Excuse the title, I'm not sure where I was going with it. It was either that or "The Question Ball: Friend or Foe?" Neither of them make much sense, but I digress.
I found this week's class to be both fun and informative. Starting things off with naming our strengths and skills that need improvement got me into the right frame of mind right away. This class is about bettering ourselves and I think that exercise helped me realize it.
Just so everyone knows, I love the question ball. As soon as I was selected as a Peer Mentor I thought to myself, "I am so using the question ball as an ice breaker in my recitation sessions." I remembered doing the activity during my freshman recitation session. It not only lets everyone learn more about the people in class, it also helps the group to become more familiar with each others names (which we all needed a little bit of). I found myself giving my own answer to most of the questions everyone else got. I was really hoping to get the "What is your dream job?" question because I've had an answer to that question for quite a while now. Since I was in elementary school, I loved doing comedy and making people laugh. It is definitely just a dream at this point but I want to host The Tonight Show. I would be in heaven if that ever happened.
The role playing exercise was very useful. Although you can't exactly recreate a student problem situation, it helped to at least practice handling a similar situation. Listing all the possible stresses for a first year student definitely made me realize how many different questions the students could ask me next Fall. It seems a little overwhelming at the moment but I look forward to being much more prepared to handle their questions and problems by the end of this semester.
I agree with you about the question ball, Tyler. I too, thought that it was a really fun icebreaker. It was somewhat spontaneous as well because you weren't for sure which question your thumb was going to land on. Thinking spontaneously is a skill that we will definitely have to master while teaching a class. Good post!
ReplyDeleteTyler,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I'd like to say I'm looking forward to working with you this semester while we do our lessons plans in front of the entire class. Secondly, I like how you have a dream. Dreaming can lead to setting goals, working hard, and fulfilling those dreams in the future. Lastly, It's good to have dreams because you have an idea, or path you want to take to reach that goal. That's exactly what I think we can rub off to all the students next fall.
-KAT
I think the question ball is definitely a good icebreaker and a great way to get to know a little more about everyone. I think a lot of us will be taking advantage of it when we teach recitations this fall! I agree with you on the role playing, it made us all realize how prepared we would have to be to react to a variety of problems. I'm confident that by the time we're teaching freshman Hixsons, we'll all be more than prepared to handle these situations!
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