Friday, September 23, 2011
Best Week of Physics
I only had one class this past Tuesday and it had to be physics. It was supposed to be a day of studying because I also had a calc exam that night. The thought of skipping lecture was in my mind, because I never learn anything from my professor. For some reason I changed my mind and ended up there a few minutes early. I did not want to be there, but I noticed that my professor wasn't at the front. My first thought was he was just in the back about to come out. This other American professor was there and said, "Well let's get started." I thought it was a joke. He then explained how our professor is out of town for this week and he was going to lecture us. He started out his lecture and wow, it's amazing how much you can learn when a professor explains clearly and goes through many examples. This must of been the best week of physics for me, but sadly, I will again go through lectures with a state of confusion starting next Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy math TA is the same way. He goes on and on about all of these math steps and I can barely understand him. He'll stop every few minutes and say "you understand?", but if you ask him a question he won't understand what you're asking and he'll go off on some random tangent. So I just sit there in a state of complete confusion. He's a really nice guy but can't seem to get the grasp of the necessity to teach in understandable English and to clarify whatever the heck he is talking about. (Jayne)
ReplyDeleteKarlyn, I really feel for your TA. International Teaching Assistants are under an extraordinary amount of pressure to be successful in everything they do. They are often brought to the US with a Research Assistantship (RA), then asked to be a TA at some point in their education. The only problem is, many of them have the necessary English to take classes and converse casually, but not enough to teach. So, they're put through a one semester class, and if they don't certify, they risk losing their Assistantship completely and not being permitted to finish their degree. I really wish that these grad students had more support, so that they can either remain RAs or practice their English more before becoming TAs.
ReplyDeleteJosh, in your case however, Professors do not have to take a class to become better teachers! Since Purdue is a Research University, many professors are hired due to their excellent research, but not because they are excellent teachers.