Accessing your discussion section

This week you will meet for your first discussion, during the day and time you registered for. Always make sure that you have finished and uploaded any assignments due this week before coming to discussion section.

Discussions in this semester-long course generally meet in-person. Your course schedule shows the building and room of your discussion. You can use the campus map to find the building where your discussion meets.

A few discussions in this course may meet via Zoom. Your TA may choose to hold occasional discussion sections over Zoom in order to accommodate out-of-town guests or other special circumstances. Your TA will send you the URL for their Zoom room. Follow these tips for effective Zoom discussions:

Turn your video on so that everyone can see you and be reassured that you are listening and learning.
Mute your microphone at the start, and only unmute it when you want to talk.
Use the "Raise Hand" icon at the bottom of the screen to indicate to your TA when you want to speak.
Leave text comments for everyone by using the text chat panel.
Let your TA know if you have technological issues that prevent you from using video or audio during the Zoom call

For more on Zoom at UW, see https://it.wisc.edu/learn/guides/uw-madison-zoom-101-tips-training/

Fill out an introduction card for your TA

Your TA will probably bring a stack of notecards to section and pass one out to each student. On this notecard, please write your preferred name and email, and one important thing you would like your TA to know about you that will help you succeed in this course – for example, something about your learning style, or your preparation for the material we'll cover, or what you hope to learn by the end of the semester. These information cards will not be shared; they will only be seen by your TA.

Introductions and icebreakers

Our main goal with the first discussion section is to start to get to know each other and build a learning community. Your TA will probably lead one or more of the following icebreakers:

Around the horn. Everyone gets a chance to introduce themselves, saying their name, major, hometown, and name (begin AND end with name).

Teach me something. Tell the class an interesting fact that you expect none of the rest of us know (and tell us how you learned it).

Show and tell. Find something you're carrying in your pockets or your backpack that you think none of the rest of us have with us and tell us why you have it. Bonus points if it is really strange.

Book club. What's the last great book you read that wasn't assigned in class, or the one movie you think everyone should watch at least once (and why)?

Math is hard. Speculate on the most challenging class you're taking this semester, why you're taking it, and how that class relates to your career goals – what depth of skills you'll learn from it, what kind of breadth of experience it exposes you to, what concrete products or accomplishments you'll emerge with that could go into an online portfolio, and how the class might help extend your professional social network through relationships you build with instructors and peers.

Meet my new friend. Pair up with another student to learn about them (using one or more of the icebreakers above) and then you take turns introducing each other to the rest of the class.

Namegame. This is an improv comedy warm-up exercise. Everyone stands in a circle. One by one, everyone says their name – you can go around the circle twice if it helps. Then you pass the energy by pointing at someone and saying their name. If someone messes up your name, just point at yourself and say your name, before passing to someone else. To begin at the very start, everyone will be numbered off 1–4 (like it's summer camp) and the class will be divided into two circles (evens vs. odds, for example) which will periodically get shuffled up.

P.S. You won't need to use your computers or phones during these exercises – close your technology and be present in the moment with your fellow students!