Semester Reflection (Fall 2017)
After this semester being a UTA, I now realize that my first semester and its corresponding seminar prepared me for such a successful second semester. In my second semester as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA), I have realized more about myself as a leader, mentor, resource and student than any other experience I’ve had in college. Above all, and most importantly, I was able to grow as a person because of my experiences being a UTA.
Ever since first semester, I’ve been passionate about peer review. It all started when I read Peter Elbow’s “About Responding to Student Writing” and discussed the effect that peer review comments can have on a student’s writing process if they choose to go through a peer revision. In our discussion post that week asking us about Elbow, I still remember the end of the article in which Elbow reminds the reader that peer review means “respecting them and the dialogue to tell them some of our thoughts on what they are writing about” (Elbow). Not a lot of students know what when they go into peer review; they’re expected to know what to do and they’re expected to simply correct instead of offer feedback. As I left my first semester as a UTA and its weekly seminar, I knew that peer review was something that I wanted to take into my second semester. With numerous lesson plans that ranged from discussion to presentations to small groups, and kept what Elbow taught me in the back of my head as I tried to display that to my students with my Learning Artifact project. I wanted to have a larger presence in the classroom compared to last semester and challenge myself as a leader to take this responsibility to improve my students in peer review.
Since my Learning Artifact included numerous forms of teaching, I went to more resources to further prepare myself. In terms of discussion, I went to “Effective Ways to Structure Discussion” by Maryellen Weimer. Her pointers of having a discussion “starter and wrapper” really help shape discussions, which can sometimes get off track without these (Weimer). Additionally, I thought that it was important to keep a low level of structure for the discussion-based lesson plan. “Sometimes discussions are too structured,” Weimer says, which led me to just having discussion questions to use if it were to go off course. Other than that, I wanted to give the students their freedom to direct the discussion. For small-groups, since it was the shortest lesson plan serving as the wrap-up, I found it best to be floating between other groups to make sure that everyone was on the right track and receiving helpful feedback. When it came to the presentation-based lesson plan which involved showing students what effective and non-effective peer reviews looked like, I went to the University of Leicester’s website offered on ELMS about delivering an effective presentation. The tip that I found the most helpful was “Number 3: Make contact with your audience” (“Delivering an Effective Presentation”). This was a tip that I often forget about because it’s easy to get nervous when we’re standing up and presenting something to a whole classroom. Keeping these in mind, I tried to be as engaging as possible when I was presenting. I practiced my presentation beforehand so that I was comfortable with my own words, which enabled me to be more engaging upon delivery. Reading the tip about keeping eye contact with students’ foreheads instead of their eyes comforted me because I’m someone that gets nervous about presenting.
The results, to my surprise, were more than positive. Not only were students effectively peer reviewing but they were also reaching out to me more often about a question on their papers. I believe that my emphasis on peer review was even more beneficial than I intended because some of my students wrote in their last reflective assignment that because of my passion for peer review, they were more comfortable in reaching out to me via email about wanting me to look over a section of their paper. They were taking this experimental online peer review as one of their favorite aspects of ENGL101S. They were learning more and more each time about their own writing process which hopefully improved their opinions about writing typical, horrid English papers. I wanted to take everything that I got from Elbow’s article into not just my Learning Artifact, but my overall presence in the classroom and from the looks of the feedback this semester, that is exactly what I did. The responses that I received from my students gave me nothing but joy and it only pushes me to be even better in my third semester being a UTA.
As a mentor, I wanted to be more tentative in the students in the classroom as well as beyond my boundaries of being an English UTA. In my second semester, I felt more confident in my responsibilities as a UTA but I still wanted to push myself outside of my actual work. So, I decided that I would arrive to class early and ask the students that were already there about any questions they had about college in general. This changed from my first semester when I would simply arrive early and not engage much with the students. After reflecting on my first semester, I knew that I wanted to be seen as not just the teaching assistant but a resource and mentor for my students since they were going through their first semester of college. A mentor is someone that anybody can learn from and it’s especially beneficial for freshman in college because mentors “strive to impart wisdom beyond textbook learning to own experiences” (Bierman). There is no shortage of advice; help doesn’t have to stop at English for an English UTA. I mainly just wanted to get discussion going with the students before class because I thought that not only could I offer them my resources, but it would also comfort them in the classroom setting before Professor Kim came in. I enjoyed this aspect of my second semester because it got the students participating before class even started, which naturally led them to participating throughout actual class time. I’m glad that I took this extra step this semester with coming to class early. It seems like a small change on the outside, but if there’s anything that I’ve realized in college, it’s that the smallest changes can make the biggest differences. If coming to class thirty minutes early means having strong participation and engagement in the classroom on top of knowing more about the Maryland campus as a whole, well, then that’s a small price to pay.
Above all, as a student, I still stand by my thoughts from my first semester. This is one of my favorite things to do outside of my major. Being a finance major, it is easy to get bored and frustrated with my school work being that all I look at is numbers. It’s easy to have your college career surrounded and saturated with nothing but your major and general education requirements that you don’t gain anything from. Choosing to be a UTA for ENGL101S showed me that it’s important to do things outside of your major because I would have never stumbled on this passion of mine if it weren’t for wanting to branch out. If there’s anything that I tell my students or fellow peers about college, it’s to do something outside of your major in college that you enjoy doing. For some, that’s dance. For others, it’s tutoring. For me, it’s being a teaching assistant. For me, it’s helping students in their first year of college, helping one of my favorite professors with his career, and helping myself in my sanity and major-filled college life. I have grown as a student in that I know to do activities and commitments outside of my major, but I have grown as a person in that I have discovered this second passion of mine. I am nothing but grateful to be doing this in college because it’s opened opportunities to other careers that I would enjoy and I believe that it has given me purpose in such a large campus like Maryland.
Works Cited
Bierman, Ben. “OPINION: Why good mentors are worth their weight in gold.” Independent Online, Independent Media, 3 Dec. 2017.
“Delivering an effective presentation.” ELMS
Elbow, Peter. “About Responding to Student Writing.” ELMS
Weimer, Maryellen. “Effective Ways to Structure Discussion.” Faculty Focus, Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, Faculty Focus, 19 May 2016.
Ever since first semester, I’ve been passionate about peer review. It all started when I read Peter Elbow’s “About Responding to Student Writing” and discussed the effect that peer review comments can have on a student’s writing process if they choose to go through a peer revision. In our discussion post that week asking us about Elbow, I still remember the end of the article in which Elbow reminds the reader that peer review means “respecting them and the dialogue to tell them some of our thoughts on what they are writing about” (Elbow). Not a lot of students know what when they go into peer review; they’re expected to know what to do and they’re expected to simply correct instead of offer feedback. As I left my first semester as a UTA and its weekly seminar, I knew that peer review was something that I wanted to take into my second semester. With numerous lesson plans that ranged from discussion to presentations to small groups, and kept what Elbow taught me in the back of my head as I tried to display that to my students with my Learning Artifact project. I wanted to have a larger presence in the classroom compared to last semester and challenge myself as a leader to take this responsibility to improve my students in peer review.
Since my Learning Artifact included numerous forms of teaching, I went to more resources to further prepare myself. In terms of discussion, I went to “Effective Ways to Structure Discussion” by Maryellen Weimer. Her pointers of having a discussion “starter and wrapper” really help shape discussions, which can sometimes get off track without these (Weimer). Additionally, I thought that it was important to keep a low level of structure for the discussion-based lesson plan. “Sometimes discussions are too structured,” Weimer says, which led me to just having discussion questions to use if it were to go off course. Other than that, I wanted to give the students their freedom to direct the discussion. For small-groups, since it was the shortest lesson plan serving as the wrap-up, I found it best to be floating between other groups to make sure that everyone was on the right track and receiving helpful feedback. When it came to the presentation-based lesson plan which involved showing students what effective and non-effective peer reviews looked like, I went to the University of Leicester’s website offered on ELMS about delivering an effective presentation. The tip that I found the most helpful was “Number 3: Make contact with your audience” (“Delivering an Effective Presentation”). This was a tip that I often forget about because it’s easy to get nervous when we’re standing up and presenting something to a whole classroom. Keeping these in mind, I tried to be as engaging as possible when I was presenting. I practiced my presentation beforehand so that I was comfortable with my own words, which enabled me to be more engaging upon delivery. Reading the tip about keeping eye contact with students’ foreheads instead of their eyes comforted me because I’m someone that gets nervous about presenting.
The results, to my surprise, were more than positive. Not only were students effectively peer reviewing but they were also reaching out to me more often about a question on their papers. I believe that my emphasis on peer review was even more beneficial than I intended because some of my students wrote in their last reflective assignment that because of my passion for peer review, they were more comfortable in reaching out to me via email about wanting me to look over a section of their paper. They were taking this experimental online peer review as one of their favorite aspects of ENGL101S. They were learning more and more each time about their own writing process which hopefully improved their opinions about writing typical, horrid English papers. I wanted to take everything that I got from Elbow’s article into not just my Learning Artifact, but my overall presence in the classroom and from the looks of the feedback this semester, that is exactly what I did. The responses that I received from my students gave me nothing but joy and it only pushes me to be even better in my third semester being a UTA.
As a mentor, I wanted to be more tentative in the students in the classroom as well as beyond my boundaries of being an English UTA. In my second semester, I felt more confident in my responsibilities as a UTA but I still wanted to push myself outside of my actual work. So, I decided that I would arrive to class early and ask the students that were already there about any questions they had about college in general. This changed from my first semester when I would simply arrive early and not engage much with the students. After reflecting on my first semester, I knew that I wanted to be seen as not just the teaching assistant but a resource and mentor for my students since they were going through their first semester of college. A mentor is someone that anybody can learn from and it’s especially beneficial for freshman in college because mentors “strive to impart wisdom beyond textbook learning to own experiences” (Bierman). There is no shortage of advice; help doesn’t have to stop at English for an English UTA. I mainly just wanted to get discussion going with the students before class because I thought that not only could I offer them my resources, but it would also comfort them in the classroom setting before Professor Kim came in. I enjoyed this aspect of my second semester because it got the students participating before class even started, which naturally led them to participating throughout actual class time. I’m glad that I took this extra step this semester with coming to class early. It seems like a small change on the outside, but if there’s anything that I’ve realized in college, it’s that the smallest changes can make the biggest differences. If coming to class thirty minutes early means having strong participation and engagement in the classroom on top of knowing more about the Maryland campus as a whole, well, then that’s a small price to pay.
Above all, as a student, I still stand by my thoughts from my first semester. This is one of my favorite things to do outside of my major. Being a finance major, it is easy to get bored and frustrated with my school work being that all I look at is numbers. It’s easy to have your college career surrounded and saturated with nothing but your major and general education requirements that you don’t gain anything from. Choosing to be a UTA for ENGL101S showed me that it’s important to do things outside of your major because I would have never stumbled on this passion of mine if it weren’t for wanting to branch out. If there’s anything that I tell my students or fellow peers about college, it’s to do something outside of your major in college that you enjoy doing. For some, that’s dance. For others, it’s tutoring. For me, it’s being a teaching assistant. For me, it’s helping students in their first year of college, helping one of my favorite professors with his career, and helping myself in my sanity and major-filled college life. I have grown as a student in that I know to do activities and commitments outside of my major, but I have grown as a person in that I have discovered this second passion of mine. I am nothing but grateful to be doing this in college because it’s opened opportunities to other careers that I would enjoy and I believe that it has given me purpose in such a large campus like Maryland.
Works Cited
Bierman, Ben. “OPINION: Why good mentors are worth their weight in gold.” Independent Online, Independent Media, 3 Dec. 2017.
“Delivering an effective presentation.” ELMS
Elbow, Peter. “About Responding to Student Writing.” ELMS
Weimer, Maryellen. “Effective Ways to Structure Discussion.” Faculty Focus, Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, Faculty Focus, 19 May 2016.