Day Four - Don't Let Your Failures Obscure Your Successes

By: Deanna Babcock on 11:38 PM

Sometimes, as I've already mentioned, it's hard to explain something to a student. I had trouble with a student today who was struggling to understand what I was trying to say about her topic sentence being inconsistent with the rest of the paragraph. I came home feeling a bit bummed, thinking that I'd failed with that student. It was my failure, I thought, to get my point across - and maybe it was. I'm not sure how else I could have explained it: I said it at least three different ways, gave specific examples, and tried rephrasing it for her, but by the time I had to walk away to help another student, we were both somewhat frustrated with the encounter.

While telling a friend about how the class went overall, she reminded me that while this particular moment was unsuccessful, there were also many that were successful. I was focusing so much on what had had gone wrong with one student that I forgot to be excited about all the times that went right. 

Today was the first time I got to actually read students' work and directly help them. I was nervous at first, moving slowly toward one group of students, but still hanging off to the side, as the professor moved from one group to the next on the other side of the room. I waited for someone who looked like they needed help, but nothing came. The professor was already almost to my side of the room when I finally approached a group who seemed to be doing fine - and they all looked so relieved to see me and immediately began asking questions. It gave me the confidence to walk up to other groups and do the same, and I was met with the same reaction every time. It was really fun, and I excelled at answering the questions and clarifying points for the students (apart from the previously mentioned incident). 

My favorite thing about the day was after answering a question, or telling a student they were doing it right even though they thought they weren't. I'd seen the look they gave me many times over the years from other students in my classes, and I'm sure I've made the same face several times: the look of understanding, of relief that you finally get it, that you're doing it right. It was great to see that look being aimed at me so many times. Though I haven't done much actual teaching yet, in those moments I felt, finally, like a teacher.

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Day Three - Explaining What You Know

By: Deanna Babcock on 10:56 PM

This post is related to the previous post, in which I discussed the revelation I had that students have to start somewhere, and therefore do not always have the same skills as a more advanced student. I noted that the students were asked to list 10 facts from their chosen articles, which would be used to write summaries.

Today they were asked to write a brief paragraph summarizing their articles, utilizing their lists of facts (though the professor never explicitly made this connection for them). As soon as everyone began writing, the professor stepped into the next room to take care of something for an individual student, leaving me alone with the class. After a brief moment of panic, I realized it was no big deal. If anyone needed help, I knew how to write a summary, so I could handle it.

I stood in front of the class for a bit, waiting for a raised hand or confused face, and it didn't take long before the first student looked up at me, waiting for me to come to her aid. Her question was fairly simple: "Can we use the list of facts we wrote?" I not only answered with a simple "yes," but also demonstrated ways in which she could use the most important of those facts. She seemed far less confused, and I walked back to the front of the room feeling confident in my ability to help these students.

This continued for a while, with one student occasionally raising a hand or looking at me with a baffled expression until I came to them. The questions were all basically easy for me to answer: "What if my article doesn't have an author?" "She told us to include ____, but I didn't write it in my list. Do I still write it in the summary?" "What are we supposed to be doing again?"

While I knew the answers to each question, I was sometimes unsure whether I was communicating them well. I asked one student at least twice if what I was saying made sense, but he said it did, so I stopped worrying so much. I stumbled a bit at first with each student, hoping that what I was saying wasn't over their heads, but I soon found my footing and realized that I needed to explain it in ways they could understand. I mostly did this by keeping it conversational, by not panicking about being wrong or not making sense. I did exactly what I told some of them to do with their summaries: explain it as if a friend asked. The worry about doing something wrong seemed to ease - both for them and for me. I knew the answers to every question I was asked, without any doubt that I was wrong; my concern was how to answer the questions. But once I relaxed, I excelled, and the students seemed more confident in completing their assignments.

My favorite part of the day was when the professor came back into the room, but the students still defaulted to me for most of their questions (unless they were about the course in general). The professor is very nice and approachable, and it's clear she wants to help her students, so it wasn't intentional avoidance of her in favor of someone nicer or more helpful. It gave me a huge boost of confidence that they trusted me to answer their questions, plus it was fun, so I really hope they continue asking me for help throughout the semester!

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Day Two - Don't Assume Students Know What You Know

By: Deanna Babcock on 2:00 PM

The students' first homework assignment made me realize something important: they enrolled in this course because their writing needs improvement, but I've been expecting them to understand different types of papers. I've been writing them throughout my college education, so to me they're old news. These students are new to college and to many different genres, and I need to keep that in mind.

With half an hour left of the day, the class moved next door to the school's writing center. They were instructed to find an article about autism on one of the library databases (they were shown how to do this before moving). The articles will be used for their first essay, which is a brief summary paper. In my mind, it was simple: You find the article, you summarize it, you write it down, you turn it in. So what? 

It wasn't until she announced the homework assignment that I realized it's not necessarily that simple for students who have never encountered summary papers. The professor told them to write a list of 10 facts from their chosen article and bring the lists to class on Tuesday. This assignment, which to me would seem tedious, is an important step in preparing the students to write their first summary essay. While my first thought was "Wow, that's such an easy assignment; just skip to the summary," I now understand her reasons behind it. It's little things like this that made me really glad I'm getting this experience and understanding that not everyone knows the things I know - and I only know them because I'm further in my education than these students. 

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Day One - Reasons for Enrolling in an Optional Writing Course

By: Deanna Babcock on 8:59 PM

On just my first day as a teaching assistant, I already learned some things. I haven't been anywhere near an intro writing course in six years, so I wasn't sure what they would learn or write. This course doesn't even count for students' required English course; it's a precursor to the composition course all students are required to take. Upon enrolling for their first semester, all incoming students needing an English course take a writing placement exam. Most are recommended for the highest level of the three classes. Some, however, are placed in one of the two lower courses, but those who place in the middle level have the option to take the highest level if they feel they are ready. This class is the second level, in the middle between fairly strong writers and weaker writers.

The students in this class, then, were able to register for the highest level, but chose not to. I was unaware that they had this choice until the first day, but it was encouraging to know that the students took the class intentionally in order to develop their skills before taking the required course. The professor had them introduce themselves, and each was asked why they were in the course. Most of the reasons were what I expected, but a few shocked me. Here is a list of the reasons given:

1. "I want to become a better writer."

This was the most common response by far. Though not an unreasonable, or even surprising, thing to hear from this particular group of students, the phrasing bothered me. I was excited that so many seemed sincerely willing to learn and improve, but the unstated assumption here is that they all believe that they are bad writers. Some even said this while sounding dejected - perhaps worried about their "bad" writing. 

2. "I'm a terrible writer."

Though similar to the previous reason, I felt this one was even worse. Only one girl said this, but she truly believed it. The professor must have had the same reaction as I did, because she asked the girl why she felt she was "terrible," but the student was unable to really give a specific answer. I have yet to see her writing, and don't know how much I will see throughout the semester, but I really hope that by the end, she no longer uses this word to describe her writing - or, worse, to describe herself as a writer.

3. "I want to learn to write a college paper."
This, again, only came from one student. Most, if not all, of the students in this class are fresh out of high school. I can hardly remember how we wrote papers in high school, but if I'm correct, it was mostly just summaries and info-dumps. I've always enjoyed and felt that I have excelled at writing, but when I came to college and was asked to write analyses and persuasive papers and research papers, I was so lost. I hope this class will ease the transition from high school writing to college writing for these students. I'm really glad that at least one of them realized there is a difference between the two types of papers, and that they will now be challenged more - many of us are unaware of this until we are thrown in head-first.

4. "I think faster than I write."
Oh man, do I understand this one. Sometimes my ideas come so quickly that I have to slow down and make bulleted lists before continuing, or just toss my ideas onto the page as they come and organize them later. This is important, and it was good to hear that this student recognized this in herself. I think it's something a lot of writers do, and probably the way to overcome it is by finding a way to get your ideas down before they're gone.

5. "I want to learn to talk right."
This one made the whole class, including the student who said it, break into laughter. Speaking correctly is good not only for speaking, but also for writing. I truly believe that writing well can help you speak well, and vice versa. I think this student has come to the right place!

6. "I need to learn how to make my writing less choppy." "I need work on transitions." 
I lumped these two together because they were similar and were from the same student. This was the only specific explanation given about why someone believes they are a "bad" writer. It was refreshing to see that one of them understood exactly what needed improvement. The other students didn't necessarily have to specify, but it makes me realize how hard it can sometimes be to identify the problems you can have when writing; you know you have them, you just don't know what they are.

7. "I need help with grammar."
When this one was said, my immediate thought was "college classes don't teach grammar." At least that's what I've been told since I first set foot on campus. But then the professor said that they will have two grammar tests for the semester. Although there's still the part of me thinking "they should have learned that already, they should know how to use proper grammar," I know that's (unfortunately) not always the case. Many don't seem to understand most grammar rules, and others seem to have trouble with a few ambiguous or confusing rules. I really hope that the grammar tests help them improve and feel more confident in their writing.

I was glad to hear the students' reasons for enrolling in an optional writing course rather than the higher level course they would have to take eventually anyway, because I realized that they all wanted to learn  and, of course, "become better writers."

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