On Leading Discussions

This semester I'm TAing for Intro to Sociology and I'll be leading four discussion sections for the class. The way that intro classes are handled in the Sociology department is fun. Two out of the three days that class is normally held there is a lecture by a professor and for the other class period a graduate student facilitates discussion. The class I'm TAing for has 300 students and so the three grad students (myself included) have 12 discussion sections total. We'll each have four. I have one discussion section on Friday mornings and the other three on Mondays.

Friday's went okay. I was a bit nervous and a bit unsure of the material I was covering... not that I didn't know what I was talking about, but there was so much of it that I could have covered... I wasn't sure of the topics that I did choose. After we went over the syllabus we did some ice breakers and I lectured a bit and let them go. I trailed off (at least) once, getting lost in my own voice. I apologized and told the students that sometimes I sometimes get distracted knowing that they're all listening to me go on and on and on and I lose my thoughts. The class is smaller than 2 of my others, but I think this next session will have more students... I think. It's the class that's still developing, I had a hard time getting a good feel for how the discussions will go. The Friday class was the only class that I didn't have any discussion in, which accounts for why it doesn't have a "feel" yet.

Today I had three sessions and as the day progressed I got increasingly nervous about the fact that the afternoon sessions were probably going to be REALLY FULL. I distracted myself but still felt like the new kid in school, the one who wants to impress everyone with their hip skills.

This morning I only had 6 students and we did discuss some sociological material, so that was nice. I got to know them a bit more than Friday's class and I think it'll be nice to have a smaller class in the morning.

This afternoon I had two full classes (about 25 students) back to back and it was a lot easier to fill the class period with the larger class. Duh. I did a bit more ice breaking, trying to build community and make students feel comfortable talking in front of each other. I even got them to laugh! At me... but, that's beside the point.

I didn't feel like a rockstar or super genius but I think I impressed myself. I expected a bit more floundering with the larger classes and really, it was a bit easier to relax and let them guide the discussion. While I was covering social institutions and social identity I noticed some confused looks... I hope they were trying to ingest the material or plan their evenings... not questioning what I was saying. Looks like that cut right through my "plan" for the conversation.

Overall, I think I'm going to like my classes. I'm glad that the larger classes are going to be the ones that I've had the most time to prepare for and practice my lectures and I like the intimacy of the smaller, earlier classes. The jury's still out on whether 3 classes on Monday will be awesome or awful, but I think it'll be a bit more awesome.

Here's to hoping for (and having) a great semester! (Knock on wood)