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.