giving tutorials

life as a postgrad is rather strange.... you seem to have a lot of freedom (within some limits and conscience) to plan your day.... you learn some bits about departmental politics (which i'd rather not know)??and seem to have the assumed ability to give tutorials to undergrads. a few weeks ago, i signed down to give a first-year psychology tutorial class for this academic year....not really feeling that i am totally qualified nor desperate for the pay but mainly seeking the experience....and partly for selfish reasons ? to refresh my memory on things i have come across before but forgotten?or to have an excuse to read up on things i have been meaning to?.y?know? heee

psychology tutorials as i remember 6 yrs ago (when i was a first-year student) were rather boring and unstructured, ????..at least i felt that my tutor, who was and still is a postgrad like myself, didn't engage the class enough nor provided much inspiration.... today, course organisers have made an attempt to better structure the course (which usually caters over 200 students and in the current year over 300! ?..why people seem to favour psychology to other subjects is mind-boggling?.because really?you don?t learn to read peoples? minds --as most people queried me when i revealed the course i did in university --?nor thoughts or ?socks?! ? as one of my professors in Germany seem to always give the impression of saying even when he actually means ?thoughts??..you learn that not in psychology per se but in life and learning to be aware..?.e.g. knowing some people very well and/or yourself as you mature with experience and hopefully with age!) with both guided and independent work as well as discussion topics and so it should be clearer to tutors what they have to prepare for each tutorial....

in my opinion?.the first tutorial is kind of crucial?.you have to make your students like you?.which is rather silly because they really don?t have to but it does help if they do?.i suppose, don?t you think? i didn?t want it to be such a formal class?.but there were also some boring or ?bloody administration? (to quote Dr. Sabine Rolle, my German teacher --- yes i am trying to keep up my limited but still functional German and if possible improve my pathetic grammar?!) and an ?off-putting? questionnaire to deliver, thanks to some researcher in Queens, Belfast, who was collecting information on what sort of mathematical skills freshmen bring to university ( i remember completing one of these 6 years ago?.s/he?s obviously still collecting data?.and probably comparing the findings across cohorts?.love to see what s/he?s found! ). nonetheless, we did have some fun sharing with each other some true/false facts about ourselves in a wee ice-breaker?. on a little piece of paper, each of us wrote down our names, and three short sentences describing something about ourselves: one of which has to be true, and the other two may be either true or false. all the bits of paper got tossed in my cool woolly hat and was passed round. each person got to read out the facts about someone and everyone else had a go at guessing the truths?.and just for laughs?. here's what yours-truly scribbled:
#1: i am a tea-addict
#2: i skinny-dip for fun
#3: i am desperately looking for a Dutch-style bicycle
the last one was meant to be an advert but obviously and very sadly no one took it seriously enough?.so i haven?t had any luck with my bike hunt?..sigh?.. worth a try though?.no?

tutorials occur every fortnight?.and i have the challenging task of nurturing my 17 tutees in different skills?..2 weeks ago we went through the distribution exercise (part of their statistical education) and i briefed them about how to write essays because they have one to submit this coming Monday?.and for most of them, it would be their very first attempt on academic discourse?..which is rather daunting. i wished i had more time to really show them how it could/might be done?.there?s such a big gap between being told how to do something and actually doing what you should or the process of achieving it ?..i suppose, the harsh fact of life is that they will have to somehow learn and figure it out for themselves?..no doubt they will get feedback from me for their essays?.i suppose the best way to learn is to practice doing it! hmm.

next Tuesday we will discuss the Chi-square exercise?.and related aspects of the statistical test?.e.g. expected vs. observed findings?.and i have courageously set them a discussion topic on Consciousness which is related to their current lecture series on Perception?.hmm which means some serious reading for me this weekend?.apart from trying to actually get going with my own research! ???gosh i hope we?ll have a fun discussion??we?ll just have to find out on Tuesday, don?t we?

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Saturday, 8 November, 2003 at 01:56 hrs