Below is the response I made in a weekly reflection journal upon meeting in groups to discuss our progress as a Teaching Assistant. Please not that EDUC388 is the Teaching Assistant course required by Teaching Assistants to take in junction with the class they assist for.
After meeting with my group, Kathleen and Katie, I feel that their peer reviews have boosted my confidence as an UTA in my ANSC250 class. Their feedback was beneficial for me to hear firsthand and also talking about their current status as an UTA and providing my own feedback in return was beneficial. The three of us met up on Monday in a common area of stamp to go over our experiences as an UTA, the EDUC388 course, the assignments we have completed within EDUC388 thus far and so forth. I am particularly impressed with my current student resource list, but even my group member pointed out something vital to improve it beyond my own satisfaction.
Kathleen suggested that I should add a fifth resource to my student resource list, that one being that I suggest that the students in my ANSC250 course utilize TA office hours. Maybe this resource is so commonplace that many overlook its crucial and potential benefits, such as I myself have originally done so when I created this list previously, and in doing so, miss out on excruciatingly reliable resource. Even though I am an UTA for this course, I myself do not have office hours, but the GTA of the course, Tracy, does indeed have an office with accompanying office hours. I am going to add this resource to my student resource list in order to update my portfolio for this education course, but so I can also submit my student resource list to the students of ANSC250 via the elms website. I have not previously posted this assignment for my class to utilize, because I was waiting for group assignment pairings for their semesterly article critiques, which have just been assigned as of last week. I am grateful that Kathleen pointed out this oversight and I will now update my student resource list.
For my class observation assignment, both of my group members were placed in awe of
my professor, Dr. Balcom. They absolutely loved all the elements of UDL my professors uses in and out of the classroom. They liked how even though she displays elements of UDL, she never relies solely on one or two, or even three examples for each principle, and instead is constantly changing her sources of representations, methods of expression, and means of engagement. Both of my group members openly admitted to wanting to have my professor as one of their own. Maybe I have convinced my group that they should take a Scholarship in Practice (SP) that is outside of their major, and that just so happens to be ANSC250. Going back to this assignment, Kathleen maintained conversation about one mode of expression that my professor and a previous professor of hers has utilized in a classroom setting and that is the “think-pair-share” exercises. We both agree that this method of engagement maintains classroom attention and I pointed out some other benefits of this type of exercise, the biggest one being that this gives students the opportunity to openly talk with peers to whom they are seated next to and helps ultimately maintain an open environment.
For the final assignment we have completed in EDUC388 thus far, the course modification, I had a great amount of support from both of my group members, but none so more so than Katie. When I first introduced Katie to the problem I was facing with in regards to the reptile portion of the ANSC250 curriculum, she offered the same recommendation I was suggesting to my professor. The fact that she was completely in tune with my new recommendation, which is to provide a greater expanse for students when it comes to the representation principle of UDL, made more confident when it came to actually suggesting this to my professor. I have found two notable reptile breeders that I would recommend for her utilize, because earlier in the semester when I originally suggested this, she wasn’t so quick as to accept this idea. My hopes is that when I present this to her in all its finalities, that she will come to accept having a guest speaker in hopes of engaging the students’ attention other than relying solely on a video.
The group I met up with to complete this assignment provided a lot of support and input on my progress not only as an UTA, but also as a student in EDUC388. I hope my feedback was just as beneficial to Kathleen and Katie. I look forward to discussing all this feedback with the entire EDUC388 class this week.
After meeting with my group, Kathleen and Katie, I feel that their peer reviews have boosted my confidence as an UTA in my ANSC250 class. Their feedback was beneficial for me to hear firsthand and also talking about their current status as an UTA and providing my own feedback in return was beneficial. The three of us met up on Monday in a common area of stamp to go over our experiences as an UTA, the EDUC388 course, the assignments we have completed within EDUC388 thus far and so forth. I am particularly impressed with my current student resource list, but even my group member pointed out something vital to improve it beyond my own satisfaction.
Kathleen suggested that I should add a fifth resource to my student resource list, that one being that I suggest that the students in my ANSC250 course utilize TA office hours. Maybe this resource is so commonplace that many overlook its crucial and potential benefits, such as I myself have originally done so when I created this list previously, and in doing so, miss out on excruciatingly reliable resource. Even though I am an UTA for this course, I myself do not have office hours, but the GTA of the course, Tracy, does indeed have an office with accompanying office hours. I am going to add this resource to my student resource list in order to update my portfolio for this education course, but so I can also submit my student resource list to the students of ANSC250 via the elms website. I have not previously posted this assignment for my class to utilize, because I was waiting for group assignment pairings for their semesterly article critiques, which have just been assigned as of last week. I am grateful that Kathleen pointed out this oversight and I will now update my student resource list.
For my class observation assignment, both of my group members were placed in awe of
my professor, Dr. Balcom. They absolutely loved all the elements of UDL my professors uses in and out of the classroom. They liked how even though she displays elements of UDL, she never relies solely on one or two, or even three examples for each principle, and instead is constantly changing her sources of representations, methods of expression, and means of engagement. Both of my group members openly admitted to wanting to have my professor as one of their own. Maybe I have convinced my group that they should take a Scholarship in Practice (SP) that is outside of their major, and that just so happens to be ANSC250. Going back to this assignment, Kathleen maintained conversation about one mode of expression that my professor and a previous professor of hers has utilized in a classroom setting and that is the “think-pair-share” exercises. We both agree that this method of engagement maintains classroom attention and I pointed out some other benefits of this type of exercise, the biggest one being that this gives students the opportunity to openly talk with peers to whom they are seated next to and helps ultimately maintain an open environment.
For the final assignment we have completed in EDUC388 thus far, the course modification, I had a great amount of support from both of my group members, but none so more so than Katie. When I first introduced Katie to the problem I was facing with in regards to the reptile portion of the ANSC250 curriculum, she offered the same recommendation I was suggesting to my professor. The fact that she was completely in tune with my new recommendation, which is to provide a greater expanse for students when it comes to the representation principle of UDL, made more confident when it came to actually suggesting this to my professor. I have found two notable reptile breeders that I would recommend for her utilize, because earlier in the semester when I originally suggested this, she wasn’t so quick as to accept this idea. My hopes is that when I present this to her in all its finalities, that she will come to accept having a guest speaker in hopes of engaging the students’ attention other than relying solely on a video.
The group I met up with to complete this assignment provided a lot of support and input on my progress not only as an UTA, but also as a student in EDUC388. I hope my feedback was just as beneficial to Kathleen and Katie. I look forward to discussing all this feedback with the entire EDUC388 class this week.