Below are a representative subset of positive student evaluations from my teaching of introductory biology labs.
“Jeremy was my favorite TA I’ve ever had. He was constructive, helpful, friendly, and humorous sometimes (which was good for a late lab). He really took the time to help me and explain things to me that I didn’t understand. I really liked him. I will miss having him as a TA.”
“Jeremy was the best TA I’ve ever had. He was so good at explaining topics and made you feel like you could ask questions and make mistakes.”
“Jeremy was a great TA. He made lab actually enjoyable. He was very funny, but also stuck to the topic and got things done in an efficient manner. He was always very kind to each student, supporting, and you could tell he wanted us to succeed. My favorite TA I have ever had.”
“Jeremy is the BEST lab TA I have had at UW Madison. He is open, friendly, and creates a comfortable lab environment. Less stress = more enjoyable lab.”
“All around fantastic TA. Encouraged failure in a positive, learning way.”
“Draws conclusions to real life – helps students understand purpose for activities instead of just going through the motions. Jeremy described statistics better in five minutes of class than my statistics professor. Awesome TA.”
Based on this feedback, one area of teaching in which I have had success is in creating a classroom environment that encourages questions and allows students to make mistakes during classroom discussions or in classroom activities. As discussed in my teaching philosophy, I have used a combination of sharing my own past mistakes and building off of incorrect answers rather than shutting them down to create an open classroom environment.
Students also supplied me with constructive criticism, which allows me to grow as an instructor:
"One thing he could possibly improve upon is being more strict during class so that students don't walk all over him."
"I wish his notes on the board were just slightly more organized."
"He could be less sarcastic sometimes."
"I could see how his sarcasm could make people angry, however I enjoy it."
I've thought a lot about how I bring my own sense of humor into the classroom, and how it is not a universal tool for engaging all my students. While I've gotten more comments about being welcoming than about being sarcastic, this means that in creating a Learning Community in my class, I can make a conscious effort to back away from the most tongue-in-cheek humor. For example, I can be transparent with students early on that this is something I am working on. Sharing what I'm working on as a teacher also benefits the Learning Community by making me more approachable and showing the students that I care about their feedback and about creating a healthy classroom environment.
I hope to continue having success at creating such classroom environments. At the same time, my role as a teacher is bound to change as the way I interact with students changes. For example, as a TA, I am not often responsible for setting classroom curriculum, and I get to interact with smaller groups of students rather than primarily a lecture for a class of 300+ students. I believe I can continue to be open about my own mistakes during class and be encouraging of questions and look forward to translating the success I've had teaching smaller groups of students to different types of teaching experiences.
I haven't had influence over the prompts students receive to provide me with feedback. Specifically, in the future I'd like to ask students what they thought about our classroom community -- was it welcoming to all students? Were they able to build on their understanding of biology through me as the instructor but also through interactions with their peers? This would give me a sense of how much the classroom felt like a community to students, and also how well our community built knowledge rooted in the diversity of our students' backgrounds, experiences, and learning styles. Because traditional mechanisms by which students provide instructors feedback are standardized, I might decide to use minute papers a few times a semester to collect anonymous feedback on the classroom environment.