about the day. The Trainers won’t look at this - it’s just for you.

If you don’t know where to start, consider the following list for a starting point:

• draw a concept map, connecting the material
• draw pictures or a comic depicting one of the day’s concepts
• write an outline of the topics we covered
• write a paragraph or “journal” entry about your experience of the training today
• write down one thing that struck you the most

This exercise should take about 10 minutes.

Key Points

• Today we learned about how people learn, how to build a positive classroom environment, and how to give feedback.

• Tomorrow we will cover specifics of Carpentries workshops and teaching practices.