My first week of tutorials went off fairly smoothly. I introduced myself, discussed the policies I wanted to enact and negotiated them with the class, and then we did an introduction activity. Normally I am not a fan of ice breakers as they feel very contrived, so this time I explained why it was important to me that I know a bit about each student. I told them that I am not very good with names or faces, but that I tend to remember people by stories I know about them. As we went around the room, instead of just writing down each person's name, I also tried to find some comment or question to ask each student about their story. I ended up learning a lot of cool things about my students. For example, I found out one of my students work with children with special needs, anoth volunteered in Haiti. Another one is a fellow fan of Adventure Time. Still another collects sheet music for film scores. I feel like this excercise let me see I each student as a unique individual and I'm very excited to see how their experiences play into the development of the course.
Another great thing that happened this week is one of my former students from last semester's tutorial in legal philosophy asked if I would like to join her for lunch. I wondered if perhaps there was a problem or she needed help with something, but it turned out she wanted to share a comment she made on the course feedback form regarding my performance:
"Bev was the best TA I have ever had. I nominated her for the best TA award. She has so much knowledge and shares tons of information with us constantly. She was so committed to our success and made us all feel so comfortable. She explained the course so well and made herself available almost 24/7 for anything we needed. I wish all TAs were as competent and committed as Bev. Bev made our class interesting and fun, and even bought us Timbits as a prize for our jeopardy game. She made getting up for a 8:30 am tutorial worthwhile. Great job Bev!"
Needless to say I was extremely flattered! I feel this semester is off to a great start!
