So far, I only observed my “boss” (I’m her TA), who is now teaching the class I was taking two semesters ago. At that time, the course was taught by a professor with a lot of expertise in this particular area and many years of teaching experience. My professor is fairly young and joined the kinesiology crew a couple of years ago. Hence, I was curious about her teaching style and whether she might have incorporated anything new into her lecture that we didn’t have. I was pleasantly surprised to see her teach in a very interactive way and use her famous humor to lighten up the lecture. She also provided the students with information and a hands-on experience that was not part of the tedious strictly theory-based book. Interestingly, this part of the lecture provided me with some valuable information for my thesis.
Although I was observed by two peers, I only received feedback from one. Based on her notes, she was quite impressed with what she saw. However, I’m not sure what impressed her more, my teaching or the material I was teaching that day. After giving a quiz, I was instructing the students in how to use electromyography (EMG) to measure muscle activity. For someone who is not familiar with biomechanics, watching this kind of hands-on lecture can be pretty exciting. Anyway, her suggestion to put the quiz questions on a Power Point rather than reading them to the students may be a good idea. Although they can all hear me, not all students seem to comprehend orally presented questions equally well. Being able to see and read the questions may thus be helpful and raise the overall grade of the quizzes a bit.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Blog 7
I’m kind of frustrated! This whole class is geared towards becoming a classroom teacher, but no one has ever asked me if I really want to become one. As I pointed out in my teaching philosophy, I’m dedicated to my students’ learning and enjoy passing on my knowledge to them. But just because I’m a TA doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to spend the rest of my professional career in a classroom. My goal is to become an ACSM certified clinical exercise specialist and combine it with my knowledge as a physical therapist.
I have to admit though, that being a therapist also involves being a teacher. Many tasks that are expected from a classroom teacher are also required from a therapist. For instance, I’ll have to identify short-term and long-term goals, prepare therapy lessons, and come up with a test to assess my patients’ progress. Thus, writing learning objectives and SMART goals as well as the lecture about how to assess student learning were not lost. Furthermore, effective time management and involving the patients in their healing process are as important in the health setting as they are in the classroom. Hence, the strategies for time management (i.e. using a daily time sheet) and organizing a classroom are of great value to me. Finally, as a visual learner, I always assumed that most patients learn the activities from my demonstrations and hands-on help. Well, the learning style activities in this class clearly taught me that some individuals may benefit from additional, written explanations. Other activities such effective grading, improvement of student writing and reading, and peer teaching observations may improve my performance as a TA; however, I don’t see much relevance for my future work as a therapist.
I have to admit though, that being a therapist also involves being a teacher. Many tasks that are expected from a classroom teacher are also required from a therapist. For instance, I’ll have to identify short-term and long-term goals, prepare therapy lessons, and come up with a test to assess my patients’ progress. Thus, writing learning objectives and SMART goals as well as the lecture about how to assess student learning were not lost. Furthermore, effective time management and involving the patients in their healing process are as important in the health setting as they are in the classroom. Hence, the strategies for time management (i.e. using a daily time sheet) and organizing a classroom are of great value to me. Finally, as a visual learner, I always assumed that most patients learn the activities from my demonstrations and hands-on help. Well, the learning style activities in this class clearly taught me that some individuals may benefit from additional, written explanations. Other activities such effective grading, improvement of student writing and reading, and peer teaching observations may improve my performance as a TA; however, I don’t see much relevance for my future work as a therapist.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Blog 6
I dread grading! It’s time-consuming and it often makes me feel rueful, because I don’t like to give bad grades. But sometimes, there is just no way around it, because even the most generous interpretation of the student’s work and partial credit won’t significantly raise the grade.
When I started grading four semesters ago, I felt very uncomfortable, especially when grading the papers of students who were my former classmates. It was like “Wow, not too long ago we were working on the same class project and complaining about it, and now I am the one expecting dedication and good work!” These days I care less who has taken a class with me. Since I use criterion-referenced grading, every student knows the grading criteria and is responsible for his or her own grades.
I always start out grading the lab reports of two groups together. Once I’m done, I put one group away and start with the next one, while keeping an eye of how I have graded the one I kept. Doing this is an easy way to ensure that I keep using the same criteria for all the groups. (Besides, I may find out when they start copying each other). I usually check the right answers off and write what is missing on each student’s paper. I also made it a point to give the graded lab reports back at the beginning of the next lab and go over the most missed questions. Although my grading is based on an answer key, I have at least one student every year that challenges my grading . . .
The students’ writing is sometimes missing clarity, style, and mechanics, which makes it hard to grade. I honestly don’t know how to address this problem, because the poor writing skills are most often found in students whose native language is Spanish. I don’t feel comfortable telling them that they should improve their writing in English. After all, I’m a foreigner myself; and my writing isn’t always flawless either!
When I started grading four semesters ago, I felt very uncomfortable, especially when grading the papers of students who were my former classmates. It was like “Wow, not too long ago we were working on the same class project and complaining about it, and now I am the one expecting dedication and good work!” These days I care less who has taken a class with me. Since I use criterion-referenced grading, every student knows the grading criteria and is responsible for his or her own grades.
I always start out grading the lab reports of two groups together. Once I’m done, I put one group away and start with the next one, while keeping an eye of how I have graded the one I kept. Doing this is an easy way to ensure that I keep using the same criteria for all the groups. (Besides, I may find out when they start copying each other). I usually check the right answers off and write what is missing on each student’s paper. I also made it a point to give the graded lab reports back at the beginning of the next lab and go over the most missed questions. Although my grading is based on an answer key, I have at least one student every year that challenges my grading . . .
The students’ writing is sometimes missing clarity, style, and mechanics, which makes it hard to grade. I honestly don’t know how to address this problem, because the poor writing skills are most often found in students whose native language is Spanish. I don’t feel comfortable telling them that they should improve their writing in English. After all, I’m a foreigner myself; and my writing isn’t always flawless either!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Blog 5
According to the completed Felder & Soloman Learning Styles Inventory, about two thirds of my students in Lab 1 are visual learners and those in Lab 2 are equally divided in visual and verbal learners. I’m a visual learner (9 on the scale), which may give the impression that the students with a visual learning style have an advantage.
Well, I’m not so sure. Each lab includes a quiz, addressing the questions most often missed in the previous lab report, an introduction, activities, and writing the lab report. With all this squeezed into 1 hour and 50 minutes, I cannot spend too much time on an introduction that features overhead and other visual aids. The students are required to come to class prepared, which means that they have read the lab manual and reviewed the related text from the lecture. During the last lab, I gave the students some verbal background information about force and illustrated on the blackboard how to add vectors, followed by an explanation of the activities. The activities were also described in the lab manual (some were illustrated, others were not), which may have put the verbal learners at an advantage. But I think, by performing the activities and watching their peers, the visual learners should also have been able to understand what was happening. I told the students to always bring their textbook and use it to discuss the lab questions. For future labs, I may ask them to open the respective chapter and then refer to the illustrations in the book during my introduction. Together with my drawings on the blackboard, this should support the visual learners a little bit more.
The students are working in small groups of three. While they are writing their lab reports, I usually go from group to group and answer questions if needed. I already noticed that while some groups need verbal instructions only, others require illustrations or nothing at all. Even though each group has one member with a background in physics and one with higher math skills, I suspect that only the groups which rarely require an explanation have members of both learning styles. Since they seem to complement each other, it could have been helpful to all students' learning experience if I had known their learning preferences along with their academic history prior to building the groups. Well, it’s too late now. I’ll try my best to incorporate as many teaching techniques as possible. I think this should become easier as I become more comfortable with teaching biomechanics.
Well, I’m not so sure. Each lab includes a quiz, addressing the questions most often missed in the previous lab report, an introduction, activities, and writing the lab report. With all this squeezed into 1 hour and 50 minutes, I cannot spend too much time on an introduction that features overhead and other visual aids. The students are required to come to class prepared, which means that they have read the lab manual and reviewed the related text from the lecture. During the last lab, I gave the students some verbal background information about force and illustrated on the blackboard how to add vectors, followed by an explanation of the activities. The activities were also described in the lab manual (some were illustrated, others were not), which may have put the verbal learners at an advantage. But I think, by performing the activities and watching their peers, the visual learners should also have been able to understand what was happening. I told the students to always bring their textbook and use it to discuss the lab questions. For future labs, I may ask them to open the respective chapter and then refer to the illustrations in the book during my introduction. Together with my drawings on the blackboard, this should support the visual learners a little bit more.
The students are working in small groups of three. While they are writing their lab reports, I usually go from group to group and answer questions if needed. I already noticed that while some groups need verbal instructions only, others require illustrations or nothing at all. Even though each group has one member with a background in physics and one with higher math skills, I suspect that only the groups which rarely require an explanation have members of both learning styles. Since they seem to complement each other, it could have been helpful to all students' learning experience if I had known their learning preferences along with their academic history prior to building the groups. Well, it’s too late now. I’ll try my best to incorporate as many teaching techniques as possible. I think this should become easier as I become more comfortable with teaching biomechanics.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Blog 4
I have to admit that I had some butterflies in my stomach before starting the lab. Instead of teaching the students how to put electrodes on and conduct exercise stress tests, I now have to explain vectors, impulse, projectiles, etc., and show them how to use EMG and the motion capture system (Peak Motus). The initial apprehension subsided once I stood in front of the class, because this particular lab wasn’t too difficult. I know, however, that the uneasy feeling will come back until I have familiarized myself with everything in the biomechanics lab.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of an (2-hr-50-min) introductory session as I had in the coronary lab. This (1-hr-50-min) lab started right away with a review of human movement terminology. The first ten minutes were used up by my professor as she explained the semester project to the students. During the remaining time I greeted the students (“Hi everyone and welcome back”), asked them if they were already overwhelmed by the project and added jokingly that there was more to come, introduced myself, went over the syllabus, put the students in groups, explained what the first lab was all about, and had them write a lengthy lab report, which they were supposed to finish in class, but didn’t.
Because a second lab was about to start right after this one, I had to “throw” the students out. My closing statement thus was that whoever didn’t finish the lab report shouldn’t worry and turn it in the next morning during my office hours. I then reminded the students that there will be a quiz at the start of next week’s lab and wished them a good first week. The lab reports and the quiz will be my assessment of their learning for this lab. For future labs, I plan to reserve a few minutes after the quiz to talk with the students about their experience in the previous lab and then give them feedback on their learning as I return the lab reports.
I felt kind of rushed. Given this to-do list, I had to forgo my planned icebreaker and use the group-building process for a short introduction. I tried to get us all acquainted by going from group to group while the students were working on their lab reports. I encouraged them to try out the movements they were about to describe so that their peers could watch. This resulted in some laughter and helped “break the ice” to a certain extent. The second lab was a little easier (these students benefited from my slips during the first one), but still, the time constraint didn’t let me incorporate what I have planned. But overall, it went well. I think the students didn’t care too much about the lack of introduction, since most of them knew each other from previous courses and/or were in my coronary lab this summer.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of an (2-hr-50-min) introductory session as I had in the coronary lab. This (1-hr-50-min) lab started right away with a review of human movement terminology. The first ten minutes were used up by my professor as she explained the semester project to the students. During the remaining time I greeted the students (“Hi everyone and welcome back”), asked them if they were already overwhelmed by the project and added jokingly that there was more to come, introduced myself, went over the syllabus, put the students in groups, explained what the first lab was all about, and had them write a lengthy lab report, which they were supposed to finish in class, but didn’t.
Because a second lab was about to start right after this one, I had to “throw” the students out. My closing statement thus was that whoever didn’t finish the lab report shouldn’t worry and turn it in the next morning during my office hours. I then reminded the students that there will be a quiz at the start of next week’s lab and wished them a good first week. The lab reports and the quiz will be my assessment of their learning for this lab. For future labs, I plan to reserve a few minutes after the quiz to talk with the students about their experience in the previous lab and then give them feedback on their learning as I return the lab reports.
I felt kind of rushed. Given this to-do list, I had to forgo my planned icebreaker and use the group-building process for a short introduction. I tried to get us all acquainted by going from group to group while the students were working on their lab reports. I encouraged them to try out the movements they were about to describe so that their peers could watch. This resulted in some laughter and helped “break the ice” to a certain extent. The second lab was a little easier (these students benefited from my slips during the first one), but still, the time constraint didn’t let me incorporate what I have planned. But overall, it went well. I think the students didn’t care too much about the lack of introduction, since most of them knew each other from previous courses and/or were in my coronary lab this summer.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Blog 1
Procrastination, wrong planning, and short cuts may be a common way for many of us to juggle their own course load and the work as a TA. Hence, today’s activities were directed to learn about the many tools that are available to become a more efficient teacher and/or TA.
While knowing the university policies and copyright laws may prevent me from additional headaches, the strategies introduced for effective time management were more than appreciated. I’m a procrastinator and using a daily time sheet showing me where my time goes may bring me back on track. Although I don’t have a problem starting a conversation with my students and explaining or demonstrating the lab content, I feel most uncomfortable giving a presentation. The tips from Dr. Witherspoon for improving public speaking (I liked the approach Dr. Natalicio is using) and the 2-minute speech given to a few of my peers were helpful; however, I doubt that I will ever become a confident public speaker. If I get too nervous, I forget the words and expressions in English, which is more than embarrassing! The discussion on how to prepare and structure the first day of class had the most practical value for me. As Mrs. Rice said, the tone set during the first day of class will be pretty much the one lingering around for the rest of the semester.
A lot of suggestions were presented ‒ some that I’m already using, others that were new to me. I’m going to reevaluate my approach to teaching as well as my interaction with the students. I have gotten very comfortable with teaching this particular lab. An overhaul won’t hurt, especially since I’m going to teach a different lab this semester. This is a great opportunity to get rid of old ideas and integrate some of the newly learned strategies.
While knowing the university policies and copyright laws may prevent me from additional headaches, the strategies introduced for effective time management were more than appreciated. I’m a procrastinator and using a daily time sheet showing me where my time goes may bring me back on track. Although I don’t have a problem starting a conversation with my students and explaining or demonstrating the lab content, I feel most uncomfortable giving a presentation. The tips from Dr. Witherspoon for improving public speaking (I liked the approach Dr. Natalicio is using) and the 2-minute speech given to a few of my peers were helpful; however, I doubt that I will ever become a confident public speaker. If I get too nervous, I forget the words and expressions in English, which is more than embarrassing! The discussion on how to prepare and structure the first day of class had the most practical value for me. As Mrs. Rice said, the tone set during the first day of class will be pretty much the one lingering around for the rest of the semester.
A lot of suggestions were presented ‒ some that I’m already using, others that were new to me. I’m going to reevaluate my approach to teaching as well as my interaction with the students. I have gotten very comfortable with teaching this particular lab. An overhaul won’t hurt, especially since I’m going to teach a different lab this semester. This is a great opportunity to get rid of old ideas and integrate some of the newly learned strategies.
Blog 3
Students seem to learn best in an active learning environment that offers information and ideas, opportunities for hands-on experiments, and room for reflective thinking. Labs generally provide plenty of information and hands-on experiments, but often lack the reflective part.
I usually start my labs with a short review/discussion about the previous week's lab. Instead of having the students just talk about it, I will now give them a few minutes to write down their thoughts about that lab and then ask one or two members of each group to read their responses to the whole class. I think this will also be a good way to eventually involve all students in these discussions. Before the actual activity, I will give back and go over the graded lab reports to provide the students with feedback about their lab performance and clarify remaining questions.
The students will not only be actively involved in an experiment, but also in obtaining the ideas and information necessary to do so. Although I will provide information regarding the biomechanical principles underlying each lab experiment and give (minimal) instructions so that they can grasp the concept, the students are required to come prepared to class. In short, I expect them to be familiar with the procedures outlined in the lab manual and "ready to go." After the experiment, the students must explain their findings in the lab report. In addition to the lab experiments, the students will learn the Peak Motus system. Each group will analyze kinematic data of a chosen activity and present in a Power Point presentation.
Although I’m not responsible for the lab content, I think that I will be offering my students an environment that encourages active learning.
I usually start my labs with a short review/discussion about the previous week's lab. Instead of having the students just talk about it, I will now give them a few minutes to write down their thoughts about that lab and then ask one or two members of each group to read their responses to the whole class. I think this will also be a good way to eventually involve all students in these discussions. Before the actual activity, I will give back and go over the graded lab reports to provide the students with feedback about their lab performance and clarify remaining questions.
The students will not only be actively involved in an experiment, but also in obtaining the ideas and information necessary to do so. Although I will provide information regarding the biomechanical principles underlying each lab experiment and give (minimal) instructions so that they can grasp the concept, the students are required to come prepared to class. In short, I expect them to be familiar with the procedures outlined in the lab manual and "ready to go." After the experiment, the students must explain their findings in the lab report. In addition to the lab experiments, the students will learn the Peak Motus system. Each group will analyze kinematic data of a chosen activity and present in a Power Point presentation.
Although I’m not responsible for the lab content, I think that I will be offering my students an environment that encourages active learning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)