Thankfully the first hectic week of the semester is over and I can now breathe. Knowing the first day of my TA experience would be extremely important I tried to write a rough draft and jot down as much as I could about what I observed and how I felt the moment the class period was over. As I read through my scrambled rough draft I felt I could now look at the day through a more sane sense-of-mind and truly reflect on what went on.
With it only being the first day as an official TA I was not expecting to be approached by students with questions and concerns because I thought they would not know exactly my role and if I could help them. To my surprise as we walked around talking with students before class a few students asked me questions about the text and about class expectations. A couple of the students seemed overwhelmed with the class size but that is expected when crammed into a room with 250 other fellow classmates. Eventually I could not think of anything else to talk about so I made my way to the front and waited for class to begin.
At the time I got the impression that all the TA’s felt about the same going into the start of class: excited, nervous, unsure, etc. Although Prof. Gurung explained to us that once the music was over we were to take our seats we all seemed frozen in spot when the time came and could not move until he motioned us to sit. From the moment he started lecture the students seemed fully engaged and excited. He had multiple icebreakers throughout the not only the beginning but throughout the entire 70 minute lecture. Those moments consisted of everything from pointing a student out of the crowd, to cracking jokes, or presenting catching statistics or relevant stories. I felt when the students laughed or were given a statement to take into consideration they are unconsciously engaging and feel comfortable in their new learning environment.
One thing that I was impressed with was the amount of participation for such a large class on the first day. And that brings up a important question I had, how does a professor/teacher choose when to or not to call on a student when their hand is raised? I have had teacher that will allow discussion to go on for what seems forever and others that will occasionally call on a hand or two. Does a teach determine before class when they will allow questions or comments and when they wont due to the speed of lecture or topics?
Not only was I impressed with the atmosphere of the classroom but also the material presented and how the lecture seemed to more about inspiring or challenging the students to think beyond what they are used to. Most students have the stereotypical ideas of what psychology is and the various examples given in class allowed the students to learn that there is a vast array of areas to study and how important it is in our everyday lives. It is refreshing to go into the first day of lecture seeing what you can hope to learn and how it is used today. This motivates oneself to want to read, study and come to class. Also the fact that he did not stand at a podium in front of the class for the entire 70 minutes was incredible. You do not realize how much of a difference that makes in a class of that size until you sit in the far back. When Gurung walked up and down both sides of the classroom the back seemed to become more alert and it forced people to keep their eyes on him as he roamed around allowing them to feel more involved and attentive. It simply just makes a more exciting learning environment!
There were only a few comments or questions that I seemed to think about after class One questions was why he chose to pass the syllabus out closer towards the end instead of during the picture taking? Also attendance seemed to confuse me a little bit. I was not sure exactly if there was a certain way the students were to pass the papers around or what to do when someone was late or left. Another big thing I noticed was after one of the video clips. The back room lights were shut off and stayed off for about the last 20-30 minutes of class. It seemed to change the entire atmosphere when sitting in the way back. I personally felt disengaged and unable to see my papers/notes in front of me. It was hard to adapt and I felt I seemed to realize how big the class size actually was due to everyone else in the front half being shine down on with light.
Overall I was extremely impressed with how it went. There were only a few minor speed bumps while passing out papers and right in the beginning when not knowing when to sit. Right after class I went to the library and when sitting at a table I was actually approached a couple times by a student from the class asking me about learn smart, my experience as one of your past students, and tips on how to study. It felt good to know I was able to help him and relieve some of his anxiety. Once I was able to answer all of his questions I was glad the first day was done and excited to go to class Thursday.
During the second day of class the students were thankfully just as engaged and excited to be there. Demonstrations were hilarious and the students, I felt, really enjoyed the group activity. Some of the students that were in odd spots were unsure of what group they were in because they were maybe the last one in that row and everyone else had a group. It took some time to find other groups with smaller numbers but after going through their papers I noticed there were one or two groups with only 2 students. I wonder if there is an easier way to possibly get them into groups?
Well with the blogs and tomorrows meeting topics in mind we will have an exciting discussion to look forward to!
Hey R. You bring up something really important with regard to groups. IT is critical for all of you to walk around and look for students who seem left out, too shy to participate, or in small groups of two and just not getting into it. Remind to remind the group next tuesday and you look around and engage those who seem to disengage.
An interesting thing is that groups have been taking less time to do the assignments…not sure why.