Teaching Large Classes in Soil and Water Science.

Teaching a large class is much different than teaching a class with a small enrollment.  Many of us who teach large classes were not prepared to do so.  Therefore, the objectives of this paper is to present information on a course established to instruct students on how to handle in the classroom and outside the classroom situations common to classes with large (> 75 students) enrollments.  The course outline includes topics such as getting physically and mentally prepared to teach, how to "act" as a teacher, how to interact with teaching assistants, when and how to use electrionc media to communicate, what activities can be created to make the lecture a better learning experience, how to prepare evaluation tools, what and how to grade (selecting a grading systen), importance of interacting with students especially in the large classroom setting, and the needs of students with disabilities.