Rainy Days..

Placement related Issues

& How I overcame them 

Some Placement related issues I faced initially

Adjusting Timetable:
During the first few weeks of placement I felt I was a total mess and could not manage time properly. I was not able to complete my assignments on time or prepare for the quizzes. After Wednesday afternoon's lab, I had squash classes and then Thursday morning I had a quiz and an assignment due for my third year organic chemistry class. I used to feel exhausted by Wednesday night and could not prepare adequately for my quiz and assignment. It was a good thing that I realized I needed to do something about it before this problem started to get the better of me and my grades. I asked the Lab Manager Daniel if I could bring my lab manual to the C17 labs and prepare for my quiz while taking rounds in the labs. He was very accomodating to allow me to do that. I started to keep a to-do list on my phone and marked all major deadlines on my phone's calendar. I figured out the importance of that feature on my phone. That way I always did my work ahead of time so I did not have to quit squash or compromise on my grades and everything began to flow smoothly once I started taking more control over my life and became more responsible. 

Coordinating with the TAs and building trust amongst students:
My task was to help the students. I had to do that without contradicting anything the TAs had told them. Sometimes, I would tell the students to do something a certain way and then I would find out that the TAs had told them they could do it either way. It was the result of the different way I was taught to do things by my TA when I took the course. I realized at this point that I needed to communicate with the TAs more effectively to make sure that we were all on the same page. I took the initiative to go early for the labs when TAs were preparing the board and talk to them about the day's procedure. This way I was also able to boost my productivity and students did not recieve contradictory responses. This also resulted in a better relationship and communication with the TAs. This ultimately increased their trust in me and I gained more prominence amongst them. This also marked the start of a friendly relationship with many students. 

Managing time in both labs:
During each time slot I worked, Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, two labs were running and I had to help out students in both the labs. Initially, I was not able to manage that very well. This resulted in one lab seeing me less than the other. One of the TAs approached me about this and I devised an effective strategy to overcome this issue. I realized that one TA finished the lab talk before the other. As soon as one TA finished the lab talk and the other TA was still continuing, I would go to the lab where students had begun their experiments. Moreover, I would keep an eye on the TAs and see which TA was busy. If one of the TAs was more busy than I would spend more time with students in that particular lab. This maximized the productivity which resulted in more help available to students of both labs.