On Tuesday, Gurung was teaching the class on the different research methods in collecting data. This time, I sat in front of class with Mandy and watched the students from a different perspective. Students did not seem distracted, and it was nice to start recognizing faces. We had a group assignment on identifying whether a certain t-shirt study was a correlational or experimental research design. It was nice that we were given the heads up on the group work this time. On my own, I originally thought it was a correlational study, but then once it was indicated to me that perhaps it was experimental, I started second-guessing. By that time, it was already time to walk around the class and help the students with the answers. I kept asking is there something being manipulated? And the students would respond with either yes or no, and then based on that answer, I would either agree or disagree or just ask another question. However, at this time, I was a bit confused about what exactly it was, because the other TA’s seemed 50/50 on it, so I started talking about the extraneous variables- things that they did/did not control for. I knew either way that these items were right. 🙂 After class, there was a few of us who felt bad about possibly leading them to the wrong answer. I think the reason why I felt uncomfortable with not knowing for sure what the answer was, is that part of my goal as a TA is being someone they can feel is reliable and competent of the lecture material. As a student in an Intro Psych class, I would expect this. If they are TA’s, they should know the answer! All it takes is one time where you told them the wrong thing or they get the idea that a TA doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it ruins the entire relationship between TA and student- lack of respect, trust and reliability, leading to less conversation with the TA’s, which damages the purpose of TA’s being a part of the class: to increase engagement! It was decided that the TA’s would from now on be informed of the right answer to the questions so we wouldn’t have to carry that “burden” on our shoulders. So I was happy about that outcome.
*TA Mtg*
So Gurung gave us a little riddle of how we can demonstrate neuronal communication by using 2 bottles of bubble solution, posterboard, a string and silly string. He began by asking me to draw a neuron on the board (a little abstract, but we had the idea). He then started telling us how each of the 6 volunteers would be involved with the simulation. Speaking of simulation, Teaching Tips states the importance of simulations in class learning (Ch 16) because it changes members of the class from “passive observers to active participants.” By creating this fun and interactive model of the neuron, we are giving the students another way of learning and understanding the neuron (sometimes one of the hardest parts in psych). I’m pumped! Personlly, I remember staring at the picture of the neuron trying to wrap my head around it, but I think the 10-15 mins that we will be doing this in class will be well worth it. I bet when students are answering a question on the neuron on the exam, students will momentarily glance to the front of the room to try and remember how we described each part of neuronal communication. BIG STUFF! 🙂
Thursday’s class! I picked up on a lot of little things that Gurung did while teaching today, which I am sure will lead to a very interesting analysis of lecture. 🙂 It seems that the whole campus is sick from some kind of cold or another, so there was quite a bit of sneezing going on. I initially thought that it was courteous and fun (and probably spider sense) when Gurung would immediately say “bless you,” to someone sneezing in the room. However there were a few times when he would be in the middle of finishing a point or explaining something and he would say “bless you!” and then have to start a few sentences back and then continue on with his point. Now my question is, is the saying “bless you” to the sneezing students distracting students away from lecture material, or does the sneezing distract students and Gurung is just acknowledging it so people can move on? Personally, I’ve grown quite accustomed to people sneezing in class so I generally do a good job blocking it out, but when the professor draws attention to it, its hard to continue on my track of thought once it has been interrupted. Also, students might be a little embarrassed if a teacher points them out in a class of 250 and turns to them and says “bless you!” while they are in the middle of whiping their nose. haha I don’t know, just a ponder.
Some things in class that Gurung was doing that was particularly moving to me on Thursday was little gestures, taps and looks he would do to emphasize what he was saying. I’m sure this comes naturally to him, but it was very on and it added so much to lecture! My goodness, Gurung can make an earthworm sound like the most important thing on the planet at the time- which is exactly the energy that students need to maintain their attention…from arm waving to pounding the light off on the overhead when he finished a point, things were delivered clear and strong- very cool. From ethics to biology, everything is amazingly crucial to their understanding of psychology!
Thursday was also the day I got to politely tell a student to stop texting (sitting in the back row right in front of me…duh!) and she gave me some attitude but I don’t care. If you’re that stupid to text when you’re sitting right in front of the TA’s, you deserve to be called out. Also, the outside doors seemed to be locked when closed…do we do this on purpose? One student asked if she could go to the bathroom and I told her go out and in one of the specific doors, she was locked out so I had to get up and let her in. We might not have any control over whether the doors will be locked or not, but regardless, talk about maximum control/security!
All for now, more to come on Gurung and Bord’s (2007) article on review sessions!
Happy Valentine’s Day!