So today was the first day of class, and it was at once everything I expected, and nothing like I expected. I expected it to look like there was more people, and to be a bundle of nerves while introducing myself neither of which were true. Turns out public speaking in front of 260 people doesn’t make me as nervous as I thought it would, despite only being an introduction, today was a bit of a confidence booster.
Class was very fun today! I felt like when students were filing in before class they were thinking and acting like, another day, another class 13 more weeks til I am on summer vacation. People who weren’t talking with others, were not smiling, having rather vacant expressions, not really excited. When the music began I felt like there was some life brought into the class room, students seemed to perk up and chatter a bit more.
Then when class began students seemed to really listen, there was no texting that I observed, and everyone seemed to pay attention. Starting off with the definition and importance of psychology seems cliche, but in reality, crucial. It’s important for the students to know, why am I sitting here? What will I get out of this? How does this apply to the “real” world? In the first 30 minutes of class this question was explored, and defined clearly for the students. Also moments of humor such as the example of Dr. Gurung’s kids seemed to really lighten the mood and keep students attention. A well placed joke can be a life-saver for keeping attention.
Also the note card activity where students took a moment to reflect on what they wanted to learn, and get out of the class was crucial. It’s not only important to have the information, but to create meaning for the information that was given.
I like that the syllabus was given out towards the end of class too! I feel like students weren’t spending time writing all the important dates in their assignment notes books, like they were actually paying attention to what Dr. Gurung was saying.
Overall the first day felt like not only an audition for the professor and TA’s but for psychology as a subject, because for the majority of the students in the class, this is their first exposure to psychology. It either makes of breaks the subject for them. When I asked my freshmen room mate who wanted to be a counselor why she was a social work major instead of a psychology major, she replied, “Because I had a bad teacher.” I’ve heard this from other people as well. For me, I can relate, if the professor turns me off or presents information poorly I am likely to avoid that topic. Today was an audition of sorts because today sets the tone for the rest of the semester aside from a few technical issues with attendance, passing out papers, collecting note cards, I can’t think of any way the audition could’ve been improved.
As far as what I noticed on the student side of things, I only noticed one girl that was texting nearly the whole class period. Other than that I couldn’t see any other forms of boredom. I know for me, even though I wasn’t fully paying attention to the lecture, I was paying most attention to the students, the hour and twenty minutes flew by!
Today was fascinating, to watch the reactions and feel the atmosphere change with small, but significant parts of the lecture. At first I wasn’t sure about having to be a TA for this large of a class, but after today I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is a unique and challenging environment for the students, the professor, and the TA’s. But exciting!
All in all, other than painful new shoes, today was simply amazing!