My Teaching Philosophy
I am constantly looking for a balance between personal freedom of the students and how to get them all learning the material. I like structure and when the instructor, or someone else with authority tells me to do something their way I rarely deviate from it because it is their class. When I have more freedom to run discussion in my own way, I like to work with the students to find a structure that works for all of us.
I feel that feedback is extremely important, I like to grade quickly and pass back student work asap. Similarly, I like my students to tell me when they want me to add something to my discussions - there are always guidelines that are set by the instructors (i.e. "don't give them the answer, guide them to it", "don't do solutions at the board", etc) which I will not go against, but if students are struggling with a particular subject and the review at the beginning of discussion isn't enough - I want to know, and I want to help them because without that feedback I can't help them learn.
I also really feel that each individual student has their own goals and expectations for each class, and I try to respect that. I try to see each perspective as best I can, and I try to meet their expectations if I can - I'm not here to restrict, force, or judge them - I'm just here to try and help them learn, and that's really all that can be asked.
Classes for which I have served as a Teaching Assistant
- Math 23, Third Semester of Calculus, Spring 2011: Duties included grading homework, leading two discussion sections per week, and holding office hours. I also gave one lecture during the semester.
- Math 132, Numerical Analysis 2, Spring 2010: Duties included grading homework, leading one discussion section per week, and holding two office hours per week. I also gave 3 lectures during the semester.
- Math 131, Numerical Analysis 1, Fall 2009: Duties included grading homework and exams, leading one discussion section per week, and holding office hours. I helped students learn how to program in matlab as well as learn the methods they were expected to program.
- Math 22, Second Semester of Calculus, Summer 2009: Duties include grading, leading a discussion section twice a week, and holding office hours.
- Phys 19, Electricity and Magnetism for Biology majors, Spring 2009: Duties included grading homework and exams, leading one discussion and/or lab group twice a week, and holding office hours.
- Math 131, Numerical Analysis 1, Fall 2008: Duties included grading homework and final exam, leading two discussion sections once a week which were meant to both help students learn how to program in matlab and learn the methods that they were expected to program.
- Math 21, First Semester of Calculus, Summer 2008: Duties included grading homework, quizzes, and exams, leading three discussion sessions twice a week, writing quizzes for each discussion, and holding office hours.
- Math 23, Third Semester of Calculus, Spring 2008: Duties included grading homework, quizzes, and exams, leading two discussion sessions once a week, and holding office hours.
- Math 24, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra, Fall 2007: Duties included grading homework, quizzes, and exams, leading two discussion sessions once a week, and holding office hours.