We four GSIs graded the midterm of 130+ students. In some ways, I think we did the whole thing backwards. But I learned a lot and I don't think any of my students suffered a too-low grade.
The exam was 4 out of 6 short answer questions = 5 points each. And 2 out of 3 exam questions = 40 points each essay. We met and graded some short answer questions together. Then met again to grade essays. We took piles home to finish and later retrieved our section's exams to review, record the grades and return to students.
Things I'd do differently
--When preparing the final questions with the professor, develop the rubric for each question together.
----the very rough rubric we did prepare was extremely useful to me. I referred to it nearly each time I picked up a new exam. I found that I could be fair this way.
--Consider if questions can be rewritten to clarify and save students time. (We had one question that really only needed the students to list for types of immigrants. We didn't expect them to describe them as well. A better-written question could have saved many students valuable time.
--Add a note in the essay questions that says students will be penalized for inserting errors. We had a handful of students that answered an essay mostly correctly, but then added information that was incorrect as they tried to write a longer-than-necessary essay response.
--Assign an essay question to each GSI, or at least encourage reading in batches. While I enjoyed reading many of each of the 4 potential essays, I found that the grading process was more efficient and fair when I read, say 10 essays in a row on question 1, etc.
--Encourage GSIs to review the very lowest graded exams in their own section to make sure that grades were fair and not too harsh.
--Create a review of the exam that can be delivered by each of the GSIs that would include a student sample for each answer.
I have become quite protective of my students... and I want this feeling to lead to a more even grading process. I think it already is.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Confidence and Concern on the Rise
While I have had a much less-stressful time preparing for section in the last two weeks, a student has become increasingly demanding, so much so, that I have involved my fellow GSIs and my professor.
First the change in my stress level.
After receiving the mid-semester feedback from my students in week 6 and 7, and putting together some (unique from my fellow GSIs, but related) lesson plans , and successfully managed unexpected questions in section, I think I have finally hit my stride. This means that I sleep better the night before the section and am not as totally exhausted after section.
As well, the weekly commentaries (8 total due this semester) are getting better, students how initially scored low seem to be reading and incorporating my comments as their grades are improving, and I have met with all my students at least once in office hours.
Taking all of the above together, it appears that my feedback is being taken seriously and that the way we work together in section (the way I run it and they way the students are reacting to it) is likable. The midterm is this week... so I'll know in a few days if the decisions I have made about lesson plans are useful!
A student in need?
I have a student who at first was simply demanding too much attention and at times making inappropriate requests or comments during office hours (which he would come to weekly if I allowed him to.) But in recent weeks, I have come to be concerned that this conduct (which I was able to adjust by laying down some, well, suggestions, if not rules) is a symptom of a larger set of issues. This student not only hadn't turned anything in by week 6, the ideas he was discussing with me about his paper topic were so grandiose and scattered that I called in my professor. I think he is "manic," or at least having trouble maintaining realistic expectations for his paper and the course in general. So does my professor. (There are a number of other behavior issues as well, but for brevity's sake, I won't go into it in great detail here, but please know that his grandiose ideas are not limited to his paper topics, and his mood has vacillated from extremely optimistic and confident to closer to distraught and his personal appearance has varied as well, in connection with moods.)
I told the student I was worried about his academic success in the class and he soon turned in his first commentary, which was well written for the most part, but did not satisfy the requirement and was very, very personal in nature. He has also informed me that he is taking the class P/NP (19 units in total P/NP), so my expectations for his academic performance have properly been lowered. But that didn't lessen the concern I had for his mental health or the responsibility I have for addressing what I have witnessed.
The professor and I have been in contact with Tang Psych (and Lynda Van Horne) and he (the professor) has some very clear instructions about how to proceed with the student. For instance, he will be clear with the student about take over all paper discussions with the student (the paper topic falls in an area of expertise and interest to the professor, so it makes sense), the professor will make himself available for a weekly meeting and will grade the paper. He hopes to begin a discussion now that can help the student create a realistic paper outline etc. AND he hopes to create a safe space for the student to talk about larger issues if he wants.
I am grateful to the professor for taking this on. I hope that he continues to do what he needs to do in the class/section and can eventually discuss whether or not he needs outside assistance.
The professor wants me to pursue a larger discussion with campus with a Title IX officer as what I described about the student's behavior can be considered borderline sexual harassment. I find that I am hesitant to do this, because "I can handle it," and "I'm tough" but, as a fellow female GSI suggested, not only do I need to consider the student's (possibly) larger health issues, but that I am certainly not the only female he is interacting with.
Time to make that phone call.
First the change in my stress level.
After receiving the mid-semester feedback from my students in week 6 and 7, and putting together some (unique from my fellow GSIs, but related) lesson plans , and successfully managed unexpected questions in section, I think I have finally hit my stride. This means that I sleep better the night before the section and am not as totally exhausted after section.
As well, the weekly commentaries (8 total due this semester) are getting better, students how initially scored low seem to be reading and incorporating my comments as their grades are improving, and I have met with all my students at least once in office hours.
Taking all of the above together, it appears that my feedback is being taken seriously and that the way we work together in section (the way I run it and they way the students are reacting to it) is likable. The midterm is this week... so I'll know in a few days if the decisions I have made about lesson plans are useful!
A student in need?
I have a student who at first was simply demanding too much attention and at times making inappropriate requests or comments during office hours (which he would come to weekly if I allowed him to.) But in recent weeks, I have come to be concerned that this conduct (which I was able to adjust by laying down some, well, suggestions, if not rules) is a symptom of a larger set of issues. This student not only hadn't turned anything in by week 6, the ideas he was discussing with me about his paper topic were so grandiose and scattered that I called in my professor. I think he is "manic," or at least having trouble maintaining realistic expectations for his paper and the course in general. So does my professor. (There are a number of other behavior issues as well, but for brevity's sake, I won't go into it in great detail here, but please know that his grandiose ideas are not limited to his paper topics, and his mood has vacillated from extremely optimistic and confident to closer to distraught and his personal appearance has varied as well, in connection with moods.)
I told the student I was worried about his academic success in the class and he soon turned in his first commentary, which was well written for the most part, but did not satisfy the requirement and was very, very personal in nature. He has also informed me that he is taking the class P/NP (19 units in total P/NP), so my expectations for his academic performance have properly been lowered. But that didn't lessen the concern I had for his mental health or the responsibility I have for addressing what I have witnessed.
The professor and I have been in contact with Tang Psych (and Lynda Van Horne) and he (the professor) has some very clear instructions about how to proceed with the student. For instance, he will be clear with the student about take over all paper discussions with the student (the paper topic falls in an area of expertise and interest to the professor, so it makes sense), the professor will make himself available for a weekly meeting and will grade the paper. He hopes to begin a discussion now that can help the student create a realistic paper outline etc. AND he hopes to create a safe space for the student to talk about larger issues if he wants.
I am grateful to the professor for taking this on. I hope that he continues to do what he needs to do in the class/section and can eventually discuss whether or not he needs outside assistance.
The professor wants me to pursue a larger discussion with campus with a Title IX officer as what I described about the student's behavior can be considered borderline sexual harassment. I find that I am hesitant to do this, because "I can handle it," and "I'm tough" but, as a fellow female GSI suggested, not only do I need to consider the student's (possibly) larger health issues, but that I am certainly not the only female he is interacting with.
Time to make that phone call.
Monday, February 28, 2011
My eclectic learning style
I first assessed my learning style here
Active or Reflective
Hmm: Somewhere in between but mostly Active. As a verbal person, talking about something, "doing something active with it" is my natural tendency. But when it comes to editing/writing I prefer to do it alone. A recent group editing session was particularly hard for me. Though that could have been because I was so tired from lesson planning and teaching/not eating enough.
Intuitive
Abstract, yes, math, no. Lab, not so much, but I'm happy to make connections and be tested on those things that I have not yet been explicitly taught. Though I have to admit, this was not the case in in Epi over the summer. Can I be an intuitive learner when it comes to abstract ideas and a sensing learner when it comes to Epi?
Verbal
I just have to be. It would be crazy if I wasn't. I REMEMBER visual learning tools very vividly. But I tend to skip, say a flow chart or a graph and read the accompanying text before I really engage with the visual representation. In last semester's census data analysis class, as I worked with the data in excel, I would create a table or a chart to analyze and eventually report what the data said, but only as I worked on a sentence to explain what I was seeing did it make real sense. Also, I talk. A lot. About what we're learning, what we just learned, etc. = Verbal, right?
Sequential
I might be a global learner as my study habits seem to fit the suggestions, but my gut says I am a sequential learner; and I think my experience with Epi over the summer was like that: i could do problem sets well enough, but it would take a few days after the assignment for me to truly understand what I had been doing with those problem sets.
How does understanding the diverse range of learning styles help you in your approach to teaching?
Reflect on any classes you’ve taken in which the professor or GSI’s approach to teaching did not match your learning style. What might they have done to better reach students with your learning style?
This just in! According to the online activity: I am:
a 9 on the Active scale
a 7 on the Intuitive scale
a 5 on the Verbal scale
a 5 on the Global scale
The Global is the only thing that surprises me, but truthfully, not so much.
Active or Reflective
Hmm: Somewhere in between but mostly Active. As a verbal person, talking about something, "doing something active with it" is my natural tendency. But when it comes to editing/writing I prefer to do it alone. A recent group editing session was particularly hard for me. Though that could have been because I was so tired from lesson planning and teaching/not eating enough.
Intuitive
Abstract, yes, math, no. Lab, not so much, but I'm happy to make connections and be tested on those things that I have not yet been explicitly taught. Though I have to admit, this was not the case in in Epi over the summer. Can I be an intuitive learner when it comes to abstract ideas and a sensing learner when it comes to Epi?
Verbal
I just have to be. It would be crazy if I wasn't. I REMEMBER visual learning tools very vividly. But I tend to skip, say a flow chart or a graph and read the accompanying text before I really engage with the visual representation. In last semester's census data analysis class, as I worked with the data in excel, I would create a table or a chart to analyze and eventually report what the data said, but only as I worked on a sentence to explain what I was seeing did it make real sense. Also, I talk. A lot. About what we're learning, what we just learned, etc. = Verbal, right?
Sequential
I might be a global learner as my study habits seem to fit the suggestions, but my gut says I am a sequential learner; and I think my experience with Epi over the summer was like that: i could do problem sets well enough, but it would take a few days after the assignment for me to truly understand what I had been doing with those problem sets.
How does understanding the diverse range of learning styles help you in your approach to teaching?
Reflect on any classes you’ve taken in which the professor or GSI’s approach to teaching did not match your learning style. What might they have done to better reach students with your learning style?
This just in! According to the online activity: I am:
a 9 on the Active scale
a 7 on the Intuitive scale
a 5 on the Verbal scale
a 5 on the Global scale
The Global is the only thing that surprises me, but truthfully, not so much.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
As promised, more to myself than to my vast blog audience, here I am addressing the topic of office hours again. I enjoyed the reading(s) on the subject and found that although the intended readers is faculty and more of the more professorial type, there were many lessons to be learned from Elaine S. Barry's "Using Office Hours Effectively"
Below I pull a few topics from the article and relate them to my experiences.
Communication
From the article: "Remember that what you say first will set the tone for the meeting, and what you say last the student will remember. Make sure to communicate clearly, listening to and understanding what the student says and making it easy for the student to listen to and understand you. Beware of one-way communication — some faculty are so busy making sure the student is listening to them that they forget to listen to the student!"
--in particular the "what you say first and last" reminder above is a good one for me moving forward. For the most part, the office hours have been of the "get-to-know each other" variety. But I try to end them with some substance; talking about paper topics, or relating students' interests back to city planning and the course material. Starting next week, this tip will be more useful as we'll be in one-on-one office hours and talking more seriously about paper topics as well as commentaries.
How to Give Praise and Criticism.
"Do not forget to point out the positives. Be sure to identify strengths and compliment the students’ abilities and successes. For the most effective feedback, provide specific, focused comments about the behavior, not the person. Start positive, describe the behavior and situation, give reasons for the criticism, and end with what you expect (Hanna et al., 2008). For example, “Your first draft was well done. Your sources were appropriate and you cited them correctly throughout. However, there were several places that were unclear and disorganized with some repetition of ideas. This left me wondering what the main point of the paper was. Your paper will be much more clear if you reorganize it and take out the repetition.”
--I've employed a bit of the above in my responses to the weekly commentaries. I ALWAYS start with a positive comment; while this seems obvious, I also know from experience that the feedback I have received from GSI's and profs has started with or at least included the good, making me much more likely to be able to read the "bad" and be able to see the room for improvement.
This is another tip that I will keep in mind as we move to more one-on-one meetings.
Back to my own experience — yes, this blog very teacher-focused, but perhaps this outlet allows me to be more student-focused in section and office hours! One can hope!) I find that at the graduate level I haven't gotten enough constructive criticism in order to improve my writing and overall performance. I hope that by giving each student a suggestion or more (following a compliment on student ability, success, etc.) those who want to, can work to improve the quality of the assignments they turn in. At minimum, (when necessary) I provide a tip or two about engaging with the material so that each student can be better prepared for the midterm and final paper.
I think I have a defensive student in the making:
The article suggests: Be sure to discuss the student’s behavior or performance, not the student’s personal attributes (ex. “We need to work on your writing skills” rather than “you are not a good writer”). See “how to give praise and criticism” below.
The student in question was quite vocal in section and even lecture at first, but has in week 3 turned in a commentary calling the class, readings and professor biased, saying that none of the previously mentioned belong in the department or the field of city planning. Rather than respond directly to the student's assertions about bias and content I initially complimented the student on his engagement with the material, his passionate response to it and his improvement over the course of 3 assignments -- he turned in two assignments in week 2 and met with me as he has a pre-thesis class that has deadlines he needs to meet plans to use the paper in this class to satisfy those requirements. I also pointed out that the student was making assertions without necessary providing evidence, needs to continue to work on sentence structure and verb tense agreement, and I invited him to do more research about the department, the field the professor who is teaching the class and the author that he was attacking.
He has been much quieter in lecture and in section. I hope that he will engage more this week in section and I intend solicit his input in as indirect a way as possible. We'll have to meet again within the next week or two, so I can check in better face to face. As well, this and last week's lecture material were likely to have inspired a similar reaction in him BUT the professor has begun to make the case for why this material is relevant and necessary for those interested in working with urban communities. AND the task of the GSI this week is to continue to make that case. I look forward to seeing his next commentary! (Kind of... No, I do, but I have to admit the idea of not being able to have a real dialogue with students like him makes my heart rate go WAY up and makes me ponder just what it means to me to "teach." Hmmm, more to chew on.
Why do I think he will be defensive? I might be getting ahead of myself. Let's see what his commentary this week looks like...
Below I pull a few topics from the article and relate them to my experiences.
Communication
From the article: "Remember that what you say first will set the tone for the meeting, and what you say last the student will remember. Make sure to communicate clearly, listening to and understanding what the student says and making it easy for the student to listen to and understand you. Beware of one-way communication — some faculty are so busy making sure the student is listening to them that they forget to listen to the student!"
--in particular the "what you say first and last" reminder above is a good one for me moving forward. For the most part, the office hours have been of the "get-to-know each other" variety. But I try to end them with some substance; talking about paper topics, or relating students' interests back to city planning and the course material. Starting next week, this tip will be more useful as we'll be in one-on-one office hours and talking more seriously about paper topics as well as commentaries.
How to Give Praise and Criticism.
"Do not forget to point out the positives. Be sure to identify strengths and compliment the students’ abilities and successes. For the most effective feedback, provide specific, focused comments about the behavior, not the person. Start positive, describe the behavior and situation, give reasons for the criticism, and end with what you expect (Hanna et al., 2008). For example, “Your first draft was well done. Your sources were appropriate and you cited them correctly throughout. However, there were several places that were unclear and disorganized with some repetition of ideas. This left me wondering what the main point of the paper was. Your paper will be much more clear if you reorganize it and take out the repetition.”
--I've employed a bit of the above in my responses to the weekly commentaries. I ALWAYS start with a positive comment; while this seems obvious, I also know from experience that the feedback I have received from GSI's and profs has started with or at least included the good, making me much more likely to be able to read the "bad" and be able to see the room for improvement.
This is another tip that I will keep in mind as we move to more one-on-one meetings.
Back to my own experience — yes, this blog very teacher-focused, but perhaps this outlet allows me to be more student-focused in section and office hours! One can hope!) I find that at the graduate level I haven't gotten enough constructive criticism in order to improve my writing and overall performance. I hope that by giving each student a suggestion or more (following a compliment on student ability, success, etc.) those who want to, can work to improve the quality of the assignments they turn in. At minimum, (when necessary) I provide a tip or two about engaging with the material so that each student can be better prepared for the midterm and final paper.
I think I have a defensive student in the making:
The article suggests: Be sure to discuss the student’s behavior or performance, not the student’s personal attributes (ex. “We need to work on your writing skills” rather than “you are not a good writer”). See “how to give praise and criticism” below.
The student in question was quite vocal in section and even lecture at first, but has in week 3 turned in a commentary calling the class, readings and professor biased, saying that none of the previously mentioned belong in the department or the field of city planning. Rather than respond directly to the student's assertions about bias and content I initially complimented the student on his engagement with the material, his passionate response to it and his improvement over the course of 3 assignments -- he turned in two assignments in week 2 and met with me as he has a pre-thesis class that has deadlines he needs to meet plans to use the paper in this class to satisfy those requirements. I also pointed out that the student was making assertions without necessary providing evidence, needs to continue to work on sentence structure and verb tense agreement, and I invited him to do more research about the department, the field the professor who is teaching the class and the author that he was attacking.
He has been much quieter in lecture and in section. I hope that he will engage more this week in section and I intend solicit his input in as indirect a way as possible. We'll have to meet again within the next week or two, so I can check in better face to face. As well, this and last week's lecture material were likely to have inspired a similar reaction in him BUT the professor has begun to make the case for why this material is relevant and necessary for those interested in working with urban communities. AND the task of the GSI this week is to continue to make that case. I look forward to seeing his next commentary! (Kind of... No, I do, but I have to admit the idea of not being able to have a real dialogue with students like him makes my heart rate go WAY up and makes me ponder just what it means to me to "teach." Hmmm, more to chew on.
Why do I think he will be defensive? I might be getting ahead of myself. Let's see what his commentary this week looks like...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Office hours
I am following the advice of a number of experienced GSI's and demanding that students take advantage of my office hours at least twice: First to meet in a group of 2 - 4 in order to get to know each other a bit better; and second to retrieve their paper topic with comments from me.
At first I was a bit anxious about demanding the two visits. What if they don't want to get to know me/each other or want me to get to know them? What if they ask me questions I can't answer (about the course) etc. Will I really penalize them if they don't satisfy this requirement?
Most of that anxiety has gone away. Here is an example of a student's response to my asking her to schedule an office hour visit separate from her boyfriend (she tends to do the talking for the two of them).
"The last time I was in a section where we were encouraged to get to know
each other was my first semester here! Thanks for the reminder, I moved
myself to the 2:20 appointment."
We had a nice meeting and she used her talkativeness to interact with a much quieter, shier foreign student by asking him questions about himself.
Overall: I have really enjoyed the get-to-know each other meetings -- and it seems the students do as well. True, I have made myself much more available that I expected to (regular office hours follow section, a time that all students report they can attend), adding an hour or two the last two weeks, but it's been worth it. I remember the students names, they have made some great connections with each other during our get-to-knows, and for the most part, those who have met with me are more willing to speak up in class.
The only complication thus far has been a student who has spend more than 30 minutes now with me (over 2.5 office hour slots.) He waits until he can speak to me alone and wants to discuss far more than simply class. Yesterday I had to explain to him that no, we can't hang out, that yes, we can talk during office hours, and that yes, I have certain obligations to maintain my role as GSI. I also had to ask him to refer to women in different language while in my presence. He's a very confident, somewhat manic, intelligent student who seems accustomed to getting the attention he wants. He's yet to turn in an assignment (8 commentaries over the course of the semester) and he doesn't speak up in class. I asked him directly about the above (his class performance is in contrast to his confident, knowledgeable demeanor in office hours) and he admitted to being "behind" on the readings. I offered him some tips to get caught up and told him that I expect a commentary from him this week, etc. Tips include:- forming a reading group
- identifying one reading for the week to respond to in the commentary, and as he crafts his response attempt to connect it to lecture or another reading, but not to feel overwhelmed by being required to make the connection; rather, to allow his curiosity to make the assignment fun.
- consider the commentaries as preparing him for the midterm and final paper
- he's excited about his paper topic, so that can be a source of motivation/inspiration
Want to read a blog about office hours? Click here.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Survival and some laughs
Well, I survived the first section! True, the 50 minutes were mostly taken up by administrative tasks, and I really only posed a few questions to the students at key moments, moments that know I can loosely define as my first, brave attempts at teaching, but, yes we all survived.
In preparation we four GSI’s for City Planning 118: The Urban Community (recall that this is a large lecture that satisfies the AC requirement and sections are capped at 30 students and certain to be populated with a myriad of majors, years of study, ethnic background and English proficiencies) met a number of times to both discuss the ongoing enrollment issues and—more importantly for me —and share ideas for Day 1 of Section.
While Matt and I are novices, our Head GSI and the fourth GSI have a useful amount of experience between them. From Daniel I borrowed what turned out to be a very successful ice-breaker/get-to-know each other exercise (sample phrases that students had to fill out: find someone who: grew up in an urban cluster, whose ancestors lived in tenement housing, speaks another language, is an immigrant). The exercise:
· Got students on their feet
· Allowed them to get to know each other
· Allowed them to talk to me
· Introduced a few definitions from class
· Set an active, familiar and not-too-formal mood for the section.
Below I refer to Objectives for the First Day, a piece of suggested reading from the syllabus, in order to further describe just what went down in Section 301. (A student asked me if it was section 301 and I told her I hoped so = first laugh!)
1. Establish a welcoming classroom environment. (I welcomed them, pretty much all individually! We had fun!)
2. Define objectives for the section or lab and for your role as the GSI. (We did this as a class, having each of the students read a sentence, pausing for me to explain or answer questions.)
3. Discuss course and campus policies. (Done, and listed as resources on the syllabus)
4. Introduce yourself, and have students introduce themselves. (Me: yes. And a bit of most students as we talked about who _____ in the exercise. As well, anytime someone asked a question or offered something, I tried to get more information out of them.)
5. Begin to learn students’ names. (Mary! Mara! Carlos! June. Doug: who asks a LOT of questions. Hongda! Yes, some of the names even stuck!)
6. Gather student information. (On their way out I had them fill out information about the basics and why they’re in the class — very intertesting!)
7. Establish and discuss guidelines for discussion. (We need to do more on this, but I told them we would.)
8. Discuss course and section grades, readings, and assignments. (Yup!)
9. Get the students talking to each other. (Ice breaker started us off.)
10. Have students engage with class material. (A tiny bit, but yes.)
11. Deal with enrollment issues. (Ah, yes.)
The best things I did for myself to prepare for Day 1 of Section include:
· Attending the Head GSI’s section
· The use of the ice breaker
· Mimicking many of the Head GSI’s tricks: having students read one sentence of the syllabus at a time; using the ice breaker to discuss course themes, demonstrate I have some knowledge, etc.
· Making myself available for office hours immediately afterward: met with four students
· Mostly: beg, borrow and steal from other GSIs, websites, how-to guides and the like.
· Not getting up at 2 am to fine tune my “lesson plan” even though I couldn’t sleep for 2 hours out of anxiety.
(Sorry, I can't seem to get the font under my control above or here) In sum: preparation was key for me. It helped me manage the time, the content of the section and my anxiety. I had attended the Making Group Work Effective workshop and am excited to put many of those tips to work.
And in closing: I'm still a bit terrified of the actual "teaching" — I found myself relieved that we only had time to get into a few basic definitions (culled together from student input) and that I did not have a chance to get into course material. This is NOT a feeling/intent/regret I want to have ever again. Guess it's time for more prep work! And sharing/stealing/begging from my team of fellow GSIs.
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