Week of 12/3

This week I did not have anyone in office hours which was surprising because it's the week before finals. I went to the lectures and we had our last grading party.

12/3

This was the last week of office hours, and I only had one student show up. He asked me to read through his second exam, and we reviewed all of the problems he missed. Additionally, to prepare for the final, I walked him through several common exam questions. The main focus was on capacitors and magnetic fields, as well as Gauss's Law.

Week of 12/3

No students attended my office hours or review session this week. I had hoped that I would be able to help more students this semester, but I did learn from the few I had the opportunity to interact with.

week of 12/3

This week I had two students come to my office hour on Friday to review material before the final. The one student had been someone I had seen a few times before, and I was impressed by her improvement of conceptual understanding as the end of the semester neared.

Week of Dec 3

This week was surprisingly quiet. No one came to office hours and I only had meetings with 2 of my mentorship students. I helped them develop a study plan, and I think the final will go well for them..

Week of Dec 3

This week, one student visited my office hours. I expected more because the final is next week, but I guess students are busy with other classes. Additionally, several students emailed me with questions. I felt that I was able to help to the best of my ability. 

week of dec 3

This week was my final week of hosting office hours as a physics 1 TA. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Even though there were times where no one would come, I was grateful to have helped the people who did come and know that I helped their understanding of physics concepts.

Week of December 3, 2018

I had people come to my office hours everyday this week, which I expected since their final exam is next Tuesday. Mostly people wanted to review their old exams and correct concepts they did not understand the first time around. Overall, I have enjoyed being a TA for physics 1 and will miss helping students.

Week of 12/3

Unfortunately, no one came to my office hours any of the days this week. I presume it is because everyone has many exams right now and don't have much time for office hours. It was a great learning experience being a Physics UTA and I really enjoyed it.

Rosh Bharthi Week of 12/3

The week went as usual, attending lectures and my office hour. No one came to my office hour, which was surprising since the final exam is next week. Also, my PhySHIP mentees have not contacted me. It has been a quiet last week and an interesting experience being a UTA for the semester.

11/26

This week, only one person came to my office hours. The final is quickly approaching, so I was expecting more students to come to office hours. Regardless, I helped the student begin his homework, which involved integrating to find magnetic fields from a current wire. I walked him through an example problem that was similar to his homework, and he was able to complete the rest on his own.

Week of 12/03

I had three people at office hours this week with homework questions, but no one asking about the final. I've really enjoyed UTA-ing this semester and would love to do it again in the future when I'm not taking as many credits as I will be next semester. To anyone reading this, good luck on finals and enjoy break!

12/6

This is my last week as a UTA for this Physics 0110. I am surprised that there has been a lesser number of people coming in these last few weeks. My last office hours are tomorrow, and I am hoping at least the few people who regularly come in stop by. Overall, I had a great time getting to know students during office hours. It was sometimes a challenge to learn how to express theoretical concepts or thought processes, but overall it was very rewarding.

Hatridge Week 14

I had a total of three students come in this last week of office hours. Most of the material we went over was going over old exam questions, study guides, difficult homework questions, and concepts about waves. I wish all the students luck on their final exam! I enjoyed being a UTA this semester and am happy to have helped my fellow students.

11/26

This week I was not able to go to two of the lectures. I went to lecture on Friday. I held office hours on Thursday but nobody came. My mentees have not contacted me to meet about the final (except one) so I am just going to send them some advice for the final about how to study and words of encouragement.

Week of 11/26

This week I did not have anyone in office hours, however, I was able to help the students with their group work problems in class. This week we covered single slit diffraction and lenses. I hope to have a final review session during finals week to help the students prepare for their final exam, along with office hours!

Joshua Howe 12/3/18

Its the last week of the semester, and thus my last forum post. I did not have anyone come in last week, which really surprised me; maybe everyone just understands waves better than I did. I don't expect to see anyone today, but I probably will on Wednesday and maybe on Friday. I wonder how many I will actually see, though; I'm sure everybody will be doing last minute studying for upcoming finals. The Freshman Engineering program is no joke.

Week of 11/26

Unfortunately, no students came to my office hours this week. I'm hoping that as the final nears more students stop by for help.

Week of 11/26

Nobody came to office hours this week, which isn't a surprise. My lecture is starting to finish up with material and I was able to get space and time to hold a final review session next week. I hope students take advantage of it.

Week of 11/26

This week was pretty quiet. I had one student come in to do homework problems so that she could ask questions as she went. I anticipate more participation next week in preparation for finals.

Rosh Bharthi Week of Nov. 26

This week, I attended lectures and office hours as usual. One person came to my office hour this week to ask for help on homework. He had a good understanding of the problem and setting up the correct integral; he just needed help understanding vectors and the right-hand-rule. I helped him understand how to approach vectors when using the Biot-Savart Law. He seemed to understand the concept afterwards very well.

Week of Nov 26

No visitors in office hours this week. I'm sure next week will be a little busier as everyone starts gearing up for finals.

week of nov 26

No one came to my office hours this week which was surprising with Finals coming up. Next week should be busy as their final is the following week

Week of November 26, 2018

This week I had the same one person come to all of my office hours. We went over the homework due this Saturday and also the previous homework and exam because she is starting to think about preparing for the final. I am hoping more students will attend my office hours in the upcoming weeks because the final is coming up soon.

Week of 11/26

No one came to my office hours this week. I have not had many people come to my office since the 3rd exam probably because everyone is getting busy with their last exams and finals in other classes and our 3rd exam average was really high. Hopefully I get a few more students before their final exam.

11/19

This past week, no one came to my office hours on Tuesday before the holiday break. Also, we only had one class that week, where we continued to discuss magnetic fields. Overall, it was a quiet week.

Week of 11/25

Not many students came in this week. So far, only one student came in looking for clarification on current class topics. Hopefully more people come in tomorrow for guidance with the final or for homework help.

Week of 11/29

This week I had one student stop by my office hours. They have the final coming up soon so I expect more students will stop by next week.

Hatridge Week 13

I had only one student this week, and she was from an algebra-based physics 1 class. Unfortunately, I was unable to answer her questions because they consisted of concepts and equations of fluid dynamics and heat exchange, which I have never covered before. I did not want to give her false information, so I was honest with her and gave her some resources and people she could contact/go to for further help. For next week, I except more students given it is the last week of classes.

Weeks of 11/12 and 11/19

I attended lectures and held office hours as usual. During one of the office hours, someone approached me to help with a Physics I assignment. I guided her through how she solved it and what she was missing from her method; she understood what was wrong. I emailed my PhySHIP mentees if they needed any assistance with anything since finals week will be approaching. I haven't gotten any responses, which may mean they have a good understanding of managing study time and current material in class.

week of 11/19

I did not have any office hours the week of 11/19 due to cancellation of class and Thanksgiving break

week of 11/12

The week before Thanksgiving break the students had an exam, so a couple of students stopped by my Monday office hour to clarify any last minute questions they had before Wednesday's exam. My Thursday and Friday office hours were empty as students recouped post-exam.

11/26/18 Joshua Howe

There naturally was not any visitors last week for the one day I still had office hours. Our class is starting oscillations and will soon get to sound waves. These were the areas of the class I struggled most in, so I am expecting a fair amount of people this week. Probably not as many next week, as people are probably gonna busy studying for early finals.

week of 1/19

No students came to my office hours due to the holiday. I expect it to pick up as we reach the end of the semester and finals.

Hatridge Week 12

Due to the holiday, I had only one office hour this week and no one came, which isn't too shocking. As finals approach I expect more students to see me.

11/12

This week, one student came to my office hours. We reviewed magnetic force and magnetic dipoles so he could start his homework. Otherwise, it was a quiet week, as the students just took their second exam and we are moving in to new material for the final exam.

Week of 11/21

No students came to office hours on Monday, which isn't surprising due to the holiday. I think office hours will be pretty busy for the rest of the semester with the final coming up very quickly.

Week of 11/12

Office hours were very busy this week because one section had an exam. I was glad to be able to help with some of their math and conceptual questions. I showed one student the strategy of working in variables until the equation is in its simplest form to avoid math mistakes.

Week of 11/19

No students came to office hours today, and my office hours for thursday are cancelled due to thanksgiving. There is only the final left, so I'm guessing I will have many students come post thanksgiving to prepare for the last exam.

Joshua Howe 11/19/18

I had the most people come in in one day last week. On Wednesday, I had 15 people come, and I saw 3 more walking to the room when I was leaving. I felt bad that I couldn't answer one on one questions; I just started talking about concepts from the homework on study guide and not so much about troublespots in the calculations. Today, however is a ghost town; they haven't even had class since their 3rd exam, and it is the Monday before Thanksgiving break. I would be surprised to see anyone today.

Week of 11/12

This week, we had an exam on Wednesday. I had 2 students come to my office hours on Tuesday, and they seemed rather confident about the exam after visiting. The in-class exercises on Friday were  challenging for a lot of the students, so I expect many to visit my office hours after Thanksgiving break.

11/12

This week again nobody came to office hours but the class just got their test scores back so I'm sure that there will be more people in the next few office hour sessions because people are going to try and do well on the final. Some of my mentees contacted me about trying to start studying for finals early.

11/5

This week I went to lecture and held office hours. Nobody came to my office hours but I did meet with one of my mentees to review material.

Week of 11/12

This week was a slow week. I met with only one mentee. We again discussed the proper way to use the RHR. The class just got their complete test results back from Exam #2 so I'm sure questions and concerns will be coming my way. I expect the next two weeks between Thanksgiving and finals to be busy for us physics UTAs.

Week of November 12, 2018

This week I had a few people come to my office hours Monday and Wednesday, but no one came on Friday as I expected. They had an exam this week on Wednesday, so I actually expected more people to come than those who did due to the fact that this was their last exam before their final. Also, the last exam is always the hardest.

week of 11/12

This week, I had two students come to my office hours on Monday morning. They stayed the entire time and wanted to go over the concepts for the test. No students came to my office hours on Thursday but this was expected as the students had an exam on Wednesday.

Week of 11/12

This week I surprisingly had only 1 student come to my office hours who needed help on kepler's laws and orbits. I did not get a single student from my class even though we had an exam on wednesday, so I hope they felt pretty confident going into the exam. Now that finals are approaching, hopefully more people will want to get help for their biggest exam grade.

11/5

This past week, no one came to my office hours. Instead, I met outside of class with a student to help them prepare for their exam the next day. We reviewed circuit concepts and the basics of magnetic fields. I made sure to emphasize the right-hand rule, as magnetic fields require many cross products, and direction is very important for the upcoming magnetic field chapters.

Week of 11/15

This week was extremely busy, as the students have their third exam tomorrow. For all three days of my office hours this week there were at least 10 students, which was a bit overwhelming at first, but I was able to dedicate the time to help each of them. When a student had a question on the study guide, typically more than one student was struggling with the same question, so we could all work it out together. As far as what the students were struggling with, it was typically conceptual issues, or not knowing how to begin to solve the problem. Once I gave them a place to start they were typically able to go from there.

Week of 11/15

I had record attendance this week, with eleven on Tuesday and twelve today in preparation for the third exam. We did a lot of work on torque and had a couple of questions on Kepler's laws. A lot of it was practicing drawing lever arms and understanding how to set up torque problems.

Week of 11/11/18

This week I feel that a huge role I have played is keeping morale high looking at the last midterm and afterwards looking towards the final. Because it is late in the semester, I think many students feel that their ability to grow is reaching an end, but I have been trying to work on helping students gain new study techniques to help them stay motivated. Other than that, I helped my regulars with their last minute questions regarding Exam 3 and the upcoming homework assignment.

11/4/18

I have many students who have begun to reach out to me over email instead of coming into office hours now. It may be due to time conflicts or convenience. I have found that communicating concepts and problem explanations over email is far more challenging than anticipated. Moreover, I find it hard to guide students along problems while I write out each step. These types of questions generally proceed an exam, which was the case.

Week of 10/28/18

I apologize for not keeping up.
My office hours that week comprised of students who were looking ahead to the next exam. The few people I have as regulars generally come in for homework help or a more thorough explanation of class work. I had my first student come in during my Tuesday hours.

Hatridge Week 11

I had 2 students come in on Monday to prepare fro Exam 3. We went over some difficult homework questions and the posted practice exams. On Wednesday, I had no students come in which was surprising since it was exam day.

Week of 11/09

I realized I forgot to post this last week, but I had several questions about the homework and exam 2 material. I anticipate a lot of students on Tuesday as we head into exam 3. A lot of questions were about conservation of angular momentum.

week of 11/5

I had quite a few students come to my office during this week. Many students seemed to be confused with the cross product and angular momentum, so we went over problems involving angular momentum with the cross product.

week of 11/5

Students have an exam this week, so last week's office hours consisted of students coming in for clarification questions in anticipation of the exam. Additionally, I had a student come in who "taught me" all of the information that will be on the exam this week. This method of studying seemed to be very beneficial for him, and I am going to start suggesting other students do the same.

Joshua Howe 11/12/18

I forgot about how quick paced this class was. They had their 2nd exam less than 3 weeks ago, but this Friday will be their third; I am pretty sure it is on Rotation and Gravity. I had a few people in today, and I am confident I will get several on Wednesday, and maybe a couple on Friday.

It has been nice to talk with the other UTAs I share the room with throughout this semester. Each Physics Professor teaches it a little bit differently, so it is fun to compare what our struggle areas were, the pace of the classes, ect.

Week of 11/5

I was finally able to help a student during office hours. A lot of students from Broccio's lecture come to office hours. A student asked me to help walk them through several concept checks and I was glad to help, but it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to go through so many problems in such a short amount of time. I think I helped clarify some of the stumbling blocks that are pretty common in simple harmonic motion and rotational kinetics.

Office hours are getting busier with finals approaching, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to help more students feel more confident that they can do well in Physics.

Bharthi Week of 11/5

This week was the same as usual. I attended class and held office hours, with no one coming to office hours. I emailed my PhySHIP mentees and will hopefully hear back from them soon whether they need to meet or not.

Hatridge Week 10

I had only one student this week, with whom I discussed gravitational potential problems with. I expect more next week since there is an Exam on Wednesday.

Week of 11/5

Two people came to office hours this week; They mostly had questions about lecture and the sapling homework. We have a test this upcoming Wednesday, so I expect my Tuesday office hours to be pretty crowded next week.
This week, the concept checks in class were a little more challenging for some people than they normally are. Many people asked questions, and I felt that I was able to assist them without blatantly giving away the answer.

Week of 11/5

This week I did not have anyone in office hours but I was able to help many people in class on Friday. We had group problems dealing mirror and lenses. Many people were confused with the sign convention and I feel like I was able to clear up their confusion as I was talking to the students in class!

Week of November 5, 2018

I had people come to my office hours Monday and Friday. Mostly we worked on torque because they have an exam next Wednesday that covers torque and it is a hard topic to master. One of the students that came asked me questions on what she missed on the previous exam already starting to prepare for the final.

11/05

No one came to my office hours this week. I thought that they would be busy because they have an exam next week but maybe all the students are comfortable with the material.

Week of 11/5

I met with one student in preparation of this week's exam. I helped her figure out the RHR for magnetism. No visitors in office hours, but it was the afternoon after their exam, so I wasn't surprised. Immediately after the exam, I received an email from one of my mentees- he said the exam was rough and he needs a little help. We're going to meet sometime early next week.

Week of 11/6

This week there were less students in for help, as the homework was not as difficult as the previous week. They have the third exam in a little over a week, so I expect that next week will be busier.

10/29

No one came to my office hours this week, but I did meet with a student outside of class. Since the exam was coming up, we reviewed some major topics from the past few weeks. In general, we talked about Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws, reducing circuits, and the basics of magnetic fields. I made sure to review a classic capacitor exam question, to help them out for the test. Other than that, it's been quiet for the past several weeks.

week of 10/29

My office hours were pretty empty this week, except for 1 student that came in on Friday to work on the Sapling homework. In class, the students are learning about rotational kinematics and simple harmonic motion, so I'm hoping that students stop by this week for clarification questions or help with the homework.

Joshua Howe 11/5/18

I just finished up with someone who had a couple questions about rotation. It was nice to have someone asking conceptual questions and not just looking for homework help. I shouldn't complain too much, though; whenever my regulars come in on Wednesday, they never say "Do my homework". They are actively trying to solve the problems, and just want a nudge in the right direction, or to check their logic on something.

week of 10/29

This week nobody came to my office hour. I had to change my time to 10 am instead of 12 pm and I think it is a lot less popular/convenient for people. Because I'm fairly flexible, I might ask Dr Hong to send out some other times that could work for me to see if the students would prefer I change my hours to something more accessible. I was pretty busy with my own classes this week so I couldn't meet with mentees but I am meeting with one tomorrow. The others haven't asked to meet in a while so I'm going to message them tomorrow asking to check in with them soon to make sure they are doing okay.

Week of 10/29

Had a lot of students come in this week for the sapling homework. It was a tough homework, a bunch of the same problems were causing trouble for everyone. There was a big group of students everyday but since most people were struggling with the same problems, we could solve them as a group.

Week of 10/29

Once again, no students came to office hours this week. The latest exam seemed to go well. I am working on review sheets to help students begin practicing for the final exam and putting all the concepts together, since so far all of their test questions have been relatively straightforward applications.

Week of October 29, 2018

This week during office hours I had one person come Monday and Friday, and no one came Wednesday. They do not have an exam for two more weeks, so not many people have began studying yet. The material for this exam is rotational kinematics and torque which is more difficult than previous material, so I expect many people to come to my hours as we get closer to the exam.

Week of 10/29

Today I held a review session for the students because their Physics exam is tomorrow. We were able to accomplish a lot in the session. Topics that we mainly covered were the right-hand rule, magnetism and induction. Many people had confusion over the right- hand rule and how to apply it. We covered many problems on magnetism, such as forces on wries and point charges. Overall I thought that the students were preparing at a good pace for their exam and hopefully all the studying pays off for them tomorrow! :)

Week of 10/29

I have attended the lectures and held my usual office hours. No one has come to my office hours for now. Despite the fact that I am beginning to get busy on my end, I will send out an email soon to my mentees to see if they need assistance in reaching out to resources or need physics help.

Week of 10/29

As we move into rotation and rolling, I've already seen a good number of people with concept questions. I expect to see a lot more as we approach the third midterm, especially people who did not take AP or college physics in high school. This week, I had a small group on Tuesday with questions about torque and moment of inertia, and I expect I will have some questions about rolling and kinetic energy at the beginning of next week.

Week of October 29th

I had 2 students show up to my office Monday to review concepts of rotation and static equilibrium. I was pleasantly surprised as they both just had an exam. On thursday, no one showed up to my office hours.

week of oct 29

This week, no one came to my office hours. I was expecting my thursday office hours to be busy as there is homework due on saturday which involves torque, but maybe next week, they will pick up again.

Week of 10/21

I had one visitor in office hours from a physics 2 student who was not in Dr. Hong's class, I believe it's the algebra based class. He was unsure of a couple conceptual questions, so we went through them, and I helped clear up the RHR for magnetism. I did the same with one of my mentee students. I think she was having trouble understanding magnetism during class, but when she took her time with it, it came to her.

week 10/21

This week I did not get to meet with my mentors but I did have a two students in my office hour asking about the online homework which was on circuits. We reviewed capacitance equations and how capacitors behave in series.

Hatridge Week 9

I had no students this week, probably because the test was last Wednesday and students dob'y feel an urgency to come with questions. The final is approaching however so I expect more in the future.

10/21

This week, one student came to my office hours. She needed help with the homework, so I showed her some examples on circuits. I reviewed how to draw circuits in a top-down schematic, then showed how to simplify capacitors and resistors. We also reviewed some basic capacitor details, such as the charge on a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor.

Week of 10/21

I held my usual office hours as usual and attended lectures for the week. No one came to office hours this week. Things have been very quiet, but as we continue into circuits and introduce magnetism, I suspect there may be some questions on these topics.

Week of 10/21

There were a lot of students in this week as they prepared for their exam on Friday. A lot of them had questions on the study guide and homework questions that they struggled with leading up to the exam. Many students were confused about similar topics, so when one person would ask a question it ended up benefiting the rest of the students as well.

Week of 10/21

The students' second exam was this week, so my office hours later in the week were empty as students recharged. I was anticipating my office hours on Monday (with the exam on Wednesday) to be relatively busy, but no students showed up. Hopefully this week is a bit more productive.

Joshua Howe 10/29/18

My assumption was correct; I saw a few more people on Friday, but have not seen anyone today. My professor has exams from previous years as practice for his students, so it was funny to see people coming in and asking questions about the midterm I myself took just a year prior.

I've been thinking more about the schedules of the students I UTA for, and I think I am surprised I have seen as many people as I have. The Physics class I UTA for is for Freshman Engineering Classes, and there were always classes in the late morning, whether they be Calculus, Chemistry, or Engineering Analysis.

Week of 10/21

I attended 2 lectures this week because we had an exam on Wednesday. Two students visited my office hours on Tuesday to supplement their preparation for the test. I feel that I was able to sufficiently clarify concepts that they had questions about. Less students are asking for assistance during lecture on the concept checks; I think that many of them they become more confident in their abilities since the beginning of the semester.

Week of 10/21

Most of the students who come to office hours come specifically for their TA, and none of the students from my lecture have come to mine all semester. I did have a student ask me the best way to prepare for their lecture's exam. I'm glad I was able to help them, however briefly, reflect on their study habits. My lecture had their second midterm on Wednesday that a lot of students seemed to struggle with, so I will be interested to see the class average. The professor was surprised to hear that I haven't had anyone in office hours. Hopefully this will change as students get an idea of what their overall grades are and anticipate how they need to perform on the final.

Week of 10/22

This week we did a lot of group work/clickers during class and I was able to help many of the students clear up their misconceptions regarding the right-hand rule and magnetic force/field. I will be having office hours earlier this upcoming week to clear any last minute confusions the students have before their exam on Friday! :)

Week of October 22, 2018

I had people come to my office hours everyday this week. They had an exam on Wednesday, so Monday and Wednesday I had people come in asking me questions checking their knowledge on exam concepts. On Friday, I was surprised, but two people came in even though they just had an exam and hadn't spent much time on new material. They came in hoping to get a head start on their homework due next Wednesday.

Week of 10/21

Monday I was flooded with students during office hours. This is most likely due to every physics 1 student having an exam on either tuesday or wednesday. I helped them with momentum problems and understanding how friction works with the classic 2 block with friction problem. Thursday no one came, unsurprisingly, as exam took their exam by then. I hope to continue getting a high number of students to come to office hours.

week of 10/21

This week was pretty slow in office hours. No one came to my Thursday office hours but this was due to the fact that the students had an exam on Wednesday. I expect it to pick back up as we move into the third unit and discuss torque.

Week of 10/21

I had a lot of people this week for the second round of midterms. A lot of students are confused about when conservation of energy is and is not useful, so we worked on coming up with strategies to sort out difficult problems that involve collisions or work formulas.

Week of 10/21/18

This week was slower than expected despite there being a test on Wednesday. Most people who came in seemed primarily concerned about being well prepared for their exam.

Hatridge Week 8

This week I mainly helped students prepare for the exam by going over homework questions and the study guide Hatridge provided. Students seem to be getting firm grasp on energy and momentum. I expect more students with the rotational subjects we're getting into now. I am also thinking about moving my office hours to Friday afternoon since the early hours of the morning may keep students away. I'll update this decision at a later time.

Week of 10/22

I met with one of my mentee students this week. After working with her, she's starting to grasp Kirchhoff's rules a bit better. I encouraged her to practice from the book and to practice redrawing any circuit diagrams she can find in a better way. My only visitor during office hours this week was a Physics 1 student, but I was happy to help her, especially since no Physics 2 students came around. We worked on how to best decompose a big test question and solving problems using energy.

Joshua Howe 10/24/18

Just in my last two sessions of office hours, I have had 7 people come in. Their questions have ranged from involving Homework, Studying for the Exam, and doing Practice Problems from the book. Its pretty much what I expected; things have gotten busier closer to the second exam. I expect to see a few more people on Friday, but expect next week to be a ghost town.

10/15

This week, no came to my office hours. It's been a slow past two weeks, as we just had the first exam back then. However, the next exam is in a few weeks, so I should see more people coming to my office hours. Outside of office hours, I met with one of my mentees, and we discussed how to simplify circuits and draw circuits in a top-down view.

Week of 10/15

I did not have office hours this week because of the long weekend. However, I held an extra session on Friday for people who can't make it to normal hours. Three people showed up and I feel that I was able to help them prepare for their upcoming exam. I expect many students to show up to my office hours this Tuesday because the exam is on Friday.

Week of 10/15

My office hours later in the week were relatively busy, as students were preparing for their exam this week on 10/24. Students are beginning to see multiple concepts intertwined in certain problems (kinematics, vector components, and Newton's laws), and seeing them apply each concept correctly in order to solve the problem is great. I expect my office hour today to be quite busy, with the exam date nearing.

Hatridge Week 7

I was sick on Monday so I had to miss my office hours. However, I arranged with Dr. Hatridge to make them up on Friday. I had two students come in on Wednesday morning and one student come in on Friday afternoon. Next week, I expect more students given there is a test on Wenesday.

Week of 10/15

I had a few people come in on Thursday with questions about a particularly tricky problem on their homework, which took me and another UTA to solve. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful week.

Week of 10/8 and 10/15

Not many people have been coming to office hours. I know that people have been struggling with Chapter 22 (concept: right-hand rule) in my class so I hope to see people coming in to clarify any misconceptions they have. :)

Week of 10/15

Nobody attended my office hours this week, which is not surprising due to Fall Break throwing off everybody's schedule. I expect that there will be some visitors next week due to the next midterm being on Wednesday.

Week of 10/15

This week office hours were dead quiet, which was surprising because we just started the Circuits portion of the class. However, I had 2 great meetings with my mentees. The first student said they did "Surprisingly well" on the exam, and she didn't have any questions just yet. They seem to be very comfortable with the material. The second student was having some minor challenges, but they absolutely knows what they are doing. The only issues are getting used to conventions and the calculus associated with the problems. Otherwise, the know and understand the material.

Week of October 15, 2018

I had one person come to my office hours each day. The questions were mostly based on the homework and problems we did in lecture this week that they didn't understand. I expect more people to come next week on Monday and Wednesday because they have an exam Wednesday.

week of 10/15

i had one student come to my office hours and she was confused about the math behind the physics problems. I worked through systems of equations with her to make sure she understood the algebra for the upcoming exam

Week of 10/15

Because of Fall Break, I was not able to have my usual office hours for this week. I met with one of my PhySHIP mentees last week to go over doubts she had on homework. I anticipate meeting with my mentees in the following week to go over how their first midterm exam went and what resources they are using to get any help they need.

Week of 10/15

I had many students come to my office hours this week, and I even got 3 students from Hatridge's class! It seemed students had trouble understanding what non-conservative forces are and what energy is, but by the end they were doing much better. I hope they do well on their exam next week!

Week of 10/18

This week, a handful of students showed up to office hours. Most of them were struggling with energy conservation problems on the Sapling homework.

Week of 10/8

This week, only a few students showed up to office hours. I helped them work through some sapling problems they were struggling with, particularly problems involving work.

week of 10/8

This week I only had one student in my office hours. I helped them interpret circuits. Most people aren't having trouble with this new unit because it is pretty simple at first.

Joshua Howe 10/16

Last week was completely vacant for me. One of the TAs I share the room with had a few students come in for her on Friday, but mine were completely empty. This surprises me, as in my opinion, this is when the course material starts to get a little tricky, as we are talking about Potential Energy and Conservation of Mechanical Energy. I believe their 2nd exam is on about 2 weeks, so maybe I will have more visitors.

week of 10/8

This past week, my office hours were relatively empty. On Friday, a couple of students came in for help on a specific Sapling question that required some complex thinking. The second exam is less than a week away, so I'm hoping that this week my office hours are more busy as students prepare for the upcoming assessment.

10/8

Our class took its first exam last week, so naturally, my office hours were quiet this week. And luckily for the students, the class material will become less calculus heavy for the remainder of the semester. It can be difficult applying and visualizing integrals in physics problems, although these topics will reappear on the final. Regardless, as we begin exam 2 material, I expect to see some students struggle with circuits in the upcoming weeks. Basic circuit analysis can be difficult at first, but it just requires some practice to get comfortable with it.

week of 10/08

I had a lot of kids coming to my office hours on thursday regarding help on the gravitron problem for homework. It was nice because I was not simply telling them how to do the problem but all the students were working together to come up with the solution

Week of 10/8

This week, no one came to my office hours. The concept checks in class seemed more difficult for the students this week, so I expect office hours to become more busy in the upcoming days.

Week of 10/8

No students attended my weekly office hours on Monday. My section of Physics I doesn't have homework that gets turned in, so I don't think they have much impetus to come. We started energy this week which I always liked, but the math can sometimes be complicated so maybe some students will come this week.

Week of Oct 8

My only visitor in office hours was a physics 1 student, but I was able to help her understand how energy and work relate. I did not visit with any of my mentees this week, but we just got started with circuits. I expect many visits and questions next week.

Week of October 8, 2018

This week, I did not have anyone come to my office hours Monday, I had one person come Wednesday, and multiple people came Friday. I have been finding that many more people come Friday than the other days because the homework is due Saturday night, so most people try the problems throughout the week and come get help Friday on things they do not understand. The other TA's and I have been collaborating more than we have previously in the course which I find helpful to see their different points of view on problems. We are now starting to learn about energy and circular motion. They have an exam coming up in a week and a half, so I expect more people to come in the upcoming weeks.

Week of October 8th

I had a couple of students come in Monday for help with conceptual questions with non-conservative work and the work-energy theorem. I have been getting many students from algebra-based physics classes lately, but I have only ever had one student from my class go to office hours. I hope that everyone in Hatridge's class then feels comfortable with the content for the test, and if they have any problems I would love to help.

Week of 10/08

I had one of my regular students come in on Tuesday for some conceptual questions and two new students come in today for homework help and exam questions. The two today seemed pretty comfortable with the concepts from this week and were mostly looking for help with some of the trickier math. Altogether, it was a pretty quiet week.

This week many students received back their exams, so much of my office hours was spent going through those questions. Additionally, I advised students on how to improve their grades for future exams with better study habits and priorities.

Week of 10/1

Last week, I helped students during my office hours on their Sapling homework. The homework focused on an introduction to Newton's laws and free-body diagrams. One of the best way for students to grasp these concepts is through practice, so I worked on a few examples with the students. It's especially important for them to understand Newton's laws, because they are such a crucial part of the introductory physics courses.

Hatridge Week 5

I had one student come in on Monday and ask me homework questions, and non on Wednesday. i'm surprised by the amount of students from other classes who attend my office hours, and the lack of students from my own lectures.

Material we started in class in Energy, Drag, and Work.

Joshua Howe 10/8

I don't really have much to say about last week. I did not have anyone come in on Monday or Friday, but did have several on Wednesday. Thats the day their homework is due, so I guess it makes sense.

Wednesday was also the first day since classes started the other UTAs and I were able to have a group meeting with our Instructor. It was nice to finally do that.

10/1

Our class had its first exam this week, and surprisingly no one came to my office hours. However, I did meet with students outside of class, and we reviewed some major topics that could have appeared on the exam. I could tell they started preparing for the exam--which is a great--but they had trouble understanding several topics. So I reviewed integrating electric fields and Gauss's Law, then I reviewed electric potential from those two topics. When they left, I stressed to them that they should look at their book. The example problems are very helpful, and somehow many students don't take advantage of looking at them.

Week of 10/1

Office hours were very quiet this week as no one came. In our lecture, we continued with forces, including centripetal forces, and we are moving toward starting energy. This material was some of the first material I struggled with in Physics I, and I think my class has gotten their exams back, so I'm expecting there will be an uptick in visitors on Monday.

Week of October 1

No one came to my office hours this week. In class we had several clicker questions, but no one asked for assistance. I think this is because we are starting a new unit, and normally, new material is introduced in an approachable/basic way. Once students start to work on the next set of Sapling problems, I will expect more visitors during office hours.

Week of 10/1

This week I did not have anyone come to office hours. However, I was able to help many people in Friday's lecture with solving electric fields, potential and circuits problems. I hope to see more students in the upcoming weeks as we approach the second exam!

Rosh Bharthi Week of 10/1

This week's office hour, I helped a student go over material that was important for the first midterm. Based on our discussion, he seemed to understand the concepts, but he was unsure of his steps. I encouraged him by saying he had the right thinking, and if he was wrong, I would politely point out his mistake and make sure he understands the correct method. I anticipate following up with my PhySHIP mentees next week to discuss how the first midterm went and how to learn from the experience going forward with the class.

Week of October 1, 2018

I had one person come to office hours on Wednesday towards the end because she needed guidance on a problem we did in class on Monday. On Friday, I had quite a few people come in needing help on the sapling homework. Since we started a new unit this week, students were struggling to grasp the new concepts after the exam they had last week. More students seem to be coming earlier in the units now because they want to be better prepared for the next exam.

week of 10/1

I did not have any students come to my office hours this week but I am guessing that this is due to the midterm being last week. I expect office hours to pick up as we delve deeper into the second unit.

Week of 10/1

This week I met with three of my mentorship students the day before their exam. We spent time answering any last minute conceptual questions. I really think they gained confidence and felt prepared for the exam.

No visitors in office hours this week, but it was later in the day of the exam.

Week of 10/01

I had a much quieter week this week after the exam. Two of my “regulars” showed up on Tuesday to go over homework problems. Today, I had no one. I’m interested to see which problems come up with energy.

Week of 10/01

I had two students come to me during my office hours. One student was from physics 0110 and I explained to them how to rotate the coordinate axis on an inclined plane and how to account for friction. The other student was from Physics 0174 and I helped them better understand kinematics and energy with only using variables. I hope to continue to get more students to come now that everyone took their first exam.

Week of 10/1

This week I had no students in my office hours because they had a test on Wednesday. I met with two students earlier in the week to prepare for the test. We went over the basic derivations for electric field and potential from spheres, cylinders, and lines.

Week of 10/1

Because the students had their exam on Friday, less students showed up this week. There was still a decent turnout on Tuesday and Wednesday for help on the sapling homework. Many of the students struggled with the same questions, so we were able to work through it as a group effort.

Week of 10/1

This week was a bit slower due to a midterm last week. Nonetheless there were a couple students who came in looking for assistance on material covered prior to the exam not covered. These students were looking ahead.

Week of 9/24

This week I helped prep my mentees for their test. We reviewed integrating over lines of charge and conceptual potential problems. In office hours, a few people came in to ask questions from the last unit (electric fields) to review for their test.

Week of 9/24

The students had their first exam this week, so office hours leading up to the exam date were busy with last minute understanding and homework help. I tried to breakdown the most important concepts to be covered on the exam in order for students to better grasp them. Lectures this week were not very group-work oriented, but I know that this week will be, so I'm anticipating working with students in lecture this week as well as during office hours.

10/1 Joshua Howe

I only had one person come in the morning of their first exam, which was something that really surprised me. Its been kinda funny how a lot of the Homework problems students are asking for help on are the same ones I struggled with when I took the class. They have been easier to solve thanks to my experiences with the rest of the class, so I have been able to help them.

9/24

This week, I had one person show up to my office hours. She asked two questions about the written homework, and I was able to clarify some details of the problem for her. Outside of office hours, I met with two of my mentees, one of which for the first time this semester. I made sure to remind them that their first exam is this week, and I sent them all an email with hints and tips on what to study. This week, I'll meet with all three of them, and I'll try my best to prepare them for their first exam.

Week of 9/24

Office hours this week were pretty crazy. Many students seemed to have the same question, but myself and another UTA weren't able to figure it out. This week was the first exam and I am very interested to see how it went for my lecture and to see if that increases the number of students attending office hours.

Rosh Bharthi Week of 9/24

This week, I helped two people in my office hour who needed help on the homework. I met with two of my PhySHIP mentees to go over how to study and provided some help on concepts they wanted cleared up. This weekend, I will email my third mentee what information I went over with the other two so that he can better study and be prepared for next week's first exam.

Week of 9/24

This week, I had one office hour visitor. I helped him through questions he had on previous homework he had trouble understanding and cleared up new concepts we learned in class. He seemed to understand much better by the time he left. I also met with 3 out of my 4 mentees - they are all trying very had studying and preparing for their exam next week. I recommended going over previous homework assignments as well as looking to the book for  a few extra practice problems.

Week of 9-24-18

This week the students had an exam on Wednesday, so I had quite a few people stop by Monday and Wednesday right before the exam. I did not have any come on Friday because they haven't learned any new content yet. A lot of the students ended up asking me to check the validity of their formula sheets to make sure they followed the guidelines and understood what the formulas meant. I seem to be getting the same few people who come to my office hours which makes me feel good because I feel like I am helping them enough that they want to come back for more support. 

Week of 9/24

The students have their first exam on Friday, which resulted in a big turnout during all three days of my office hours this week. On Tuesday I had six students come in for help preparing for the test.

Many of the students came in with questions about how to prepare for the exam. I was glad that I was able to help alleviate some of their stress regarding the exam by sharing some study tips and test taking skills that have worked well for me in the past.

The students also had a lot of questions on the study guide and homework problems they were given, particularly problems regarding force and tension. Many of them had conceptual misunderstandings regarding tension that I was able to clear up.

Week of 9/24

Surprisingly, no one showed up this week even though we had an exam on wednesday. Hopefully everyone did well on the exam and I hope to see more students

Week of 9/24

I had eight people in my office hours on Tuesday for both 0110 and 0174. The biggest problem in the 0174 crowd seemed to be the force on three boxes problem that we did in lecture this week. I also had one person today with a couple of conceptual questions before the first midterm. The biggest problem overall seems to be finding a good systematic approach to kinematics problems, although another common issue I am running into is a lack of understanding of vector addition and subtraction, which has caused issues with more complicated kinematics problems as we have moved deeper into the semester.

week of 9/24

We had our first exam this week. My office hours are on Tuesday, and the test was on Wednesday. 4 students came to my office hours in order to prepare for the test. The extra practice problems on Sapling seemed to be more challenging than the regular homework questions as all four of the students asked questions about these problems. However, the problems were very helpful, as they ensured that students had an opportunity to exercise problem solving skills and their understanding of concepts. Most students had a great grasp on mathematical concepts and just needed clarification of physics concepts as they pertain to projectile motion.

week of 9/24

I had no students come to my office hours this week but I received a lot of emails with questions regarding study tips for the exams. I was glad I was able to help alleviate some stress for the students as I was in the same position last year.

Week 5

This week the students had their first exam. Because of this, there were many students came in to my office hours. I was glad to be able to assist students with the same worries I had going into my first exam.

Hatridge Week 4

On Monday, I had a student from a different class come in and ask a few questions about a friction pulley and some multiple choice concepts. On Wednesday, I had another two students come in from Nero's class and assisted them in understanding core concepts in homework problems and gave them advice about test-taking. Later on Wednesday, I and the other 0174 UTA are assisted Dr. Hatridge in passing out exams to the class.

So far, I have seen the trend that the students who have visited me feel confident in kinematics and forces. However, the axes directions, negative/positive signs, and incline problems seem to confuse them the most.   

Week of 9/17

This week I met with the remainder of my mentoring partners.  I also attended lectures for the classes and brushed up on my Gauss' Law. I had a lot of students again at office hours and got a few opportunities to practice some of the teaching skills I learned at the UTA workshop.

Week of 9/17

Office hours were pretty busy this week as students prepared for their first exam. Most requested help on grasping the main concepts of one- and two-dimensional kinematics, as well as help on specific Sapling problems. I've started to notice that some of the same students return to my office hours, which is beneficial as the more I know about their learning style/understanding, the better I can personalize my advice.

Week of 9/17

No students showed up to my office hours this week. This is a bit surprising since there is an exam coming up this Wednesday. Hopefully they come to my Monday office hours for exam review.

Week of 9-17

This week I held office hours, but nobody came. In class we are working on kinematics. The first exam of the semester will be on Wednesday. There aren't any in-class participation points or assigned homework problems that have helped me gauge where students are in understanding the material. I am hoping students will stop by in office hours this week or email me if they need anything before the exam.

Week of 9/24

My office hours started ramping up in terms of attendance last week. Most of the time, students just wanted to work on Homework problems, but there were a few who had conceptual questions and one who had brought in some book problems.

I very seldom have anyone come in during Monday office hours. This Friday will be the first Exam of the class, so I am expecting to see a lot of activity on Wednesday and especially on Friday.

Week of 9/17
I attended three lectures this week. We had several interactive lectures this week in preparation for an upcoming exam. I expected to have people attend my office hours this week because the exam is on September 26, but no one from the section I UTA for visited. However, I was able to assist a student from the 0174 section of Physics 1 with a few homework problems.

9/17

This week, we continued Gauss's Law and went through various examples in class. Although no one came to my office hours, I met with two students outside of class. My main focus for the meetings was to cover the integration of electric fields for various types of line charges (linear, arc, and ring). The students said they found it helpful, and that the most difficult part for them was setting up the pictures. Afterwards, they were able to implement the picture into an electric field equation pretty easily.

Also, next Wednesday is their first exam, so I'm planning to meet with the students 1-2 more times before then to make sure they are ready.

Week of 09/17

This week I had one student come to office hours. I was able to help them gain a better sense of what the exam will cover. We also went over a few electric field and flux problems so they could get a better sense of how to approach them. I was also able to help students in class with their clickers, which focused mainly on electric field and flux. Overall I believe it was a good week and I hope the students are preparing for their exam that is next Friday!

week of 9/17

I had students come to each of my office hours this week. Some of them had questions about the Sapling homework while others had questions about the test format and what they should focus on when studying. I was able to tell them about my experience in the class and what I did to study for the test. One student in particular had trouble with how to approach word problems so I was able to do some word problems with her and break them down into smaller steps.

Week of 9-17-18

This week, I had people come to all of my office hours. I feel like since we are getting more into the harder content of physics like freefall and using the kinematics equations, people have more concerns. Also, there is an exam next Wednesday, so I had a lot of questions about the best ways to study and I shared how I got the most out of the class. Generally when students come to my office hours, they come needing help in Sapling homework and it is usually the same questions across all my hours. The students that came this week made it known how much my office hours helped them understand concepts and it truly made me feel appreciated and honored to have been given this position. 

Week of 9/17

Office hour this week was uneventful. However I had two incredibly productive meetings with one of my mentees: as I further explained the E-field in relation to an insulator's charge density, I could literally see her come to understand the material. It was an extremely gratifying experience. With another of my mentees, I am a bit frustrated - he seems very tired and almost resistant to the material. I will keep trying my best to get him excited about physics.

Week of 9/17 - Rosh Bharthi

This week, I met with two Physics II students in office hours and 2 of my mentees. I scheduled to meet my third mentee on Friday. For the people I met, they all had difficulties with applying Gauss's law. I explained the conceptual basics of Gauss's law to all of them. For the 2 mentees, they immediately began to understand it after the explanation and were able to do the homework problems on their own; this was beyond my expectations to see them grasp the concept so quickly. I anticipate in the future that I will have to explain topics in a simple, conceptual way so that the students can understand and use those concepts to take on more difficult problems. Students tend to get overwhelmed by complex derivation problems, so I will have to help them not over-complicate the problems and simplify the questions as much as possible.

Week of 9/17

During my office hours on Wednesday, I had the biggest turnout of students coming for help. There were four people there, which was overwhelming at first, because they all had different questions, and I was used to only having one or maybe two students at a time. I wanted to make sure that they all got something valuable out of the time. Having a group there actually proved to be a good thing,  because the students were able to work together and help each other out, along with receiving guidance from me. I think that having them work together in a group to answer each other's questions really helped them to learn. I find that explaining the material to others actually helps me to understand it even better and begin to better grasp difficult concepts.

Week of 09/17

I had one person come to office hours on Tuesday. We worked on some conceptual problems and some homework problems. I was also able to help another student remotely. Overall, it was a very good week! I felt good to be able to help out with some of the more difficult kinematics problems and with a common conceptual difficulty regarding Newton's 3rd Law.

Week 9/17

Students first exam is next Wednesday, so there have been many more students in UTA office hours than normal. I have been helping students come up with study plans and figuring out how to best utilize their resources in order to prepare for the coming exam. I assume that my office hours next Monday and Tuesday will be exceedingly busy as well.

week 9/10

This week people who started to utilize TA hours for homework help. One girl came in for clarification on material. It seemed interested that people often had the exact same questions and concerns I had while taking the class. People in class seem more comfortable asking for help on class questions as well.

Week of 9/10

I have had a handful of students come to my office hours this week. Many of them had questions about problems on the sapling homework. I started out by asking them what they did to solve the problem (i.e. what steps they took). Then I asked what information the problem gave them. I had them break down the problems, and as they were explaining to me what their thought process was and analyzing their work, with guidance from me this was often enough to get them to realize what their mistake was, or help them to understand a concept that they were struggling with. I felt that this way of learning was beneficial to me when I took the class because it forces you to think about the problem and actively participate in solving it, rather than simply being given the answer.

Blog post week of 09/10/18

I forgot to make a post last week, but during office hours on Tuesday I helped two girls with a couple of Sapling problems. We focused on breaking down problems into their component parts and creating a plan to approach each component. I did not have my office hour on Thursday as it conflicted with the UTA training session, which was a great resource.

9/17 Howe

Today, while walking to my first Office Hours of the week, I realized I never wrote a blog post for last week. Oops.

Last Week, no one came on Monday, likely due to the rain, but I had several people in on Wednesday and Friday. They mostly wanted to review Homework problems they got incorrect or were shaky on.

I thought the information session we had Thursday from 3-5 was quite interesting. I was a little overwhelmed at first however; I figured we just had the room til 5 and would be done sooner. That was not the case, but that wasn't a bad thing; we covered a lot of interesting facets of this position.

Hatridge Week 3

Once again, no students attended office hours. I presume the early hours of a Monday morning cause students to not want to come in. It's understandable, but I do hope to see some new faces as material increases in difficulty.

9/10

This week, I had one student show up during my office hours. He had one question on the online homework, and another for the written homework. He mostly solved the online homework -- he just needed to change a sign from negative to positive. For the written homework, I helped him get started on it. I reviewed with him what Dr. Hong taught in class, since integrating to find electric fields can be difficult at first. For most students, it's the first time they're applying integrals to solve problems, so it will take several attempts until they feel comfortable with integration problems. I expect to see a lot more students ask for help within the next few weeks, as the course gets harder and the exam is approaching.

Week of 9/10

This week I held my first office hours, attended two lectures, and attended the UTA work shop. No students attended office hours while I was there, but I think they will start to pick up now that we have started kinematics and the material is less straightforward.
Lectures are very straight-forward. There are no participation points or anything, so I'm hopeful students will attend office hours to try and engage with the material a bit more.
I am hopeful I'll have some attendance tomorrow morning in office hours because I am looking forward to being able to use what I know to help other students.

WEEK OF 9/10

This week I had my second office hour which several students came too and I helped them on the online homework. Most of their questions were on wording or format but some students were clearly more lost than others. I compiled a list of things that people seemed to trip up on to send to Dr Hong. We also had our first group grading meeting on Wednesday which was really productive as well as the UTA training on Thursday where I learned a lot about teaching styles.

Week of 9-10

This week in office hours, I only had one person come on Friday to ask me questions on the sapling homework for the whole week. The person who came was the same person who came to my office hours last Friday which was exciting for me knowing that she felt safe and I helped her enough that she wanted to come back to me for help. The questions were on the kinematics equations in one dimension.

I attended three lectures this week. On Monday there was a somewhat traditional "sit and listen" type of lecture. On Wednesday and Friday, class was more interactive, as students were required to answer a set of clicker problems and collaboration was strongly encouraged. I feel that I was able to assist students who had questions about the problems without plainly giving away the answers.

I did not have any visitors during my office hours, but I expect some in the future  because the material is getting more challenging.

Additionally, I feel that the mandatory science UTA seminar on Thursday was especially helpful because I have never been a UTA before. I am glad that I attended.

9/10

I did not get anyone for office hours but was able to clear up many misconceptions while the students were doing group problems in class. This week we covered electricity and I feel like the students are grasping the concepts pretty well.

Week of 9/10

This week, I had two students come to my office hours for help with the Sapling homework. Both were struggling with interpreting velocity vs. time and position vs. time graphs, in addition to seeking help for a challenging one-dimensional kinematics question. By walking through the problems with the students and giving them advice on how to solve them, I feel as though I was able to help them better understand the material. Additionally, this was the first week of graded clicker questions during lecture. I was able to help students approach specific problems as I walked around the room during lecture. I'm hoping that as lectures become more problem-solving focused, more students will seek out my office hours for additional help, if needed.

Week of 9/10 - Rosh Bharthi

For this week, one student came to my office hours to ask questions about the homework. I helped clarify some points and made sure he understood the process for solving the problem. I met with my PhySHIP mentees. The meetings allowed me to learn a bit about each student's situation regarding why they might need extra help, and I got to learn more about what their concerns were. In the future, I anticipate helping them by tailoring my teaching style towards their learning styles.

Week of 09/10

This week I had one student come to my office hours. She was having a bit of trouble understanding a kinematics problems so I helped her derive the kinematics equations and understand how to approach each of the problems. I think by the end she finally understand how to solve almost any kinematics problem by using physics concepts.

Hatridge Week 2

9/12/2018 - Wednesday 8:00-10:00am

No students attended my office hours. In lecture, we covered topics such as dimensions, force vectors, kinetic equations, and position/velocity/acceleration vs time graphs.

Week of 9/10

During my office hour, no students from Physics 2 came, but I did help two students in Physics 1 with basic kinematics problems. Outside my office hour, I met with each of my PhySHIP mentees. These meetings went very well: I helped to clarify the concept of electric fields, as well as provide problem-solving and time management strategies.

week 2 of office hours

This week i encountered two students in my thursday office hours. One of the students was in a different lecture than the one I am assigned to. It was a little difficult at first to help her as I was not sure what her teacher had covered thus far. Additionally, she had a different sapling homework assignment than the one that had been assigned to the students in Dr. Broccio's class. However, I was able to help her understand and navigate the homework problems.

PHYS 0175: 9/3

This week, I held office hours for the first time and already got to meet one student. In fact, she was in the room before I even sat down. I was surprised to see someone during the first week, considering previous blog posts describe very little to no students showing up. Regardless, her questions were with the written homework, and dealt with concepts that Dr. Hong planned on going over during the next lecture. For the other homework problems, I helped her fix any errors with vector notation and her confusion about the unit vector.

Outside of office hours, I haven't met with any of my mentees in person, and only one has contacted me through email so far.

Week of 9/3

I attended two lectures this week, as there were no classes on Monday. My office hours were on Tuesday, and I had no visitors. It is more likely that students will attend in the upcoming weeks because the UTA office hours schedule has now been posted on course web.

Week of 9/3

We only had one lecture this week, and I didn't hold office hours since there were no classes on Monday. Tomorrow will be my first office hours. I know the material pretty well and the lectures are a good review. I expect office hours to be a bit slow but start to pick up in the next week or so.
I made a review sheet and solutions last week for Courseweb and I'm hoping students found it instructive.

PHYS 175 Week #1

This week I held office hours where I met with three students. All of them needed help with the online homework. I was able to help all of them-- most of their issues were small algebraic errors. Since it is early on in the course, the concepts aren't too tricky for most people yet. I also met with my mentor partners and that was very beneficial! We talked about their college career so far, what their strategy is, and how they plan to stay on top of things. I shared my personal experiences taking the course and what had worked for me.  I am excited to keep meeting with them, I think that my presence in the course will help them hold themselves accountable for their work ethic. They seemed to be very self motivated students who really wanted to succeed.

PHYS 0110 Week 1

This week was my first week holding office hours for the fall 2018 semester. Though no students stopped by my office hours, I'm hoping that, as the material gets more complex and students finalize their schedules for the semester, my office hours will become busier. This week I was also able to help students with in-class exercises, and I'm looking forward to continuing this task during many more classes to come.

This week as a TA I held tutoring hours for the first time. This was exciting for me as it felt like my first opportunity to directly impact students education. In class, I have also been able to help out during class problems more and more frequently.

Week of 9/3

For my office hours this week, I had two students come on Friday, September 7 at 11 am. No one came to my hours on Wednesday because they were not informed of our available hours yet. Both the students that came to my hours had the same question about a Sapling homework problem. The problem was dealing with three vectors, A, B, and C that added to equal zero, and they needed to find the magnitude of A and B knowing C and the angle of A and B from the x axis. The problem the students seemed to be having was solving for one of the variables in one equation and plugging it into the other. They seemed to have no problem setting up some type of equation with the correct signs for the vectors; they were just unsure of how to continue from there. A concern they had was that the video modules were simple problems and they were never introduced to something with three vectors, so they found it challenging. With some guidance, they were able to go through the algebra and plug in the correct values to solve. Also, one of the students was slightly confused with dimensional analysis and the difference between adding and subtracting, and multiplying and dividing. With time and actual word problems with units in them, I think she will find it easier to compare units and solve for the correct value.

Week of 9/03

Nobody stopped by during my office hours this week. That’s expected as the material is still not conceptually difficult yet. I bet more students will come as we get closer to the first exam.

Week of 9/3

I had my first office hour this past Tuesday. One student attended, and I helped him on vectors and a dot product problem. He had a question about a stability problem, where I explained the overall basics. He also asked questions about the class in general and how it's structured, which I was able to explain to him.

Week of 09/03

I had office hours on both Tuesday and Thursday this week and did not receive any visitors. We have still only had two lectures, though, so hopefully things will pick up as the material becomes more challenging. I'm excited to help!

week of 9/3

Today (Thursday 9/6) was my first time holding office hours for Physics 0110. No students came but this is expected as the material has just started and will eventually get harder. I'm excited to help as many people as I can this semester.

Week of 9/3

No students in office hour this week, however the class material has not become exceedingly difficult...yet. I'm sure students will seek help when the course picks up in pace.

Week of 9/5/18

This week is the first week of office hours. I have held two sessions so far this week; no students have shown up for help yet, but i expect that will change as the content in the course gets more difficult and they begin getting more homework assignments. I am excited to have the opportunity to help students succeed in this course.

9/5 Nero 174

This is my first time writing in any sort of blog post, both for this class and in general, so bare with me.

I am about fifteen minutes into my first hour of Office Hours, it being 10:17 on Wednesday. Monday would have been my first day, but this was not the case due to Labor Day.

There has not been any activity yet, but it is also only the second week of classes, so I expect attendance to ramp up as the work gets harder.

I'm excited to be able to help others in a subject I like, but am nervous to see how much I remember off the top of my head. I planned to bring my Notes from this class along with me for reference on how I worked through these problems, but I forgot to bring it to office hours. Hopefully I will have it for Friday, but I doubt I will need it for the first several weeks.

Hatridge Week 1 (Wednesday)

No students came into the office today, but I expect more to come in as homeworks start to roll in more and the material gets more difficult.

First Week of PHYS0174

This week, I attended the first two lectures for the section of PHYS0174 to which I have been assigned. There was some confusion because the professor did not have access to Courseweb or to his Pitt email until late this week.
The teaching style I observed is very different from the teaching style of the professor I had when I took the course, so I am excited to be able to use that experience as a way to help students throughout the semester who may need a different viewpoint on the material.
I created a worksheet and solutions reviewing what was covered in Week 1 to be posted on Courseweb as I will not have office hours this coming week due to Labor Day.

Last week and finals week

Surprisingly nobody came in for office hours the last week for them. So nothing to report. For finals proctoring everything went well. The exam seemed pretty easy, all multiple choice and a cheat sheet. Just answering clarification questions. I was trusted to go get scantrons which was pretty cool. Nothing else to say now except. Now my watch has ended.

Week of 4/16/18

This final week of lectures covered material such as refraction, interfering waves, Young's Two-Slit Interference, and diffraction.  I also had 22 students visit my office hours during the week to review in-class clicker questions, homework, and more conceptual topics.  I will also be holding last-minute office hours during finals week to give students the chance to review material and prepare for their final.

Overall, I really enjoyed being a Physics 0175 UTA this past semester and will definitely take up this opportunity again in the future, given that my schedule lends the time for it.  My advice for prospective Physics 0175 UTA's, which may seem obvious, is to really keep up with and stay engaged during your class's lectures.  Sometimes lectures may seem slow since, as a UTA, you have already learned and become competent in the subject; however, it is important to put yourself in the students' shoes to understand the difficulties that they may have in grasping the subject.  The more engaged you stay in class, the easier it will be to understand the confusions that students have.

In terms of office hours, I found that it is best to structure them openly to allow for questions and discussion as opposed to having a scheduled review each session since students will always have different questions about different material.  I also found that students really benefited from the weekly review sheets I would type up after lectures since the reviews would outline the important information and include easy-to-understand explanations for things such as derivations.

Being a Physics 0175 UTA this past semester was a really unique and rewarding experience, and I would gladly take on such a position again, given the opportunity.

Week of 4/16/18

I did not have any students come during my office hours this week. I hope anyone who had questions about the material on the final was able to get help. I enjoyed being an UTA this semester. It was great being able to help other students with material they found difficult and try to explain in terms of how I understand it. Unfortunately I will not be able to be an UTA for physics since I am graduating this semester but I would have signed up for it again if I could.

4/23

So last week of office hours I did not see anyone, however, I was able to help some students outside of office hours. Overall I found this experience to be unique and I found that I helped more students in class rather than in my office hours. I hope to continue to UTA in the future and help students as much as I can!

Last week.

This week was busy. I had a student come to my office hours and we spent hours going over all her doubts from physics two. we went over a lot of the refraction problems and what equations to use at which instant. I helped her understand how to use signs in electric potential questions and all in all it was very productive. In class all the subject matter was covered and the professor conducted a review.

Week of 4/16

I didn't have anyone come to my office hours this week, which was somewhat surprising. I think a contributing factor was that Dr. Nero's classes were still learning new material, but it wasn't as crucial for the overall course as some of the previous topics have been. 

This semester has definitely been successful. I had a steady amount of students visit my office hours, and it was during those times that I learned to communicate ideas more effectively. In class, I had to develop an ability to figure out a problem without having equations on paper in front of me, performing more of an intuitive analysis of the question to do so. Again, I had to be able to effectively communicate ideas to students who asked questions in class. I feel that both of these skills are important for my professional development going forward, but I can always improve in both regards. Overall, I'm very glad to have had the experience of being a UTA.

Last week reflection

The last week of classes is over, and so too are my office hours for the semester.  I only had three students show up this week, which was somewhat surprising considering their final is in three days.  Some of the drop off was definitely because of the bonus points professor Devaty offered to students who came to my hours at least three times.  Although, this cannot account for all of the downward trend considering I had a few students who attended more than three times.  Another possible reason for the decline in attendance that I can think of is that my assistance was more needed towards the beginning of the semester.  Previously, some of the students had relied on me to help them learn and understand the lecture material.  Perhaps now at the end of the class, those students have already learned all the material, and they prefer to just review it by themselves.
Over the course of the semester, I had 13 different students in my office hours combine for a total of 46 student visits.  This was more than I had anticipated at the outset based on the number of one line blog posts from the previous semester stating that no one came to office hours.  The bonus my professor offered was helpful for motivating students to come and talk to me initially, and then some of them kept coming back since I was hopefully a good resource for them.
The thing that I liked the least as a UTA was the lack of stuff for me to do during lectures.  It was good to get a refresher on material and know exactly where in the coursework the students were in order to better answer their questions during my office hours.  However, my assistance was not really utilized in the lectures and I found myself sitting through two hours of lecture on material I already got an A+ on twice a week.
Overall, it was a successful semester.  I found that I benefited from the experience maybe as much as the students I was helping.  My advice to incoming UTAs would be to anticipate difficult problems/applications that students will be asking about and review it beforehand.  Sometimes, the easier concepts are what we remember from when we took the course, but the harder ones are what students will actually need help with.

-Mitchell Dubaniewicz

Final Week

This semester has been very interesting and I really enjoyed helping out the students understand the physics problems they have trouble with. I hope I was able to help the students understand the information from the midterms well enough for the final but it is interesting that I did not get any students come in for the last week except one. They do not seem to have a very firm grasp of the information Dr. Nero is providing them based on the responses to the questions in class. I hope to do something like this again in the future. I would give advice for any incoming UTA that it is very useful to go through the information that is covered in class before attending lectures so that the students can gain trust in what you can provide because it is pretty easy to lose that if you lead them to the wrong answer. I would like to thank everyone that helped me through this journey in teaching physics- I appreciate all that I learned. 

Week of 4/16 & Reflection

This last week has been relatively quiet in office hours and lecture. I haven't received too many questions or seen many students in office hours, though a few do come by to check their understanding. With finals approaching, I wish everyone good luck! Being a TA this semester has been a privilege and I've thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. I'm glad I was able to help students solidify their understanding of physics and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Compared to last semester, I'm glad more students showed up in office hours and asked questions. I really felt as if I was making a bigger impact on my students this term, compared to last. That being said, best of luck to everyone and have a great summer!

week of 4/16

The last week of being a UTA has just come to an end. I did not have any students this week which was somewhat surprising considering their final is just around the corner. Overall, being a UTA has been a great experience for me. I wish that the students would have been more willing to use me as a resource, however the times I was able to help students was very rewarding and I believe that I was a beneficial resource to them.

Week of 4/9

All quiet on the western front. Nothing to report in my second to last week of office hours. All I can hope for is that people are doing fine on their own. Professor has a good handle of things in lecture and people go to his office hours so I am not worried.

Week of 4/9

No one came.

Week of 4/9/18

This past week in lecture covered material such as induced electric and magnetic fields, electromagnetic waves, Maxwell's Equations, and light polarization.  I also had 20 students visit my office hours this past week, mainly to go over things such as homework, quizzes, or their second exam.

Week of 4/9

Hello everyone,

One person came to office hours last Thursday, and no one came on either Wednesday and Friday.

Sort of a slow week.

Best,
Mahmoud

Week of 4/9/18

I did not have any students come to office hours this week. I'm expecting some students to come next week since it is the last week of classes before their final exam.

Week of 4/9

This week one student came to my office hours for help on one hw problem.

week of 4/9

This past week I had no one come to my office hours. I answered some questions about electromagnetic waves propagating through space. The main thing that was confusing students about the clicker question was about whether the wave was "out of phase." I think they were just confused because it made no sense for the magnetic field to be "out of phase" with the electric field. 

4/14

Not many people have come for the past two weeks. It's been nice to be able to study during office hours, though. Can definitely appreciate it after having close to ten people at once every day leading up to test 3.

4/9

no surprise~ still no one came

Week of 4/9/2018

This week we completed The refraction of light, lenses and optical instruments in class. No students came for office hours this week. The class final will be held on April 19th and I hope students are going to do well.

Week of 4/9

No one came for office hours this weekend. Finals are approaching and some of my friends in Phys 2 already are worried about their exams as some of them haven't done well in their midterms. I helped with reviewing their mistakes in their previous tests and found that they are just silly mistakes, and a very few of them are lack of proper understanding of the concept. I hope to see a couple of students next week as Finals are very close.

Week of 4/9

The week was again not too busy. I had a few visitors at office hours, but it wasn't too much. I'm expecting more people to show up next week for finals week, but I doubt it will be as much as when I had office hours right before the students had their midterm exams. I will still try to prepare for whatever questions I may receive, but I won't be expecting to have a lot of people coming next week.

week of 4/9

I had a new face show up to my office hours this week as we draw closer to finals.  We discussed the recent material and how what they've been learning all semester culminates with Maxwells' Equations.  Only one more week of classes to go!  I expect the number of students at my hours next week to jump back up significantly as more students take advantage of the dwindling opportunities to get help prior to their Monday morning final.

Week of 4/9

This week was rather quiet in office hours and lecture. I didn't see any students in office hours, but I answered a few questions regarding heat and wave motion in lecture. I helped explain some conceptual examples to students during class, as well. The remaining topics tend to be more difficult than items we've considered previously, so I expect to see more students in office hours before the semester ends with their questions. After all, the final includes more content on the later untested material than the cumulative, older material.

Week of 4/2/18

Again nobody attended my office hours. I do here that most people go to the professor instead. I do think that I will have some people before finals week but we shall see. Other than that nothing to report.

week of 4/2/18

The class has been learning about electromagnetic radiation and studying its wave property. In Office hours I was able to help a student from a Physics 1 to understand torque and how to use the equation. She sat with me and did about 5 hard problems from the textbook. No-one from physics 2 showed up this week.

3/26 and 4/2

Hello everyone,

The past two weeks have been fairly eventful as students were preparing for their third and final midterm.

I had the pleasure of explaining torque many times and of helping students make sense of seemingly convoluted problems.

As the semester is quickly coming to an end, I will make sure there is a strong end to the semester!

-Mahmoud

Week of 4/2

Was able to help a student out that came to office hours with questions regarding the cumulative material that Dr. Broccio had covered in class. We went over concepts like circuits and magnetic/electric fields. Hope to see more people come for help since finals weeks is near!

Week of 4/2/18

This past week of lecture covered material on oscillation of current and energy in circuits, RLC circuits and the associated current and energy decay, alternating current, and phasors.  Some in-class demonstrations were conducted to help students understand how changing elements in an RLC circuit affects the current decay.  I had 28 students visit my office hours this past week, mainly to work through problems on the exam that they took the previous week.

week of 4/2

One student came to my office hours last week.  I helped clear up some of his confusion regarding the application of Ampere's Law.

Week of 4/2/18

No one came to office hours this week. Hopefully some students will come next week.

Week of 4/2

This week was relatively light, being the week after an exam. The class looks to be wrapping up and there seem to be just a few more new topics before the final. For the moment, I will be focusing more on helping out with the VR labs than with answering questions in office hours.

3/26 and 4/2

Two Students came to my office hours this week. They have some very simple question from Phys - 1 related to the application of torque. Other than that I have discussed with my friends in Phys-2 about their relatively bad performances in Phys-2 and their very common and silly mistakes in exams and helped them with understanding some electricity concepts related to magnetism.

Week of 4/2

Light week. We held a review session on Monday during the normal class period time. I was able to help one student with a torque problem and another student with the right had rule to determine the direction of torque. No students attended my office hours this week, due to the test probably. Hope to see some next week!

week of 4/2

hmm.... so today is the exam day, but I still have no student in this week.

Week of 4/2

This week was busy in office hours, as I saw many students with last minute questions regarding their exam this past Wednesday. I was able to answer their questions regarding torque and spring motion, while also explaining angular momentum concepts that were essential to the exam. In lecture, we held extended office hours and went over student questions, as well. Today, we will continue our study of fluid motion and I hope to help students as much as I can, because I know this topic can be a bit confusing. Hopefully, the exams went well and I'll be seeing more students in office hours to answer questions on the new material.

week of 4/2

The students got their second exam back this week. The results varied but from the people I have talked to I have gotten the sense that it went better than the last one and they were more prepared for the type of problems this time. I had one student come to my office hours this week with a few minor questions and I think that I was able to help her with her questions.

Week of 3/26/18

The past week of lecture material covered inductors and inductance, RL circuits, exponential equations associated with RL circuits, and mutual inductance.  Students had their second exam later that week.  For the entire week, I had 32 students visit my office hours.  Most of them sought assistance with going over quizzes, homework, and practice problems to help prepare for the exam.

Week of 3/26

Nobody came this week to my office hours. It was surprising since they had an exam the following Tuesday. However, I hear people go to the professor's office hours all the time so I am sure they are fine.

Week of 3/26

Sorry for the late post, but there wasn't much to report on last week.  I had zero students show up for my office hours for the first time.  This makes sense though considering my hours were the day after Exam 2 and the day before Easter weekend.

Week of 3/19 and 3/26

I had the same couple of students attend office hours the past two Fridays to work on homework questions. They usually don't have much trouble, but will ask me about concepts that they don't understand if they get a problem wrong. One student came in last Wednesday asking about how to relate Force, Work, and Power in an incline plane question that Dr. Broccio solved in class. By the end of our brief discussion she was able to see the simple connection. Test on Wednesday so hoping the students preparation pays off!

Week of 3/26

No one came to office hours this week. Expecting more students will be in office hours next week since they have an exam on Friday which is also the last exam before the final.

Week of 3/19 and 3/26

No one came to office hours the week of 3/19. Last week I was able to help a few students for Physics 1 with conceptual problems. Hopefully people come this week since their exam is Friday!

Week of 3/19 and 3/26

Sorry for doubling up.

This week and the previous week, I had no one in my office hours. Its been very slow and event-less so far. I did help some students with a clicker questions during lecture.

Also, this week at office hours I helped a student who came for physics 175 with a very simple conceptual question. However, she had come for the other TA who was a bit occupied with some other students at that time so I didn't get her to sign for me. So yeah, I really hope people show up at least close to finals.

Weeks of 3/19 and 3/26

Class: PHYS 0175
Prof: Dr. Nero

Again, sorry for doubling up.  Busy week!

Monday, March 26 was an exam day.  This exam was also the cutoff set by Dr. Nero for visiting a UTA to receive extra credit.  I had 3 office hours the Friday before that exam.  To no surprise, it was a busy office hours session.  I recorded 17 individual visitors during that whole time period!  That's 2 more than the total amount of visitors I had from the start of the term up until then!  Some were obviously just in it for the credit (and to be fair, I included them because they did put in at least some effort to come in and ask questions), but there was also a fair amount of test questions (though it was definitely influenced by the extra credit deadline, since I hadn't had anywhere near that amount of visitors for the previous two midterms).

Since my Friday office hours for the week of 3/19 were right before an exam, and many people showed up, it became an impromptu group study session.  I was fielding questions from homework and practice exams and doing them on the board for up to 8 or 9 people at once.  I actually recognized the practice exam problems from the exam I took last spring!  There was a bit of pressure involved with doing problems on the board for a large group, since I usually deal with only one or two students at a time, but I was able to resolve all the questions asked (I had office hours the day before homework was due in Hong's 0175 course this fall, so I was used to having to address a bunch of last-minute questions at once).

Quite contrary to that week, the next week's office hours (on the Friday immediately following the exam) were totally empty, so nothing to write about there.  I was surprised, since the 3rd midterm last year was sort of my wake-up call for the final.  I assume people will start coming soon, though, once Nero gets to EM Waves and Light.

Lectures went as usual; nothing special to comment.

-Jeffrey Socash

week of 3/26

still.....no students came

Week of 3/26

Monday was the busiest day I've had so far. Nero's classes had their last midterm, so I had a lot of people come to my office hours. It was a little difficult to manage because I'm not used to that many people. but I think I managed it well. For the rest of the week the class was pretty normal and should be for the next few weeks.

Week of 3/26

I was able to help students with some homework problems during my office hours. During lecture, I helped students with concepts and helped them work through the in-class clicker questions. This week we started working on fluids and fluid dynamics.

Week of 3/26

This week we discussed torque concepts in greater detail, while also beginning our next module on fluids. I answered students' questions in office hours regarding buoyant force, fluid flow, and older homework questions. Other than that, the week was pretty quiet but things will likely get more intense as the exam approaches next week.

week of 3/26

This week I had no students in my office hours. I did help a student with a clicker question during lecture. The question was about the force on a wire running through a solenoid. It was a very easy problem. The student was just struggling conceptual with it and I believe that I was able to understand it better.

Week of 3/19

Actually had someone come in for office hours during my wednesday slot surprisingly. Unfortunately an hour isn't enough time to get through a substantial amount of problems and to fully understand them. Don't know if it's better to just show them how to do more problems or to make sure they fully understand less problems. I generally lean toward the latter seeming as they can always come to another office hours. And the usual suspects came to my friday office hours. Nothing else to report there.

Week of 3/19/18

This past week of lecture covered topics such as induced currents and induced electric fields associated with loops of wire as well as self-inductance.  A few in-class demonstrations were presented to help students grasp the concept of induction.  In addition, I had 29 students visit my office hours throughout the week for me to explain difficult homework concepts, to go over old quiz and exam questions, and to review material in preparation for the next exam.

Week of 3/18

No one came to my office hours Wednesday. I had to cancel my office hours Thursday and Friday since I had to travel back home due to personal matters. 

Week of 3/18

One student came to my office hours to go over class material.

Week of 3/19

Not many students came to office hours this week. The two who did had a few questions regarding torque and moment of inertia but I managed to help clear them up. Hopefully more students come next week.

Sam

Week of 3/19

Hey all, Exam 2 was conducted this week. As always, no one came to my office hours, but interestingly I helped a decent amount of my friends and roommates at Hillman Library, Benedum Hall and at my Dorm. Some had questions about current and voltage in a circuit in Kirchoff's laws. Some had questions with RC circuits and some had about Hall Effect and the relation of the magnetic field with charges.

Week of 3/19

This week was pretty normal - a few more people than usual came due to it being the week before a test. I'm expecting to have a solid amount of visitors for my office hours right before the test, so I am planning on walking through the study guide that Dr. Nero posted. I will try to structure my block of office hours more as a review session than help with specific questions so the students can get the most out of it.

Weeks of 3/12 and 3/19

Hello all,

I have been having a couple students consistently show up to my office hours and they both say that I have been really helpful in making sense of the material on Torque and momentum among other topics. In my opinion, I have been effective in communicating the key concepts during the in-class questions to students who had trouble making sense of questions.

Thanks for reading!

Kind regards,
Mahmoud O. 

Week of 3/19

I did not have any students come in during my office hours this week. However, I was able to help students with in-class clicker questions during lecture. This week we worked on spring force and elastic potential energy.

week of 3/19

no student came in.

Week of 3/19

Attendance at my office hours continues to remain low since spring break.  I thought that the exam next week would boost my numbers back up to what they were before, but apparently not.  I helped the one student who did show up this week with some confusion regarding the different methods of doing the right hand rule.  Having begun current-induced magnetic fields, a different form of the RHR than previously used is easier to use now.  This physical tool is much better explained through example in a setting such as UTA office hours than in a big lecture hall.