“What did you learn throughout the semester?” is typically an easy question to answer, and typically it involves exact facts, theories and lessons learned. With the position as a TA, clearly defining exactly what was learned is difficult, the TA position in itself was open-ended and included learning that extended into personal insights as well as factual information. During my semester I have learned more than I can ever recount, and more than anyone would be willing to read, however the following is a small sample of what I have gained from this semester.
First and foremost, I have learned that the professor has a major impact on my learning environment, and the class in general. As a student I was not aware of how many resources are available for professors to use in order to better their teaching as well as encourage learning. Due to my knowledge of these resources, and how easy they are to use, I have seen myself as becoming more critical of professors. I have always been aware of the quality of professors, but now knowing the resources and tools that are available, it is more frustrating if they do not use them to their advantage. I am grateful that Dr. Gurung showed us these resources that may one day be very beneficial to me and my future plans.
I was also surprised by the time and effort that is behind almost every lecture. How every word, sentence and picture is placed and when it is discussed is important. As a student I was unaware of how every topic has a purpose, and every placement throughout the lecture is of equal importance. Although as a student I found the first and final days of the semester important, I did not realize they were equally as important for the professors, however the reasons differed. By the first day of the semester, as a student, I was prepared for the semester ahead, and looking forward to what was in store. A professor must use the first day to set the tone for the entire semester, the first day for a professor gives the students a clear understanding of how the semester will run, the expectations of the semester, and the type of learning that will occur inside the classroom walls, that is a lot of pressure! The final day for a student is the end of the semester, the countdown towards break has already begun, and quite often we are going simply because they may say something important that could impact our grade. A professor must take time in the final day to wrap up the entire semester of information, and prepare the students for the final exam. They must maintain the tone set on the first day and continue it through the entire class period. I am more than certain professors have a secret countdown in their offices as well, which makes the need to maintain tone and expectations throughout the semester so important.
I also learned that it is difficult to be a TA. Not because there is a lot of work, or that there are difficult students, it is because as a TA, I was stuck between the role of a student and the rule of a TA. On days when there were a lot of student absent, I was torn between my student side that agreed that they had the ability to skip class if they wanted to. My TA side was stuck thinking of ways in which we could get more of the students to come to class. My student side often missed class this semester, and although I am confident in my own grades and work ethic, I did not have the same confidence for the students that skipped our class. I also found it difficult to sympathize with the students that missed assignments, or even exams! If I skipped class and missed an assignment, I do not find a way to make it up, I take it as “punishment” for my skipping. I could not fathom missing an exam, and then having to develop an excuse as to why I missed it. Although in my pod I had only one student ask for a make-up assignment, and they actually completed it, I think the make-up assignments are too much. I realize that many students may have important reasons for missing class, however I still feel as though a make-up assignment is too accommodating. Maybe instead of a make up, having the ability to drop one low score on an assignment would be better, or simply do nothing and expect the students to show up.
Also in the classroom, I learned about how important it is to be able to think on the fly, and improvising. After the years that Dr. Gurung has been teaching, he has seemed to master this ability. There have been a few moments when technology has failed us, ( and yes..I have had professors cancel class because there was no technology) yet Dr. Gurung quickly readjusted, and although it was not exactly as planned, class still went off smoothly. I am more than certain this ability will come with time, and once I learn that even though I may have everything planned out, there is still a possibility of a glitch. Another important classroom aspect are “teachable moments” that can be seen throughout everyday life as well as in every classroom. There are often questions, or comments that are brought to the attention of a professor throughout the class period, and having the ability to turn these unexpected questions/comments into teachable moments is important. There may also be daily events, or recent research that is popular at the time of class, having the ability to use these references in relation to your lecture is also important. In general, having the ability to relate the material to the students life, and what has previously been learned is important. Without this TA position, I would have not realized that that is what most professors are doing. If Dr. Gurung had not explicitly laid out his plans for each lecture, or given us the resources used to create an effective lecture, I would have continued to listen without knowing.
Finally, I think I learned a lot about the person I am, and how far I can push myself in order to achieve what I need to do. At the beginning of the semester, the directions for being a TA were somewhat ambiguous, I read the resources, watch a class, and blog about how the two are related. Most days I was unsure of exactly what I was looking for, and I rarely found anything out of place in the lectures in reference to the resources. I also had a very very small amount of students e-mailing me asking me for questions, or help throughout the semester, so I felt as though I was simply learning about teaching. It also was not until the end of the semester that we had our large assignments, the paper and the lecture. I would have to say that the paper was the most difficult to complete, simply due to the fact that it was a group paper. There were three of us working on the paper, and three ideas on how to word each an every sentence was very time consuming and frustrating. Although frustrating at times, it was a good experience to work as a group towards a common goal, and we all had the same high standards of completion.
I learned the most about myself from the lecture, I was not expecting it to go as well as I would like to think it did. I was not aware of my ability to stand in front of that many students and teach. I was ultimately fearful of being asked an impossible question, and instead when the student asked me to repeat, I was ultimately more bothered by that, even though I knew it was coming. I also learned that although I have the ability to stand in front of the class and give a lecture, I still struggle with going up to individuals and talking to them. I would classify myself as an introvert, and going up to someone and talking to them is not something I do, or do well at. I would be more than happy to answer questions that came to me, but initiating the conversation is a work in progress.
The journey of being a TA was an interesting and insightful journey and it was led by an extremely passionate professor which as undoubtedly given me more knowledge and understanding than if I were to TA for any other professor. This journey has opened my eyes to many new opportunities that I did not consider as I come to the end of my undergraduate career and has given me the knowledge that I possess many of the tools I need to succeed not only in a classroom setting, but in the “real-world” as well.
