Author: TONYA FILZ

After obsessively preparing for the first exam review I decided to swap the strain of over-preparing for the strain of not over-preparing.  In my preparation phase of getting ready for the study table I looked over the template power point, and added things in from the text book and one clip from youtube.  I spent probably around an hour looking through additional clips on Erikson and Piaget, and though I found plenty of clips that I found fascinating most of them were either over-kill for class, unorganized, or unclear.  Then last night I looked over the power point one more time, and wrote out a quick outline for points that I wanted to make, but it was hand-written and took up two sheets of paper front and back.  A definite improvement from the review for the first exam for which I had 7-8 pages typed with every single word I wanted to say.

Today, most of my students were there, physically; not so much mentally.  The distraction of the computers in the computer lab proved too much today.  I’d say a decent half of the class were looking at their computer the majority of the time.  It was disheartening, and distracting for me.  Especially since there were students that were talking as well.  I didn’t change anything from last time, I asked at the beginning of class that they refrain from computer usage though we’re in a computer lab.  I was really confused as to why it was effective last time, but not this time.  Why some student’s were chatting was also a  bit odd – though looking directly at them did bring that to a quick hault.

My guess is a lot of the talking, the computer usage, and the lack of participation was due to the timing of the study table during the week before spring break.  I know most of my classes are getting that way too.  I also found on my end that I kept gravitating to one side of the room more than the other.  One side of the computer lab had more participation as well as the chatty boys, and that’s the side I was on the majority of the time.  However, I recognized this and tried to go back over to the quiet side of the room to drag out participation, unfortunately I always caught myself going back to the other side of the room.

I feel like the computers create a barrier between the students and myself and the students from the other students (except the ones who I’m sure were chatting on facebook) was a huge barrier today.  Today was supposed to be more of a study table, I had only one question the entire time.  The rest of the time was playing clips and me talking.  Definitely not what I had hoped for in planning for today.

On the one hand there must have been something I could’ve done to make today more successful as the “teacher” or in this case the teacher’s assistant was in charge.  On the other I did everything I knew how to do prepared lighter, and knew my talking points well, applied each clip (and had them try to apply), asked for students to answer questions instead of just answering the questions on the power point.  Is it possible that it was just the students?  Did the come into class with the expectation of a computer and decide to tune me out?  Is it possible to over come the physical distance created by the computers? Or was it the fact that the students don’t have an exam until the weekend after they return from spring break?

The couple of bright spots today were when I introduced material from the text book  most students did write down my examples and some definitions presumably because it wasn’t something we had already covered, as well as one student who stayed afterwards in the computer lab who said he found today helpful, and that he really liked the integration of the clips from The Office, and Big Bang Theory.

Overall today was a reality check.  Not everything always goes perfect, and there are always going to be challenges.  If I had challenges with 50 students, I can’t imagine what it would be like to teach all 260 of the students, though I am aware this is coming sooner than expected for the TA lectures.  Overall on the preparation side I felt pretty nervous about not having done my 7 page script, but it worked better for me.  It was more natural, and the talking points I made I actually did refer back to at certain points during today, versus the 7 page script that I didn’t use mostly because I lost my place.  I focused my energy into the power point and making that more attention grabbing.  Overall the balance of more emphasis into the presentation and less into exactly what I was going to say worked much better for me.

The other area that I’ve been starting to work on is the sources for the TA paper.  I am researching effectiveness of TA’s with Becca and Amanda and so far, I haven’t had a lot of luck.  I found an interesting article on female TA’s being more effective in some aspects, and also another article that isn’t specifically focused on the TA aspect of a large class, but focuses on engagement in large classes.  I talked to Becca and Amanda and they aren’t having a lot of luck either, this has me a little concerned, but we have time, and worse case scenario we can always expand into other topics along with TA effectiveness.

Until next time!

This week I’ve been preparing for the review session trying to perfect it.  Come up with the best and most thorough ways to help prepare my pod for the online exam.  All of my free time yesterday was spent finishing and rehearsing a script which ended up being 8 pages long single spaced, as well as touching up my power point.  Despite not using the script I typed up, thinking through each slide definitely helped me feel more prepared.  I was surprised at how nervous I wasn’t beforehand, I was more nervous about the first day of class than today.  But as soon as I saw the room I was in the nerves kicked in.

I wasn’t aware that WH 321 was a computer lab, and so when I saw this my worries kicked in.  I was worried that my pod would be more interested in the computers at each desk than me, and the power point that I worked so hard to prepare.  I also didn’t know how to work the technology in WH, much less in a computer lab with two screens.  It was difficult to teach in a wide but shallow room because it was hard to see hands and hear people when they answered questioned.  Also in the room there was a professor that was very insistent that we check the schedule to ensure that the room is actually reserved under Dr. Gurung.  Turns out the reservation was for Intro to Psych – go figure.

Logistics aside I was nervous the majority of the time.  I didn’t realize how nerve wracking it is to command attention from 43 people that you are getting together with for the first time.  43 people were looking to me as a knowledge base, as well as judging me on how well I do.  In essence this was my audition.  That being said, today was a smashing success and I’m actually glad I was nervous!  My nerves helped keep me on my feet, and thinking through the concepts as I was covering them, double checking as I was reviewing that the information I was giving them was correct.

With the computer issue I did adjust my intro a bit, I added a little snip it about refraining from using the computer.  And for the most part students did.  I only noticed one on facebook and actively typing.  The other computer that was being used had learnsmart on it, I only noticed that on one computer though.  I was surprised that the students respected me enough to refrain from the oh so tempting computers.

As far as my power point I thought about what we’ve been reading about in McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, as well as talking about in meetings regarding learning style.  Looking at the power point there was really only two learning strategies utilized the visual, and listening learning styles.  So I decided to go out on a limb and try something new.  I added an activity for students to create an experiment that met certain criteria and had different attributes regarding food consumption at UWGB.  This took about 7 minutes, and then we went through one of the experiments that a student designed.  I also had a multitude of questions during the time I gave them, in which I assisted groups of 2 or 3 students at one time.  I knew that doing an activity by myself was a risk, but I wanted to integrate the “doing” learning style into the review as I know it always helps for me to do something.  This is also how I took attendance because I had them write it out.  Overall I’d say the risk paid off.

I ended about 11:55 and started taking questions from the group.  Then stayed about another 10 minutes as they all left.  One student did stay to ask me some questions that he wasn’t real clear on.  I wish I could have extended my review a bit, but for a first time, getting done 5 minutes earlier than I was aiming wasn’t too bad in my mind.  The only other issue aside from room logistics, and the other professor being in the room was that I started out going too fast, but my pod was very kind in politely asking me to slow the pace down.  Which was difficult with as nervous as I was, but the group activity gave me a chance to slow myself down and work through things step by step with students.  At the end of the review I asked for a quick thumbs up, thumbs down on the review and all of them gave a thumbs up.  I walked away with a smile that I couldn’t get rid of and a major boost in confidence.  I’m actually kind of excited for the next review session!

As far as questions for this week.  How does body position/cramped-ness affect learning/memory.  For example our good friend Jared who frequently shifted from laying to sitting to kneeling when he sat on the floor.  Is he learning better now that he’s in chair or worse because he’s cramped?  Is there a correlation between where a student sits in a class room and the grades they get?  What about grades in a large lecture hall compared to grades in a class of less than 50?  My next question was why don’t students pack up early in Dr. Gurung’s class, why do they in the class beforehand?  My pod today didn’t pack up until I said,  “If you have any questions I’ll stick around otherwise you’re free to go.”  What is it about the professor/teacher?  Is it the professor/teacher at all, or the students as a group?

What a fascinating week this has been!

Over the last month or so I’ve gone from only knowing the student perspective of a class, to getting a feel of how it is to be the teacher.  I never knew I had an interest in teaching, turns out I do!  And the degree I wanted a (Psy. D.) wasn’t going to cut it if I wanted to leave the teaching option open.  I’ve realized that I don’t have to counsel people to help them, although it is a way.  Teaching students is helping too!  I think what really drove this point home is one night walking through residence life with a friend and a student stopped me and said, I think you’re my TA.  And after getting to talking, she said that she really enjoyed the class and was thinking on declaring a psych/human development major.  We probably talked only about 5 minutes just about psych/human development, classes, options, and experiences.   This may seem a minor and insignificant conversation, and it very well could be, but who knows what the impact of the conversation will have.  But what if that girl goes on to get a psych degree and goes on to teach or to counsel people?  The numbers could be exponential.  As a freshmen, professors, TAs, and all of the like were the bee’s knees and it was so scary but yet so helpful talking to them.  I still remember two who really took time to mentor me, and give me advice.

It’s just really cool how my perspective on my other classes, as well as my goals are changing too.  Before I used to just simply complain about a bad professor, but now that I’m gaining insight I can now go beyond, “This class sucks” to “What could he do to improve this class?”  Though this doesn’t make it any less annoying, it is at least one step further, thinking wise.

Personal thoughts/experiences aside, I feel like this past week was when things really clicked into gear.  I finally pin-pointed why I was having a hard time generating questions for this class, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any, it was that I felt like all the little observations and curiosities I had were silly, or that they were already asked, or the answers were already known.  This past week I simply started jotting any sort of curiosity that crossed my mind down.  Turns out, they seem less silly once their written down.

The first question that made it in my notes was, why do some students speak out loud while others raise there hand?  Is it personality?  Is it GPA?  Is it age?  Is it year in school?  Class-size?  Are there any significant correlations?  This question came after a student had answered a question out loud, and then I noticed that not everyone’s etiquette is the same when it comes to speaking in class.

My next question was, do students learn more taking notes in class or listening and then writing down main points after class.  This question came about when I repeatedly watched students break their focus on Dr. Gurung when he changed the slide, and switch between looking at the slide and at their note book.  Once they were finished writing down the slide information they reestablished focus on Dr. Gurung, but what did that break do to their learning?  I know for myself, a compulsive note-taker, the majority of my notes are overkill and do not help at all when it comes to exam time.  Would students who simply paid attention in class and wrote down what they remembered still hit the main points?  Without notebooks students would feel more obligated to remember information rather than be a lecture to note machine, would this impact the retention level of material not only for exams, but after the class is finished, how much would they remember?

The next thing I wondered was talking.  There were two students in the very front row towards myself who were talking, and the majority of the conversation (that I heard) was not directly related to class material.  How detrimental is that to learning?  Is there a time/place when talking can boost learning?  I also discovered that making eye contact with one of the people in the conversation is quick to end conversation.  However this same method applied to two girls a few rows back was not as successful.  Mostly because they did not look at me, and therefore I could not make eye contact with them like I did with the gentleman in the front row.

Then this week’s meeting peaked more questions.  I’d be really curious to see if there was a link between students who were Dr. Gurung’s facebook friends, and the grades achieved in the course.  But also I remembered my original idea for an experiment in Experimental Pych, I was really passionate about it at the time as I graduated from an online high school and now go to traditional college.  Do students learn better on the computer or on paper?  How do exam scores correlate, if at all?  If given an option between taking the exam online and in class what would students choose?  How would this change after the first exam?  Would there be a difference in scores?  After all students who were taking the class during the same term would be exposed to exactly the same material, would there be a significant difference between online and paper?

Those are just a few of my questions for now.  I’m sure I’ll have more this week.

The last thing that’s on my radar is the review session.  I’m excited to see my pod face to face and to take the lead on the session.  But all in all I’m concerned about attendance.  My math professor has a review class before every exam where he answers questions and gives us problems to work out, but the normal attendance of 20-25 plummets to barely 10.  I guess only time will tell!

Until next time!

Week two has felt much more comfortable than week one.  Instead of being nervous the night before class I find myself more excited to see what happens next.  It’s interesting to see how the McKeachie book fits in with nearly every lecture.  It’s fascinating also to have people stop me in the hall way and be like, I think you’re the TA for my intro class.  It’s like surreal that yes, I am a TA and yes, I know what is happening with the class.  I don’t know if that will ever get old.

Today was a little more nerve wracking because one of the TA’s had to speak in front of 260 people, and we hadn’t planned it out before hand.  I do have some experience speaking in front of 50-ish people with various orgs I’ve been in, turns out 260 people isn’t really all that different than 50.  At one point the mic stopped working, so I simply projected my voice, and I was a little surprised at the projection I was capable of.  Definitely a boost in my confidence for public speaking today.

As for the movie the Super Size Me movie students seemed genuinely interested.  For about the first 3 or so minutes there was some talking going on, but that quieted down without having to be addressed.  Students laughed at the appropriate times, and seemed for the most part attentive from my vantage point in the front of the class.  The only thing that timing was a little off with was the group discussion after we stopped the movie.  We stopped the movie at 12:10 and instructed them to discuss with their neighbor.  Most students took about 5 minutes to discuss and then left all though a few took only a minute or less, and some took the full 10 minutes.  Overall I’d consider today both a success and a confidence builder.

I guess the funniest part of today is I could hear students discussing the movie and McDonald’s on the way out, and a girl said to her friend as she was passing, “I always get those apple dippers.  They’re especially good with the caramel dipping sauce.”  Not that I can disagree with her taste, I just found it funny considering part of the movie talked about how even their yogurt parfaits aren’t very healthy.  All that being said I feel this movie fit in very well with the course work that we’ve been looking at, and that this was an awesome way to bring contemporary research into the class.

In general, I’m really amazed at how much I’ve learned from this position, and it’s only the 2nd week.  I can’t wait to see where the semester goes!

Wednesday evening I received an e-mail from a student that I had spoke with before class… she e-mailed asking a question about learn smart – and I KNEW THE ANSWER!!!  I was so excited and eager to answer, that I’m almost positive my over a paragraph response was a bit of overkill, but I wanted to be extra thorough.  Whether or not the response was overkill, I went to bed feeling pretty darn good.

Thursday was met with more questions from students during the group activity, all of which I knew the answer to, but tried not to give it away.  When a student asked if the reason Chmura sexually assaulted the 17yr old girl was biological or behavioral, I answered with, “It depends on what explanation you think is correct, do you think he did it because or an excess of testosterone or because he learned to behave that way?”   I feel like that didn’t lay it out, but I think I may have gotten a little carried away with the answer.  I wish I would have said, “It depends on why you think he did it.”  But I feel like if I would have answered with that then those students wouldn’t have thought I wasn’t very intelligent.  It is a difficult balance to strike, but I have a feeling it just takes time.

During Thursday’s class I sat in the back of the classroom, which was definitely a different perspective to take!  I felt like the excitement level about the material wasn’t as high as it was on the first day, but still for the most part I felt like the students were paying attention for the majority of class.  Once Dr. Gurung stated that they should write down notes in their own words rather than frantically copy notes from the power point it seemed as though students were more active with their note taking.  An especially entertaining part of class that helped lighten the mood of the class room to take a mental break from everything was the part of class where Dr. Gurung tested sensitivity on one of the students.  I think these activities where we take a break from just straight up lecturing students are much more attentive afterwards there are more heads up, and less fidgeting afterwards.

Overall, aside from nearly tripping on the stairs in my still unfamiliar heels, all was very exciting the second day of class.  I think the most exciting part was getting to answer questions about psychology.

Outside of class I’ve been reading the Teaching Tips book, and I just finished reading about a really fascinating topic.  Student growth over the course of their college career.  It dawned on me, not only how much my critical thinking skills have changed over the past 2 and a half years, but that this course will affect not only the students GPAs but their life.  This course will help them develop not  only as students or as future professionals, but as people.  I know it’s true.  But how?  And what can the professor do to help ensure this, and what can I do as a TA to help ensure that development is fostered?  I look back and I can’t pin point any one class or professor that helped me make the transition from high-school graduate to college student.  I know the transition happened, but how?  Is it one course or all combined?  Can it be one course?  Would this development happen naturally with time?  Does it depend on the subject?  A fascinating thought process that really had me wondering about this class and how it is/will affect the students.

Until next week!