My Class

I am going to start teaching in one week!! Woo-Hoo! I am so excited!

On May 14, Summer A session starts and so too starts my adventure in teaching. I have played with the schedule and tried to balance out the two halves of the semester. I also made sure that we will have covered the information needed for each lab, before that lab day. This was a little bit different than last year. Last summer, labs were on both M/W and T/R, with two labs per week. This year they are only on T/R with two labs per week. This means I can cover things for lab on Monday and know that all students will have an afternoon to absorb that information before they have to apply it in lab. Last summer, there were occasions when students on the first day of the lab rotation had to hear a lecture and then immediately apply that information in the lab. I am hoping this set up is better.

I will also have an instructor teaching two of the labs. I had an instructor last summer, too. I am really really hopeful this summer's TA is better than last. Last summer, I had a guy who had never taught the class and who's area of interest was in online media TA-ing. He got the gig because he is chummy with the department chair. This summer, I have a girl who TA-ed the course all year long and got the gig becauseshe is chummy with the course coordinator. I am really hopeful that she works out better. You see, last summer the TA was less fastidious than I am. As such, his lab students had higher scores than mine did. As such, my labs were "harder" than his. My students also learned more. But it isn't fair to his lab students (or from a student perspective, it isn't fair to my lab students). So, I am going to meet with her and talk with her about her philosophy on teaching this class.

I am a little worried about doing that. I know working with women can be a challenge. Especially for me. I tried to be very laid back and easy going last summer. That back fired. I don't want to be all uptight and overbearing this summer. I want to find a happy medium.

This student, I think, is a master's student (at the end of her first year), so she is barely older than the students she will be teaching (just like I was when I started). I want to make sure she is as demanding as I am. I want to make sure that my lab and her labs run in a very similar manner. I want to ensure that her grading and my grading are very similar. Do you think it would be too much to ask her to meet with me for grading early in the session? Anyone reading this, PLEASE PLEASE I beg of you, give me your opinion on this. PLEASE!!!????!?!

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