Going into the second class period, I found myself less apprehensive and more excited. Though I think that feeling of uncertainty and nervousness will continue for a week or two. I’m just naturally that way when put into new/unfamiliar situations. I don’t think it’s affecting my ability to rock this TA thing out though! 🙂
I do want to note that I will be forgoing the more formal “class recap” portion of the post…I’d prefer to get to the really important stuff right away!
I really appreciate (and I believe students will as well, if they don’t already) the outline being displayed before and as class begins. It really gives a sense of direction that I don’t feel in other courses. The brief reviews of what occurred in the previous class is also helpful. It keeps things fresh in students’ minds and may also serve as a way to link previous material to current/upcoming material.
As class began I walked around and chatted with a couple students I recognized either from the previous class period or from outside activities – mainly asking them how the first quiz went. Quite a few of them said they got 10s – which is exciting! I made sure to let them know how awesome I thought that was.
Another observation was the presence of some empty seats. It’s a pretty normal occurrence, and I believe the amount of students gone is less than it would have been in other classes. I have had a couple other classes in RH-250, and the first day it’s usually full, and the second day it’s at half capacity. I’m glad to see so many students returned.
One thing that impressed me was that students in the back were called on very early on – and by name! I’m sure there were some surprised faces – I really wish I could’ve gauged the reaction. In addition to knowing names of people in the back, each time someone was called on, it was by name. I didn’t hear anyone correct the instructor…so great job, Dr. Gurung! I think the instructor walking all the way up and down the aisles will prove to be an effective way of gaining more student input – especially because some individuals sit in the back to avoid that. I’m anxious to see if this works.
The importance of studies was emphasized – but not just by the instructor. I found it interesting that it was accomplished by asking students why different dimensions of the ERLP program were important (e.g., not taking the same one twice).
There was yet another example of interesting student participation. I was entertained (as were some students and a couple of the TAs sitting near me) by the demonstration of what the first true psychological experimentation looked like.
On another note, the “History of ___” sections of classes are generally very boring. I believe including pictures of these individuals and the infusion of humor in the delivery were key in making this particular “History of Psychology” presentation more interesting. Two neighboring TAs and I were trying to figure out if we could name all of them (sadly, I was not very good at that game). I thought one of them looked like George Clooney. 🙂
The first group activity…I remember that fondly. Everyone seemed to work very well together, from what I saw. I did get a number of questions on #2 (the two schools of thought to explain Chmura’s actions). Relating that to the papers I graded, most of the incorrect answers were from that question. Perhaps at the next class, the answers can be reviewed with special focus on these schools of thought?
I know I was definitely a bit sketchy on that material – and looking at book #1 (Rathus), the schools of thought were horribly articulated. There was a 3-4 sentence explanation of the Humanistic school of thought and that one is a bit tricky. Even though it is addressed in a later chapter, I don’t believe most students would venture to look for more references to it in the book.
I guess my suggestion for this is to go more in depth with things like this in the future if they’ll be asked to do group work in it – but it definitely needs to be addressed.
I should also add:
It may be a good idea to talk to the class about we, the six lovely TAs, are here for. I think we’ll be getting approached for questions more as they learn what our role is. During this group exercise, I was basically wandering around and felt like I was interrupting their thought processes (I walked up to many of the groups, asking how they were working together – this is when I got a couple questions from about 3 or 4 groups about question #2). Most of the time, however, they stared at me blankly and said they were fine.
A few other suggestions I have:
*Provide the TAs with powerpoints before class periods so that we can focus more on teaching observations
*Provide the TAs with the group assignments prior to group work days so that we can be better prepared to answer any questions students may have (I was doing what I could to give good answers, and although I came up with adequate responses, I’d probably be more helpful if I had time to digest the questions)
*Set up a formal chain of reliability checks for assignments. I’m a little concerned about the method we’re using this time around. I’m just a bit uncomfortable entering grades before the two reliability checks are completed. This leaves a lot of room for “grade drama,” as I call it. (We can chat more about it at the TA meeting, if you like).
Thanks for another very interesting class! See you tomorrow!