The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on October 1st, from 12:20 to 1:10 in room 451 of the ILC.

At this meeting, we will have a discussion of the job market in semantics. A variety of perspectives will be discussed: that of the employer, that of the applicant, and that of the field at large (i.e., ‘what are the trends that we’re starting to see?’). People who have recently experienced the academic job market are strongly encouraged to share their perspectives and experiences, as are students who are about to enter the market.

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on September 24th, from 12:20 to 1:10 in room 451 of the ILC.

At this meeting, workshop participants will briefly discuss either (i) the research projects they’re currently working on, or (ii) what their general interests are.

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on September 17th, from 12:20 to 1:10 in room 451 of the ILC.

At this meeting, the attendees of this year’s SALT – Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten, Yangsook Park, and Timothy Grinsell – will report on and lead a discussion of the conference. Following that, workshop participants will briefly discuss either (i) the research projects they’re currently working on, or (ii) what their general interests are.

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on September 10th, from 12:20 to 1:10 in room 451 of the ILC.

At this meeting, Angelika Kratzer will provide a report on some of the conferences that she’s attended this summer: the St. Andrews Conference on Tense, the Norwich Conference on Language and Logic, and LAGB. In addition, Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten will provide a report on SULA, and Jon Ander Mendia will report on NASSLLI.

The first meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be on September 3rd, from 12:20 to 1:10 in Room 451 of the Linguistics Department (Integrated Learning Center, 4th Floor) [PLEASE NOTE ROOM CHANGE].

At this meeting, we will discuss the overall role of the workshop, and we’ll also set a preliminary schedule of activities for the term. Such activities include (and are not limited to):

• Presentations of works in progress by students, faculty, and visitors
• Practice talks for conferences, jobs, colloquia, etc. by students, faculty and visitors
• Discussion of recent semantics conferences
• Discussion of interesting recent semantics papers
• Discussion of upcoming semantics job searches
• Discussion of semantics journals and experiences submitting to them.
• Semantics journal club: short discussions of recent interesting papers, related or unrelated
• Anything related to semantics or the life of the semanticist!

Notes on Seminar teaching

Shared by Kristine Yu

Session information

From Center for Teaching and Faculty Development conversations on
teaching, facilitated by Peter Lindsay, [2013–10–10 Thu]

SEMINAR TEACHING | Thursday, October 10, 11:15 AM to 12:45 PM |
Teaching seminars involves striking a balance between directing a
discussion and letting it go where students want to take it. Are there
effective ways to achieve both objectives, and, failing that, is it
better to err on one side rather than the other? How does the group
dynamic affect discussion? Are there steps instructors can take to
insure a safe and vibrant discussion?

Dr. Peter Lindsay is an Associate Professor of Political Science and
Philosophy and the former Director of the Center for Teaching and
Learning at Georgia State University. He has taught at Harvard
University, the University of New Hampshire and the University of
Toronto, and has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards.

Handout notes

1. Getting started
   1. review previous session
   2. provide outline of the day’s discussion (to facilitate note taking)
   3. read tricky passage and ask for comments
   4. quick – 3 min – writing prompt
   5. emotional reaction to readings
   6. a sharp question
2. Asking the right questions
   1. not factual
   2. apply, analyze, critique and/or evaluate what they’ve learned
   3. explain the relationships bewteen things they’ve learned
   4. compare things they’ve learned
   5. clarify a point
   6. issues that are meaningful; to which they can relate
   7. that give them confidence; to which they can provide some
      form of answer
   8. with answers that don’t presuppose knowledge of the reading
   9. about a common experience, perhaps one you create
   10. sub-questions (if they can’t answer the ones you ask)
   11. worst question: any questions?
3. Handling tension
   1. when students deadlock in disagreement, have them switch sides
   2. periodically summarize differences
   3. 2-column method (“pros” and “cons”)
   4. Don’t necessarily avoid tension. Use as a teaching moment
4. Toning down talkative students
   1. talk to student out of class
   2. appoint observers and have them report
   3. video or audio tape class and play back to them
   4. fishbowl – divide class into discussants and observers
5. Encouraging quiet ones
   1. Reasons sutdents don’t contribute
      1. they aren’t learning
      2. scared that they’re not worthy
      3. professors can’t keep mouths shut
      4. cultural barriers
      5. seating not conducive
      6. haven’t done reading / aren’t prepared
   2. Solutions
      1. they aren’t learning:
         1. summarize the problems every so often
         2. have them clarify points
         3. summarize main points of class at the end so they see
            that they’ve learned
      2. scared that they’re not worthy:
         1. don’t come down too hard, reward/encourage shy ones
         2. get them to know each other – encourage social inclusion
         3. split up in sub groups
            1. think, pair, share
            2. divide up into groups according to some criteria
         4. have them write initial answers down
         5. talk to student after class
         6. get to know them and ask them about things they know
         7. ask questions they can provide some form of answer to
      3. professors can’t keep mouths shut
         1. don’t tell them the answers
         2. wait for 5 seconds
         3. give up a bit of control
      4. cultural barriers
         1. emphasize the first day and on syllabus that
            participation is crucial
         2. meet with them privately
      5. seating not conducive – change it
      6. haven’t done reading/aren’t prepared
         1. response papers
         2. have students bring passages they found puzzling,
            interesting, or important
         3. quizzes
         4. get them interested in doing it
6. Ending the discussion
   1. ask a student to summarize
   2. minute paper summary
   3. end in the middle of a conversation (leaving them wanting more)
7. Resources
   1. Brookfield: Discussion as a Way of Teaching
   2. Center for Teaching and Faculty Development
   3. Maier and Maier, “An experimental test of the effects of
      ‘developmental’ vs ‘free’ discussion on the quality of group
      decisions”. Journal of Applied Psychology (1957) 41, 320–323
   4. Nilson, Teaching at its best, Ch. 13
   5. McKeachie, Teaching Tips, Ch. 5

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held November 27th, from 12:20 to 1:10 in the Partee Room (301 South College).

At this meeting, we will informally discuss Jon Gajewski’s semantics colloquium from this past Friday. Any thoughts, comments, criticisms, questions are fair game!

If you’d like a copy of the handout from Jon’s talk, please get in touch with Seth Cable.

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on November 10th, from 12:20 to 1:10 in the third floor lounge area of South College.

At this meeting, we will informally discuss a paper related to Jon Gajewski’s colloquium talk on Friday November 22nd. Over e-mail, Jon recommended that we take a look at his 2011 NaLS article, posted below. He also noted that we needn’t worry about the analysis in the fourth section, but that the ideas in the first 13 pages will be helpful background to his talk.

Consequently, our discussion will focus on just the first 13 pages of the article (though folks are invited to read further and feel free to comment on other parts of the paper as well!):

Gajewski-2011

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on November 6th, from 12:20 to 1:10, in the third floor lounge area of South College.

This meeting will focus on abstract writing. Seth, Rajesh, and Ilaria will present examples of abstracts, both good and bad. Following this, students who wish to participate will receive constructive feedback on their own abstract drafts.

If you would like to get feedback on your abstract, please be sure to submit your abstract to Seth by Monday 11/4. Seth will then distribute the abstracts to all the participants, to allow them to read and generate comments prior to the workshop meeting.

The next meeting of the Semantics Workshop will be held on October 23rd, from 12:20 to 1:10, in the third floor lounge area of South College.

At this meeting, we’ll have an informal discussion of some of the semantics talks from this year’s NELS, which will take place over this weekend at the University of Connecticut.