The semester is over already! I really enjoyed my time as a TA. I think that the most important thing I learned is to apperciate professors and their lectures more. By seeing all of the effort and thought Dr. Gurung put into each lecture it helped me realize how much time it does take to create an interesting and interactive lecture. The books we read helped give ideas of how to make lectures more interesting for students, but it does seem like really hard work to keep their attention for the whole class period and the whole semester. Being a TA helped me see how much work it really does take. I did show me that not all teachers put the same amount of effort into their lectures and it’s unfortunate because you can tell just by the atmosphere in one of Dr. Gurung’s classes that students really apperciate it when professors make the material interesting and engaging.
I also got to see just some of the e-mails from students send to TAs and it is amazing how many questions students have. I can’t imagine how many e-mails professors get everyday, especially ones that could be answered by just looking at the syllabus. I learned that it is really important for professors to keep contact with the students to see what is working and what isn’t working.
I’m glad that I got to be a TA for such a large class. Even though it was hard to give a short lecture to them it gives you more of an idea about how different students are. Some students do put a lot of effort into the class and are determined to get an A. Unfortunately, some students don’t put a lot of effort into the class which is sad to see, but with 250 students it’s hard to make sure they all do well. It’s hard to get to know each person in a large class but I think that Dr. Gurung implemented a lot of great ways to help meet some of the students needs. The first would have to be the facebook wall. It was amazing to see all of the comments and videos students posted. Just by reading some of the comments you can see that students really liked using the facebook wall. Another was by having the pods. The pods were a great idea because it helped get the students to interact with the other TAs and me, instead of them being confused as to who they could contact.
Giving part of a lecture to the class was very helpful for me. During the first review session I was nervous about standing up in front of about 40 students and after giving a few more exam reviews and part of a lecture I feel a lot more confident about standing in front of a group of people and talking. Making the powerpoint slides and picking videos for the lecture was also a nice experience because it helps you see what professors have to do for almost every lecture they have.
I never thought that entering grades would take so long. Now I understand why it may take professors awhile to get grades in. It really makes you apperciate the teachers that read through term papers or have weekly assignments.
The semester overall seemed to go really good. The majority of the students in the class enjoyed the it and will miss it next semester. Being a TA was a great experience. I met some great people by doing it. I thought that each of the TAs did a great job and I wish them the best in the future. I’m also very glad that I got to work with Dr. Gurung. I’ve had a few friends that said he is the reason that they love psychology and the class seemed really interesting, it makes me sad I didn’t have intro here. I will miss being a TA. It really helped me learn a lot about myself and other students. I’ve learned a lot of things that I can hopefully carry on with me and incorporate into my future experiences.
It’s going to be weird and a little sad not walking into class next week but at least the weather is beautiful!