Author: AMANDA LUEDTKE

Supersize me class

I can’t believe that it is already the start of week 3. I think that week 2 went better than the first week. Most of the students seem to be taking notes and paying attention (so far). The students also seem to feel a little more relaxed than in week 1. I noticed that more students are actively participating when Dr.Gurung asks questions. Some of them even seem to have read the chapter before coming to class (at least I am assuming because they answer questions that have not been discussed yet).

 However I have noticed that students sitting further back do not pay as much attention. There are some that insist on having their labtops out or are on their phone. I think trying to get these people to sit closer to the front would be beneficial for them.  Also I find it very distracting when sitting in back to see students on their phones, throwing pencils in the air during the entire class period, and not taking any notes.

Well besides for those few students things seem to be going pretty well. Thursday was pretty cool. Dr.Gurung was away on business so the Teacher’s assistants had to take over the class. I thought that the students would try to use this situation to their advantage by goofing off more but that was not the case. It was surprising to see how much respect they had for us. We did give in a little bit by turning all the lights off (we were told to keep some of them on) but they told us they wouldn’t fall asleep and they would pay attention. Surprisingly they actually paid attention and I don’t think anyone fell asleep lol. Things went a lot smoother than I had thought they would go. Almost everyone turned in their completed in-class assignment for the movie too.

Having the professor gone for the class period turned out to be okay. It was a enjoyable experience. It made me think about different career choices that I haven’t thought about too. Maybe being a professor is in my future (if I can get over my fear of public speaking lol).

Second day of Class

I thought that the second day of class went even better than the first day. I felt that the students paid more attention during this class period than the first day. This is probably because the first couple of days back at school are hard and it takes some time to get back into the hang of things.

Also, I thought that there were more group activities and interaction taking place during the second day of class. I realized that almost all the students paid attention during the activities and they seemed excited and interested in what was going on. After the activities most of the students seemed like they were taking more notes and paying closer attention to the lecture portion of the class.

While this was the second day of class it was my first day of sitting in front of the class. At first it felt kind of awkward because I am not use to looking toward the class. However after the first 20 minutes I got use to it and started to notice things that I had never noticed before. I noticed that even a small amount of talking can be distracting and that there were more empty chairs this class period than on the first day of class. This makes me wonder how that will change throughout the semester. I also noticed that there were next to no cell phones out and most people were taking notes.I’m sure that as the semester continues I will get more comfortable being in front of the class.

The last thing that I’m going to mention is the group activity. First I liked the idea of  five people to a group but I felt that it may have been too complicated and time consuming. However, because many of the students didn’t understand exactly how to do this they communicated more with their neighbors to make sure they were in the right group. Also, I always thought when I had to do a group activity that professors and TAs didn’t want to be bothered with questions but I actually liked when I was asked questions.

Well it’s getting pretty late but I’ll be blogging later on in the week!

First Day!

The night before the first day of Intro to Psychology I thought that everything would run smoothly. I thought that I would arrive to class early, I would know exactly what to do, and no problems would arise. However that is not how my first day of Intro to Psychology went. Instead of everything go smoothly my lab class got out at 10:50, I had to rush to change into dressier clothes and I almost arrived late. Fortunately Dr.Gurung had already explained to the Teacher’s Assistants what to expect during the first day of class. This planning helped a lot to calm my nerves.

Throughout the first day of class I did notice that Dr.Gurung did things in a certain order and  I started to speculate as to why that would be.  First thing I noticed is that he did not hand out the syllabus right away. I think that  is because he wanted students to pay attention to what he was saying and not be looking over their syllabus. Also, usually on the first day of class after professors handout the syllabus and go over it they tell the students they can leave. Many students may have felt that they could leave after they got their syllabus. I also noticed that he told the class a little about himself and the teacher’s assistants first before he asked the class to tell him about themselves. This is probably because some people feel more comfortable when a professor or another student shares information about themselves first. One other thing that I noticed is that he had the students make name cards so that he could call and learn their names. This is a great idea because in a class as large as Intro to Psych many students may feel that participating and/or even coming to class will not matter since they are just another face in the crowd. However since Dr.Gurung is taking the time to learn every one’s name and call them by it this may make the students more likely to participate and come to class.

Well these were my observations of the first day of class. Before the weekend is over I will be blogging about how I feel the second day of class went. See everyone on Tuesday!