This year I had a TA that I did not get along with. Most TAs that I've had have been understanding of our knowledge and had reasonable expectation for what we needed to do in lab. This was not the case in organic chemistry. I really didn't have high expectation for her at the beginning of the semester. But as we moved through the course, she really wasn't meeting my expectations at all. The pre-lab discussions would focus on minute details that weren't necessary to reiterate. The demonstrations she provided us where not well prepared and frankly useless. Her expectations for us in our report and lab work were not laid out at the start of the semester. But probably the most frustrating part was attitude and her lack of respect for us as students.
When I would get a report or quiz back, I would read it over to see if I had any questions or didn't understand what her comments meant. I would ask her to explain what she was correcting and she talked to me very defensively--like she was arguing with me about why she had to take these points off. I wasn't questioning the loss of points, I was asking her to explain the concept to me. She wasn't listening to my questions.
We just received our first formal report back with the comments and my marks were much lower than the comments seemed to merit, at least in my opinion. Because there were extensive comments and I had many question, I went to office hours to meet with my TA to discuss this issue one-on-one. Arriving a few minutes early to the meeting was apparently not the best move on my part. My TA questioned why I was early and walked in defending herself, before I had even asked a question. The answers she gave in response to my questions did not answer my questions at all. She assured me that the points would be given back with the corrections, when I was asking her to explain how her comments changed the meaning of my sentence. I couldn't see the difference and she couldn't explain them. Frustrated, I left without really understanding what I did wrong.
I made an appointment to talk to the lab coordinator about my TA's attitude and approach to dealing with students. That meeting did not go any better than the meeting my with TA. The coordinator explained that there were many students and many TAs, each with different personalities and grading styles. She told me to wait and see what happened with the next lab report and to talk to her again once those were graded. I went to her to see what her suggestions would be about talking to my TA who didn't answer my questions--were there other TAs to talk to? A way that she has found that works when communicating with my TA? Maybe I didn't phrase my questions correctly, but I wasn't getting the answers I was looking for from either the coordinator or the TA.
It is very frustrating to be confused, to be expressing that confusion and asking questions and then not having those questions answered. It makes me feel like I'm not being heard and that my confusion is not worth clarification. I thought they were supposed to be teaching me about the concepts and writing styles for a professional chemist. At this point, all I feel I've learned is that my TA cannot communicate well with students and that I should just deal with it until the end of the semester.
When I would get a report or quiz back, I would read it over to see if I had any questions or didn't understand what her comments meant. I would ask her to explain what she was correcting and she talked to me very defensively--like she was arguing with me about why she had to take these points off. I wasn't questioning the loss of points, I was asking her to explain the concept to me. She wasn't listening to my questions.
We just received our first formal report back with the comments and my marks were much lower than the comments seemed to merit, at least in my opinion. Because there were extensive comments and I had many question, I went to office hours to meet with my TA to discuss this issue one-on-one. Arriving a few minutes early to the meeting was apparently not the best move on my part. My TA questioned why I was early and walked in defending herself, before I had even asked a question. The answers she gave in response to my questions did not answer my questions at all. She assured me that the points would be given back with the corrections, when I was asking her to explain how her comments changed the meaning of my sentence. I couldn't see the difference and she couldn't explain them. Frustrated, I left without really understanding what I did wrong.
I made an appointment to talk to the lab coordinator about my TA's attitude and approach to dealing with students. That meeting did not go any better than the meeting my with TA. The coordinator explained that there were many students and many TAs, each with different personalities and grading styles. She told me to wait and see what happened with the next lab report and to talk to her again once those were graded. I went to her to see what her suggestions would be about talking to my TA who didn't answer my questions--were there other TAs to talk to? A way that she has found that works when communicating with my TA? Maybe I didn't phrase my questions correctly, but I wasn't getting the answers I was looking for from either the coordinator or the TA.
It is very frustrating to be confused, to be expressing that confusion and asking questions and then not having those questions answered. It makes me feel like I'm not being heard and that my confusion is not worth clarification. I thought they were supposed to be teaching me about the concepts and writing styles for a professional chemist. At this point, all I feel I've learned is that my TA cannot communicate well with students and that I should just deal with it until the end of the semester.
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