Final Post

I was happy to see a decent turnout to my office hours prior to the student's final. As their final was on Monday, I did not hold office hours during final's week. It was an outstanding experience to be able to help these students to understand the course material. I thoroughly enjoyed watching some of my "regulars" progress from having no clue how to solve a problem in the beginning of the semester to being able to critically think about the problem, set up a strategy, and solve. I hope that I had something to do with these students improvements and I hope that some students got a slightly better grade because of my help.

Week 13

Finals week has come to a close. I didn't hold any office hours due to finals, but I did proctor their final. I had several  questions during the test and I feel that by now I have become pretty good at answering questions during tests without giving away any information. It really is a skill to be able to clarify test questions without providing any hints as to the answer. I think this semester of UTAing was definitely a success. Office hour attendance was a little less than I expected but I still managed to get some good experience helping students. This was definitely a valuable experience.

Week 13

For my last week of office hours, I had 2 students show up to ask questions about preparing for their upcoming final. While this was not a huge turnout by any means, I really valued it. While going to UTA office hours on a regular basis is not everyone's cup of tea (it wasn't mine when I took the class), it is good to know that a few students still regularly use me as a resource.

Overall, being a UTA has been a great learning experience for me, as I switched between several different methods in an attempt to find the best way of meeting the students' needs. Though I will not be a physics UTA again next year, I am definitely interested in having a UTA-type role in my other completed classes in the future.

Week 11-13

During my final weeks of office hours, I had only 2 students who consistently showed up, and 1 other student who joined them last week. Usually they sat and did homework and asked me for help on any problems they were having, as there were lots of assignments at the end of the course. Additionally, they asked some concept questions in preparation for the final exam, and I tried to go over the concepts and some examples with them. They generally stayed the entire time of my office hours.

Ryan Tan Week 12 + 13

Ryan Tan
Physics 0175
Dytman TH 1100-1245

Tuesday, I used past exams to cover material that students had questions on. Some students still seemed iffy relating kinematics and electromagnetism. I was able to help clear up confusion about a projectile motion-esque problem involving an electron in an electric field. Unfortunately, I was unable to work Wednesday due to illness, but I made myself available during finals week. I helped a student yesterday in Hillman with some diffraction problems.

Week 13... The last week.

No one came in on my last week of office hours... It was sad, but I have to say I had a great time spreading my knowledge to those who needed help! I would definitely do this again if I had room!

Week 12 (Final Week)

This week concluded my office hours as UTA for Dr. Nero's Physics 0174 class. Unfortunately nobody showed up to my office hours on Tuesday and only one student came on Wednesday. During my last session, the student only had one quick question. He was there for about 10 minutes.

I believe being a UTA was a good experience for me. It really solidified my knowledge of mechanics. However much of my time was spent in a room alone. I spent much more time by myself than helping students during my office hours. There was higher attendance in the beginning of the semester when extra credit was given for students who came. Once the extra credit opportunity ended, so did my attendance.

Week 13

This week I helped 0 people.

As the semester came to a close, I did not have anyone attend my office hours. This was a little sad, but also pretty nice, as I got an extra three hours of time to do homework.

Overall, I would say that my experience as a UTA this semester was very positive. I feel that I strengthened my abilities and some areas I was weaker in at the beginning of the semester, and also gained a new appreciation for what professors and TAs do everyday. Teaching is not easy, and trying to figure out the best way to convey difficult topics to different types of people is a real challenge.

I really enjoyed being a UTA, and would definitely consider doing it again. It was a great experience, and I will definitely miss it next semester.

Final Week

Well, it is finally here! We have reached the end of the semester. I was a little disappointed by the low attendance rates, but the students that did come asked a lot of good questions. My only real complaint is the nationality rooms. As cool as they are, people walking in and out are quite rude and distracting.

Week 11-13

Week 11.

Nobody new showed up. My friend in the class has just been coming for some homework help.

Week 12.

One student showed up. He struggled on the last test and had problems knowing how to approach the questions on the exam. I walked him through a couple of the problems from the last exam and strategies to approach them. I also helped him with the homework and explained some of the concepts to him which seemed to help.

Week 13.

Nobody showed up the last week of office hours.

Week 13

This week I helped one student who came to my office hour very frequently at the beginning of the semester. Glad to see her again in the final week! I really enjoyed my experience as a Physics UTA, through which I helped others and improved my own communication ability. Good luck on finals!

Final Week (12th Week)

I had no one show up for the final week, but it has overall been a good experience helping anyone who came in! 

Ally M
Physics 174
Nero 1pm

Week 12

Back down to one student this week. I believe a pattern has solidified. It will be interesting to see who shows up for Week 13 (the last session) as it is before a final and 3 homework assignments are due.

Week 12

This week there were no students to be seen. I think it is because they just took a test, and they are not really looking toward finals week yet.

Week 11

This week I had two people come in before their test. My second office hours was after their exam, so no one came. I have a good feeling I gave them some good studying tips though!

Week 13

Last week of office hours! I did not have any students this week. Attendance definitely decreased at the end of the semester. Overall, I enjoyed being a UTA for physics this semester and was glad I could help students better understand the subject.

11th Week

Only two people came this week.  They had last minute questions before their test.  I think at this point most people are starting to give less effort outside of just doing their homework on their own now. 

Ally M
Physics 0174
Nero 1pm

Ryan Tan Week 11

Ryan Tan
Physics 0175
Dytman TH 1100-1245

Helped students with test review. Covered EM waves which fortunately seemed to be a straightforward topic for the students. Again, no students came on Wednesday. Was able to meet with the professor and discussed finals prep.

Week 11-12

Week 11 I didn't have any one attend my office hours so I figured I would combine that blog post with this week's post. This week, for my final office hours, I had two students come in for help. This is the last week before their final exam so both students were asking questions from material earlier in the year. For one of the questions, I had to look back in the book and refresh my knowledge on the subject, but for everything else I didn't have any trouble helping the students conceptually grasp the material. We worked through some practice problems as well. I think in the future it would be beneficial to book office hours in rooms other than the cultural rooms in the cathedral. It can be distracting when you have people coming in to take pictures and look around when you are trying to help students.

Week 12

This week I helped 3 people.

Dr. Nero's test had a test this week, and these weeks are always the busiest for me. I had three people come to my office hours over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday--this was much better than the attendance of zero that I had been getting in weeks prior.

This material is not my strongest suit, but I think I was able to help all three students adequately. I was actually surprised at how well I remembered most of the material. Next week will probably be another down week, though, so I enjoyed the company while it lasted.

Week-12

I had one student came in and he asked me questions regarding his homework.
He also asked me how to study for the final.
I said that you should try to do as many problems as you can.
But, d you guys have any helpful tip to study for the finals?
Thanks

week 12

Two students came to my office hour this week. They are friends and had the same homework questions. I hope to see more next week because final is coming!

Weeks 11-12

Last week I had the usual number of student (~5) the usual homework questions were asked. The students that come to see me seem to be understanding the current material for the most part without any issues. The homework questions generally involve simple mistakes like incorrect units (g --> kg) and things like that.

The usual students came to office hours this week. This week the students seemed slightly confused with the difference between latent heat of fusion and latent heat of vaporization. Explanation and review of the HW problems cleared this confusion up, I believe. I also have a way of setting up heat transfer problems by using diagrams to try and keep the different equations straight which I showed to the students, hopefully it will reduce some simple mistakes on the final exam.

Week 11

I have been getting more emails than usual this week. I guess that means students have been busy reviewing! Hopefully they feel prepared for the final!

Week 11

For Week 11, where my office hours happened the night before an exam, I had 18 students show up. So, it would seem that even when bonus points stop being given out, I am still able to attract a good number of students when they "need it," if you will. I conducted it like a typical review session, but this time a larger focus was placed on the review problems that my professor assigned. The problems were much more difficult so I wanted to make sure that everyone understood why certain steps were taken. I expect attendance to go down again for week 12, but I am glad about the turnout for week 11.

Weeks 11 and 12

So far these weeks during and after the test have been uneventful, as no one has needed help. Some students seem worried about the final, but most are doing quite well in the class.

Week 11

This week nobody came to my office hours on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a student came that I had previously worked with.  We worked on the practice exam that Dr. Nero posted on Courseweb in preparation for the exam on Thursday. We worked on Doppler effect problems. She was having problems with the signs of various terms. Other than that, she did not need much assistance and left within 30-45 minutes.

Week 12

I had no students at my office hours this week.

Weeks 10-11

Combined, I helped one person over these two weeks.

As the semester starts to draw to a close, the attendance at my office hours has really tapered off. I only helped one person in the last two weeks, and she was only there to go over a few homework problems. This unit isn't my strongest, though, so it is ok with me. I am not sure how much help I could actually be. There is test coming up, though, and I am hoping that I have a few more people show up before then.

Weeks 9-10

I had two students came to my office hours.
I was glad that they came not just to get their homework done but they really tried to understand the concept before they solve the problems.
I think I did well in explaining concepts to them.

Weeks 9-10

During week 9 I didn't have any students attend my office hours. However, during week 10 I had a student attend that has stopped by a few times before. His test was that week so the students had been given practice exam questions and he had a few problems that he wasn't sure how to solve. Mainly, he was having difficulty distinguishing between angular velocity and tangential velocity, so I picked out a few problems from the book that dealt with these ideas and had him work through them. I definitely feel that I have improved in my ability to help students grasp concepts without me explicitly telling them how to solve a problem. I helped to lead him in the right direction with the problems and I definitely feel that he left with a much better understanding.

Weeks 11 and 12

I didn't have any students during week 11 due to the fact that there was no written homework and an exam.  I had my usual amount of students during week 12.

week 11

I've had no students at my office hours this week.

It seems that many of us are trying to grasp as much as we can at this point, while letting the little things slide.

10th Week

This week, nobody came.  I'm expecting more next week because they have a test.

Ally M
Physics 174
Nero 1pm

Week 11

One student came to my office hour with two homework questions this week.

Week 11

I had no students at my office hours this week.  I was not surprised because they had an exam the Friday before.

Week 10

Only a few more weeks left! Now that the weather is warming up, more people are coming to visit the nationality rooms (which means more people interrupting office hours). Thankfully, the students that come to office hours seem to find it more amusing than distracting.

Week 10

New week, but nothing new. Still just 1 person came. The same student who had been coming consistently came again today, which was nice. It feels cool that I have been able to convince at least one person to come back to my sessions each week for help. Next week is the day before an exam so I hope I get more regular attendance (like at least 15 students).

Week 10

This week marked the 2nd midterm for the class and there was no written homework, so most of the students worried more about studying than seeking the answer to minor questions on the homework. 

I moderated another test on Thursday. Quite a few students asked for clarification on the midterm, so I gave what vague help I could without jeopardizing the test. (there were one or two errors in the test questions). 

I had one student attend my office hours on Sunday, but only received a question about formatting for the online homework. All in all, a slow week.

Week 11

This week I had the usual amount of students (3 separate students but one comes to all of my hours). I have not had a question about the PEC assignments for some time now, I don't know if the students are still attempting those. All of the questions have revolved around the recent HW assignments.

Week 10

This week nobody showed up to any of my office hours again.