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How to Give a Good Recitation (Exercises Session)

This section tries to answer:

  • Why is a recitation worth giving?
  • How to give a good recitation?

Why is a recitation worth giving?

Let's first discuss why to have recitations, i.e. "what is a good recitation."

Let's list some reasons why there's no recitation now.

Is a recitation important for students? If many students don't even attend the teacher's lecture, would they come to a TA's recitation? Probably not. Students' time is tight.

For the TA, what's the benefit of trying a recitation? Just spending time preparing and teaching? Usually TAs already face many tasks — grading, tutoring, etc. Asking them to also run recitations seems a bit much. In fact, many teachers don't require TAs to run recitations.

How to give a good recitation?

Designing a recitation

  • Clarify the positioning: is it reviewing/extending lecture content, or introducing assignment ideas? Clarify audience and goals.
  • It helps if the TA also attends the teacher's lecture.
  • Reference similar overseas courses' lecture/recitation content.
  • Usually not many students come; then consider:
  • Designing fun interactive activities/questions, group discussions.
  • Live code demos (vscode extension storyteller for recording).
  • It helps if the TA attends the teacher's lecture.

Before and after

  • Before, ask some students about difficulties from lectures/assignments.
  • After, briefly collect feedback: what they gained / how it was / what's still unclear. After each recitation, allow students to answer "any questions?" via a questionnaire — some won't raise their hand but will fill a form.

Lecturing and interaction

  • Practice clear Mandarin: proper pace, clear enunciation (practice tongue-twisters/voiceover/singing).
  • Replay the recitation recording/sound, feeling what students hear.
  • Watch whether students keep up, and try some interaction.

One-line answers to common confusions

  • How to handle "no students come to recitation but many have tutoring needs"? — Clarify audience (usually weaker students); match supply and demand; if students need one-on-one tutoring, do recitation first half and offline tutoring second half.
  • How to design a recitation? — Review/extend lecture content / introduce assignment ideas; clarify audience and goals; vary and try more; ask how students feel.