Teaching

Learning student names helps me see them as individuals. When I first began working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), my ~200 students appeared as a homogeneous mass of young adults. Some student names stuck in my brain through conversations with them and I realized it helped me recognize them as distinct individuals. That led me to deliberately study my rosters, with the goal of being able to address each student by name. The plot shows my progress for the Fall 2019 semester. By seeing a class full of individuals, I can adapt my teaching to better connect the lessons with their life experiences and professional goals.

What do my students know?
Where are they still struggling?
How can I help them learn better?
Throughout my teaching, I seek to collect useful data to answer these questions. Online engagement can be quantified in ways that help me catch students slipping through the cracks. In-person classroom experiences are full of subtly important moments. Reflecting on those moments, and paying attention to quantitative data, help my iterate and improve my practice.