Teaching

My teaching philosophy is centered on the core tenets of flexibility, inclusivity, and empathy. In alignment with these values, in any course that I teach, my objectives are:

1) To facilitate an inclusive, student-centered classroom space that individualizes learning experiences while actively encouraging a diversity of perspectives

2) To create an interactive environment that prioritizes learning through engagement with the scientific process

3) To make complex scientific information accessible and inspire critical thinking and inquisitiveness about the natural world in students

Current Teaching

Department of Forestry, Michigan State University

Instructor of Record, Seminar on Contemporary Issues in Forests & the Environment, Fall 2024, Enrollment / Student Profile: 142 students, all undergraduate level, forestry majors and non-majors (mostly freshman)

Learning Assistant, Seminar on Contemporary Issues in Forests & the Environment, Fall 2023, Enrollment / Student Profile: 117 students

Previous Teaching Experience

School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Teaching Assistant, Ecology and Evolution, Spring/Fall 2020, Spring/Fall 2021, Spring 2022; Enrollment / Student Profile: 18-33 students, all undergraduate level, Biology, Pre-Medicine and, Pre Health majors (sophomores, juniors and seniors)

Teaching Assistant, Biological Sciences, Fall 2019; Enrollment / Student Profile: 37 students, all undergraduate level, non-majors (mostly freshman)

The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia

Teaching Assistant, Teaching Practicum, Fall 2018; Enrollment / Student Profile: 20 students, all graduate level (MS and PhD)

Lead Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor, Dendrology, Spring 2018; Enrollment / Student Profile: 38 students, required course, mostly undergraduates

Teaching Assistant, Dendrology, Spring 2017

The Athens Free School (community-based network of instructors), Athens, GA

Tree Identification Instructor, May 2017-February 2018; Enrollment / Student Profile: 4-25 students, free courses, participants ~5-70 years of age

I led interpretive nature walks in a forested recreation area and instructed interested members of the community on how to identify common native and ornamental tree and shrub species

Quantitative Course Evaluations

All scores are out of 5 points, and the reported value is the average of student responses. NA is listed for questions that were not included on a given course evaluation.

5 = Very True; 4 = Mostly True; 3 = Partly True; 2 = Mostly Not True; 1 = Not True

**Note that I served as the prep TA for BIOS 207 in Spring 2021 and Spring 2022, and do not have access to my evaluations for Spring 2023, so reporting is as complete as possible given these constraints.

Teaching Portfolio

McNichol_Teaching_Portfolio.docx

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