Gruber – The Hoofprint

Mentorship VS T.A. (teacher assistant)

Gruber — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:57:06 +0000

Some may think that being a mentor is much harder then being a teacher’s assistant, but really, there isn’t much of a difference between the two. When you T.A. for a teacher, most of the time, the teacher will have you correct papers, get something ready for the next assignment, or partner up with a student in the class to help them with an activity, or an assignment. When you are a T.A., at the end of the quarter you don’t need to take any exams, or complete any cumulative or reflective assignments.

This is where a mentorship differs from being a T.A.. When you are a mentor, at the end of the quarter you need to write a 500 word essay explaining the experience you had as a mentor for that class. Some people tend to see this as a challenge. “A mentorship really isn’t that difficult,” said Junior Whitney Nyholm. “500 words isn’t much over one page.”

Beside the essay, there really is no difference between a mentorship and being a teacher’s assistant. Despite the laziness of most people, a mentorship is more laborious, but also more rewarding than being a teacher’s assistant. The reflective essay encourages the mentor to dissect and digest the experience they had helping the class of students.

Teachers on Twitter?

Gruber — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:44:37 +0000

Twitter is a place where many students can go to express what they are feeling, or what someone is doing. It’s also a place where many high school students go when they want to complain about the day, a class, or even, sometimes, a teacher they have.

From time to time, teens will post inappropriate material, such as jokes or comments on twitter. Most of the time, the majority of the people who will read that tweet are your friends, and will not care so much. What if you had a teacher who never thought you would say something as offensive as that joke or comment you tweeted? Would everything you write on twitter change completely, or would you keep tweeting the same material? “I would just block the teacher,” said Sophomore Victor Zwack.

What would a teacher do if they saw a tweet from an unlikely source? Would they act like they even saw it? Would it just make that student-teacher relationship really, really awkward? Some students probably don’t care, and just keep on tweeting what they tweet, but others may fear that a teacher would turn them in.

Get to know your games

Gruber — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:37:52 +0000

Have you ever been sitting in class on one of the first days of the quarter, and the teacher tells you to go around the room and introduce yourself to all of the other students in the class? What’s your first thought? Is it “Why do I have to do this?” Maybe you think to yourself, “If I don’t know them by senior year, do I really need to know them now?”

When a teacher has you go around and fill out a sheet, and write down a student’s name next to a subject that the other student relates to, do you ever remember by the end of the day, or was that just random busy work being done? Do you even care? “I think it is a waste of time” said Senior Amanda Letsinger. What about when you just have to introduce yourself individually? We all know how to communicate with each other, so it is apparently not a matter of teaching us how to talk to each other.

Teachers might argue that this is an important way to get us associated with the rest of the class. It might have us open up with the rest of the class. If you feel more comfortable with your surroundings, then you will be more likely to talk and interact with the class’s activities than if you didn’t know anyone. You have more than likely experienced this before. Have you ever looked back at a time when you first met someone that you are good friends with now? You were probably less out going with that person than you are now.