Author: Jared Stang

I brought my backup computer in to use while teaching, and everything seemed to be going just fine….

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
I brought my backup computer in to use while teaching, and everything seemed to be going just fine. But, halfway through the class—in the middle of what was going to be a great revote—the clicker software crashed. Therefore, the class did not get to see how much their peer discussion helped them on this one.

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Practice talking about the content is helpful, and I always feel more relaxed when delivering the…

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
Practice talking about the content is helpful, and I always feel more relaxed when delivering the same material the second time. But, it’s through conversations with the students—seeing how they are making connections within the material—that I learn where to improve the most. Therefore, it’s mostly the bridges between sections and problems that feel smoother the second time.

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TAPD mini-modules week 6: Responding to the poll

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach, Physics and Astronomy
This semester, we’ve carved out time from the Teaching Assistants’ normal duties—a half-hour per week—to use for professional development activities. This post series tracks our weekly goals and activities. The slides are just right. The timing is on lock. This time, this time, I’m going to nail that description of the First Law of Thermodynamics. The class begins. I launch in, I hit all the right notes, I build to the crescendo of energy conservation. The…

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We began our discussion of heat transfer with a description of the First Law of Thermodynamics, and…

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
We began our discussion of heat transfer with a description of the First Law of Thermodynamics, and I connected the topic to our previous discussion of energy conservation with a demo. But, the “demo” was just an empty box sitting on a table. Therefore, it may have been the least exciting demo all semester.

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Broadening our view of energy, we turned to energy use in humans, and discussed how the chemical…

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
Broadening our view of energy, we turned to energy use in humans, and discussed how the chemical energy stored in food gets used up in our bodies and through our actions. But, it was the first time I had taught things related to metabolic power. Therefore, the words didn’t always feel perfectly comfortable coming out of my mouth.

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Earlier in the semester, my two sections of the course were at the same point in the content, and…

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
Earlier in the semester, my two sections of the course were at the same point in the content, and with each class each section would only do a bit more material. But, after a holiday and the midterm, one section is half a week ahead of the other. Therefore, now I get to practice an entire class already, and things are in general going smoother the second time around.

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TAPD mini-modules week 5: Closing the feedback loop

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach, Physics and Astronomy
This semester, we’ve carved out time from the Teaching Assistants’ normal duties—a half-hour per week—to use for professional development activities. This post series tracks our weekly goals and activities. As an instructor or TA, teaching evaluations are part of the job. As the end of the semester nears, students fill out university mandated evaluation forms, and a few weeks after the semester is over, you get the results. The trouble with this system is that…

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Chatting with some students before class, and they said that they would be moving on to the next…

Jared Stang Communication, Education and Outreach
Chatting with some students before class, and they said that they would be moving on to the next physics course in the series, which I will be teaching next semester. But, they sounded positive about the possibility of being in my class again. Therefore, I’ll be happy to see some familiar faces in the next course.

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