So I guess this is like my first ~official~ blog post. Well, as a TA for the Silk Road course, I do not have a bunch to say about the Silk Road project itself, for my part in the greater project is not until later in the semester. However, there has been a lot going on in regards to other work for the course as well as the Sky Team dynamics, and surprise, surprise, I’m stressing.
 
The Sky Team 9/22/16
The Sky Team is still working on narrowing down on a topic that will 1) have enough research to sustain the scope of the project, 2) be interesting and compelling for everyone in the group, and 3) work within the narrative format that is required for the Story Maps. And it is both frustrating and amazing how difficult it is to come up with a research topic within a group dynamic! I have done several research projects in school, mostly by myself, but I did do some in groups. However, the groups were smaller and we had, what felt like, more structure in terms of prompt and expectation. This Silk Road research project feels gigantic because there is SO MUCH that can be researched. How on Earth do we figure out a specific and narrow topic- a single drop- out of the entire ocean of information?? Hopefully meeting with the professors within the next week will help the team decide on a topic.
 
Also, our team lost a member this week. We are sad to see them go, but I do not think that it will be a huge deal for the project itself because we have not solidified a topic yet. It might make it easier to decide meetings and such as well. Speaking of, it has also been difficult trying to get everyone on the team together and to communicate with each other about the project. Since I am a TA and play more of a mentoring and advisory role, there is only so much that I can do about my team not communicating or talking outside of class and meetings with me. We have started doing weekly meetings all together, so hopefully that will help a little.
 
I think that I am also feeling overwhelmed because I am not actually a part of the research, so it feels out of my hands. But at the same time, I feel a responsibility for my team. Being a TA is like I am sitting outside of my team, in a weird limbo between student and teacher. Needless to say, navigating the role as a TA has been a very challenging part of the course so far! But I’ll get it!