End of the Semester

The Fall semester is over and I will be TAing on my own in the Spring semester of 2010. I am looking forward to it but I am also aware that it is probably going to require me to be more engaged in class affairs now that I am the only one available for the students to talk to other than Professor Lucas.
The last week of class was interesting because Professor Lucas had to be out of town due to some circumstances, and the other TAs and I were able to pretty much run the final class periods while the students gave their final presentations.
This was a very good experience for us because we felt that we were the main supporters for them and that we really played a prominent role in their freshman year.

adding up what happened

in my last post, I forgot to mention the two things that are definitely required from us as TAs ( for this semester at least)...
1) attend a weekly meeting with our Professor to discuss what happened in the past three classes, go over lesson plans, and give suggestions.
2) a monthly meeting with the people responsible for this program and for others who are doing the same thing I am, where we discuss how the program as a whole is doing, what we think about it, and what can be improved.

we have also been working to set some guidelines for how we think the program should run next semester, and what future TAs should know. in other words, e need to tell student why they would want to be TAs, and what to expect if they accept the offer.

I have recently found out that the two TAs that had been with me for this entire semester will not be with me next semester because of their schedule conflicts. I actually registered for 17 credits, so I am not sure how that will play out considering this is the largest number of credits I have registered for since I got to VCU. I intend to keep everything as it is because I really do not want to pull away from the TAing experience just yet. next semester I am hoping to have a larger role in the class room more often as well as having more input into our weekly lesson plans.
I love the class I TA for they are so respectful and smart. and I would really hate to switch sections so I made sure I did not have to. :)

I am looking forward to TAing again next semester :)

more updates in upcoming posts

Focused Inquiry TAing... first thoughts

when Professor Lucas asked me to be her TA at the end of Spring semester 2008 I was really excited and honored that she had chosen me to do it.
I really had no idea what to expect because I had never been a TA before, but the idea excited me, so I accepted.
I accepted the offer for many reasons;
first of all, It is a really great feeling to know that you are a role model for an entire class of freshmen in their first encounters with college. It puts some pressure on you to be the best you can for them as well as giving you a sense of accomplishment for always helping others and playing the role of a friend as well as a mentor.
also, no one can deny how good a teacher assistant internship would look on your transcript.

the tasks the other two TAs and I had to perform in the first semester were not complicated nor did they require a lot of time. it is hard to say what exactly would be required from a UNIV TA because each professor tailors it differently than the other.

to explain it in the simplest form possible, a FI TA is a person who serves as a model for the rest of the class through out the semester, answering questions they may have about the class and the assignments, offering encouragement and support, and giving that final boost of confidence that will ease the new Freshmen into the college experience.

in the upcoming posts; I will talk about the experiences I have gone through being a TA.