4 ms·
When I TA'd, I found that the students who ended up having trouble were the hardest ones to develop a relationship with. They never came to see me during office
by bonniemuffin 10y ago
When I TA'd, I found that the students who ended up having trouble were the hardest ones to develop a relationship with. They never came to see me during office hours, never came to complain about grading, so I never had an opportunity to get to know them. When the end of semester came around and it became apparent how badly they were doing, it was too late to help them.
- noxToken 10y agoBeen that student a time or two. In my case, it was because I was embarrassed. I mean, we know you know the grades. You looked at the work. I guess it was actually looking the prof/TA in the eye when you got a 30% knowing that the only people to blame for your failure is yourself. Hell, there was a time I took a quiz that I know I bombed. Instead of turning it in hoping for partial credit, I just walked out with it, balled it up, and threw it in the trash. What sense does getting a flat 0% make when you know you can get at least something by turning in some work?
- d--b 10y agoYou were a TA though, so you didn't have a lot of experience with these things. Perhaps after a few years, you would have been able to spot those who didn't seem to be catching on.
- drodgers 10y agoOr perhaps we could help experienced and inexperienced TA's alike with some kind of standardised analysis tools.
- analog31 10y agoUnfortunately, the trend is towards nobody having a lot of experience. A growing proportion of college teaching is being done by adjuncts, whose jobs rarely last for more than a couple of years. I lasted one semester.