Month: May 2010

As a student we go through life encountering a wide variety of “teachers”. Some may be unforgettable while others seem to put you in a constant nightmare. As I have matured into my college education the big question I have during class registration week is “what is the teacher like”. Although some adults think differently, we are here to get the most out of the large amount of money we are spending, not just to party. Like any other investment or purchase we would like our product (the classroom/teacher) to be a worthwhile experience and not a complete waste of 600 plus dollars. Having this mind frame going into my TA experience allowed me to take what I hope to get out of my classes and try to incorporate it with the teachers side of learning.
When taking all my past and current class experiences and comparing them to the Introductory Psychology course it opened my eyes to what successful teaching really is. Most of us have a predetermined theory to what makes a good teacher but usually it depends on your learning style. One of the biggest things I learned over this semester is that although it seems like an easy concept to incorporate and make available different learning styles for students. I remember learning in my psychology class in high school about how the brain works differently for each person and ways one can incorporate that into studying. The problem is not the studying it is the in-class learning environment.
During this semester every class I was enrolled in was a pure lecture course with exams and papers. Nothing else! As a TA I learned how teachers can these learning styles scattered around everyday lectures to tend to all students needs. I have only had a couple professors in college who chose to add a little more to lectures and class activities. From a students perspective it makes a huge difference because I for one need hands on or visual activity to help me understand or remember concepts, while textbooks and notes are very unsuccessful for me. It was a bittersweet moment when I realized the potential lectures could have if done correctly. Although it was interesting to see how Dr. Gurung used the variety of styles it was disappointing when I did not experience these during my own classroom encounters.
Learning styles are not the only things I learned. I was able to see how much truly goes into teaching behind the scenes. As a student I thought a teacher came to class taught us the material and then went home and graded papers/tests. While being a TA you get to see how one must prepare information and be extremely organized with time. I have also learned that planning is very important and very hard. There are so many variables that can affect the actual lecture come class time. This includes picking out a text book, writing goals, writing a syllabus,, and planning  each lesson. Picking out a text book is actually harder than it seems. One thing that I was really surprised about was the amount of students that contact the teachers for nonacademic subjects or issues. I don’t know if one sees it as often in other fields of study or maybe due to the professor being a psychologist they think it’s a way to get help. Overall the amount that professors have to deal with students on a day-to-day basis was shocking. I hope that all teachers are as open to helping students out as Dr. Gurung is.
This past spring was a semester that allowed me to grow as a student, writer, peer, and BLOGGER. I for one never successfully understood the concept and reason to blog until now. It is an extremely convenient way to get ones ideas and thoughts across quickly to a large group of people. From what I noticed it seemed to be a great too but I just could not seem to get myself to write. I always had a decent amount of notes after class and all I had to do was type them but I could just never get motivated to get on this thing. Face-to-face discussion seems so much easier to me than this but I thought it was a very interesting part of being a TA.
Surprisingly my favorite part of being a TA was doing study tables and meeting students outside of class time to go over material. One would think that the time and frustration that goes into that would be more gruesome than fun. It never seemed to feel that way for me. I was always thrilled to be asked and would get a huge boost of confidence when I was able to help them overcome a struggle. Along this line we also were to hold individual review sessions with our pods and  to do a small part of a lecture. If someone would have asked me how I think I would do in those kinds of situations I don’t think I would have had the confidence to say I’d be fine or even see myself accomplishing those tasks. I strongly feel that the small review sessions allowed us to get some respect for the students by showing them we know (for the most part) what we are talking about and we can actually help them.
I can honestly say I have done quite a bit of public speaking outside of school for board meetings, mission trips and athletic events but it is a totally different feeling when your standing in front of 250 judging peers. I never seemed to get that nervous in the past before speaking in front of people but while waiting my turn during class that day it was very eye opening. Although I thought public speaking was not one of my weaknesses it came to be a struggle in this situation.
Sadly this semester flew right by but thankfully I was able to take a lot from the TA experience. One of the biggest things that I noticed is the increase in my academic confidence. I will admit that growing up and still today I was never that A student so my motivation to push myself seemed to simmer over the years. During this semester I was able to realize that I do know the information and if I am able to help others work hard to understand and do well I should allow myself the credit and motivate myself to do the best I can not just what’s necessary.

“Life as a TA” :  I had labeled this section of blogs at the beginning of this semester, and did not even realize the importance of this to me.  It is definitely different to be a TA in a classroom than it is a student.  You pick up on so many different things that you would never realize as a student.  Not only have I realized certain habits (such as texting, falling asleep, or chatting with your neighbor in class) are very noticeable to professors, but it can have an impact on your learning (well obviously if you are asleep, you wouldn’t be able to pay attention anyway).  This has helped me to become a better student in the classroom.

Things I didn’t know about teaching that I know now:

I never realized how some professors use research as the basis of their teaching style (this should have been a “no-brainer”, but now I realize they actually USE the research and not just research it. DUH!)  I also better understand why some professors (like Dr G) do not provide notes to students, and why other professors are willing to have handouts available to students.

I also did not realize how much thinking goes into a lecture.  Timing, what to say and not to say.  These are important to think about not only before the actual lecture, but also during the lecture.  Being able to be flexible during a lecture is important, because you never know what you will need to spend more time on in class, as well as what a student may ask that might take up more class time.

This experience as a TA has been very important to me.  I always enjoy seeing things from another perspective, because I am then better able to understand the other point of view, and I have definitely gained some eye-opening experiences. 🙂

My experience as a TA has given me a whole new perspective on not just teaching, but also on how to perform better as a student. One thing that I learned is that students can learn a lot more just by how much attention they are paying to the professor. Prof. Gurung walks around the whole class and shook lectures up with activities, which kept the students awake and alert. In one of my other courses this past semester, my professor just stood in the same spot the whole class, lectured nonstop for the whole hour and twenty-minutes, and whenever I looked around, other students were either dazing off or sleeping. Another thing I learned was that teaching means connecting the material to a students’ own life, not just naming off facts. For instance, with the somatoform disorders I presented, I did not merely present it as a fact that was going to go down in their notes. I wanted to present it as something that they can understand on a deeper level. So, before I began on the material I questioned students about new pains that have developed at the end of the semester, and I also presented a video with a man relatively close to the ages of the students (man had somatoform disorder). Connecting/relating material to students helps them recognize the similarities/differences between them and the material, and how they can relate it to other material. I also learned about how important teacher/student communication is both in and out of class. In class, I learned how to ask and answer questions with students. I also learned about the deep consideration that needs to go into issues outside of class. For example, talking about why students text or skip class, what the punishments should be for cheaters, and even how to get feedback on issues (such as the end-of class questionnaire we created). All student issues, no matter how big or small, deserve to be looked at with the same consideration and fairness.

My reaction to being a TA was at first hesitant, but am now very comfortable and thankful that I had this experience. Facing the students, instead of sitting with them, has helped me see what kind of pressure and dependence students put/have on the professor. Doing a presentation in front of a group of classmates can be nerve-wracking but doable, but being a professor takes a great amount of practice and skill. I believe that being a TA has helped me build on some of my teaching skills that I had weaknesses or little knowledge of (mentioned in the latter paragraph).

I enjoyed being a TA, especially because I got to work with such friendly and supportive member-TAs, as well as a encouraging professor. I only knew one of the TA’s before this semester, and I hardly knew Gurung. Now, I feel like I’ve become good friends with the TAs and can go to Prof. Gurung for advice or to just chat. Each class brought something new to the table and challenged my thinking about teaching in some way. During a lot of classes, I would take little notes on specific things Prof. Gurung did while teaching, and used these for my own teaching experiences and also to better understand how to communicate with others. In the future, I hope to have another TA experience somewhere, to build further on my understanding of and skills in teaching.

This semester as a TA I learned so much not only about teaching, but also psychology. There is no better way to solidify something I learned a couple years ago now, than to teach it to others. It’s amazing how fast it comes back. I can honestly say before I was a TA that I had no clue how much planning, thought, and effort goes into the successful teaching of a class. Seeing all of the behind the scenes action peaked an interest I never knew I had. I never knew that I would be interested in pursuing teaching in psychology.

Before this semester all I saw was the part of psychology that originally drew me in, which was counseling/clinical psychology. Now I see another area of psychology that holds an interest. This also caused me to re-evaluate the type of graduate program I wanted to look at. I originally thought that I would want to go for my Psy. D. and even researched programs that I was interested in, and now my summer project is looking for Ph. D. programs.

I’ve said on multiple occasions that this semester is the first semester I actually feel like a psychology major. It’s weird, but there’s no way to describe it. The combination of taking more upper level classes, and being helping teach a lower level class just really drove the point home for me that this is where I belong. I also said multiple times during the semester, how lucky am I that I get to wake up everyday and study a subject that I absolutely love. I never really felt that way before this semester.

I will also say that this semester as a TA definitely helped my confidence in my ability in psychology as well as public speaking. I definitely feel more competent in psychology as well, having to come up with alternate explanation when my pod or students in a review session didn’t understand something helped me dig deeper than just repeating a definition. I also had some previous public speaking experience, but nothing compared to this semester. Having to talk about psychology was more nerve wracking than just leading a meeting, I think because I put greater importance on psychology and being accurate.

I would definitely recommend the TA experience to everyone who is able to fit it in their schedule. For me, I had no clue that I might be interested in teaching until I became a TA. I also liked that I was able to develop a relationship with my 50 students, it really helped me feel like I had some allies while I was giving my lecture. And it was nice to be able to have some conversation before/after reviews, before class, and in other classes that I had with them. I think the pod feature really helped students feel like someone notices whether they were there or not, and someone was able to focus on them and their questions without 200 other people there. I know for me it can be difficult to ask a question in front of 250 people.

This was a game changing semester for me in large part because of my TA experience. I am so lucky to have been able to experience being a TA, and will definitely value the experience for grad school and beyond.