So this past quarter, I had the privilege (although it's mandatory for grad students) of being a teaching assistant for the undergraduate class "Introduction to Biomechanics". There were about 30 sophomores and juniors in the class, mostly very bright and eager to learn the material. My roles included holding regular office hours, grading homework, and even holding class lectures every once in a while.
Well, the course is now over and they all submitted their feedback about how I did. May I share some of the comments with you?? (I don't mean this to be braggy- it's mostly just so I can show my mom and dad cause they like to see this kind of thing, so feel free to skip it if you're not them!)
Comments: Never really saw her...Literally / / She communicated clearly and knew the material. Able to help adequately. / / Very understanding, seemed to have a good grasp of concepts. / / She was always prepared to answer questions and she was very helpful. / / / did not seem to be in class very often / / She seemed knowledgeable about the topic and willing to help, although I had no significant interaction with her. / / Betsy was really good at offering help during office hours. / non / Betsy was great, no complaints here. / Betsy was always there to help and really seemed to care about our learning. / Betsy is awesome! very helpful! / / / / / She was well prepared and helped a lot. /
And here were the evaluations
| Wording of Statement | Number of
responses | 6
(high) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
(low) | Average |
|---|
| 22. The lab teacher was able to answer the students' questions adequately | 24 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.17 |
| 23. The lab teacher was well prepared for each session | 24 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.12 |
| 24. The lab teacher communicated ideas in a clear manner | 24 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.17 |
| 25. The lab teacher showed strong interest in teaching the course | 24 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.00 |
At the end of the quarter, an emergency situation occurred and they needed me to write the final exam for the students. (Shh, don't tell them it was me!) To give you a taste of course, here's one of my questions:
5. A 180 cm tall male gymnast with a mass of 75 kg successfully performs the Iron Cross as shown. Suppose a muscle that spans the shoulder has an insertion point on the arm at (1.5, 0) cm and originates on the chest at (-8, -20) cm in reference to the shoulder joint. Assuming this is the only active muscle and that the man’s arms are horizontal, what muscle force is necessary to maintain this position in equilibrium?
The students wrote the evaluations before the exam. I wonder if they would have been different after seeing the final?? Probably not- they actually all did really well. I was proud of them. This experience has me left me very excited to being a professor someday!
