11/20

No office Hours this week due to the break

11/13

There were people in the room but I didn’t get many questions.

11/6

we has the exam this week and my office hours were after it so nobobdy came in.

10/30

This was the week of Halloween I didn’t get a ton of people.

10/23

Im sorry these are coming all at once I’ve been very busy these past couple weeks and forgot to do these. This week wasn’t very busy I did some work with capacitors,

Week of 11/21

This week I suspected that nobody would come in and nobody did. I just did work for other classes, and I do not have anything major to share or discuss this time unfortunately.

Week of Nov. 13th

Nothing special happened this week due to it being the last week before the break. Dampened Springs were covered this week, with quite a few questions from the students. Expecting a few to show up at office hours, I got no one to come.

Week of 11/13

This week was pretty stressful for myself too because I had a huge Neuroscience exam on Friday and the students had a Physics exam on Friday as well. However, I was able to hold a review session with fellow UTA's on Tuesday and from the review session, I was able to help out a freshman with a few questions. Also when I was studying in the library Thursday night, that same freshman found me in the library asked to study next to me. Thus, while I was studying for my exam, another UTA and I, who also nearby were able to help her with questions. Hopefully, the exam went well for all the students.  

Week of 11/13

I had an exam this friday so for once I wasn't too disappointed when no students came to office hours so that I could continue studying my own stuff.

I wonder if students will come when their final is approaching? I guess we'll find out soon enough

week of 11/13

This week my office hours were very busy as all of professor Nero's students were preparing for their third midterm.  On Wednesday my office hours were so busy that not everyone could fit in the room at the same time.  I expect things to die off for a while mow until we get a little closer to finals week.

Week of 11/13

No one came to my office hours again this week. In class, we began our discussion on fluids. Fluids were not taught in my physics 1 class so I will need to spend some time looking over this content before next week's office hours in order to be able to help any students who may come. Students also got their second midterms last week. The average was around 60%, so I am hoping students will come to office hours more in order to prepare for the final.

week of 11/13

this week I had a student came in my office hour, asking me for ladder question, I explain thoroughly and he is glad that he gets it. they have the third exam on Friday, I quickly skim through the questions, they are fair, and not too hard, which means is doable if people have good knowledge and right concept! get a nice break and have fun!

Week of 11/13

This week was one of the more busy ones that I have had. I had people waiting for me as soon as I got there each day, and also I stayed after about an hour each time. The material is getting into some of the harder stuff, things that we didn't do last year; however I look up the material beforehand and check out Nero's work to prepare. I feel that the students respond to my teaching well. The nice thing about having a bunch of students at once is that they can help each other sometimes as much as I can help them.

Week of 11/13

Did not see any students in office hours this week but was able to help a few students outside of office hours with their homework and the exam retry they had assigned for their second exam. Hopefully they are understanding the concepts more since Dr. Clark is giving them a second try in understanding and answering the problems!

Week of 11/13

No students came to my office hours this week, even though they had an exam. Hopefully it went well

Week of 11/13

On Monday, I held a review session for the students' third exam of the semester. With the exam coming up on Friday, office hours have been busy each day and I've seen several students who had questions on torque, springs, and buoyancy. I was able to answer their questions and help them solve problems. I also went over several conceptual problems with the students so they had a solid foundation going into the exam. In lecture, I answered questions regarding the new material we are learning, but most students would pull me aside to ask about an exam question they had. I hope everyone does well tomorrow and their hard work pays off.

Weeks of 10/30 and 11/6

Another exam week so not much to say.  I had to proctor the exam, which involved passing out exams and scantrons and fielding questions to graduate TAs as appropriate.  Dr. Hong was originally not supposed to be there that morning but showed up eventually, which certainly made the process easier.
As for course content, I'm still in the same spot as previously when it comes to helping students in that I can reliably field most questions.  However, there have been a few online homework questions where I consulted my old notes, checked and re-derived formulae, and still could not come to a correct answer.  Thankfully, I don't get the blame most of the time, and most kids just say they'll ask one of the graduate TAs.  Aside from those rare cases, though, I've still been able to help most kids out just fine, and office hours are pretty heavily weighed towards Thursdays as usual.  I had a student email me a problem but I didn't see the email until the morning of a lecture where the exact same problem was explained on the board, so I lucked out in that regard.
As for lecture presence, I've made it a goal to attend more often since being singled out to help proctor the exam.  Last Friday, I showed up late and was the only UTA there, which I imagine must have been pretty frustrating for Hong.  It's hard to find motivation to go, though; I feel as though UTAs are pretty underutilized.  I feel like I spend about 5 minutes max per lecture going around and helping with clicker questions, and even then it's rare I get called on.  Hong also seems to be relegating explaining clicker questions to student volunteers instead of UTAs, even though it was one of the few things we actually did in lecture except show up.  All in all, hard to find motivation to wake up hours earlier than my first actual class to attend the lecture and spend only a few minutes actually doing my job.

Week of 11/6

This week, the homework of the class I am working with concerned rotation. The fact that you can pick any fulcrum in as system seems to be a tricky concept for students. Also, they aren't seeming to grasp what a moment of inertia is intuitively. I am predicting that there will also be trouble distinguishing between angular and linear values. However, the similar properties of torque and forces (and the laws the go with them) seem to be intuitive. The test is next week and all of the students seem to be a bit nervous for it. However, I think this test will have a higher average than the first one.

Nov 13 - Nov 17

Office hours this week largely focused on conceptual questions. I don't think there was any homework assigned for Saturday night, which explains why people that usually come in for problem set help don't seem to need it this week.

That being said people are definitely stressed for this exam. Some of the students had many conceptual questions dating back to the early exam 3 material that should have been covered a long time ago. Overall it's been lively and I hope that some of the sessions this week help these students perform well come Friday. The review sessions will surely be of help

Nov 6 - Nov 10

Relatively slow week in terms of people coming in for office hours. Only had a handful of students throughout the week, which is weird considering that the exam is Friday 11/15. The questions that were asked in session were largely conceptually based ones on springs and harmonic motion.

It's definitely notable that this week is a very very busy week for science majors - as a neuro major myself, I've heard that many of the core science courses are having midterms this week. Even I have 2, but some people I know have up to 4. It's very possible people are putting off physics until next week, since they have until Friday

week of 10/30

About 10 people came to office hours this week. Much of this time was dedicated to how energy is conserved in collisions. This seems to be a common issue for the students. Also, using momentum as a vector tends to be an issue. Everyone in Dr. Kuo's class is starting to prepare for their test in a couple weeks, so we went over some studying techniques in office hours. Lecture was as usual, however more people are approaching me with questions as I get to know everyone better.

Week of Nov. 5th

This week was the same as the last, as no one showed up for my office hours. Its becoming redundant at this point writing these reviews. The class worked on the Gravitational Constant (G) and the Force of Gravity.

Week of 11/13

Since there is an exam this Friday, I was expecting to get more students at my office hours. However, once again I didn't get any. I think it was because there isn't any homework due this week. I ran a review session by myself on Monday, which I was a little worried about because I did not have any backup if I couldn't answer a question. It ended up going smoothly, though. I think most students had a relatively good understanding of the problems we did by the end of it.

Week of 11/6

This was a really laid back week. I didn't get anybody at my office hours. However, students are definitely getting more comfortable raising their hands in class and asking questions. I was able to help a bunch of students throughout the week with in-class clicker questions, which is always rewarding.

Week of 11/5

Tom Reynolds
Physics 175
Dr. Hong

This week one person came on Wednesday as usual but no one came on Thursday.  It was the first Thursday all semester that no one came.  It was kind of strange.  There was an exam during class on Wednesday and as a result there was no written homework.  There was online homework but he pushed it back until next week.  I guess it was just the perfect storm of events to get no one to come.  Next week I'll be back at it but this was a nice break.

Week of 11/5

This week only one person came in again. I was able to help him right until the end, when we started getting into torques. Rotational kinetmatics was my kryptonite last semester and I really do not want it to be anyone else's simply because I had a hard time with it. Currently I am reviewing all my notes in order to be prepared for the next time someone comes in, that way I am able to actually help instead of just aimlessy write down equations that may or may not be useful. I think there is some good that has come out of it though, since I showed the student good practices for attacking a problem that you do not remember how to do. Eventually, we did get it, but now I know that I need to be more prepared next time.

Week of 11/5

This week I had a few more people start to come into office hours again.  This was probably because they got their grades back on their last test and they are beginning to prepare for the third one.  I even have students bringing in more than just the homework problems for clarification.  On Thursday I had students doing book problems in my office hours and they had me there just to help them whenever they got stuck.  I thought this was a really good idea because it forced them to see what they knew before I helped them at all.  I am expecting to have a lot of students visit next week since they have an exam on Friday.

Week of 11/5

Helped a couple kids before class on wednesday with some last minute questions. No one came to office hours on wednesday or friday.

Maybe after this test people will start coming but we'll see.

Week of 11/6

I'm getting some students who are regularly coming to office hours. Tuesday I had some students come have questions about angular momentum.
Thursday was pretty much the same thing, I think that the students who are coming to hours are really improving their abilities to grasp the physics concepts.

week of 11/6

this week, I had a student came in with questions, which is homework. I was able to try to explain the concept and worked through with her. beside this, is still a quiet week. their exam is on next Friday! study hard! and Ace it! it will be the hardest of all (personal opinion). try your best, and have a good break!

Week of 11/6

This week my class had their second midterm, which covered up to angular momentum. The following class we began our discussion on waves and the professor offered a basic introduction to the chapter. No one came to my office hours again this week, likely because they just had an exam. I'm surprised more students are not coming to office hours since the material that was just covered and what we are about to cover is often considered very confusing to students.

Week of 11/6

One person came to my office hours on Monday to start reviewing a few topics for the exam coming up next week (kudos to her for starting so early!) On Friday, I had two girls come in to go over a few homework problems. It's been the same as usual but next week I hold a review session with another UTA to help students prepare for their exam. 

Week of 11/6

Four students came to my office hours on Wednesday. They mostly had questions regarding a really difficult problem on the homework. It asked how high a block would slide up a ramp if they were both on a frictionless surface, and the block was originally traveling at some velocity, v. The problem was difficult because the ramp would start to move as soon as the block hit it, making the calculations more difficult. We broke the problem into different parts and ended up making sense of it.

No students came to office hours Thursday or Friday. The class has an exam on Wednesday, so hopefully everyone does well!

Week of 11/6

Did not see anybody in office hours this week, Monday or Friday. I helped some students outside of office hours with homework, regarding Ampere's Law. Hope to see more people come in as the final approaches and more homework is due!

Week of 11/6

During the past week, we discussed fluid motion in lecture. Several students asked me questions during lecture and in office hours regarding this material. There seemed to be some confusion regarding the use of the formula for buoyant force and Bernoulli's equation. I answered their questions and they were able to handle the in-class problems. I also saw some students in office hours regarding previous homework assignments. I explained the concepts to them, mostly concerning angular momentum and torque. Next week we will be holding review sessions in preparation for the upcoming exam on Friday. I will be working on practice problems that will be used by the UTA's during the review sessions.

Week of Oct. 30th

Sorry this blog is a bit late, but nothing new has occurred. The students received their 2nd test grades, and it looked about normal for a Phys class, with an average of roughly 65%. The class is working on topics of equilibrium, including stable and unstable objects and center of mass. No one showed up to my office hours this week.

Week of 10/30

This was the week after an exam, Tuesday was very slow as nobody came into office hours. Thursday however I had a student come in to ask conceptual questions.
There is an exam very soon (next week), so I do expect that my office hours will get busier in the 2 weeks to come.

Oct 30 - Nov 3

There were a decent number of students this week. On Monday I spent some time helping some students with springs and energy but they weren't from the Broccio section, I found out halfway through they were engineers when they asked me how to integrate. Either way I helped them solve the problems algebraically, but they should probably ask UTAs from their own course on the best method to solve their problem sets since we don't do calc based - I don't want to mislead them.

There were two students on Tuesday that came in for general help on concepts, which didn't take too long. Glad to see more people coming in to ask for help. Expect numbers to ramp up as the next exam approaches

Week of 10/30

Once again I had a very quiet week, with no students coming into my office hours. Our next exam is this Wednesday, so I do not expect that to change soon. Hopefully, I can expect more people as we approach finals, which are just over a month away.

Week of 10/30

On Wednesday, three students came to office hours. One student had never been there before, and it was nice to see a new face this far into the semester. I helped them as they worked through the homework and came across questions. The most notable involved finding the center of mass of two metal bars that have been welded together, and a system where two people were standing on a platform. One was holding a football which he threw to the other, and the students needed to find how the center of mass changed and the velocity of the platform using conservation of momentum.

week of 10/30

there still no one comes to my office hour, I guess my hour just confront with most of the student's schedules! hope they do well on the third test! the material is getting a bit harder and harder to visualize, and comprehend! so good luck! keep up the hard work!

Week of 10/30

This was a pretty typical week. However, the in-class clicker questions are definitely getting more challenging. I had to work them out on paper prior to class to ensure I could answer questions. The same student as usual came to my Wednesday's office hours, and we went over some homework problems together. Overall, I think I was able to successfully help some students out.

Week of 10/30

Things slowed down in office hours this week.  I still had a few students walk in for help, but there were no large groups like last week.  This was probably because they just had a test.  I expect to see more students next week as they struggle through torque problems and their third test gets closer.  I have noticed the students do feel much more comfortable coming to me for help now then they did at the beginning of the year.

Week of 10/30

This week one person came to office hours, we went over ways to study for the exam that is coming up on Monday. I suggested to do many book problems since the exam questions stem from book problems, and so does the homework. Nice to see people are concerned and want to learn new ways to study for the class! See you next week.

Week of 10/30

This week went by pretty fast. The students learned about torque and springs this week and one individual came to my Monday office hours to go over a few topics about torque. Since this class is a flipped class, I was unable to see the way they were taught the topic but I used my lecture notes from when I took the class to better explain these tougher concepts. Friday was the usual where the same group of girls came to get their homework done. Overall, this week was pretty normal and nothing out of the ordinary happened. 

Week of 10/30

Exam next monday... Only 1 person came on friday... to do physics lab work.

Not much else to write. See you next week for probably a very similar update.

Week of 10/30

I had a pretty quiet week in office hours, with only one student coming in. We went over some homework problems and some questions he had about our most recent exam. In lecture, I answered students' questions about concepts and problems we were working on. Overall, it was a quiet week and hopefully next week is busier. Test 3 is coming up soon before break and we'll host a review session for that, so I'm hoping to see more students prior to the exam.

week 10/23

This week's content concerned collisions. Because some collisions "break" the conservation of energy "rule" they just learned, I can see this being confusing. Additionally, based off the students that came to office hours, they are struggling to know what a system is. I believe center of mass discussions will help clear this up. The professor we work for compared and contrasted energy and momentum, which was a good move, because I saw many people equating those when grading homework. In two weeks, they have an exam, so I expect many people in office hours soon.

week 10/16

This week was slow. Students seem to prefer energy to kinematics, however some of them treat energy and force synchronously. Another issue that is common, is that they break energy down into components. Only about 6-10 people came to office hours this week, which surprises me because the class is getting harder. Grading is going fine, most people do well, usually one person per recitation gets a poor score.