Teaching my first class

devilnuts

devilnuts

Barefooters
Feb 24, 2011
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#1
On Monday I get to teach my first large lecture class. I've taught smaller groups before for exam review sessions of up to about 25 students. I've also done office hours with smaller groups of 1 - 5 students. So this will be my first time giving a large lecture class with 175 students. Those poor, poor kids. hahaha.

I have had a few ask me why I always go barefoot. I also have had a couple mention that they've seen me running about town. I have noticed a few other students on campus (not necessarily in my classes) going barefoot lately. I guess they just needed to see someone else doing it first...hahaha.
 
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#2
On the bright side (and to relieve your nerves) out of 175 in a big lecture hall setting, only about 25 are ACTUALLY paying attention to you; so it really isn't that big of a jump:D

I teach 21 3rd graders every day. It's not exactly the same, but day one (this is my first year) was nerve wracking! Good luck!
 
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#3
Good luck, Dev!
 
#5
Actually, Lomad, we have pretty good attention in the class. I would say maybe 25 out of the 175 don't pay attention. The rest pretty much do...so that will be good. Of course, I still think it is funny when they approach me about not wearing shoes or slippers. Anyway, the class should be pretty easy. The other TA and I have to hold sessions next semester where we will be teaching, so this gives us some practice before then. Usually they don't have first year TAs teaching classes, but we are special. LOL. I just don't think they were expecting a barefoot TA when they selected me for this position...lol. And until I am told differently, I will continue to be the barefoot TA. LOL.
 
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#6
yeah, I was just giving you a go. My own experiences in large format lecture classes were mixed and dependent on combination the course material, lecturer charisma, and percentage of 'required' attendees vs. those who actually wanted to learn something. My university was also a non-resident 'commuter school' at the time I attended (Kennesaw State Owls; Hooty hoo!) and our enrollment jumped in huge numbers every year I was there. This made some of the lecture classes way too large, imo, as the school struggled to catch up with staffing and scheduling. They were also typically core classes, and as we got into more major-specific stuff the class sizes shrank exponentially.
 
#8
Eh, I know I was kind of boring...the material was pretty dry and I was just trying to push through it and keep them entertained a bit. Looked like at least half of them were paying attention. LOL. We'll see how the other TA does tomorrow. I think we we each probably be teaching one lecture a week to this class with the instructor doing the third lecture of the week. So that should be kind of fun and interesting. haha.
 
#9
Cool! Watcha teachin? And how large a class? I bet you will be their "cool" teacher, or however the kids say it nowadays.
I'm a grad student; teaching techniques for littles sometimes work on the biggies, but the big ones are not nearly as cute or adorable, especially when they complain.
I like being in charge of a whole class rather than being a helper/review session person, but it's hard to get the student interaction with a large lecture. I had a prof that was fantastic at it, and learned all 300 students names over the semester, but that's a tough act to follow.
 
#10
devilnuts said:
Actually, Lomad, we have pretty good attention in the class. I would say maybe 25 out of the 175 don't pay attention. The rest pretty much do...so that will be good. Of course, I still think it is funny when they approach me about not wearing shoes or slippers. Anyway, the class should be pretty easy. The other TA and I have to hold sessions next semester where we will be teaching, so this gives us some practice before then. Usually they don't have first year TAs teaching classes, but we are special. LOL. I just don't think they were expecting a barefoot TA when they selected me for this position...lol. And until I am told differently, I will continue to be the barefoot TA. LOL.
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Oh, wow, they let you teach BF? SO JEALOUS, because that means you surely have other freedoms as well.
I would totally get in trouble for that. We're supposed to look a little 'businessy' which I take to mean huaraches. ;)
If I had stayed in math, maybe the eccentric thing would have flown better.................sigh....................
 
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#11
LOL...I'm sure that they would want me to be a little more "bussiness-like" in my attire, but until I am told that I need to, I will continue to wear board shorts, t-shirts, and barefoot. Hell, I found out last week that you can ride the bus barefoot. So that means I have put shoes on for about an hour in the past two weeks. LOL.
 
#12
It is interesting how many students have asked me about not wearing shoes, mentioning that they saw me running, or asking me if I run barefoot. 170 students in the class and I have had at least 10 questions/comments related to my being barefoot in the first month of classes.
 
#13
This is not related to the lecutre I gave, but the class period before my lecture, we gave them a midterm exam. I dealt with the Scantron portion of the exams and the other TA did the short answer page. I was alphabetizing the sheets and there was a student that I could not find on our roster. I looked up on the official class list from the university...still couldn't find him. I am not sure why someone would do this, but evidently someone came to the class that day, took an exam for a class they were not in, just to get me to say, "No matter how hard I look, I just can't find Mike Hawk anywhere." Yes, that was the name on the exam. That is pretty elaborate to pull a prank...haha.
 
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#14
devilnuts said:
This is not related to the lecutre I gave, but the class period before my lecture, we gave them a midterm exam. I dealt with the Scantron portion of the exams and the other TA did the short answer page. I was alphabetizing the sheets and there was a student that I could not find on our roster. I looked up on the official class list from the university...still couldn't find him. I am not sure why someone would do this, but evidently someone came to the class that day, took an exam for a class they were not in, just to get me to say, "No matter how hard I look, I just can't find Mike Hawk anywhere." Yes, that was the name on the exam. That is pretty elaborate to pull a prank...haha.
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Excellent.
You have some fun ones!
 
#16
i had a high school teacher named Robert Michael Hawk. i was the first to laugh when he told us this. of course.
 
#17
Oh, I definitely found it amusing and my inner 16 year old loved it. I just thought that it was a bit far to go for a joke that you won't even get to see unfold. LOL. I had someone take a physics exam before that wasn't in the class. I got an exam with the name Charlie Rose on it. Not as funny, but it was still weird. haha.
 
#18
The owner of a huge company I worked for, who got paged over the intercom at least once a day, was named, Dick Sass. I WIN! :)
 
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#20
Ok now I don't think it's funny anymore. Cuz I'm tired from sitting trying to write a program all day. I'm thinking of all the children out there who had to grow up with the behind the back or more jeering giggles, the torment.
Oh, please won't someone please think of the children?!
 
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