Saturday, December 09, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
A Switch in Time
There's a minor ick at USU (Urban Sprawl University - You like?).
We're planning out the next course in the series that I'm TAing, and we had all the times and dates down, so I let my students know which classes I'll be TAing so that they can avoid me next time or (god help 'em) choose to take the class with me. Anywhoo, it turns out that now I'm going to have to switch class times with another TA due to the other TA having a seminar that must be taken. The seminar time was TBA, but now it's been A'ed, and it conflicted, and I'm the only other TA that can cover the class that X is going to have to give up. In return, X is going to take one of my classes.
So, no real trouble except a minor inconvenience, right? Well, not so much. Naturally, all the students had to lock in their class choices early, and many chose based on the times I told them. See, I know I'm being less than kind here, but even though I like the other TA a lot, I'm finding it hard to answer my students when they say, "So how X as a TA?" 'Cause the thing is, well, I'm not sure I would want to take a class from X. Some of this impression of X as a TA is subjective, but some of it is fairly well-founded.
I tell them that X is a great person, but I haven't sat in on X's classes, so I don't know what they're like. That's all true, but it's a bit disingenuous.
The material for the classes will all be basically the same, but we're given a lot of leeway and have a huge impact on the class, and I'm sure part of this is overstating my own abilities and blindness toward my own faults, but I'm worried about my students.
On the other hand, there isn't much I can do but try to steer them toward other TAs if the can switch, and if they can't switch, well... Harumph...
We're planning out the next course in the series that I'm TAing, and we had all the times and dates down, so I let my students know which classes I'll be TAing so that they can avoid me next time or (god help 'em) choose to take the class with me. Anywhoo, it turns out that now I'm going to have to switch class times with another TA due to the other TA having a seminar that must be taken. The seminar time was TBA, but now it's been A'ed, and it conflicted, and I'm the only other TA that can cover the class that X is going to have to give up. In return, X is going to take one of my classes.
So, no real trouble except a minor inconvenience, right? Well, not so much. Naturally, all the students had to lock in their class choices early, and many chose based on the times I told them. See, I know I'm being less than kind here, but even though I like the other TA a lot, I'm finding it hard to answer my students when they say, "So how X as a TA?" 'Cause the thing is, well, I'm not sure I would want to take a class from X. Some of this impression of X as a TA is subjective, but some of it is fairly well-founded.
I tell them that X is a great person, but I haven't sat in on X's classes, so I don't know what they're like. That's all true, but it's a bit disingenuous.
The material for the classes will all be basically the same, but we're given a lot of leeway and have a huge impact on the class, and I'm sure part of this is overstating my own abilities and blindness toward my own faults, but I'm worried about my students.
On the other hand, there isn't much I can do but try to steer them toward other TAs if the can switch, and if they can't switch, well... Harumph...
10.16mi - 1:17'15"
New route today. Actually kinda nice run once I got to the grassy part. Sadly, to get the grassy part, you have to run through about a mile and a half of sidewalks and crosswalks with balky crosswalk buttons. hmm... Still it was an out and back run that I could take longer, and it was pretty flat, so I'm sure I'll find use for it.
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