As a UTA for this spring.

This semester has been really stressful. There were once about 30 people during my UTA session and sometimes I had none. Stuff didn't workout quite well and everything was in total chaos. I'm glad it is over... But however, it was fun teaching enthusiastic students who needed help.

Thank god this semester is over.

Last Week of Semester

Unfortunately, I did not have any students come into my office hours for the last week. Throughout this semester, I had an extremely enlightening experience as a TA. I felt that I learned a lot through this experience, and hopefully I passed on a lot of knowledge to the people that came into my office hours.

Last UTA meeting of the semester

Final UTA session of the semester was bittersweet. I unfortunately did not have any students show up to my hours. Thus, I was unable to go over any hints and tricks for them to ace the final. However, this experience overall has been absolutely awesome. I love helping students tackle physics!

Only one week left.

The last two weeks yielded less-than-expected numbers of students. In total, seven students arrived for a fun exploration into physics 2. Even despite these numbers, hopefully the sessions this week will be utilized in order to prepare for the final.

Some circuitry was covered, but induction and magnetic phenomena seem to be where most students have some difficulty. We will see how optics treats the students this week.

Additionally, I look forward to the cupcakes later today.

Last Week------12th

Can't believe that time goes by so quickly...I had my last tutoring session this week for the whole semester, and four students spent the last two hours with me on Friday. I feel happy to have this opportunity to be the UTA this semester. I thought I would say a lasting farewell to Physics after I finished my last Physics exam four years ago. But I got to take Physics I last semester for my major requirement, and I realized that I did not forget it and could use what I know to help other students. Physics is fascinating, and I want more people to understand it. Michael Faraday said, " Nothing is wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature." I wish everyone good luck on the finals and had a wonderful summer.

The Final Hour(s)!

Hello all~

So today was my last set of office hours, and I have to say, I am going to miss UTA-ing for this course. All the students that I've worked with have been great, and getting to relearn and actually teach (to a degree) this material has been incredibly beneficial to me in more ways that I'd expected.

On that note, good luck with finals everyone~

-Natalie

Final Session

Today I had my final session, and it went well. My numbers have dropped off significantly since spring break, but I had 4 of my regulars come in today, and they stayed for about an hour and a half, so that was nice. I helped them with the WebAssign and then they thanked me for all my help throughout the semester as they left, which made me feel good. Overall I really enjoyed being a UTA this semester, and I can't wait to do it again next semester. I learned a lot in my first structured experience as a tutor, and I'm eager to help more students get through the struggles of Physics 1 in the Fall!

-Mike

Final Session

I'm sad that this is my final set of office hours today! It's been a really great experience and I hope to have another opportunity like this in the future!

Cupcakes Went Early...

Hi guys,

For those of you who may have dropped by after 6:30pm, I am sorry we ran out of cupcakes and I was not there to greet you!

For those of you who ate all those cupcakes, thanks for checking in and I am glad we got to talk.

For everyone regardless, don't forget to email me your letter for future UTAs and make sure everything is right as (less gray and snowy) rain with your credits.

Have a great day,
Hannah Sweetser

Last Session

Hey everyone,

Well, I officially had my last office hours today, and not one person showed up! Everyone seems just about done actually trying anymore. Oh well, I would say the semester as a whole was pretty successful.

Best of luck to everyone; finish strong!
Jessica

Disappointing office hours

Unfortunately, I had no visitors at my office hours today. Even less fortunately, I had 27 people (yes, I kept track) come in and give themselves self-guided nationality room tours. Hopefully on Wednesday, my last day, I'll get a few more physics students and fewer tourists!

Cupcakes Today!

Get 'em in 321 Allen Hall starting at 5:00pm today!

Best,
Hannah

Reflection: Weeks of March 31 and April 7th

During these last two weeks, I've only had the same student come into my office hours twice. I feel like attendance is dwindling very rapidly, so I spend a lot of time by myself in my office nowadays. This upcoming week may yield a higher attendance rate, as finals week is coming up but I won't know until the end of this week.

No Students..again

Last week (4/7) I had no students for the 4th straight week. This is kind of depressing since I love helping others succeed in Physics, but I guess the time is coming to an end. Finals are right around the corner so I hope my last week of TA'ing will show some optimism and have a few students appear at my office hours

Week 11----Same Old

It makes sense to me why few students showed up in the last couple of weeks, a LOT of people get As or Bs in the last exam. Apparently, the knowledge of these chapters is not too hard for students to deal with themselves. But since the final is coming around and it is cumulative, I expect more students to stop by to make up for what they did not know well. 

Journal for the Week of April 7

No students came into office hours this week. Just did some Physics work.

No News is Good News?

I only had one person show up last week.  I find this particular unit we're in a little easier though, so I'm hoping that means the students are understanding it better :)

Final Exam Coming Up

Hey everyone,

Several people came into my office hours this week to better understand some concepts that were going to be tested on the final. I think I was able to help clarify a few things for them, and they seemed generally more at ease when they left. There is only one week left this semester, it went by quickly.

Thanks,

Nik

So Close!

The year is almost over! Any tips to help prepare students for the final?

Another Slow Week

Hey eveyone,

Finished this week's office hours not too long ago. This was a slow week at my office hours. I didn't have a single student show up at my office hours this week. Just spent a lot of time doing homework this week. With finals not too far off, I'm somewhat surprised about the lack of activity, but perhaps it will pick up next week.

Have a good week everyone!
Logan Case

2nd to Last

Hey everyone,

I'm a few days behind, my office hours were on Monday but I kind of forget until right now.

Anyway, I had two students come in on Monday to ask a couple questions about specific webassign problems, as usual. No one is really interested in actually learning the concepts, just getting the homework done. But I guess that is kind of expected. Almost done, yay!

Jessica

April 9, 2014

I only had three people come in and ask me questions about the webassign. I expected more considering the final is in two weeks, but I guess everyone is stressed about last-minute tests and homework. I am planning on having an extra review session during finals week due to the lack of people I had come in last night.

On the bright side, I had a few people come to me and tell me they did really well on the last test, which I am very happy about.

Journal for the Week of March 31

I had no students come into my office hours this week so I got future physics work done as well as my own personal work.

CAKE DAY!!!

Cake Day will be next Monday, April 14, 2014, beginning at 5:00pm. We will meet in front of the Main Office in Allen Hall at that time and I will lead you to the celebration in 321 Allen Hall. There will be signs for those who cannot come earlier.

The event will end at 7:00pm, so you may drop in, grab a bite, and flee if that is all your schedule allows.

On the menu:
Yellow cake with chocolate icing
Red velvet cake with white icing
Gluten free chocolate chip
cookies
Ice cream (with syrups)

Have a great week, everyone!

Best,

Hannah Sweetser

It Is The Tenth Week

Time flies, we had the last exam before the final on this Friday. Zero student stopped by my one hour session on Tuesday, but I had one student during the session after the exam. I really look forward to the overall performance of this exam tomorrow in class. 

Slow Week

Hey everyone,

Because of the recent exam last week, this week has been incredibly slow in terms of office hours. Everything else has been going great however, and I expect things to pick up as the final is just around the corner.

Thanks,

Nik Uppaluri

Almost Over

1. How on earth do we only have 2 weeks of classes left?!?!

2. Absolutely no one showed up this week.  But that's ok; I had a lot of homework to do anyway :)

3. Party time!  In response to Hannah's post....
       -Favorite cake: depending on my mood... probably either chocolate or red velvet.
       -Date: Don't plan around me.  I commute from home via bus (transferring downtown so I have to be                leaving campus by 5:30 at the latest so as to get through downtown before it clears out and becomes a          bit sketchy), I work weekends, and I have 3 of my classes have very time consuming final projects                instead of exams.  But if it's a Thursday, late afternoon/early evening it's possible I'd make it because I         have a commitment at 8:30 PM on Thursdays that I stay on campus for.

Happy studying!

Tourists are annoying

They walk into the room and get amazed by it every week.

Today's Session

Today's session went well. My class has an exam tomorrow, so the students were pretty stressed, but we covered a lot in the thermodynamics chapter, which was definitely the most confusing one for them. I think I had six students come in today, so it wasn't too hectic. However, when the session started, I was kicked out of my room in the Hillman, because it wasn't reserved, but we were able to find a free room nearby to use.

-Mike

Silent Week...Again

So this is I believe the 4th straight week where I had no one show up at my office hours. I know there is an upcoming exam next Monday so I was optimistic that there would be some more people, but there was unfortunately no one. Hopefully the tide will turn around next week and people will show up again like they did in the beginning of the semester.

Strategies for teaching fluids

Much of my physics knowledge comes from what I learned in high school. Since I didn't learn any of the remaining units while in high school, I was a bit nervous about teaching them. I have tried to compare current units to previous units (ex. teaching Bernoulli's equation as I would teach conservation of energy), and it seems to be benefiting the students who have visited me. I will try to use the same strategy with following units, but I think I may run into some challenges with various forms of thermodynamics.

Another lonely UTA session

For the 2nd straight week in a row no one has shown up to my office hours. Hopefully this week will be different and I will have my usual students come back and ask insightful questions once again.

Hi everyone,

Last week, I did not have any visitors to my office hours. I feel like more people are probably having trouble than are showing up to ask for help, but there isn't much that I can do about that. Maybe more people will show up this week.

Logan Case

Quiet Week

Hey all,

Well, for the first week ever I had literally not one person come in. I know a lot of students are struggling, however I guess they do not want to come for help. Not much I can do, oh well! More homework time for me. I'll be here if anyone wants help!

~Jessica

Last Week's office hours

Last week I had less people than usual attend my office hours- maybe around four or five students. We went over all the webassign problems, but I had the feeling they were very confused with new material. I will be holding additional hours the day before the test with the hope that more students will be able to come by and get clarification before the test.

Journal for the Week of March 24

No students came into my office hours this week. Probably because most of my office hours were after the exam. So future physics work was looked over as well as some personal work.

This week met my expectations

With the second exam for physics 2 being Thursday for Dr. Frolov's sections, I had expected no one to appear Friday. This turned out to be true, probably because the weather was really nice; meaning this was not the weather for physics. Wednesday, five students came in to the review sessions, and we had a very productive discussion on material ranging from capacitors to Lenz's law. I can't believe I only have a few weeks left as a UTA, the time is flying by.

The Nineth Week---------Same As Last Week

We were supposed to have the 4th exam today, but Professor Nero pushed back the exam to next Friday, which is definitely a good news for us. And my session this week welcomed three students in total, same number as last week. While waiting for the students to stop by in the room at CL, I found out another job. Taking photos for visitors. Sometimes, we also had a conversation go on: "Is this a class? I am sorry." "No, there is no student at this moment, please feel free to come in."

Another Week~

Hello All,

Hope you're all enjoying the super-nice weather today! Carpe Diem!

So, unfortunately I couldn't hold my hour Wednesday because the grad student I have been working with was doing his PhD defense at the *same* time, and there was no way I could miss that~ But my students emailed me for tips if they needed them and otherwise, I believe I sent them all to see Harry later in the day. So hopefully they were ready for their exam Thursday!

Happy weekend, everyone~

-Natalie

Lonely day at office hours...

I have had absolutely no students so far this afternoon. That's what happens the day after the exam, I suppose! Hoping more come next week!

Last Week's Session

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I myself am glad that the semester is nearly coming to a close (despite finals coming up). My session last week was the first relaxing one I've had this semester; about eight people came and it was small enough that I was able to let them work some problems out on their own without a lot of my assistance, which is definitely important when preparing for exams. I'm holding a session right now but so far no one has showed up, so I'm hoping to get some physics studying in of my own. Take care everyone; only about 30 days left in the semester!

-Mike

Not Much to Discuss ...

Hey everyone, I figured I would post an update even though I don't have much to report.  Prior to the last exam I had been meeting people (individually) for many hours a week and had packed office hours, but I haven't seen many people lately (although I expect this to change by next week, or I would hope it does anyhow haha).

Anyhow, beyond meeting with a few people 1 on 1, it has been pretty quiet in my hours.

Karl

Counting Down

Hello, everyone!

Thank you for posting so diligently to the site even if the days have been slow since midterms. I have been keeping up to date with your posts and I have a few things that I would like to mention as we near the end of the term.

• If you signed a delay credits contract with me, be sure to drop by 100 Allen Hall to make sure that you are enrolled for your credits for the coming term.
• Please pick a date and time in April that you would be interested in having a small celebration of the past term. 
• Tell me what your favorite cake flavor is! And any allergies you may have. I can bake pretty much around any limitation and there will be more than one option.
• Prepare to write two letters: one to me for changes you might want to make and one to future UTAs. These will be due at the end of the term.

As for the rest of the semester, keep up the good work! Your efforts to help translate the mysteries of physics from the classroom to the brain are appreciated by both students and professors, trust me on that.

Have a fantastic week,

Hannah Sweetser

After Third Exam and Spring Break---------8th week

Last week was the first week after the spring break and we just finished the third exam the week before the break, three students showed up in my three-hour session for the whole week. Other than the break and exam reasons, I guess it is also because we have done with the extra points stuff. Besides, what we are learning in class right now involves little logical thinking, basically all about using equations, students may feel less struggled about this part.

FB Group Update

I'm doubling down on posts this week, as I inadvertently neglected to leave a post last week - mostly due to the lack of activity (as mentioned in my last post).

However, I figured this would be a good time to talk about the FB group the UTA's & I created. Although it is not the hub of intellectual physics discussions as I was hoping it would be, there are plenty of good questions posted on a weekly basis and other members have taken the liberty to help their fellow students on tricky homework problems (I tend to stay away from those in order to let the students figure it out on their own before I add in anything).

The major problem I've had thus far is providing the information in a convenient and efficient medium. Typing up solutions step-by-step is clunky and difficult to follow. Word documents facilitate syntax, but suffer from similar hindrances. I also utilized photography/scanning of a piece of paper with the work written, which seemed to go well. My next venture is to create videos of me solving the problems uploaded to Youtube/Facebook; I think that would be a unique and very efficient way of getting the information across (especially compared to the prior alternatives). I'll let you know how that goes!

Best,
Ant

Second Exam Time

It's that time of the month again: our second exam is only a few days away. My office hours have not been very busy lately, but I'm sure it will pick up more this week. 

I'm extending my office hours this week so I can host a last-minute review session for any last-minute questions/concerns that might be going on.

Good luck to everyone else that's in the same boat!

Best,

Ant

Post Spring Break emptiness

So my past review session on the Tuesday returning from Spring Break was a complete abyss of students. For the first time this year, I had a grand total of 0 students come to my UTA session. I am guessing the reason for this is that they had a test right before break and that there was nothing immediately due within the days following the spring break. Hopefully, this week things get back on track and my regulars come back to class again. Sitting in the cathedral for 3 hours can be a little lonely, even if I do bring some work to do on the side.

Before and After Spring Break: Attendance Quintupled!

As the title suggests, the change in attendance is enormously high. However, the number of students may not sound impressive: one lone soul attended Wednesday's review session prior to break, and this week I had five students total. The topics covered were sundry, ranging from recent material regarding Lenz's law and induction to capacitors in order to prepare the students for next week's exam. As such, I expect many this Wednesday.

Week of 3/21

This week was rather uneventful, probably because people are just getting back from spring break. There was only one person that came into my office hours this week asking for help on one of the questions.
The week before spring break, nobody turned up to my office hours.

Week of March 17

One student came into my office hours this week with a question about Webassign. The problem was explained and a similar problem was worked through. She had no more questions and left content.

Week before exam 2

This is the countdown to exam #2, and I have been slowly getting more and more students, as expected based on the last exam. The material covered on this exam is actually my favorite (especially Kirchhoff's laws!) and so I am very excited for the rush of students that I'm sure I'll be getting on Tuesday! 

Back on Track

Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks; I forgot to post for my last two sessions. The first went really well, as I had about thirty people show up (it was the last session before their third exam), but nobody came for the second because it was the day after their third exam, so I guess I saw both ends of the spectrum! I'm ready for my next session, which starts in about fifteen minutes, after a relaxing spring break. It's strange to think about, but this semester is nearly over; there's about five weeks left until the last day of finals! Oh how the time flies...I can't wait to see the turnout for my last session before the Physics 0110 final.

-Mike

Week of 3/17

Office hours were slow again this week. The few students who did visit were having the most trouble tying in the various spring equations with what they have already learned. When I first learned physics, I learned about elastic potential energy at the same time as gravitational potential and kinetic energy, and I'm happy I did. Because these units are separated in the textbook, some students may have trouble making the connection. I hope those students come visit me so I can help!

Yet Another Week

Hey guys,

So as usual, I had two people come in and ask questions. They were specifically on webassign, and I was able to help them with those problems and just the concepts as well. It's looking like the rest of the year will continue just like this, and I guess that is ok. 

Have a wonderful day!

~Jessica 

Week After Spring Break

Hey everyone,

The last couple of weeks have been relatively eventful, considering that earlier in the year no one was coming to office hours.  A student required help with some of her web assign homework, and was also looking to improve more on the theory behind particular phenomenon after having struggled with it on the first exam. I was able to explain the theory behind circuits to her, and this allowed her to move through her web assign more easily. Another student also required help with theory, however this time pertaining to magnetism. It seems that while students are able to 'plug and chug' on easier problems without learning the concepts, the more difficult problems become almost impossible without a good understanding of the theory. I am glad students are starting to utilize my office hours. Everything else is going great.

Week Before spring Break

Through the combination of the students having their test on Tuesday and it being the week before spring break, nobody came to my office hours this week. I trust that people will start to come back to my office hours after break. Enjoy your Spring Break everyone!

Logan

Yeah Spring break is tomorrow and nobody shows up so far. The Polish room is a little bit too warm for today and I cannot find a switch to turn the heat off. Maybe I will call it a day soon.

Happy Spring Break!

Although attendance was sparse (apparently a lot of people experienced that this week), it was actually a really good time!

I misexplained something last week to one of the students, but fortunately had her email address so I invited her to come back to my office hours so I could correct myself and clarify the concept.  To my surprise, she came to my Tuesday morning office hours (what?  No one shows up then!) and we spent the whole hour going over different questions that she had.  It was really enjoyable :)

On Wednesday I helped one student with a quick homework question, and on Thursday I spent a fair amount of time talking about torque due to magnetic fields with one student.

All in all, probably the best week I've had this semester!  Perfect feeling to head into Spring Break with!

Lonely week

Not very many students showed up to office hours this week. They're probably all excited for spring break!

Barely any people come.

This Week

This week I had only one visitor. This is not suprising, as there was a test today and spring break is right around the corner. I didn't expect many people to come. Hopefully, the test went well!

Last Week

Last week's attendance was greater yet than most of my previous ones. This is probably due to the test they had today. We worked through webassign and textbook questions together, and some recitation problems. I hope that it helped them do better on this test than the previous one, although I also received emails past midnight last night asking questions about the exam, which scares me a little bit.

A platitudinous week

Last week consisted of a doubling in attendance from the previous week: a total of 6 students made it to the review sessions. A solid crowd, but hopefully this means more people will attend. I guess this is the expected ebb and flow of review session attendance. Another productive week, getting through homework problems and lecture topics, albeit an ordinary, or platitudinous if you prefer, week.The topic's for this week include magnetic phenomena, so perhaps this will cause more people to attend this week's review sessions.

Journal for Week of February 24

Students came in on Friday with questions on homework. We worked though similar problems in the book and they understood. Other than that, there were no difficulties and later physics work was done.

Last Week before Break

It's the last week before break, and it appears to have drastically lowered the amount of attendance in my office hours. It may also be because this week's homework is relatively easy compared to weeks prior. Either way, it's allowing me some more time to prep up my Kirchoff's Law knowledge.

Last Week of February

I had a ton of students come to my office hours this past Tuesday, most likely around 30 kids which was a drastic increase from my usual 10-12. As this was a very nice surprise I quickly found out that they were mainly there not to learn physics, but to get their UTA sheet signed since the Extra credit opportunity ended at the end of the month. As this was disappointing, I could not hold it against them and since the extra credit opportunity stated that you just had to "visit" the UTA and not actually need to "learn", I felt obligated to sign there sheet if they just showed up. However, there were some students that were actually there to learn about physics which was very nice! We went over some hw problems and the recitation one too.

It's March!

Hey guys,

First of all, I just want everyone to remember that it is March, and it was also 3 degrees when I walked to physics this morning... unacceptable.

Anyway, I had only one student come to my session today; however she stayed for about 2 1/2 hours. We covered basically everything that will be on the test tomorrow and she left feeling extremely confident and was able to solve everything. I'm disappointed that I could not help more people with this! I really get the material and I know easy ways to explain it. Hopefully she does well!

~Jessica

Drastic Decrease in Attendees

Today I held my first office hours after the extra credit deadline had passed. Before today, I usually had somewhere between 15 and 20 students attend my sessions; however, only one student came to my hours today, seeking help on torque questions. I was expecting a drop in attendees, but regardless of my expectation I am still concerned for the students because they have an exam this week. Hopefully, I get a slightly larger turnout on Wednesday, which is the day of the exam.

Week of Exam

Hey everyone, figured I'd put up a post since I just held my office hours (since I had to adjust them from Tues. due to family issues).  Between skyping with a few students this weekend and some discussions today, one problem that came up a few times was tangental acceleration vs. centripetal acceleration vs. total acceleration (I think the concern is partly due to this being related to a recitation question this week).

The one thing I saw a few times I wanted to point out was more than one person simply took tangental acceleration and subtracted centripetal acceleration from it to get total acceleration (I have no idea where this idea came from).  I figured I would point that out so if you see anything like that in your hours this week you are not alone haha.

Anyhow, good luck with all your hours, I have a lot of individual meetings scheduled coming up to this exam so it should be an incredibly busy week!

Karl

In this weeks news...

Hello all~

So this week was interesting--I actually had students attend my office hours on Friday! But I think a few of them mentioned the reason being that they thought there was still extra credit possibilities. I'm sort of wondering why there isn't incentive beyond the first exam in 0175 for UTA hour attendance. I think extending that beyond could help the students immensely, since they'd be motivated to get some extra study/review time~
Just a thought!

-Natalie

Week before the exam

Despite the second exam for the class being on Tuesday, I only had one student stop by with questions for me this week. They had several questions about some of the webassign problems, and I think I was able to explain the concepts to them well enough that they understood it. At this point I feel like 1 or 2 students a week may be the norm for me for the remainder of the semester.

Logan

Reflection: Week of 16th and 23rd

I am very sorry for the late post, as I have been swamped with exams all this week and last week.
Last week, I had one person come to my office hours for pre-exam prep, which I found very fun to do. This week, no one has come to my office hours as of yet so I have been reviewing the material we have gone over in class.

Well That Was Challenging

This week I had four students show up (two on Wed, two on Thurs).  About typical for me.  But here's a list of all the things untypical about it:
1. The professor didn't send me the homework this week (or I missed it or something; regardless, I didn't have it to prepare)
2. I had exams Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so I didn't really have time to try and review my old notes on the topic this week (which I would've done to prep because of the reality of #1)
3. Kirchoff's rules are longggggg.  Fun, but long.  And when you have two students show up that barely were able to get any of their homework done, it takes awhile to work through all those problems, especially if you're trying to solve them on the spot yourself.

So, fun week.  But I do think the students that were really struggling made progress :)  Here's to next week being better!

Post-Exam Lethargy

Last week's exam offered a nice break for us UTA's from having to attend lecture, but this week it's been back to the grind - starting tough conceptual subjects like capacitors & magnetism. Despite the challenging lectures, the class seems more relaxed and even a bit lethargic - no doubt due to the next exam being over a month away and the imminent arrival of spring break. Office hours are quiet, but I don't mine... Can't say the lethargy isn't getting to me a little as well!

Such a Stressful Week------5th

I am sorry for the late post. Last week was so busy for me as I had four exams that I found it really hard to find some time doing my own things. As a result, I did not do well on two of them. To be honest, I have always been trying to find something that lasts for a long time to do while I am having classes in school since high school period. I think it is of great importance to learn to balance and schedule my time so that I can achieve both of the things pretty well. Such as finding a girlfriend, but numerous failures have told me it apparently seems tough to me. This semester I had this UTA, which is not hard but takes a lot of time. I feel like my real challenge has come around.  

Slow week and sad news

Now that the students have gotten their exams back, I have had almost no one come in this week. In addition, one of the students that comes regularly just withdrew from the course because his other classes were getting to be too much in addition to physics :( There is always room for physics! Hopefully he'll try again next semester; he was a bright student. I'm sad that I can no longer help him!

Week of Feb 24th

Hey guys,

As usual I had about 5 people attend my office hours this week. They mostly had questions on specific webassign problems and I was able to help them work through the problem and explain it so they understood. I also just went over some concepts from lecture that were a little unclear. It seemed to be helpful! I expect the rest of the semester to like pretty much exactly like this.

~Jessica

Upcoming Exam Panic

Last week I think I had the most amount of people I have had yet. Everyone is stressing about the upcoming exam, and from what I have gathered, the average for the last exam is extremely low. Students were confused about the difference in concepts of impulse and momentum, so I hope I was able to clear that up. But overall, the number of students coming to office hours has increased every week, so I am excited to see the turn out this week. I just hope that there stress about this test decreases, because there was lots of panicking.

It feels like I'm in 'I am Legend' ...

If you haven't seen 'I am Legend,' it is one of those post-apocalyptic films involving a lone human survivor (Will Smith), his pet dog and a bunch of zombies. Now, I had no zombies in either one of my review sessions, but I had very few people come in last week, so I was almost the only person in the room. Wednesday's session consisted of 2 and Friday was 1! Needless to say, I was happy to help out a few people this past week. Hopefully, this means the material has gotten easier for students.

Session 6

I asked the students during my last session about their second exam, and the response was generally better than the first exam. A lot of them were very appreciative of my advice and said that my strategies for going about physics problems helped them develop a systematic approach as well. However, several people still struggled, and I'm noticing that these people are typically the ones that haven't taken physics in high school. I've met with a couple of these people on my own time before the last exam and I'm really glad I did because I think it helped them a lot. Aside from talking about the previous exam, we started tackling the topic of momentum and impulse, and it sounds like we'll be hitting rotation and rolling this Thursday.

-Mike

Post exam 2 Thoughts and concerns

This past Tuesday I had a number of students come to me with exam 2 questions and concerns. They found the test to be pretty difficult. In addition, they were not to pleased about the test just consisting of multiple choice questions and felt like their knowledge was not being fully representative of the material by just this type of testing format. They feel like an open ended section would be more beneficial because it allows them to get partial credit. Also, we went over the recitation problem and some webassign homework.

Crazy Few Weeks

My office hours have been becoming more and more chaotic as these past few weeks have gone on.  In particular, I have tripled my usual time meeting with people individually.  I also tried something new last week with office hours, since some students wanted to conceptually go over how to do Ch. 5 general problems.  I tried to generally describe what the different variables meant, how they appear in a free body diagram, why you can do a, b, c, etc. with it (such as set Fc=uFn etc.).  This seemed to be MUCH more helpful than just going over homework problems (as I did not receive as many last minute panicked texts asking for help last week).

Anyhow, that is my major update for the past few weeks.  I also figured I would let you guys know that I am going to end up having to cancel my Tues. office hours next week so I can be at the hospital when my grandma has surgery, so some of you may see increased numbers if those people come to your hours instead (my busy day is Wed. not Tues. though so I don't imagine it will make a HUGE difference).

Karl

UTA Journal for the Week of February 17th

No students came into my office hours this week. Perhaps because most of my office hours took place after the exam. So this makes perfect sense. During my hours I glanced over the material that will be on the second exam.

Slow Week

This past week was, as everyone seems to be saying, exam week.  My class's exam was on Wednesday, and my office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday (after class), and Thursday.  Since they didn't have a homework due this week, I wasn't expecting anyone to show up Wednesday & Thursday, but to my surprise no one showed up Tuesday either.  I'm chalking it up to the fact that my hours on Tuesday are 9:30-10:30 AM and that's considered "early" for college students--especially when another UTA and the professor has office hours Tuesday afternoons (I'm a commuter and 9:15 is generally my normal arrival time unless I have class earlier than that, so I don't find 9:30 to be very early.  Although it helps that I'm a morning person).

So yeah, really this is a long-ish post describing a very boring week.  Next week should be interesting as I juggle my own exams and normal office hour attendance.

Exam Week

This was a very strange week! My office hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the students had their first exam Wednesday. As expected, I had LOTS of students Tuesday (a new record!) and only one (my regular) on Thursday.

February 20th Office Hours

Hello everyone,

So, I just realized that I forgot to write a post last week, so I'll be making up for that one here, hopefully. My office hours are generally not busy, still. I may have one or two people visit each week with specific questions about webassign problems and I generally feel like they understand them by the time they leave. I feel like my office hour times probably conflict with most of the students' schedules, but I don't really have any better time to hold them. I suppose I'm fine not being very busy. The one student that I had today said that they may stop back again, so I may start being busier, but we'll see if that actually happens.

Logan

Exam week

This week some people had trouble answering on particular question which did recognize correct answers. It turned out to be the small rounding tolerance that's causing troubles. The correct answer is very small (around 10^(-8)) and any errors build up from previous calculations will likely result in more than 20% percent error. It is the first time I saw this kind of problem bothering people.  

Another busy pre-exam day

I held two hours yesterday from 2pm-4pm. I tried providing the students with a procedure to follow when setting up force, centripetal force, and work/energy problems. It seemed as though 90% of the students' struggles were in the setup of the question, which is essential for any physics exam. Luckily, it seemed as though every student improved in his/her setup strategies, which I was very happy to see!

Exam week

This Thursday the students will be taking their first exam in Professor Daley's Physics 2 section... Hopefully it goes well for them. The other TA's and I made a facebook group a week or two ago, but no one's posted in it as of yet.

My office hours have been getting lonelier lately... I didn't have a single student last week, but I can foresee some coming in to get last minute exam help.

Monday Feb. 17th Session

Hey guys,

So this was my fifth week I believe, and as usual I had a few students come in and ask specific questions from Webassign. I worked on forces down a ramp as well as the normal force in various situations. I feel like they understood pretty well by the time they left. Usually I have about a whole hour where I kind of just hang around and do homework waiting for students, but I guess I'm good with that too. Some people were helped!

~Jessica

Exam week

Wednesday's review session followed the trend of the previous week: many students appeared and we reviewed several concepts they have learned throughout their PHY0175 experience. Most students showed themselves the door as there was a review session held specifically for the exam later that night. However, this was to be expected and I am happy to have helped those who stayed for the entire duration of my review session. Hope everyone did well!

Weekend Office Hours

This week I held an additional office hour on Sunday for the students in preparation for the 2nd exam. They had a lot of questions with apparent weight questions and were having trouble grasping this concept. The majority of students that came to me (had about 8 in total) seemed to be mostly prepared for the material on the test for Monday. Overall, the office hours was a success. I needed to stay an extra 45min to answer so many questions too!

Fourth Week--------Change!

Last Friday, we had the second exam in Physics 0110. Students got back their exam results, and we saw the overall statistics of the whole class which is not quite satisfactory. Students reflected that this exam was harder than the first one after they finished the exam. I agree because some questions are hard to understand. But generally speaking, it is still a fairly fundamental exam. It tells me that I need to do some changes from now on---go back to basis.

First Exam for Physics 111

We got the first physics exam coming in Daley's physics 111 class. I'm assuming everyone else is in a similar boat.

The other UTA's & I have started up our FB group (which isn't seeing much activity as of late), and we are planning to host a review session the day before the exam run solely be us. Let me know what if you got any ideas/events lined up for exam week!

Best,
Ant

Journal for Week of February 10th

No students came to my office hours this week except one student who stopped by for a quick touch up on a concept. I spent the rest of the time brushing up on exam topics.

Exam week, indeed!

This week was interesting--I had many students arrive on Wednesday for last minute exam questions (and bonus points opportunities!) But then, predictably, Friday after the exam there was not a single soul! Which is not surprising~ but hopefully student will continue to attend in the future..

-Natalie

What A Week

So I had my fifth session yesterday, and it was by far the largest one I've had. It was largely due to their exam being today, but at least 20 people came during the three hour session, and at one point I couldn't fit any more students in my room so we commandeered a larger room for the last hour. By the end of the session, I was pretty exhausted, but I felt like I really helped a lot of people. They definitely had more confidence about the upcoming exam when they left as opposed to when they came in. We probably went through about 10-15 problems, and I stressed the idea of having a four step system for each problem (Write down what you know, draw a picture and label the forces, write force equations, write energy conservation equations if necessary). I'm hoping they fare better on this exam than they did with the previous one.

-Mike

Almost exam time!!

The first exam is next Wednesday and I surprisingly haven't had many new students yet! I'm expecting a huge jump in attendance for my Tuesday office hours...

Week of 2/3

This week I didn't have anyone show up to my office hours, so I ended up reviewing this week's material during my office hours.

Test Review

Today I had a crowd of people throughout my three hours. People were confused with the conservation of energy topic, and we worked through the webassign problems about three times. Everyone was panicking. I hope that I helped in some way... Starting to see regulars that come every week which is nice!

This week's office hours

The units covered on Dr. Nero's next exam are: Newton's Laws, Circular Motion, and Work/Energy. I have been stressing to the students that for any type of problem that could appear on the upcoming exam, it is important to draw a diagram to aid in understanding the question. I find that I make far fewer mistakes when I draw a diagram and write down applicable equations, even though neither the diagram nor some of the equations will be necessary for every question.

Update for Week of February 3rd

No students showed up on Monday so I spent that time looking over this weeks material for Physics. On Friday, students showed up with questions form Webassign, so similar book problems were worked through.

Finally, I'm gonna have my guests.

Can anyone else feel the exam in the air? - Week 3

It would appear that the exam spirit is in the air: the total number of students attending my review sessions has doubled for this week. Wednesday I had 19, and Friday I had 21. Moreover, the classroom in Allen Hall was very nice as it accommodated everyone comfortably, had plenty of chalk and a nifty podium that folded out of the table in the front of the classroom. During both sessions, but more so Friday, we revisited the electric field, Gauss's law and potential in addition to going over capacitance and working out homework problems. Also, I gave the students several study tips for the upcoming exam. This week has been my best UTA experience hitherto, as there were newcomers in addition to the regulars, everyone was engaged and posing questions and I am very pleased to see many students taking advantage of the review sessions. I feel they should do well on Thursday's exam.

I like physics

A lot of people showed up this week because the assignment is pretty hard. I am glad I can help.

Exam Coming Up

Hey everyone,

Things are still slow with office hours - no one has really come in but I can definitely see a change in the foreseeable future with the exam coming up. However, I have helped many students with quick questions during and after lecture (mostly concept based). Other than this, everything is great.

High volumes and lots of good questions!

It still amazes me that so many of the students come to my hours on Friday--I commend them for taking such a large chunk out of their afternoon to come learn physics! I think I had somewhere near 25-30 people show up on Friday--which was astounding. The first midterm is this week, so I think everyone wanted some study tips and had some final questions. There were a few lightbulb-above-head moments of "OH! That's how that works!" which has got to be the most gratifying thing in doing all of this~

-Natalie

Crazy Week

With the T line down, I was unable to attend my Wed. hours this week.  Thankfully, for the few students who didn't get my email about not being able to come in, Annie was able to meet with them.

However, I think I have met with people individually for a longer amount of time this week than I normally hold office hours!  A few of my chem students are also in physics, and as my Tues. hours intersect with all but one of the students labs, I have been meeting 1 on 1 with them.  I am sensing either no or major amounts of anxiety regarding this upcoming exam (as the grade distribution was somewhat bimodal, this is not too surprising).

Anyhow, hopefully the weather gets better soon! (I say this knowing full well that this weekend is going to be terrible haha).

Karl

Semester Going by Quickly

Hey all,

I had my fourth UTA session yesterday, and it went pretty well. I've been getting a steady amount of 6-10 people each session for the past two weeks, so hopefully those numbers become pretty regular. Speaking of regular, I noticed some returnees yesterday from my past sessions, some of which have been to all of my sessions thus far; I try to keep them coming back by giving them helpful worksheets every session, which most definitely works. The semester is truly going by quickly though; PHYS 0110 is having their second exam next week, even though my physics course (PHYS 0174) is having its first exam next week. That's it for now; thanks for reading my post!

-Mike

Third Week------It just started.....

Because Dr. Nero postponed the due time for this week's assignment from last Friday to this Monday, there were FINALLY some students who stopped by on Monday. It was supposed to be 2 hours long, but students kept asking questions, I extended another half an hour. Apparently all of these questions were from the assignment. While answering the questions and providing the solutions, I also tried to add some more knowledge that I think would be helpful for solving the similar questions. In Tuesday's session, I saw some students who asked questions from the textbook, which should be encouraged. Practice makes Perfect.

Midterm Questions Already!

Students have had a lot of questions lately about what to expect for the midterm. I hope the professor posts a practice exam or outline soon!

Week 3

My third week was pretty uneventful... One student came in for homework help on Friday but no one else came in the past week. I can foresee an influx of students next week cause of the exam though. I guess I won't be lonely anymore!

Finally able to start posting: 1/28 & 2/4 Posts

Hey Guys: After having some problems with joining the blog here I am! It was a slow start to TA'ing the first week with having only 1 student show up but this past Tuesday that all changed! I exponentially expanded and had over 10 students. I styled the classroom setting as an open discussion so everyone could work together. We went over some exam 1 questions, chapter 4 material, and those "highly despised" recitation questions. The students were explaining to me that they do not like how those are distributed to the students and there is a lack of graduate TA help in the classrooms. However, it was not my place to judge and I encouraged this student to seek help from one of us UTAs if she had any further trouble. Overall, I was able to help all of the students who came to my recitation which was very pleasing!

Results of Last Week's Session

Hey all,

So I'm just now realizing that I have not yet posted about my session from last week, so I'll go ahead and do that now. I had a pretty good turnout last Thursday: not as many as my first week, but there was about 7-10 students that filtered in and out during the three hours. One student came in very worried because she received a D on the first exam. I realized that she had a lot of problems with vectors, and so we spent a lot of time on the general process for vectors and I gave her a couple worksheets from high school that I found helpful. When she left, she was much more confident on the subject. I also recognized some students that attended my first session as well, so hopefully I'm beginning to get some regulars attending my sessions. More to come this week after my next session on Thursday. Take care everybody.

Newton's Laws -- common questions

I had about ten visitors today for office hours, all asking questions about their current unit, Newton's Laws. Several students asked about a WebAssign question pertaining to apparent weight, but after explaining the concept to them in a conceptual way, I noticed that they were able to develop a much greater understanding. Most of the other issues were in the setup of questions, particularly free body diagrams. I always stress that writing a free body diagram is absolutely necessary, even for the simpler questions!

Last week, just before the first exam, I had my first visitor, needing help with vector problems. She seemed to understand it after a little explanation. I expect that visitors will become a little bit more regular soon.

Logan

I finally got my office and office hour!

Week 3

Hey guys,

So I had my third session this week, and due to the fact that no assignments are due soon and the students had their first exam on Thursday, I had zero visitors. Last week I had some, though, so I assume that will be more of the norm once the students have new material to cover.

Jessica

UTA Journal for the Week of January 27

I had a student come in on Friday asking about the vector problems in webassign for Physics 2. Other than that she had no problems.

So far so busy~

Hello all, I hope your week has been a good one~

I am happy to report that last week I had about 17 students come to my hours, and I think we were able to cover a lot of ground. I think that the most challenging thing is getting past the awkward first moments of blank stares or transitions between material. I have to frequently remind everyone "I'm here to help you! Ask me anything, don't hesitate to call out questions or comments or concerns!" But, alas, I have 2 more hours this afternoon so we shall see how the turn out is.

Though, just as a note to the UTA coordinators, I have also had multiple students from my section tell me that they found mine and Harry O'Byrne's hours vastly helpful--more so than their actual graduate student TA's. I think that the pressure of being quizzed at the end of required recitations makes it harder to get at the actual "meat" of the material. Also, since we have so recently taken the course, our perspective is fresher. So, I think on their behalf, I'd like to say thank you because I think this program is making a positive improvement for those students taking initiative.

Happy weekend, stay warm~

-Natalie

Busy week!

I had eight students come to my office hours to mostly work through the web assign problems. The general confusion was the relation between normal force and weight, but hopefully after trying to find new ways to explain it, they feel more comfortable with the material! I like to hope that I am explaining the material in a way that will click for them...hope to have this rate of students come by next week!

Conceptual Questions

As more and  more students start to come to my office hours, I'm beginning to notice that people are asking tough conceptual questions. This is definitely not a strong point of mine. What's the best way to tackle off-the-wall conceptual questions that students have? I don't want to say something if I'm not entirely sure of it!

UTA Journal

I apologize for the late post but this post is for last week (January 20). I did not know that I had to post even though no one showed up to my office hours. Nothing really occurred during my hours.

[Enticing Post Title Goes Here] - Week 2

Last Friday's review session was a relatively small (7 people this time) class, but it was a very productive session. We nearly went over the whole homework assignment and some examples from lecture. One notable thing was that I used the entire 2 hour reservation at the Hillman Library, another not-so-great notable thing is that I still have no permanent location for Friday sessions. Hopefully, I can receive one very soon.
In tonight's review session, 10 students showed up. Also, the maintenance staff were kind enough to execute my request of a new light bulb for the German Room, creating a more pleasurable and thought-stimulating environment. I was able to clarify the scalar quality of potential and answered all of the questions the students had regarding the homework. They all understood the potential better after an analogy like the topographical map Dr. Frolov had mentioned. I must be doing something right, as I had a student approach me in Market for help! It's a good thing to know.

Looking forward to Friday's session, hopefully it's in a nationality room...

A post

Second week is just like the first week. A lot of people showed up and I kept talking and talking for three hours. I figured it's because homework is due Sunday so Friday is the last day to get help.

Pre-exam office hours!

On Monday (yesterday), our class had its first exam. I also had my first two office hours earlier that day. I had an awesome turnout, and the students asked tons of great questions. I think most of the students left my office hours significantly more prepared than they were when they arrived, which I'm obviously very happy about!

Week 2 reflection

Hey guys,

This last week I saw a lot more activity than I did during my previous one. I had 3 kids come into my office hours!! Rather than chilling by myself and doing homework, I had multiple chances to help kids directly which was pretty fun... The only thing is a one of them came in when I had 5 minutes left before class and I couldn't really help much. Things have been going smoothly, and I think with the upcoming exam there's going to be a lot more traffic from here on in. Hopefully this week goes well~

Ed

First Official Office Hours Tomorrow

Now that I tentatively have my office situation worked out, I will have my first "official" hours tomorrow.  I've been meeting with a few students individually since I haven't had a room to be using (2 of which are my chem. 0120 students).  Most of the people I met with seem to be more concerned about the current material (Ch. 4 - Forces) than previous material, so I anticipate I will be more useful now that the material is beginning to pick up.  I was a bit surprised with the grade distribution on Exam 1 for the afternoon physics 1 class - Its odd not to have the highest point in the distribution hovering around the middle of the distribution - I anticipate the average will drop on the subsequent exam and make the distribution look a bit more normal (since the last few times I UTAed that occurred).

Anyhow, hope everyone is staying WARM!!
Karl

Session 1

Hey all,

I finally had my first session in my own room in the Cathedral. While there were not many people there, I did get a few. We went over some homework problems and additional problems in the book and the students who came really seemed to benefit from it. I even had someone stay for over two of the three hours that I was there. Getting the word out a bit more would probably help, though. Overall, pretty successful!

~ Jessica 

Second Post-In Memory Of My First Tutoring Session

Here comes my first tutoring session this afternoon, which is in Italian Nationality Room at CL. As expected before, NO one is coming, because no one starts the assignment yet as they just finish one of the three lectures for this week. I have emailed my professor to see if there is any possibility that something can be changed. While having sat in the room alone for two hours, I have gotten to know a lot of Italian guys' names. Among those, "Galileo" came into my vision at first. His famous experiment at the Leaning Tower of Pisa demonstrates that the time of the object's descent is independent of its mass supposed that there is no air resistance. It also reminds me of the similar question I saw in the first exam that our class had last Friday.........What a meaningful Monday afternoon.

We suck at Communicating

Hey UTAs,

So it's now Week III, and I'm noticing a lot of compelling, articulate, and interesting posts in the blog so far... but only a handful of responses, and even worse... virtually zero conversation. That's kinda lame.

And even though it ranks highly on the list of things I hate the most in this world, I believe an ice breaker is in order. On that note, what're some pet peeves or things you hate about the Pitt physics experience? 

Answer and get your free internet points for the week!

Week 2

Hey everyone,

So no one really has come into my office hours yet, which is understandable because the material is probably still very easy for most of the students. I think more people are going to start coming when either the material gets harder, or an exam starts approaching. Other than this, everything else is great. Stay warm.

Week 2

A friend of mine was a TA for Physics 0110 last semester and I would sometimes crash his office hours and help him tutor.  It was fun, but often we spent more time explaining the Algebra involved in a problem than the Physics, so I kind of went into this semester expecting to have to break down the Algebra.

I need to readjust though; it's becoming increasingly clear that these folks know Algebra, which is awesome :)

Imagine you have a frosted cake...

My Wednesday review session in the German Room was a very good experience. Ten students this time, and we went over derivations for continuous charge distributions and Gauss's law. When I had gone through Physics 0175, I found it very helpful to use analogies to visualize what was going on in a particular problem. One of the students had difficulty in understanding the area charge density of an object, and how delta q/ delta A was still sigma. So, I had come up with the analogy of a frosted cake. If you have a cake, and the icing is evenly spread across it, then no matter what piece you cut for someone, the ratio of icing and cake will be equal to that of the entire cake. This really helped out, and most students seemed like they knew what was going on after that. Analogies definitely work, so I will use them more. Looking forward for Friday's review session.

Students seem to be comfortable!

I have had a couple of students start coming to my office hours, and it seems like in general they all feel pretty good about the material! Hopefully this positive outlook keeps up as the first exam approaches!

Results of First UTA Session

Hey all, hope you're warm and not cold.

So I had my first UTA session ever today, and it was absolutely awesome. My room is in the Hillman instead of the Cathedral because there were no available classrooms at my preferred time, but I was content with my space; it was kind of small (it's supposed to be built for a max of 5 people) but it was tech enabled so I could hook my laptop up to a TV and pull up useful equations and information.
 Anyway, I came into my session today thinking I'd be lucky to get one or two people to come. I was so wrong. At least 15 people came to my session today, and there was constantly 4 to 7 people in my room at any given time. At first I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to help them,  It's unbelievable how much material we got through in three hours (the time went by so fast). I really feel like I gave them some confidence for their exam tomorrow. I can't wait for my session next week; I have a feeling there will be less people there because there won't be an exam the following day, but there were several people today that said they'd be back next week.

What a rewarding experience so far
-Mike Shanahan

This Week--

I had a good few students come to my hour this past Wednesday and it was great! I think they were concerned about exam expectations (a reasonable thing to be concerned about) and I tried to frame the degree of calculus-based ability that would be necessary. Specifically when solving for quantities regarding continuous charge distributions (potentially the trickiest part of the course).

So, I hope I was able to help. I try to encourage students to stop me if I'm being unclear or going to fast--I really want to be an effective teacher~ And I have immense respect for professors--teaching is hard! Though rewarding.

Super Cool Information of the Week:

Steam Turbines:

 

Steam turbines are a really neat application of some fundamental electromagnetic (and thermodynamic) principles. The premise is to get usable work out of steam. The steam drives the rotation of a set of propellers, turning thermal energy into mechanical energy. There is then some sort of mechanistic process (the specifics of which I do not know) that must then generate a variable magnetic flux through the metal coil pictures, which generates electricity--our main goal!

Super cool bit of engineering right there.


-Natalie

Start!

Professor Boudreau just announced my office hours and locations to the class. I am really looking forward to help the class with their questions. The first exam will be Thursday, January 30th. I will be rally glad to help the class preparing their first exam. I have met some students in the class out side my office hours and solved some problems they had on their homework. It was a fabulous feeling when I solved their problems, and I felt that teaching requires a level of skill and I still need more experience.

Upcoming Exam

Dr. Nero has just announced my office hours to his class. My next hours aren't until Monday, which is the day of the first exam, so I am expecting a lot of visitors! I have been paying very close attention to the professor's teaching strategies, and I hope to emulate his methods when teaching the students, as well as introduce my own strategies for solving problems. I can't wait to get started!

First Post for My First UTA

Hey All, my name is Ziyan, a lot of people just call me "Z" if it is easier to remember and pronounce. I am a junior Accounting major and I am from Beijing, China. This is my first year at Pitt and second year in the US. I transferred to Pitt last fall from a college in a small city in Michigan, called Northern Michigan University. Nice people and pleasant environment in Michigan attracted me and formed my first impression of America. I chose Physics I last semester as the required natural science course, and I felt I should try the UTA when I got it done. Luckily, I become the UTA for Dr. Nero's Physics 0110 this semester. I hope to make more people keen on Physics with my personal experience and understanding on Physics, and get to know more friends meanwhile. 

About Me

Hey everyone!

My name is Jessica Schneider and I have not yet had a session, mine are going to be on Mondays but since we had no school today, I did not get a chance to hold my session yet! I am actually looking forward to holding one though and I hope people actually show up. A little bit about me, I am a freshman in the Swanson School of Engineering but I really have no idea what kind of engineer I want to be, too many options out there! I am UTA-ing (is that actually a verb?) the PHYS 0174 class with Dr. Boudreau. Best of luck to everyone with sessions this week!

Also, I apologize for the lateness of this post, it literally took forever for me to find the little blog icon on my google plus site.

Jessica

First UTA session

Hello everyone,

I'm Harry O'Byrne, and I am currently a UTA for Dr. Frolov's PHYS 0175 course. I am a freshman intent on procuring a Bioengineering degree. This is my first time as a UTA and there was a good turnout for the first tutoring session: a dozen people showed up. Surprisingly, the group study room had been able to facilitate room for everyone. In general, the students wished to go over some of the homework problems. Pretty good first day and looking forward to the rest of the semester.

First Post

Hey everyone,

My name is Nikil Uppaluri and I am a UTA for Professor Broccio's Physics 2 class. I am a junior Neuroscience major and it is my first time being a UTA. I didn't really have any students come in to office hours this week but I'm sure that will change as the semester progresses. Other than that everything else is going great, looking forward to a good semester.

First week of tutoring 175

Hello everyone!

I'm Tianyang, a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering. Currently I am UTAing physics175 for Prof. Devaty.

I'm happy that a decent amount of people showed up today. We were kicked out of the room in our scheduled hours by a cathedral decorating club. They said because there are two systems for scheduling rooms, club rooms sometimes overlap with those for academic purpose. So we moved to the Hungarian room where we found more chalks and a larger blackboard. One of the kids got flu and I don't feel so well now. I will probably skip parties tonight and take a good rest.

First Week

Well, 'twas a bit boring to start off.  No one came to my first office hours, but they were on Tuesday and at 9:30 AM so I wasn't too surprised since the homework wasn't due 'til today.
But things have picked up since then!  I had two people come to my office hours Wednesday, and three people yesterday.  It was fun!

But, quick question: I had two students communicate with me ahead of time to make sure it was ok for them to stop by.  Is that something that's happened to a lot of you?  I was a little surprised because my professor really emphasized the "walk-in" aspect of it, and although I didn't mind answering them, I don't necessarily want to have to reiterate it every week of the term.

If you do not yet have your room...

I can reserve a room for you in Hillman library at short notice. Please notify me if you would prefer this as you wait for your permanent room.

Also... the giant bunny. Too much?

Have a good weekend!
Hannah

My name is Robert Lee (Rob for short) and I am currently a UTA for Physics 2 with Professor Daley. I know that this post is late but I felt that it was necessary.

First post of the semester!

Hello everyone!

My name is Becca and I am a sophomore Biology/Religious Studies major with a minor in Chem. I am really excited to be TA-ing this semester! So far I have had one student attend my office hours, which served as a nice warm-up to the world of helping students with physics. Looking forward to helping more students soon :)

UTA Introduction and Comments

Hey, my name is Edward Lee and I am a UTA for Dr. Daley's PHYS0111 section. I am currently a senior and I am studying Neuroscience. I am very excited for this opportunity to help students that have been in my situation learn Physics 2.
Only one person came to office hours so far, but I had fun helping them out with homework. The room I'm assigned to (CL137) seems to have a spotty internet connection though... Other than that, everything is fine!

First Post

Hi, my name is Mike Shanahan and this is my first year as a UTA. I'm a freshman and am intending to major in Mechanical Engineering. I'm a UTA for Dr. Nero's Physics 0110 class that takes place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM. I'm also currently taking Physics 0175. I am scheduled to hold my office hours on Thursdays from 10 AM to 1 PM. However, I'll have to wait until next week to hold my first office hours because Dr. Nero has yet to post his UTAs' office room and hours for his class to view. I've been taking Physics since my Junior year of high school and I love the subject. I'm very excited for my first session (hopefully it's next week)! Any tips for a rookie UTA with relatively little experience in teaching?

Dejection..

Unfortunately, no one attended my hours today~ I am a little bit bummed--I think I need to formally announce the times and room number again, because it probably wasn't communicated very well (I'm optimistic!)

Hopefully I'll be able to help some people on Friday~

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Nat

Greeting !!!

Hello everyone !

   This is Tong Lu, one of the UTAs for PHYS 0174. I am very excited about this program, and I hope every UTA could have a great experience !!!

Tong Lu

Welcome!

And congratulations on your UTA nomination and appointment!

This site is the go-to for most of your UTA needs. As mentioned in my earlier email, once a week you will be required to write either a blog post or response to someone else's blog post. Your blog posts can be as short as a tweet or as long as a historical soapbox rant--it just lets other UTA's know what might be a problem among the students or shares an encouraging moment you experienced during your UTA hours.

Sharing your teaching tips and the positive and negative experiences as they occur is essential to growth as an instructor and a teaching community. This site is to remind you that you are not alone with an 18-credit class load and grad school worries and tutoring stress; its goals are to encourage and inspire and relieve some of the weight you may experience. Keep that in mind as you post and discuss among yourselves.

Some of you have already posted! For the rest, please feel free to start this week with some introductions and perhaps bring to the table some of the things you may be concerned with about the upcoming semester.

For now, I will leave you with a letter written by a past UTA, completely and entirely unedited:

To the UTAs of tomorrow,
Welcome to one of the most time consuming, frustrating, challenging, and rewarding experiences of your college careers.

I know when I started just a few months ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I figured it would be a few extra hours and some night spent with my beloved physics book, but what I found was much more.  Here is a brief list of what I learned by being a UTA. 

1. Physics is hard.  When I started, I was like, "Ok self.  This will be easy.  You did physics once, you can do it again."  But by the end of my first office hour, I realized that although I knew the material, I also needed to find a way to explain it.  Sometimes the kids who come to office hours just wouldn't understand the way I explained a particular problem.  Which brings me to #2. 

2. Ask questions.  Ask the people who come to your office hours to explain the way they see the problem and how they may approach the problem.  Not only will this give you a clue to where they are getting lost, but it gives you a fresh way to see the problem and may make it easier to explain it in ways they understand.  Sometimes, you still may not see the whole problem.  For help with this look read further to #3. 

3. Make friends.  The UTAs will be sitting in lectures with you.  Talk to them.  Bounce ideas off them.  And use your common insanity to help keep it all in perspective.  If everyone feels like they are going crazy between all the classes, studying, research, homework, and late nights in Club Hillman, you guys are doing it right.  Because look at you.  On top of all that, you added helping your peers in a class you could have left as a memory of last semester.  And finally #4. 

4.  Enjoy it.  Being a UTA can be a frustrating and unique challenge, but it's worth it.  You will find those kids who keep attending your office hours.  They will come to you for help or maybe to just vent their frustrations over vector diagrams and forces, but there will be days where they will stop by your office hours.  And by the time they leave the room, you will see the difference they made.  Maybe it will be for help with the "baggage claim" WebAssign problem (if they haven't gotten rid of it) or after the first exam to let you know that your last minute office hours before the test really helped them on the last problem.  No matter how it happens, you will make a difference.

And that's all I've got.  So, good luck and may the force be with you.

Intro Post, Universal UTA Issues, & Facebook Groups!

Dear Fellow UTAs,

My name's Anthony and I'm a Senior Bio/Chem major UTAing for Professor Daley's Physics 111 class on TTh 6:00pm-7:20pm. Like many of you, this will be my first experience teaching physics, so I won't sugarcoat the fact that I'm both nervous and excited for the challenge/opportunity. Even though I do have some prior TAing experience, this will be the first time I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and teaching a subject out of my major; thus, I look forward to communicating with all of you guys and seeing everyone's spin on teaching physics.

Universal Issues

As a Gen. Chem. UTA way back in the day, I ran across a few issues that I believe are universal in the undergrad teaching world. I can spend paragraphs discussing my frustrations with these issues, but since this is the first week, I'll just list some and hopefully we can have some solid discussion about them later down the road. They are: (1) getting students to actually attend student-organized sessions, (2) getting students to optimize their studying, and (3) surviving the pre-exam rush. If anyone has any more they'd like to add, please share - I'm sure there are a ton more.

Facebook Groups

I also wanted to discuss the idea of creating an invite-only FB group for your class and sending the link in a mass email to your students. In the group, students will be free to discuss homework questions, lecture notes, and class announcements/reminders in an informal setting - all under the supervision/moderation of the UTA's, of course. Having been a part of similar FB groups for Biochemistry and Human Physiology, I can vouch for their usefulness as a student. Granted, however, there are both pros & cons for setting this up in a physics setting - some of which that I listed below... 

To start off with the pros: (1) it will facilitate student collaboration and build classroom rapport, (2) allow other students the ability to explain concepts, (3) offer the ability to ask simple questions, (4) clear up classroom confusion, (5) help us analyze where students are having the most trouble, (6) weed out poorly-worded or overly-complex hw problems, (7) give us an outlet to answer frequently asked questions, and most importantly (8) give us something productive to do while mindlessly procrastinating on Facebook anyway.

The main con that Prof. Daley had about this idea is that (1) students will post simplified directions for hw answers that other students will simply plug n' chug - getting credit without learning the lesson. Now, I don't know how many of your classes utilize Webassign, but for those that don't or use other software: Webassign randomizes the values of every problem, but questions are in the same order for every student and it is rather easy to give quantitative solutions without explaining the qualitative reasoning behind it. However, I believe this can be avoided by tightly moderating the group discussion, and deleting malignant posts such as, "oh just take the square root of that and divide by theta", as well as misleading/poorly explained answers. (2) it may be challenging to explain many of the concepts via small FB paragraphs, but that can also be bypassed by simply linking to some free-writing app in which we could describe concepts more aesthetically, sketch figures, etc. (3) it may detract from UTA office hour attendance, (4) the group is bias towards the anti-FB crowd, and (5) there's always the chance it will completely backfire, i.e. no student participation or UTAs having to answer a ton of questions per day. Nevertheless that's always part of the risk when trying novel things. 

Wrap-Up

So anyway, let me know what you guys think. I already talked to the other two UTAs in my class (shout out to Rob & Ed), and they were down to try it; thus, we're willing to volunteer to be the guinea pigs of this project and we can let you guys know how it works out! And apologies if this is tl;dr for some of you, but thanks to those that stuck through and actually read it; hope it incites some ideas and discussion. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Best,

Ant

Hello All~

Greetings, and cheers to the new semester!

My name is Natalie, and I am a UTA for Physics 0175 this semester and I'm looking forward to some awesome, action packed physics learning. 

Although I've yet to hold a tutoring/review session, I've already had a good chunk of students approach me after lecture expressing their interest. And, considering we just learned electric fields in lecture (a rather abstract concept) its quite understandable! But I think a few more diagrams and a little discussion will clear up their uncertainty in no time at all~

Fun physics factoids (which I'm also currently learning in my thermodynamics class):

 

super-critical fluids (see the photo of Freon above). In image 1, you can see the liquid freon @ its initial state, and T and P are on the rise. Transition to image 2--the line of state separation appears to blur. And then image 3--Poof! The Freon is still in the apparatus--but we can no longer see a separation between the liquid and vapor phases.  No meniscus!

This substance is said to be at its critical temperature and pressure, and although it looks like a random, but cool phenomena, it has even cooler implications. 

Specific to what I know (which is limited) critical states of fluids are most useful when trying to model gases. Specifically, knowing the critical intensive vars. including (T,P,v) of a gas allows for universal modeling of behavior (to an extent, as always...). This is because gasses @ their critical state all behave similarly--hence, the law of corresponding state. 

Anyways, I could talk about this forever--and I don't know what this blog post is supposed to consist of, but I hope you enjoyed this regardless??

Live long and prosper,

-Nat

Introduction

Hey everyone!  I'm Antoinette (I go by Annie too).  I'm a UTA for the MWF sections of Physics 111.  Super excited!  I made friends with a UTA when I took Physics 110 and ended up seeing a lot of what the UTA program is like so I can't wait to start :)