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[music] >>Narrator: Often times in SI training we
talk about small session sizes, 4 to 6 students at a time, but what if you have a huge session
size? What if 15 people show up to your session 30 or 50? Don’t worry it will be ok!!
The first thing to do is come prepared. Often times, these sessions will only happen around
test time or near a quiz. So making a hand out with problems may be a good idea or playing
a game that allows students to work together to solve problems will work too. If there
ever is a day to have an Agenda posted for your session it would be now. The agenda will
give an immediate structure to the session and show the group you ARE the leader!
When the students are doing the activity, encourage them to ask each other for help
or form teams. When it is time for the answers to be gone over, pick students to answer the
problems and come to the board to explain their answer. From there they can pick other
students to ask the next question. This way everyone will be alert because they might
be next to the board. Remember that it is ok if the dynamic of the
session is different from regular sessions. It is OK if you need to speak louder or move
around the room more for crowd control. Also don’t forget about your SI regulars, they
already know what SI is and how sessions should run. It is perfectly all right to ask the
regulars to be team leaders for the session activity or to play off their understanding
of a session to help give the new comers an idea of the structure of the session.
If you feel overwhelmed you can take a minute to step out of the session to breathe and
collect yourself. The students are here for your help and do not to feel intimidated by
a large crowd; they all want to learn from you! Most importantly, remember you are in
control of the session and there to help the students!!