week of 1-22

My first student came to office hours. I was able to help her with one dimensional kinetics. We did not spend much time together and she left more confident in her ability to understand the formulas and concepts. Looking forward to helping more students next week!

Week 1/22

This week no one came to my office hours

week of 1/22

This week was dedicated to learning about the Carnot heat engine and the laws of thermodynamics. Many students found this topic challenging during class. I didn't meet anyone at my tutoring session this week but I hope students will show up with their concerns next week. With the exams closing in I'm expecting to see more students having confusions in this area as it was a hard topic for me, when I learned it last year.

Week of 1/22

NO one came to my office hours this week. But being a freshman, I have helped some of my friends in PHYS 2 in my other classes. Clickers were given this week in class. Exam 1 will be conducted on Feb 7th and so I'm expecting students to come to my office hours next week.

Week of 1/22

This week was more eventful than the last. I had some people from a different physics session come to my office hours. They were there the whole time and I stayed an extra hour to help them understand their homework. Would like to try to switch another office hour to friday seeming as no one comes to my wednesday time.

Week of 1/22

This week I had my first set of office hours in which students came in for help. I think it's best to treat the office hours as a casual, yet focused environment so that students feel comfortable and are able to learn. I noticed that in helping students with problems, it was often helpful to hear their thoughts on the problem first. Doing that allowed me to address any misconceptions they might have had and know what parts of the problem I should emphasize.

Week of 1/22/18

During this past week of lectures, we covered more material on electrostatics and began deriving electric field equations from Gauss' Law.  There were also a number of clicker questions presented in class to help students grasp conceptual material.  No students came to my office hours this past week, but with an exam coming up soon, hopefully more students will be in attendance.

Week of 1/22

I helped students work through the clicker questions in lecture. I was also able to help a student with some homework problems in my office hours. 

Week of 1/22

Hello everyone,

This week was a week where I would say things started to pick up. During the first few weeks of Physics 0110, we review some algebra and vector addition/subtraction, among other topics, and most of the students already have a strong foundation and a good grasp of the basic material. However, now we are going over kinematics and many students are seeing this material for the first time and developing problem solving strategies for physics problems.

I had many strong interactions with students during the flipped lectures in which I was able to make things click for some of the students. I am now making it a priority to check to see with students whether what I said makes sense and make sure that the communication is being received.

One student came to my Thursday office hour and another one came to my Friday one. I was able to explain how to think about some of the homework problems and address any questions they have on the lecture material. I have a feeling they will be back for more guidance as needed as I made sure that I was being clear and making sure they felt confident with the material. 

Week of 1/22

I have had six students show up to each of my first two sets of office hours (8 different students in total). Talking to some of the other UTAs, many have only had a couple or even none show up so far. I attribute the turnout for my hours in part to the small amount of extra credit my professor is offering to students who come to my hours at least three times and also since I am the only UTA for my section.

The most common area which students have been asking for help with so far has been setting up the integrals to solve distributed charge problems. I am not surprised by this considering the difficulty of the task. Also, I think one-on-one step-by-step assistance for this topic is especially beneficial to understanding the thought process for solving these types of problems.

week of 1/22

No one came to my office hour this week. I hope they really have no questions! because the hard and confusing stuff is coming! and really need to study hard, because the incoming material is the foundation of the later material.

Week of 1/22

This week I had two students attend my office hours. There were a few homework questions that these students and others in the room had problems with. In particular, students have been struggling with reading graphs that depict position vs. time and velocity vs. time. I talked through these problems with the students and helped them understand what the properties of the graph (slope, area under the curve, etc.) correspond to, in terms of physics. I also assisted students as they solved problems with one-dimensional kinematics. Hoping for more students next week!

Week of 1/22

This week I had a couple of students come to office hours. One student had a question about the pressure-volume graph and using it to calculate the efficiency of an engine. This was a sapling homework problem. Another students had questions about the check your understanding questions for Chapter 18.6 (Electric Fields).

Students in general may have a tougher time using pressure-volume plots and applying them to questions about heat exchanged and work done based on the questions I got during lectures. I'm expecting to get a few more students next week during office hours.

Week of 1/22

I had no one come to office hours this week, hopefully people will have questions since the first exam is coming up!

Week of 1/22

My office hours were slow again this week as no one attended. I did however have some people ask me questions about the Lon-Capa homework outside of my office hours and was able to help them without any difficulty. This is the first week that the students had clicker questions during lecture so I assisted with them as the students answered. One difficulty with the clicker questions is that because they are timed I have very little time to explain a topic to the student, sometimes making it difficult to answer more complex questions in the time allotted. Most of the questions I have gotten have been theoretical. Professor Clark does examples in class with very detailed and meticulous calculations however my initial impression is that some students are having difficulty understanding the broader topics. Often students are asking why? and not how? indicating to me that they can grind out the calculations but their understanding of the fundamental topics is not always there.

Week of 1/22

We started discussing kinematics in lecture and I answered students' questions regarding concepts pertaining to free fall and use of the kinematics equations. In office hours, I saw multiple students who had questions about the homework. Mostly, the questions were related to use of the kinematics equations, though there were also some conceptual questions, as well. I was able to answer all of their questions and help them with the homework. The semester is off to a busy start and the first exam is coming up. I'm expecting to see more students next week with exam related questions.

week of 1/22

This week I had my first students come in for help. Although I did not immediately know the answer, I tried to work the problem out with them out loud. I feel like this is a valuable way to help others learn, just by communicating the thought process necessary to solve a problem.

Week of 1/22

No one came this week to office hours.

Got a lot of studying done. Lets see what happens next week \(-.-)/

Week of 1/15

Little late to the party, but better late than never. Last week in class we went over basic math prerequisites needed for the course, as well as vectors. I was able to interact with students during the lecture period and helped them work through any difficulties they had with the in-class activity. Due to the UTA training last Friday, I only held one office hour and no one attended. Hoping for some students this week!

Week of 1/22

Someone asked me for help the other day, but it was to help find the room they were looking for. Got my hopes up. Otherwise, no one has attended my office hours yet.

Week of 1/15

This week no one came to my office hours.

Week of 1/15

This week being the 2nd week of classes attended the PHYS 2 classes taught by Prof.Clark and also held my office hours. Two students from Phys 0110 came to my office hours but none from Phys 2. Everyone seems to have enjoyed his classes. Looking forward to the next week of classes and office hours.

Week of 1/15

This week, I began assisting Dr. Nero in one of his sections of the inverted physics 2 class. My physics 2 class was traditionally structured, so this week was definitely different. Because there are no traditional lectures in class, it has been difficult to gauge Dr. Nero's approach to teaching the material, therefore affecting my understanding of how to best assist students. My experience in physics 2 was much more concept-based, and less focused on the intense calculations that Dr. Nero emphasizes. I see this as both a positive and a negative, as I have a unique perspective to share with students; however, I will have to make sure that I am conveying information in a manner that is consistent with their learning.

week of 1/15

The semester began with students familiarizing themselves with the ideal gas laws and the concepts of molar mass, moles and how the avagadro's constant is used in these calculations. In the second week, the professor finished up on the kinetic theory and diffusion. Though only one student attended office hours, it was a productive conversation. He had issues with shifting between equations and was uncertain about how the kinetic equation could be manipulated to solve problems. All in all it was a good start to the semester.

Week of 1/15/18

The past two weeks in Banerjee's section of PHYS 0175 consisted of an introduction to electrostatics coupled with multiple in-class demonstrations.  I did not have any students come to my office hours this past week, but I do anticipate that more students may attend since the course is starting to cover more difficult and conceptual material.  I found that the UTA training workshop this past week was helpful, especially the part when we discussed identifying common mistakes that students may make.  Nevertheless, I am looking forward to this upcoming week of classes and hope to start working one-on-one with more students seeking assistance.

week 1/15

there is one student came to my office hour and ask me homework and checkpoint question. she seems has a good grasp of the concept, the big picture, but need further help to get the deeper details. nothing happens other than this.

Week of 1/19/18

This week went over basics in the math concepts needed for success in Physics 0110. Many students seemed to solve the problems with ease in class since the material was basic. However, I was still able to help a few students during lecture think through some of their sticking points when solving the in-class problems. No one came to either three of my office hours. Although it is still early in the semester, maybe I should start inviting students I interact with in lecture to them. I am excited to improve upon my ability to be a positive peer tutor to students this semester.  

Week of 1/19/2018

This week I had the pleasure of helping students in Nero's section of Physics 175. I felt engaged and a little intimidated that I did not know the verified answers to the questions we reviewed during the lecture. Today especially, I felt the need to brush up on some old integration of electric field problems so that I could effectively aid the class.
I also felt that the UTA training session helped me reevaluate the method I was instructing the students with. During lecture I felt like I could help work through the harder problems with the students with more clearly.

Week of 1/15

No one came to office hours this week and I was not able to attend my hours on Friday so I could attend the UTA training!

Week 1/15/18

This week was the first week I had office hours as a UTA. I had one student come for help during the week. His questions were about calculating work based on a pressure-volume graph, and the main concepts of thermal processes (isobaric, isochronic, and isothermic). A few students during lecture also had questions about a clicker question that asked to calculate work based on a pressure-volume graph.

Week2 1/19/2018

I finished off my first week of office hours with only 2 sessions. Pretty uneventful to be honest. Only had one person come in for 15 minutes. To be expected with it only being the start of the term. The professor cares about his students and urges them to go to office hours. I have prepared a good amount of problems for office hours. Unfortunately I have not been able to use them yet. In lecture I just follow along and stay after to have my meeting with the professor. I do believe it should get a little busier after we move out of vectors and basic kinematics.

Week of 1/15

No students came to office hours,

Wonder if this will be similar to last term or will more people come later in the term. I got more questions in class today than ever in last term so I have some hopes for this class!

Week of 1/15

During this week we went over vectors including definition, addition and subtraction. We also covered dimensional analysis as well as other introductory material such as conversion and units. During my office hours no one showed up but I was able to help clear up confusion regarding vector addition during in class activities.

Week of 1/15

During the first week of classes, we went over vectors, algebra, and mathematical techniques that will be used throughout the course. We also modeled problem solving skills and started the first few physics concepts, as well. I was able to answer students' questions about math skills and clear up any doubts they had about solving problems algebraically. I also saw a few students in office hours this week and we went over the homework problems assigned for the week. There were some questions on vectors that seemed to cause confusion, but I was able to answer the students' questions and help them solve their problems. Great start to the semester so far and I hope the trend continues. Best of luck to everyone!

Week of 1/15

I held my office hours for the first time this week. My time in the UTA help room was uneventful as no students from my lecture came. This does not surprise me however, because the material that has been covered in class has not been to difficult so far and the first homework assignment is not due until Monday. I expect my office hours to become busier next week when homework is due before every lecture. If I still have few people coming to my office hours I may consider trying to move one hour to another time that will hopefully allow more people to come.

First Week Spring 2018

Today marks one week since the first lecture I attended as a UTA for Dr. Devaty's Physics 0175 course.  Though I have not held any office hours yet, I have been kept busy in class.  Aside from handing out syllabuses the first day, the main function which I have been serving is to walk around the class providing assistance for practice problems posed by the professor.  For example, I explained to a few guys how to set up an estimation problem for the charge on two repelling balloons Dr. Devaty had charged and hung at the front of the classroom in a demonstration.
This class is a lot smaller than the one I was in when I took Phys 0175.  Consequently, I am the only UTA assigned to it.  I hope to be a useful resource for the other students.