My first 4 weeks.

Having arrived on campus late after dealing with some family issues, I was assigned to Dr. Salman's class officially on the 23rd of January. He was kind enough to send an announcement acknowledging my addition to the UTAs. I have been to the office hours for the four weeks that followed. to my Dismay only one student came to my office hours. She was for another class but I helped her out with some thermodynamics theory questions she had.

In class Dr. Salman has covered chapters 13, 15, 18, 19 and 20. as expected thermodynamics and electric potential were areas where students struggled to understand concepts. We are going into the first midterm next week and I hope to see many students in my Thursday office hours as it is right before the exam. So fingers crossed!

Week of 2/25/2019

This week people came to both days of my office hours. On Tuesday, the person that came was confused on how to use the right hand rule, so I re-explained what each finger meant (index cross middle equals thumb) and went through a few practice problems. Additionally, when going over some of the Sapling practice problems, I reminded her that electric potential was a scalar quantity, so direction wasn't important. On Thursday, we went through all the conceptual points students need for the second exam. When going over a Sapling problem, the student confused electric force with magnetic force (direction of magnetic force depends on velocity and field being perpendicular, electric force only depends on the field and the charge of the point charge).

Week of February 25

This week I had one person come to my office hours on Wednesday. We went over Sapling homework on circuits and he asked me questions about the upcoming exam next Monday.

Week of 2/24

This week, I had no students attend my office hours. I expected this because the class just learned a few new topics and unless there is an exam coming up very soon, most students aren't really in a rush to come to office hours.

Week of 2/18/19

This week, I did not have anyone come into my office hours. I expect more to come when the exam approaches.

Week of 2/18/19

This week, I didn't have anyone come in to my office hours. I expect more students to come to my office hours this coming week since they have an exam on Thursday. I also helped a student who asked me a question through Facebook Messanger and helped them understand a problem.

Week of 2/18/19

In Wednesday's office hours, I had three students attend.  We went through the physics homework mainly dealing with forces.  The first one dealt with a box on an incline and the second was about a mass on a rope. 

Week 7

I didn't have any students come to my office hours. It could be that case that the material are not as hard as the ones covered in previous weeks. In any case, I expect students to come next week when we start covering electromagnetism.

Week of 2/18

I had the same regulars I typically have this week. The homework was on work-energy theorem and non-conservative energy. After maybe one or two problems, each of the students seemed to get a good grasp on the method for solving these sorts of problems, as it is similar for nearly every problem they could be given. Their next exam is in two weeks so I might start seeing more students coming in this week, especially since their professor will be out of town.

Week of 2/18

This week I finished worksheets that I made for the next exam, which is the Tuesday prior to Spring Break. I had a few students come to office hours, but I suspect I will have a lot of people come next week and the Monday prior to the exam in order to ensure they understand core concepts.

week of 2/18

No one came to office hours this week. 

Week of 2/18

No one came to office hours this week. Next week I hope to see more people as their very first exam nears. 

Week of 2/18

This week, I helped my regular student with more Sapling questions and helped clarify some concepts and exercises covered in lecture notes. Juxtaposing resistors and capacitors in circuits, as well as correctly applying the right hand rule, were highlights from this week.

Week of 2/18 and Prior

I had so many people come to office hours this week, that I am writing my post about 4 days after I normally would. So this will summarize my last two weeks.

The first of the last two weeks I had no one.
This week, however, the Professor announced students who came to office hours would receive extra credit, so I had 14 people come in.

Week of 2/17

This week I did not have any students come to my Monday office hours, but I did have one Physics 1 student come to my Friday office hours. He had two homework problems he had questions about. The first questions I was able to easily clarify where he was confused, but the second question was much more difficult. He had come with about 20 minutes left in my office hour so we were not able to work through it together, but I pointed him towards the equations I thought he would need in order to solve the problem. I also had a Physics 2 student come to my office hour with a question about Physics Lab.

Week of February 18

This week one person came to my office hours on Wednesday and we discussed the notes on circuits. He was having trouble understanding the difference between parallel and series circuits.

Week of 2/17

This week only one student stopped by my office hours. They had a question from their sapling set that focused on capacitance of given geometries. I was able to focus on the fact that the capacitance of an object was strictly a geometric quantity and this allowed the student to answer the question at hand. With another exam swiftly approaching next Friday, I have high hopes for attendance at my office hours next week.

Week of 2/18

I had no students attend office hours this week. The students seemed to grasp forces very well in lecture so I assume they didn't require much assistance with their homework assignments. As we wrap up forces I hope to see more students attend office hours.

Week of 2/18/2019

No one came to my office hours this week. Hopefully people with have questions for next week!

02.17-02.23

This week, two students came to my office hours on Wednesday. They typically come every week. They wanted some clarification on partial derivatives and the gradient. We also worked on three Sapling problems, which required combining various equations in order to determine an unknown. Other than that, it was pretty quiet.

They expressed interest in a review session for the second midterm, so hopefully I will be able to schedule one for Wednesday/Thursday of next week. 

Week of 2/17

I had one student come in asking for help on a sapling problem.  We were able to work through the problem symbolically and arrived at the correct answer.  Students also received their exams back this week so I had one student come in to talk through some mistakes she had made.  We discussed study strategies and test-taking strategies. 

Week of 2/17

This week, I had nobody come to my office hours. However, in class, I had a student ask me work through a problem with them. The students got their Exam 1 grades back. Other than that, not much happened.

Week of 2/11

This week, I did not have anyone come into office hours for help. This could be because we are doing somewhat easier topics to visualize right now. I expect more people to come in for help once we start covering more complex topics like magnetism.

Week of 2/11

This week, I spent more time creating worksheets for my class. I only had 2 students to office hours, however this is understandable given that there was an exam the past week and no homework was due.

Week of 2/11/19

No one came to my office hours.

Week of 2/11

This week there weren't too many students in office hours. The couple students that did come in just had questions on the Sapling problems. Once the new material starts to pick up, I expect students to come in to office hours more.

2/11/19

This week I had one person come in with a question concerning the Sapling. She had questions about circular motion and one particularly challenging problem.  I was able to help with the centripetal acceleration problems.  She had to go to class, so we agreed she would ask her TA about the tricky question in recitation later, and if she still needed help she would come back.

Week of 2/11

This week was pretty low-key on physics help since most students had just completed their first exams. Outside of helping my regular student with physics 2 Sapling, I had the opportunity to help a friend of mine in Conceptual Physics. It was very interesting trying to explain physics 1 concepts with as little math as possible.

Week of 2/11

This week was a lighter week, I only had two of my regulars come in. We worked through some homework problems, but generally, I think the students have a good grasp on Work and Energy. We are going to get more in-depth with it next week, but even then I don't expect them to have many problems.

I had four students this week, all at once on Friday. Most of their questions were about homework on Sapling. They were able to solve them on their on once I discussed the concept with them. For one of them, she requested me to review the concept of electric field, electric potential, ,and the electric potential between parallel plate. I did that and advised her to look over the textbook for additional help.

Week of 2/11

This week I did not have any students attend my Monday office hours, but someone did come to my Friday office hours. She had some conceptual questions that I was able to help her with and then we went through a couple homework problems together to help apply the concepts we had gone over. Overall, I have been very impressed with the students who have come to my office hours. Most of them have a very good grasp on the material, but just need to clear up a couple little ideas.

Week of 2-11

This week, no one attended my office ours Monday, but someone stayed the whole two hour duration of my office hours on Wednesday. We discussed some of the previous lectures and questions he had on the exam he got back as well as the upcoming Sapling assignment. I think it was good he asked questions on old material so he will be better prepared when he begins studying for the final in the future.

Week of 2/11

No one came to office hours this week but I look forward to seeing more students at the review session the other UTAs and I will be holding for their first exam.

Week of 2/11

This week I did not see anyone in office hours. I hope to see more people as their first midterm nears!

Week of 2/10

Only two students came by my office hours this week.  The first just had a quick question about the capacitance of a spherical conducting object. I am confident that she understood the material coming in, and the basis of her question arose out of poor wording in the question itself.  The next student came from the algebra based version of physics II. She had a homework problem that required using the conservation of energy equation with kinetic energy in the initial case and electric potential in the final. Again, while she didn't come from my section of physics II I still think I was able to help her understand what she needed to do to solve the problem.

02.10-02.16

This week, just one person came to my office hours. He didn't perform well on the exam, so he wanted to review it. We went through each question, and I showed him how I would approach thinking about each problem. After I explained the answer, I gave him a similar question to solve to ensure that he really understood the concept. A problem I noticed is that he wasn't showing any work, and he was relying too much on his equation sheet. Although I did see the exam before, this was a good opportunity for me to more thoroughly understand the type of questions the professor asks on exams. Luckily, they get to drop an exam, and he said he plans to come to my office hours more consistently; I hope to be able to help him do better on subsequent exams. As far as lecture, we are continuing with circuits - which is quite different from the topic of electric fields.

Week of 2/10

No one attended office hours this week. I assume that it was due to the fact that the class just had an exam which they did not receive back yet and their next homework assignment is due next week. With those points in mind I think more students will attend next week with either exam or homework questions.

Week of 2/11/2019-Jason Ong

Again, like last week, nobody came to my office hours until my last one on Thursday. We went over conceptual material of the past few modules (I emphasized that the electric field and potential were influenced only by the charge creating it). Additionally, we went over the multiple choice for Exam 1. For that, I suggested that it was important to know in the equation U=Q-W what variable didn't change depending on the certain state change (e.g. in isothermal, change in U=0, so Q=W).

Week of 2/10

This week, I had nobody come to my office hours. I was expecting this because the exam was last week and students typically tend not to attend office hours until closer to the exam. My lecture on Wednesday was cancelled due to Dr. Broccio being sick.

Week of 2/4/19

I feel like a broken record for saying this, but I really haven't seen anyone. One person came in on Tuesday, but he was from a different Physics 2 class than the one I UTA (I still helped, of course). He was really on top of his homework, so I think it was more self doubt than issues with the homework he brought in.

Hopefully I will start to see more people soon.

Week of 2-4

This week, I did not have anyone come in for the class I was supporting. I did have one student come in for Physics I help, and I was able to assist him.

Week of 2/4

I had a few students come in to my office hours this week asking questions about Coulomb's law and other related topics. I also had students ask me about general study tips and questions about homework.

Week of 2/4

This week I did not see anyone in my office hours for Physics 2 however, I was able to help a student with their Sound & Hearing lab and go over the main concepts that the lab is dealing with. I hope to see more people as the first midterm nears.

Week of February 4, 2019

This week noone showed up to office hours. We have started magnetism and electricity which is a harder topic, yet I don't see anyone coming to office hours. I am trying to talk with the professor in order to find a solution. Their exam is coming up in 2-3 weeks and hopefully in the coming weeks I will have someone come in for office  hours.

Week of 2/4

This week, I had the opportunity to assist students in Physics 2, as well as students in Physics 1 who were preparing for their first exam. One of the big things I rediscovered while helping the Physics 1 students was that there are always multiple ways of reaching the same answer for a given problem. For example, constructing position vs. time and acceleration vs. time graphs can be accomplished in a variety of ways (ex. slope, kinematics equations, etc.). Oftentimes, it is important to let students run with their intuition and initial way of approaching a problem before suggesting one of your own.

Week of 2/4

This week I only had three students come in, all of which were my regulars. They all had questions on the circular motion questions in the homework, which the professor had just glossed over in class. We were able to work through them with little issue. I didn't expect there to be many students in my office hours today since the class just had an exam yesterday, but there'll probably be more next week.

Week of 2/4/19

On Wednesday, I had three students attend my office hours.  They had their first exam that evening, so many of them had last minute questions.  We mainly worked through projectile motion and kinematics problems.

Students this week had their first midterm. They seem to have done well given that no one showed up for the office hours. They don’t have a homework either which would make it even less likely that they would show up. Physics of electricity is quite tricky, however, and therefore I expect people to show up next week.

Week 2/3

Surprisingly, no students showed up to my office hours this week even though they had a test on Wednesday. Hopefully they all did well on the test and more students will come to office hours next week.

Week of 2/3

This week office hours were quiet with no-one from my section attending.  This did not come as a complete surprise to me given they took their first exam last week and some students may have finished the homework prior as a way to study. I expected some students to come with questions pertaining to the new information on electric potential. This particular section of the course has a bunch of different energy terms and can be a little confusing.

Week of 2/3

This week I had two students attend office hours this week both on Tuesday. In both instances we worked on topics for the exam on Wednesday. When going through the graphs of  position, velocity, and acceleration I found that asking the student if they ever had calculus knowledge made the explanations easier for them to understand because it gave them a base to work with. I think more students will attend office hours next Tuesday because the class seemed confused on the topic of relative motion when it was introduced in lecture.

Week of 2/4/2019

No one came to my office hour on Tuesday because of the exam on Monday. One person did show up Thursday and asked me some conceptual questions while watching through class videos. It was helpful for her to form analogies with concepts like gravity when learning about electric potential. Other than that, she seemed to follow the content in the videos pretty well.

02.03 - 02.09

The class had their exam last Friday ... it seems to have gone well for many students. This week's lectures covered Gauss' Law and Electric Potential. As far as office hours, two students stopped by on Wednesday with a couple Sapling questions. One question related to the Shell Theorem; I was able to explain this in a way that made it more clear exactly when E = 0. The other question required the use of Gauss' law. There wasn't enough time to solve the entire problem, so I helped them set it up so that they could substitute values on their own. It's nice having access to Sapling so I have the chance to at least look at the questions beforehand.

Week of 2/4/19

This week I held a review session the night before our exam Tuesday. I had about 40 students come and I went over many concepts for the test as well as problems on a worksheet that I sent out last week. I also proctored the exam on Tuesday, and graded one of the questions on the test this morning (Thursday). Overall, this week has been very busy due to the exam.

Week of 2/4/19

I had only two people come in this weekend, which is very strange because they had their first exam on Thursday.  We worked on some practice problems from a past exam. I will consult with Dr. Hatridge so that this does not happen again next week.

Week of February 4th

This week no one came to my office hours due to them having an exam Monday. Hopefully more people will come next week as we get deeper into the next chapter.

Week of 2/3/2019

This week I had one person come in and ask for help as there was an exam the next day for Dr. Pardo's class. Believe it or not, this was the first time I've had someone come in. I also helped hand out exams for Dr. Broccio's exams. Nobody came in Monday.

Week of 1/28/19

This week I had one person come in with a question from the book on Tuesday.  We were able to work through it.

No one came in Wednesday or Thursday.  I think the cold had something to do with it.

Week of 1/28/19

Last week was completely silent; I had no one come in. I wasn't exactly expecting anyone on Thursday, which was even colder than Wednesday, but I was surprised to not see anyone on Tuesday. Professor Nero says he will be reinstating the extra credit opportunity, and they should be getting their exams back this week, so I expect to see people next week.

Week of 1/28

My class had an exam this past Thursday so I had a couple students come in to ask for study tips and tricks, as well as help on homework problems. I was impressed by the students' understanding of the concepts, especially in solving Sapling problems. I had no students show up to my office hours on Friday since they had their test the night before.

Week of 1/28

I've been getting a lot of repeat students coming in these past weeks. They usually come in with homework questions, but they seem to have a strong grasp on the concepts this most recent homework covered, namely forces and Newton's Second Law. Our first exam is next week, so I expected more to come in with exam related questions, but they all seem pretty confident about the material.

Week of January 28th

With my section's exam quickly approaching, it came as no surprise to me that attendance was up at my office hours. The topic of conversation with most of the students that came was Gauss's Law. For first time E&M students this method can be particularly tough to grasp due to the many different geometric configurations it can take on. I helped some students make some headway on their sapling assignments and showed them some tips and tricks to take with them into the exam. I also had the unique opportunity to help proctor the exam Friday morning which provided me with a new perspective on the role as an educator.

Week of 1/28

This week, I worked with some of my students in preparation for their first midterm. In tackling some Sapling problems regarding Coulomb's Law that they struggled with, we clarified some misconceptions regarding how to assign direction and sign with the electrostatic force, how to examine interactions between particles of different charges, and how to resolve forces with "x" and "y" components. One of the big overarching takeaways from our work this week was: it is often better to leave everything in symbols and work through the algebra to its simplest form before substituting values and calculating numbers.

Week of 1/27

This week I helped a couple of students review for the exam which is next Tuesday, in addition to taking the exam prior to check it for any errors. Also, I have continued making worksheet solutions for the next unit, electric potential. Next Monday I will be holding a review session for the class.

Week of 1/28/19

This week, there was only one student who attended my office hours.  We went over the homework problems for that week regarding projectile motion. 

Week 1/27

This week I had one student come to my office hours and I was able to help her with a couple of the more complicated homework problems. I also had a student reach out and ask if I could explain a couple conceptual concepts after class one day, so I think I was able to clear up a couple ideas that she was confused about. The first exam is next week so hopefully I will have a lot of students at my office hours.

Week 28th January 2019

This week I did not have anyone come in during office hours. In class we recently covered carnot engines and finished up the rest of thermodynamics. Next week we are covering magnetism and electricity which is a little more challenging than the concepts covered so far so I am hoping to get some students come in. Students may have also felt discouraged to come in this week due to the adverse weather conditions.

Week of 1/28

I did not get anyone stop by during office hours, however, I was able to help a student before class with concepts such as Refrigerators and Heat Engines. We also covered the concepts that underlie Electricity.

Week of 1-28-19

This week was the week of the exam. I did not have any students come in for extra help. This could partially be due to classes being cancelled on Wednesday (the day of one of my office hours). I think once homework is being assigned regularly people will come to office hours.