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
  

I have more to say on the subject of office hours, and can relate my experiences, new anxieties etc. to some of the course readings, but I'll save that for the next blog.

Want to read a blog about office hours? Click here.