Here’s what the first-year students have to say about the two circuits courses they take with me, now that we’re nearing the end.

My Interpretation

They’re more confident in their time management, their organization, and their control over their learning.  I’m doing a better job of anticipating their thinking, and when I fail, a better job of not being visibly dismayed! They’ve made major improvements in their ability to articulate their ideas, especially their disagreements, clearly and respectfully.

Their Words

Letting myself make mistakes is how I learn the most.  Being able to reassess is allowing me to do this.

It seems there is more  material to cover compared to semester 1 — not sure if something could be moved to level out the material.

Fast-paced but able to keep up

Extensions help

Material is interesting — never boring or stale.

Students are contributing more in conversation — I see a noticeable improvement

Real-life situations — big improvement!

Hard to soak all the information in

Quit job or at least ask for time off

We are helping each other out more now than before.  It helps when others are stuck and have classmates to give a hand.

You do a great job being supportive

Teaching is great.  Having [conversations] at the end of labs really helps dig up the “funny,” also makes it easier to grasp important details that might get missed otherwise.

Things sometimes seem overwhelming but always manageable.

More people are showing up on time, prepared.

I think you have improved a lot with the understanding and being patient.

Horseplay in the lab is distracting — students should manage their time better instead of complaining about workload

Being able to book a meeting makes skills easy to get signed off, get to have 1:1 time with teach and ask questions, figure out problems.