I was always nervous about the TA workshop (from Sep. 2-3, 2009) after I knew it. First, I have no experience about working as a TA; second, I even had only a faint idea on what's a TA.
Anyway, no one can avoid time going by. That day came finally.
At the time of waiting for the beginning, I was a little bored. I could have put a book in my bag, but I didn't.
The ambience was nice. There were 8 round table in the room. We randomly sat around one and thus made up 8 groups. Some senior graduate students joined and helped us in the workshop. The one in my group, was a very nice girl. I liked her from the moment she introduced herself. Sat beside her, I felt less tensive.
In the first day, we talked about almost all basic thing of being a TA, and learned several cases. However, OMG, I still need to improve my listening skill! @__@
Yet the case study was very nice. Who knows what we would met in the future TA working!
In the next day, every new future TA would be giving a mini-presentation in the case of pre-lab. We had got emails from the workshop host about our own topics. I've ever seen so many TAs when I was taking my undergraduate lab courses. Some of them were nice. Although I know what they did in the pre-lab part exactly, but I had no idea on how to do the presentation. I chose to wait until the first TA workshop day. I thought I would get some hints from it.
Actually, I think I didn't get what I expected. I've got to do it by myself without any new hints from the workshop.
I organized what I was going to talk, and searched online for some data. Then I figured out some essential sentences. Okay, I had only 5 minutes to do the presentation, I needed no more nonsense but only the essentials.
So, I needed to do a practice.
Didn't I?
We not only needed to do the presentation, but also needed to re-watch our performance afterwards! Our prepositions were all videotaped!!!
Maybe that was what I most worried about. I'm always nervous in front of a camera.
Some people used overhead slideshow. I didn't. I really dislike the overhead project. Sometimes the text was just too faint to read.
Thus I didn't go performing my presentation until the break. I wrote my points onto the blackboard instead of on the overheads before I started.
I was nervous, and who wasn't?
Maybe I got too many pauses, maybe I failed to control my speaking speed, maybe my volume was a bit low, maybe I should have done some overheads... my presentation wasn't that bad after all! The reports from our instructors told me that.
Fortunately, I'll not be TA-ing in fall term. I still have time to improve myself. There're still lots of things to be learned. I still have no experience on so many issues of being a TA: communicating with students, marking lab reports, teaching others in an effective way, etc... I don't know what it will be at my first TA-ing course yet.
No one knows.
However, a good beginning is always great and full of hope.
Go on like it.
That's what I wish right now.
Anyway, no one can avoid time going by. That day came finally.
At the time of waiting for the beginning, I was a little bored. I could have put a book in my bag, but I didn't.
The ambience was nice. There were 8 round table in the room. We randomly sat around one and thus made up 8 groups. Some senior graduate students joined and helped us in the workshop. The one in my group, was a very nice girl. I liked her from the moment she introduced herself. Sat beside her, I felt less tensive.
In the first day, we talked about almost all basic thing of being a TA, and learned several cases. However, OMG, I still need to improve my listening skill! @__@
Yet the case study was very nice. Who knows what we would met in the future TA working!
In the next day, every new future TA would be giving a mini-presentation in the case of pre-lab. We had got emails from the workshop host about our own topics. I've ever seen so many TAs when I was taking my undergraduate lab courses. Some of them were nice. Although I know what they did in the pre-lab part exactly, but I had no idea on how to do the presentation. I chose to wait until the first TA workshop day. I thought I would get some hints from it.
Actually, I think I didn't get what I expected. I've got to do it by myself without any new hints from the workshop.
I organized what I was going to talk, and searched online for some data. Then I figured out some essential sentences. Okay, I had only 5 minutes to do the presentation, I needed no more nonsense but only the essentials.
So, I needed to do a practice.
Didn't I?
We not only needed to do the presentation, but also needed to re-watch our performance afterwards! Our prepositions were all videotaped!!!
Maybe that was what I most worried about. I'm always nervous in front of a camera.
Some people used overhead slideshow. I didn't. I really dislike the overhead project. Sometimes the text was just too faint to read.
Thus I didn't go performing my presentation until the break. I wrote my points onto the blackboard instead of on the overheads before I started.
I was nervous, and who wasn't?
Maybe I got too many pauses, maybe I failed to control my speaking speed, maybe my volume was a bit low, maybe I should have done some overheads... my presentation wasn't that bad after all! The reports from our instructors told me that.
Fortunately, I'll not be TA-ing in fall term. I still have time to improve myself. There're still lots of things to be learned. I still have no experience on so many issues of being a TA: communicating with students, marking lab reports, teaching others in an effective way, etc... I don't know what it will be at my first TA-ing course yet.
No one knows.
However, a good beginning is always great and full of hope.
Go on like it.
That's what I wish right now.