Being a good workshop leader means learning from your students. Each week in the workshop, there will be a different atmosphere in the classroom depending on the external factors affecting the students. Here, we will outline some of the potential scenarios a workshop leader could face and how they can tackle the problem without allowing it to affect the lesson plan. We will go through some common scenarios, like quiet students, teaching peers our age, students losing focus, self-disclosure about non-classroom topics.

Here are some real life experiences that we as Biology 110 Workshop Leaders faced and how we overcame them:

1. Teaching Peers

SCENARIO:

Being a student teacher is tricky enough, but having to teach people you know in your grade level is even more challenging. This year I had to teach a class completely full of people in my sophomore year and most of them I knew very well. One was even my roommate freshman year. Obviously, this made me terrified that if I messed up or was a terrible workshop leader that it would haunt me forever.

STRATEGY:

So to tackle this terror, I came extra prepared to my workshop, so that if there were any questions I had a correct answer to give. Over the past several weeks, I have noticed this method of teaching has truly been effective as several of them have emailed me questions and stayed after class to clarify concepts. Therefore, I would recommend creating a solid foundation of trust between you and your peer students in order for them to respect you as a teacher.

2. The Quiet Case

SCENARIO:

Some students are quiet in class and do not participate often. Sometimes this may be due to students not being prepared, but other times a student might be shy. I think that being a TA after taking the class the previous year has helped me to see what it’s like to be a student in the workshop.

STRATEGY:

Personally, I try not to call on students as I think that if they are shy it can make them really scared for the next workshop. Over the past several weeks, I have tried several different methods and have found they all worked in different ways. One, try starting each workshop with a goofy icebreaker. I know sometimes students think icebreakers are a waste of time, but I think meaningful ones can really add to making the environment more comfortable for shy students. For instance, I asked everyone to write their favorite Starbucks order on the board as one of my icebreakers. My class chatted the most during this ice breaker which led to a class full of participation and laughter. More recently, I tried an icebreaker where students had to describe their semester as a fruit. One student said a squashed tomato which made the other students burst into laughter, while also comforting the student by saying they had similar experiences. Second, create some awkward silence. Let the students see that you are not going to just feed them answers. Get them to try on their own first. I’ve found that one student will always answer if enough time passes. After doing this method for several weeks, I have found that I no longer have to create awkward silence as students understand that I expect participation from them.

3. Language Barrier

SCENARIO:

A couple of the students speak a different language occasionally in class to each other. Sometimes, it’s a side conversation while something bigger is going on, and other times it’s when everyone is broken into smaller groups to discuss. The latter is not so much an issue as the former is, but is not ideal still. The main paradox in this situation is the fact that I did not have the heart to tell them, especially when I have already built meaningful connections with the students in this workshop section. I don’t want to accidentally hurt them.

STRATEGY:

Being upfront about it, especially after class (since I’m comfortable talking to them in any scenario about anything) shows that I still care about them, but they also need to understand the needs of the rest of the class and adjust for the good of everyone. Furthermore, an easier way to deal with this situation is to divert everyone’s (especially those speaking in a different language) attention back to the workshop and to ask a question related to the topic at hand. Thus, everyone stops talking and listens to the workshop leader.

4. Minor Freakouts

SCENARIO:

Each class of mine ends with opening up the room to questions anyone may have. Also, I open up the room to conversation if anyone wants help with any schoolwork or just wants to vent or talk in general. Thus, I ask if there are any “minor freakouts”. I usually never expect someone to stay after to speak to me, but one day a student did. I won’t disclose any information, but I was taken by surprise when someone felt comfortable enough to open up to me. This is a sign that I am approachable as a workshop leader.

STRATEGY:

The most important thing to do in these situations is to be a good listener. Sometimes, all they want is validation, and not direct advice. Just make sure they know you are listening and taking in what they have to say. Another thing to keep in mind is to keep everything said confidential and to make sure no one else knows. It helps to wait until every other student has left the classroom so they can speak safely and know that the workshop leader has their full attention.

5. Prepared or Not

SCENARIO:

On many occasions, there always seems to be an imbalance between students who are prepared and students who aren’t as prepared. The reason behind this may be that some students are attending the lectures daily and other students haven’t been attending. As a result, some students are behind and because they’re behind, they won’t be as engaged with the workshop material. It is challenging to promote discussion with students who may not be familiar with the material and also challenging in making sure that one student is not dominating the discussion.

STRATEGY:

In this situation, the best approach is to pair the students up. It wouldn’t be ideal to pair the student who participates a lot with a quiet person as the student who participates a lot will just dominate. It would be ideal to pair the quiet and unprepared students with students who are prepared, but just quiet. By pairing two quiet students together, they are more willing to share out equally and the prepared student can help fill in the missing gap of information.

6. The Burnt Out Student

SCENARIO:

As students who intend to be on the pre-med track, the course load is understandably gonna be heavy. Depending on the time of the workshop, many students can come into the workshop exhausted. This is especially true if the workshops are taking place in the afternoon or later in the day like mine are. In my case, all my students have already had to attend multiple lectures and even labs before coming to my workshop. As a result, having already had a long day of school, many students have found it difficult to stay engaged with the workshop materials and one or two are having trouble staying awake during the workshop. Since many students are tired and not as engaged, the conversation or discussion would also be slow. Sometimes, students are just exhausted and with access to their phone and laptop, it is natural for them to just disengage from the workshop material.

STRATEGY:

All these behaviors are understandable as I can relate to them. After a long day of school, especially if I got back-to-back classes, I would have felt extremely tired. As a result, since I’m so tired, I also wouldn’t want to sit down and attend a 2 hr long workshop. With this mindset and having a good understanding of what my students are feeling, I think it appropriate for me to change how I lead the workshop. For example, I would implement small activities that would help energize them at the beginning. These small activities would be some competitive games like Kahoot and Pictionary. Furthermore, I would also offer breaks between the 2 hr. By offering my students 5 to 7 minutes of break, they can just relax and recharge for a while.

Before beginning a workshop here is a checklist you can follow to help you access the classroom atmosphere:

• Look around. How do the students look? Are they quiet, your age, focused etc.?
• Based on the students’ moods? How can your mood as a workshop leader re-energize the students?
• Be prepared for known factors. For instance, some students may not be as prepared as others. Tackle this by partnering them into groups, so the prepared are with some not prepared.

Using this outline, workshop leaders can tackle difficult or uncomfortable scenarios simply by learning from their students and adjusting their teaching style to best fit.

More links to check out!

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/uk/blog/students-teachers-Check out this link to explore more ways to encourage students teaching other students (peer to peer teaching)!

FACTORS IN THE SELF-DISCLOSURE INPUTS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS-Check out this link for some more tips on how to make a good impression on your rst day as a peer leader.

https://www.ohio.edu/cas/about/assessment/teaching-assistant-resources/rst-semester-ta-survival-guide-Check out this link for a TA Survival Guide