I think it's good to have the ITA trainees attend hour periods with which to observe the students, I do. However, I think that a lot of what we may miss in those hour sessions is largely contextual, and therefore for us to gain a better understanding of the ITA and how their classes work becomes somewhat dependent on being able to observe the full class time.
On Tuesday, I had my chance to sit in on a class for the entire period. First, it was good to get an idea of the class dynamic, who seemed to be the ones who would be the most talkative, the most social, the less social, etc. How the class reacted to one another was great, they all appeared to get along for the most part, even the quiet ones were afforded their separate time from the group without the threat of intimidation for doing such. There were a few students I could pick out which were genuinely interested in the instruction material, and a few that seemed to be simply going through the motions.
Not sure whaty ou can do about those students just yet, the only thing I can think of is personalizing the material a little bit more "why does this matter?" "well you see here..." but am not even sure if you can do it within the time period. There appears to be so much compacted into the lesson that there is little time for synthesis of the material or breathing room. Not sure if that is the standard or not, but I will definitely have to take a look at the lesson plan, develop one of my own and start to figure out where to go with everything.
At one point, AJ encouraged me to go and talk to the students, as I was surprisingly feeling a little out of place with the students and the teaching staff, probably because most of them graduated from the program, and until last week I had no idea who most of these people were, if any.
Fact: Students do not bite or maim.
Setting up a LAN network in the classroom provided me the opportunity to get into contact with the students and at the very least have some surface-type discourse for both of us to become at least familiar to one another. I will definitely feel more comfortable the next time I go in there to give a lesson...I have no idea when that will be. Hopefully sooner than later.
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I'm so glad you were able to have some personal contact with the students! And sit through an entire class period - I agree, it would probably be easier to watch a full one right away. It's good to know your reaction, because normally we do have new instructors sit through a whole period, but this time around we're hiring so many new people that there just wasn't enough time for each of you to have a full period all to yourself.
ReplyDeleteLet us know if you have a breakthrough about what to do with the students just 'going through the motions'! It seems to be the question of our lives as instructors . . . :D Keep on thinking and keeping up the great work!