On the whole, I didn’t find this week’s batch of readings quite as useful as last weeks. Many of the examples in Strategies and In Our Own Voice seemed very university-specific and too grounded in the author’s own particular pedagogy. I found going over the syllabi of the current third-year cohort last spring much more useful. However, I did find Dethier’s attitude towards preparation in First Time Up useful. I could feel myself verging into over-preparation last week as I tried to plan my first TA section. I like the idea that preparation can be an enjoyable, stress-relieving activity. Too me, preparation seems stressful and panic-inducing, as I seem to be always already behind. But I’d like to adjust my attitude and view prep work as “calming and reassuring” as Dethier suggests (40). I find it encouraging that Deither suggests that first-time teachers should cut themselves some major slack, focusing on becoming comfortable in front of a classroom and not worrying so much about pedagogical perfection (24). Although I don’t think I’d like to restructure my 101 at this point, I do like Deither’s idea of organizing a semester to parallel the development of a paper (25).
Comments
I find it helpful to think about a class in terms of a goal and then in terms of halves, thirds, or quarters (time periods) that I have to achieve that goal. What this means is that I’ll need to think about two, three, or four things to do with the time that will help the students achieve the learning outcomes I have for the period that day. Once I have that structure, I feel much more comfortable that the day will be a success.