• Try to take neutral positions on public issues that may come up.
  
  
• Always try to relate the disucssions to writing or writing problems.
  
  
• Treat everyone and their ideas with respect.
  
  
• Don’t get drawn into arguments with students.
  
  
• Do not criticize the campus newspaper but allow the students to do so if they wish.
  

Know the syllabus and other course materials: Know the syllabus thoroughly for your own benefit so you’ll be aware of where we’re headed in the course. When students ask you a question that is answered in the syllabus, refer them to it so that they too will be familiar with it. In other words, discourage them from asking dumb questions that they could have answered by looking at the syllabus. If they ask when the midterm is scheduled, tell them the date but also remind them that they could have looked in the syllabus.

Read the week’s readings in the supplement and text text before lecture, so we can all discuss the week’s materials intelligently in our Monday morning meeting.

Treatment of students

You should take great pains to treat all students fairly. What you do for one student you should be willing to do for all students.

Privacy for students: of course, all of you know that we can only discuss a student’s grades with that student and in private, out of earshot of other students or teachers. If you share an office, run off your office mates when you must meet with a student. Please don’t discuss your students’ performance with any other than the student and the professor of record.

Lab meetings: Meet every lab and plan to stay for the entire lab time. our lab schedule will give you enough work to keep the class occupied during the entire two periods. If your class quickly finishes up one assignment, them give ‘em the next one. We have so much material to cover in this course that we can’t afford the luxury of missing lab time.

Returning graded papers: It’s a good rule of thumb that instructors should return graded papers the next lab after written work is turned in. So, papers turned in on Tuesday would be returned on Thursday, etc. This keeps your desk clear of too much paperwork and keeps the students happy. of course, an occasional overload of grading — a big batch of homework and writing assignments, say — may keep you from meeting this standard all the time.

Explain assignments to students: When you give a writing or worksheet assignment, explain to students what the expectations are, i.e., what kind of skills you’ll expect them to demonstrate in the assignment. If the purpose of the assignment is to test their skills at lead-writing and story organization, then say so. In returning assignments to students after they’ve been graded, explain how you graded the assignment, the most common errors students committed, how to do better next time, etc.

Absences and make-up work: Work missed in lab — for any reason — cannot be made up. We will drop a certain number of grades at the end of the semester (usually two or three), and that will take care of the zeros that a student has because of an absence.

Students often believe that they are automatically excused if they are on some sort of “official” University trip. This is not the case. Absences are absences. We are not able to judge the reasons for those absences. our policy of dropping some grades applies to all students whether they have been absent or present.

Troublesome students: If you have trouble with a student, come to me immediately. If you think a student plans to come to me to discuss a concern in your lab, let me know beforehand so that I will be well-informed before the students runs into my office.

• Sample syllabus
  
  
• Notes on grading writing assignments
  
  
• Notes on grading advertising copywriting assignments
  
  
• Handling graduate teaching assistants