Month: May 2011

Blog on how your performance and student interactions have changed (if so)

• I’d like to think that I have improved on my confidence and performance in giving review sessions. I feel that the more review sessions I gave, the more confidence I’ve gained. I was more communicative and more interactive with the students towards the end of the semester in the review sessions. I’d like to note that the first review session went alright, the second review session was better, and the last review session was more down-to-earth and approachable from my point of view. If I had another chance to give a review session, I would like to improve on my knowledge and skills of giving a review session. I should work harder to challenge students by asking them more alternative questions. In order to be able to do so, I would polish my knowledge of the material to be a better TA.

 

“Now that the semester is over, what did you learn from the TA experience? Comment on the class and semester in general.”

• From the TA experience, I have learned a lot about what it is like to be a professor, to give a lecture, and to help students learn Psychology. Reflecting back on the beginning of the semester, I was very excited and nervous to be a TA of 250-class. However, with other TAs and Dr. Gurung’s support, I got accustomed to the system very quickly. I have learned how much work is required to be a professor by being a TA. Being a professor is not only about lectures. Before and after the class, there is almost always some students who need more assistance. On top of that, professors need to grade students’ assignments and/or evaluate the exams. Because there is so much to say, I am going to summarize my reflection by writing a free style poem.

 

• “Professors need a lot of preparation for each lecture, even before the semester starts.
• Professors need to read a lot and know the content of the material well to elaborate.
• Professors need to be confident in what they are doing, but yet need to be adaptive and accommodative.
• Professors need not to sweat the small stuff. Professors need to consider equity, equality, rights, and ability of students.
• Professors need to keep on smiling to be approachable.
• Professors need to be active in thinking, thinking for the class.
• Professors need to want to improve for the betterment in any condition they are in.
• Professors need to be organized and be open to new ideas so that they have more opportunities to reach their potentials in teaching.
• Professors need to be in touch with students, even when they receive 100 messages in the inbox.
• Professors need to have interesting styles of teaching to help students engage in learning the material.
• Professors need to have good judgments that are appropriate for time, place, and issue.
• Professors need to be insightful and encouraging, like a role-model.
• And, professors are also human; they have emotions like we(students) all do.”

 

 

• I don’t mean any of this to be an insult at all if they sounded like it. I just thought that if I wasn’t a TA, I wouldn’t have felt or known what professors think of each lecture, event, and contact they have with students. I was so lucky to be one of the TAs this semester, and I am very thankful for this opportunity. I learned a lot about myself and I need to work more to be a better TA if I become one in the future. I should work on polishing my knowledge in Psychology and become more interactive with students to be more approachable. I know the material, but I was not the best at explaining the materials to the students. I think that’s something I should definitely improve. I know I have a good personality and I am very motivated. However, there is always something I can work on to become a better role-model. It was a wonderful experience, and I cannot be any happier or more thankful for the opportunity to be a TA with Dr. Gurung.

 

 

The semester is over already! I really enjoyed my time as a TA. I think that the most important thing I learned is to apperciate professors and their lectures more. By seeing all of the effort and thought Dr. Gurung put into each lecture it helped me realize how much time it does take to create an interesting and interactive lecture. The books we read helped give ideas of how to make lectures more interesting for students, but it does seem like really hard work to keep their attention for the whole class period and the whole semester. Being a TA helped me see how much work it really does take. I did show me that not all teachers put the same amount of effort into their lectures and it’s unfortunate because you can tell just by the atmosphere in one of Dr. Gurung’s classes that students really apperciate it when professors make the material interesting and engaging.

I also got to see just some of the e-mails from students send to TAs and it is amazing how many questions students have. I can’t imagine how many e-mails professors get everyday, especially ones that could be answered by just looking at the syllabus. I learned that it is really important for professors to keep contact with the students to see what is working and what isn’t working.

I’m glad that I got to be a TA for such a large class. Even though it was hard to give a short lecture to them it gives you more of an idea about how different students are. Some students do put a lot of effort into the class and are determined to get an A. Unfortunately, some students don’t put a lot of effort into the class which is sad to see, but with 250 students it’s hard to make sure they all do well. It’s hard to get to know each person in a large class but I think that Dr. Gurung implemented a lot of great ways to help meet some of the students needs. The first would have to be the facebook wall. It was amazing to see all of the comments and videos students posted. Just by reading some of the comments you can see that students really liked using the facebook wall. Another was by having the pods. The pods were a great idea because it helped get the students to interact with the other TAs and me, instead of them being confused as to who they could contact.

Giving part of a lecture to the class was very helpful for me. During the first review session I was nervous about standing up in front of about 40 students and after giving a few more exam reviews and part of a lecture I feel a lot more confident about standing in front of a group of people and talking. Making the powerpoint slides and picking videos for the lecture was also a nice experience because it helps you see what professors have to do for almost every lecture they have.

I never thought that entering grades would take so long. Now I understand why it may take professors awhile to get grades in. It really makes you apperciate the teachers that read through term papers or have weekly assignments.

The semester overall seemed to go really good. The majority of the students in the class enjoyed the it and will miss it next semester. Being a TA was a great experience. I met some great people by doing it. I thought that each of the TAs did a great job and I wish them the best in the future. I’m also very glad that I got to work with Dr. Gurung. I’ve had a few friends that said he is the reason that they love psychology and the class seemed really interesting, it makes me sad I didn’t have intro here. I will miss being a TA. It really helped me learn a lot about myself and other students. I’ve learned a lot of things that I can hopefully carry on with me and incorporate into my future experiences.

It’s going to be weird and a little sad not walking into class next week but at least the weather is beautiful!

This semester as a TA has been a great experience. I think overall this semester went great. Like every class a few things went wrong like the computer turning off and such. I did not take psychology, let alone any other class with Dr. G, so I had no idea what to expect. I had never had a professor that tried learning names in such a big class, or that responded to emails so fast. It truly shows that the professor cares about the students and their success in his or class.
As a TA I learned what it was like to be on the other side of the classroom. I had no idea that professors worried about certain things like attendance. It also changed my opinion on using books on online tests, texting in class, and attending class. A lot of effort is put in to make sure the students are learning and not just memorizing.
TAing also gave me the opportunity to kind of get over my fear of public speaking, having to give a lecture and do review sessions. I never knew how hard it was to motivate the students to talk and ask questions. It truly gave me a different perspective.
If anything should be taken from this experience it would be that good teachers are an abundance, great teachers are rare and excellent teachers are one in a million. And the students this semester had an excellent teachers. The students in this intro to psychology class should acknowledge how hard Dr. G. tries and how much effort is put into every lecture. After all they did have an award winning professor.
Of my entire college career so far being a TA was probably my favorite part. I’m glad that I did it and I am glad that Dr. Gurung was my professor. I could not think of a better experiecne to end my time at the University of Wisconsin-Greeen Bay.

It is hard to believe that an entire semester has passed already! Reflecting on the semester as a whole, I see that not only have I developed, but the students have as well. I have grown primarily in my confidence. Having a group of students rely on you for answers and leadership really helps assure you that you do know what is going on! Leading review sessions, giving a short lecture, and just being a presence in class everyday lets the students know that I am someone that they can count on for information and help when and if needed. My confidence especially sky-rocketed after the lecture we were required to give. After that experience, I had the mentality of “WOW! If I can do that, I can literally do ANYTHING!”

From being “behind the scenes” I have come to a new appreciation of everything my professors do to prepare for class. So much time, thought and effort go into making an entire class period successful, that I have never really thought about all that needs to go into them. I have also learned what a pain grading can be and having been in the postiion to insert grades I have now have found myself to be much more patient with big classes and in awe of teachers who are able to get it all done in a day or two, corrected, posted and passed back.

The TA role gave me insight into many things I had never had cross my mind. When I skip class, what is the real reason I am skipping? Just knowing everything that goes on without many students awareness is probably the biggest thing I have taken away. Things that the professor focuses attention on, that most students won’t give a second thought. This experience was something I would never trade, it was probably one of the most challenging things I have done, but I have learned so many important things, including that I can push myself really hard and jump feet first into something completely intimidating and come out unscathed!

When I first applied for this teaching assistant position I honestly felt I would not get it, but I am 100% happy I got it. Through this experience I’ve learned a lot about not only what teacher/professors do, but I also learned a lot about myself.

Having held a previous position as a teaching assistant, I thought this one would be similar but I was glad to find out it was different because it gave me another learning experience and different perspectives; this one was more hands on and made me feel as if I was a teacher in a small way. I say in a small because we got an inside look at grading, how exams are prepared (even created a few questions!) and finally we got to enter in grades; not many students get to do this as part of their college careers!

The most important thing I learned from this position was what it takes to truly be an extraordinary teacher. I personally feel that a lot of teachers are just walking through the motions and that hinders the students learning experience. Students want the class to be engaging and fun because it makes it easier to attend class as opposed to a class where the professor just lectures for 55-80 minutes without asking their students questions; trust me these classes do exist! Over the course of the semester Dr. Gurung did a great job at making his intro to psychology class fun and engaging. He would always start class of with music which not only puts people in a good mood, but in a way conditions them because when it ends the students knew it was time to be quiet and class about to begin. He also always kept information/examples up to date and relevant with today’s research and pop culture to make learning concepts easier to remember for the students and I feel this is a key factor because when material is more relatable it is remembered more easily. Another important factor in good teaching is gauging whether students are not only learning the material but whether they know it or not. The most recent example I have this involves the in-class activity about personality disorders. This activity could have been a short ten minute in-class, however Dr. Gurung took the time to go over the answers as a double check and I can speak from personal experience that a lot of professors just pass out in-class activities and you never discuss the answers! I feel that discussing the answers is a great learning experience because if a student happens to be wrong it starts a class discussion as to why it’s one thing and not the other and allows students to make better connections. This position also showed me how important choices can be. I say this because intro classes set the stage for students and let’s them get a feel of whether or not they are truly interested in a topic and I think Dr. Gurung gives a great overview of material that would be covered in upper level psychology courses. His course is one that can be used as great stepping stone to future psychology learning and I can’t say that about all classes because from experience my intro to psychology class was nothing but a joke compared to his; he does an overall extraordinary job!

On the personal side this position taught me a lot about myself. The most important thing that it taught was confidence. Over the course of this semester I could feel my confidence growing and the main reason for this is the lecture we all had to participate in during the final weeks. The small in-class activities played a role because with each of these activities we had to interact with the students and this helped my confidence because I would have to discuss the material with the students and make sure they understood the basic concepts. Finally, the review sessions also allowed my confidence to bloom because there I was alone with a group of students who were relying on me to help them learn and understand psychology! I knew going into this teaching assistant position that it would push me and make me grow but I never thought I would grow this much from one experience! I can say with 100% certainty that I am happy this experience came at the end of my college career because it has given me the confidence I need to go on with my professional career, wherever that may take me.