4-1-09 TA meeting notes
- Jess and I took a different approach with the review session and I asked the students who attended to comment on whether it helped them more than the previous version. The comments were generally positive and emphasized the ability to test their knowledge without the session being “overrun” by the smart people. One person said the concept was nice, but didn’t think it was effective. I have some ideas for the next session…
- I read the book about preparing for a lecture and some of that is now fermenting in my brain. Dr. G follows the recommendations pretty closely, so I’m thinking if I/we tailor the lecture similar to his, it should be good.
- We also talked about John Hattie’s research and I was surprised to learn that class size does not have an effect on whether students do well. Two concepts, deliberative practice and autonomy support…giving students multiple exposures to ideas and helping them find the motivation and confidence to learn on their own.
- The other interesting item of note was that the learning style of the student doesn’t matter. Interesting. I’ve been led to believe differently.
4-7-09 class notes
- Storm water lecture…I was confused about why this was being presented to an intro psych class and who this person was. She never answered the questions: Who are you? Why do we care? It felt very disjointed and obligatory…as if it was a requirement that it be done without any care put into it. Dr. G made a nice comment relating it to social psych, but it felt forced.
- Overall this class was fun with a lot of student participation. The family feud style guessing of percentages was good, but it felt a little long. We found out later why it took so long and then it made more sense. I thought the studies used as examples were good too…they were things students could really connect to and I hope they’re getting that.
4-8-09 TA meeting notes
- Dr. G. talked about his teaching philosophy which I believe to be much more in depth and prepared with more care than most professors I’ve had. I don’t say that to brown-nose, rather, I’ve experienced quite a few professors and quite a few teachers/instructors in my day.
- One thing Dr. G. said today that struck me is that we have no idea what our actual potential is. While it was in reference to IP students and what grades they think they can achieve, it struck a chord with me on a personal and institutional level. On a personal level, I believe that to be true and one never really knows what one’s full potential is until they try. Therein lies the challenge…motivating people enough so they want to try. For years, I told myself I couldn’t do math or science and now that I’m psych, I realize I had no idea what I could do. Had I stayed where I was, I never would have achieved this much of my potential, not to mention the potential I’ll find in grad school. Perhaps potential isn’t finite either. Perhaps as one achieves a level previously thought unattainable, the level gets pushed higher. As teachers/instructors, it’s not necessarily our job to push information into people’s heads, rather it’s to inspire, demonstrate, motivate and coach. Is role modeling enough to show students what is possible? Can they learn to love learning and learn to initiate their own education by being around people who do so and encourage them to do so? The challenge I see here is the initial step lies with the student. We can provide opportunities to expand learning, but students have to get out of their dorms and to us…or take some action. I suppose it gets into social psych a little, but I’ve been fasinated with networking groups and what makes a good one. If one brought together a group of intelligent, motivated people and mingled them with students who showed “potential” but just needed motivation and encouragement, could being around these kinds of people be inspiring enough to produce in students the desire to take that action?
- We also talked about incivility and entitlement in the classroom and what causes students to behave and feel this way. We came up with some interesting possible causes and indicators including personality traits, environments and training. Could we create an incivility scale? Compare it to grades? I find it ironic that incivility and entitlement have been increasing along with the cost of attending college. It’s almost as if the college experience has become an entitlement in itself. Most high school graduates are “expected” to go on to school with little thought about why and I wonder about the financial accountability component.
4-09-09 Class notes
- Freud. I thought this class was laid out nicely. It’s not that I like Freud, it’s more like it’s an easy excuse to talk about sex and aggression, two topics that seem inappropriate otherwise. Lots of emphasis that it can’t be studied, which gave an opportunity to talk about psych as a science. On Facebook I posted the essay by Gloria Steinem about what would have happened had Freud been a woman. I wonder how many people have taken the time to read it. I laugh out loud each time I hear it and every time I hear a Freud lecture, I want to pull out my feminist card and shout loudly that although Freud served as a foundation for psychology that launched many other theories, all of his work was done with female clients to explain men. This is an example where I tend to take on some deliberative practice in that I look for other sources and over the summer I intend to read “The Interpretation of Dreams” in order to better understand and develop my own perspectives without the contamination of the critics and supporters. I already have Rogers, Maslow, Bandura and a few others, but I think it’s important to read the original works and let them fester and digest. That was kind of disgusting…lol.
- The class activity was a great one. I think it’s one of the best thus far. Allowing students to work on their own or decide to work with others worked well. Those who are confident enough or just shy and don’t want to work with others have the option and those who can’t do things on their own could take advantage of that. I liked how it brought together all of the concepts of personality. The development one did that a little too, but this one was much more comprehensive.