I am back!
I didn’t go anywhere. I was here, but at the same time I wasn’t! It’s hard to explain.
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Thanks for your kind words regarding my last post. I really appreciate it.
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I have recently discovered Russell Peters. (Yes! Just recently!) He is an Indian/Canadian stand up comedian. His comedy is mainly about different nations (races) and their accents and traditions. He makes fun of everybody, from Chinese and Indians to English and Jamaicans, even his own father. I love it when he tries to sound like his father with the Indian accent.
This is one of his funniest pieces in which he makes fun of British accent and sex! Or this one about Indians and Chinese doing business with each other. It’s just hilarious! I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time.
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My TA is going well. Very well actually. I am very happy about it. I’ll tell you more about it later.
The weekly phone call
“…
Dad: How is school?
Me: School is fine. I am quite busy. How are you dad?
Dad: I am fine.
Me: How is mom?
Dad: Mom is not bad either.
Me: Any news?
Dad: There is news.
Me: What is it?
Dad: … It’s gradma… She passed away 3 days ago…
Me: Oh….
Dad: She was very sick, you know!
Me: …
Dad: Maryam?
Me: …
Dad: Are you all right?
Me: …
Dad: Maryam
.
.
.
My husband: Hey dad! Maryam can’t talk any more…
….”
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She was the last grandparent that I had, … alive!
The first two weeks
I haven’t posted anything for a week! And I have so much to talk about. It’s just that between TA labs and lectures, Grading students’ assignments, trying to concentrate on my thesis, and lying exhausted and motionless on the couch, I cannot find time to write.
It’s always like this the first couple of weeks of the semester. Everything is crazy and chaotic. Everyone is running around, trying to get things started. New people are always looking for things and places and web addresses and ways to open doors! (Some of my students still don’t know how or can’t open the lab doors using their student cards!) My schedule is full of events that overlap each other or fall directly on each other.
Hopefully, everything will get better soon. And I’ll write more. I promise!
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I attended a TA workshop, “How to give constructive feedback on student work.” Here are some of the things they told us not to do and say:
-Don’t tear apart student’s papers!
-Don’t draw smiley faces on student assignments.
-Don’t write or say the following:
—You are waste of my time!
—You shouldn’t be here!
—I don’t get it!
—How about proofreading?!
Isn’t that something?!!
But seriously! It’s hard to always do it right. To point out their strengths first, then indirectly say where their work needs improvement, and give them a hint on how to improve. Keep in mind not to over-comment, not to attack the individuals, not to discourage them. And all of that should be done for all of them, 24*2 students, at least 4-5 pages of assignment and/or an electronic file each!
Oh boy!
My first TA lab this week
So school started this week. Yeyyy!!
I am back to work, on my thesis and as a TA. If you read this post, you probably know that I was not very happy with my first experience as a TA. And that I was offered to TA for the same course again this year. And I accepted the offer. So here I am! TAing the same course again, hoping for a better experience.
the course has 10 sections, each with 24 students. Last year when I thought the course, I was pretty harsh on those poor students in my sections. And It wasn’t my fault. The instructors of the course (four!), prepared marking criteria for each assignment. I felt obliged to follow those, in order to maintain the consistency among all the labs and the TAs. But the result was that my students ended up getting low marks. Apparently other TAs were not so faithful to the rubric. And it wasn’t fair to my student.
This year, I have decided to work with my own rules. (Shshshsh… Don’t tell anyone!) And I will work with my students to help them learn the material and get a more fair result from the course. And I will try to make friends with them. To be more on their side. To be more helpful to them.
I teach two sections on Wednesdays and Fridays. Yesterday was my first lab with section 1. 24 new students, 24 new faces, new names. I went to my lab wondering if I could change my teaching style. If it would work. How they would react. How the instructor would feel about it.
And it was very good, much better than what I expected. I was pretty confident, on the contrary to last year’s first lab! Of course, I owe it to the fact that I have done it before and I know mush more than I did last year. But at the same time, my mental model was different from last year. I looked at the students differently. They were not just subjects to my teaching. They were people with weaknesses and strengths, with emotions. They were the whole purpose of me being there.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not gonna be too easy on them. I have my own rules. I require classroom etiquette. I made a deal with them yesterday that if they are in my lab it means that they want to listen and learn. If they want to do other things, watch You-tube or giggle or talk, they can simply leave. They are not forced to stay.
But it all went very smooth. Even the instructor seemed to have felt that. He spent most of the 3 hours in the other concurrent lab across the hall. I hope my section 2 and my future labs go as well as this one. I’ll keep you posted on that.
I am also gonna share with you funny or interesting thins that happen in the class. One of the student in my first lab has these huge ear rings. It’s actually the piercing that is huge! It’s like a 1*1 in hole in each of his ears and it’s supported by a big ring. It looked something like this. Honestly, I couldn’t stop looking at his ears. All I wanted to ask him was: “Does it hurt??!! Why on earth did you do this to yourself??!!” Though, I managed not to do so!!
