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