Introducing... Me!

Hi all!

I'm super excited to be the TA for this class. This is my first time as a TA. But I do have a couple prior teaching experiences. In particular, as an undergrad I spent a summer in China running technology summer camps for high school students there. That gave me the experience of being in front of a classroom. For me, a lot of the meaning of science comes from the impact it has on people, and so teaching is a crucial aspect of making science meaningful.

What do I want to get out of this class? I guess one of the things I want is to learn how to teach. Professor Johnson is a great person to learn from, because he's full of lots of creative ideas and lots of energy. I also want to share my love of science. It's so fun to interact with people who also get that thrill from learning to understand our universe. I also want to learn. When I signed up to TA this class, I didn't realize that would really be involved. But it turns out there's so many levels of understanding, and when you ask yourself, "How can I teach this?", you have to dive down a few levels below where you've been before.

I'm here to help you guys out. One major thing is if you have any suggestions or questions or concerns about the class, or about Professor Johnson, you should feel free to bring them up with me. The goal is that this way, nothing we see on the course evaluation forms at the end of term will be a surprise, since we'll already be working with you guys to implement your suggestions for the class while it's still going on.

See y'all bright and early tomorrow :)

Jackie