First Class
Jun. 5th, 2006 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottahillI just finished teaching my first class at Eastfield.
It went pretty well, considering I was putting things together at the last minute. The class is 2 hours long followed by a 2 hour lab period in a different room. During the first hour of class, I discussed the syllabus, had them make nameplates and letter cards while I took their pictures, and then gave them a mathematics pre-test. I was goofy and they were fairly appreciative of it. During the second hour I had planned a lecture/discussion on vectors; that lecture, however, expanded to cover almost the entire lab period as well: I was off on my timing by a factor of three! (To be fair, a lot of that time was them working on a problem together, which I thought went well, but which I might not have allowed to go on as long if I didn't have the time).
I thought my lecturing was rather scatterbrained, as I forgot to mention important points, then had to go back; unfortunately, this is exactly what I imagined I would do during the lecture. On the good side, the students were game to talk with me and each other about what they were doing and to use the letter cards on multiple-choice questions. During the final bit of the class, I had them add two vectors together algebraically, which is a rather involved task, in groups of four. That went pretty well although I didn't really give them the step-by-step instructions that would have made it more streamlined. I asked the students who finished first go over and work with the students who were having trouble, and they did after a little complaining; it was obviously socially awkward for them. In short, I think I handled the interactive portions of the class pretty well, but need to be more careful with the actual lectures.
I expected at least some students who were full-time students elsewhere, home for the summer, but in fact only one person "worked for a living" as I said. That's good for me, not being as familiar with the usual community college student (whatever that means). I may have went overboard telling them about how crazy it was to try to fit a semester of physics into a month, and how fast the class will be, etc; I wonder if I've had any drops yet. :)
I am physically exahusted, which is normal for me after teaching. Alas, I have a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow. I'm particularly worried about how long today's lecture went, and must be careful to be more efficient about writing tomorrow's lecture. I just hope I can get a full night's sleep tonight, as I am running on a deficit right now.
It went pretty well, considering I was putting things together at the last minute. The class is 2 hours long followed by a 2 hour lab period in a different room. During the first hour of class, I discussed the syllabus, had them make nameplates and letter cards while I took their pictures, and then gave them a mathematics pre-test. I was goofy and they were fairly appreciative of it. During the second hour I had planned a lecture/discussion on vectors; that lecture, however, expanded to cover almost the entire lab period as well: I was off on my timing by a factor of three! (To be fair, a lot of that time was them working on a problem together, which I thought went well, but which I might not have allowed to go on as long if I didn't have the time).
I thought my lecturing was rather scatterbrained, as I forgot to mention important points, then had to go back; unfortunately, this is exactly what I imagined I would do during the lecture. On the good side, the students were game to talk with me and each other about what they were doing and to use the letter cards on multiple-choice questions. During the final bit of the class, I had them add two vectors together algebraically, which is a rather involved task, in groups of four. That went pretty well although I didn't really give them the step-by-step instructions that would have made it more streamlined. I asked the students who finished first go over and work with the students who were having trouble, and they did after a little complaining; it was obviously socially awkward for them. In short, I think I handled the interactive portions of the class pretty well, but need to be more careful with the actual lectures.
I expected at least some students who were full-time students elsewhere, home for the summer, but in fact only one person "worked for a living" as I said. That's good for me, not being as familiar with the usual community college student (whatever that means). I may have went overboard telling them about how crazy it was to try to fit a semester of physics into a month, and how fast the class will be, etc; I wonder if I've had any drops yet. :)
I am physically exahusted, which is normal for me after teaching. Alas, I have a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow. I'm particularly worried about how long today's lecture went, and must be careful to be more efficient about writing tomorrow's lecture. I just hope I can get a full night's sleep tonight, as I am running on a deficit right now.
