I filled in for Jason yesterday in his precalculus class. I didn't do much lecturing, but instead spent the whole time answering questions. As a result, it felt a whole lot like teaching section all over again.
I didn't do anything different from teaching sections back at UCSD. I asked them what question from the homework they had problems with, and then I proceeded to explain the concept and solution to them. However, I did notice a distinctive "desire" to learn, mostly from the students who seemed to be non-traditional (I originally typed "older", but I feel that it might be received as derogative to some).
There was one student in particular who struggled with something involving absolute values, but could not find the right question to ask to solve her difficulty. I had to ask her a couple times to try to rephrase her question because I couldn't figure out what was tripping her up. But she politely and patiently persisted in trying to wrap her mind around it until she was finally able to put it together. I've seen that sort of thing happen before at UCSD, but I also remember the student simply say "never mind" after struggling with it for a couple minutes.
I was a bit amused by her response after she put it all together: "Thanks for humoring me." That's a new one. I hope to see more of this from my evening classes this Fall.
