Teaching Experience and Training

Teaching Experience, University Level

Teaching assistant for EAS 1220 Earthquake!

Cornell University, 2016

~200 students

As a teaching assistant for this class, I educated students on natural hazards including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, hurricanes, wildfires, etc., with emphasis on the science, societal impacts, and mitigation; held weekly office hours; assisted students in understanding course material; wrote, administered and assigned grades for makeup quizzes and exams; assisted with planning and implementation of group projects; advised and encouraged exploration of students' interest outside the course requirements as well as in experience and opportunities in earth sciences; developed and taught lecture on notable earthquakes in western North and Central America.

See student evaluations from this course here.

Teaching Assistant for EART 120/L Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

UC Santa Cruz, 2012

~25 students

I was hired as a Teaching Assistant (one of three) for the EART 120  Sedimentology and Stratigraphy course an undergraduate having done exceptionally well in the class the previous year. I planned, prepared and taught lab exercises based on the syllabus for the course and previous years' exercises; created grading rubrics and assigned grades students' labs, communicated with the other two TAs to ensure fair and accurate grading across multiple lab sections; assisted in the leadership and guidance during fieldwork exercises; attended the lectures, assisted the instructor in class activities; held weekly office hours to assist students with class material, homework, labs, and exam preparation.

See student evaluations from this course here.

Learning Assistant for EART 100B/M Earth as a Chemical System

UC Santa Cruz, 2012

~ 80 students

As a Learning Assistant for Earth as a Chemical System (U.C. Santa Cruz's Mineralogy course), I lead several weekly Modified Supplemental Instruction (MSI) interactive discussion and learning sessions for ~10-15 students at a time; prepared topic reviews, minute quizzes, and examples relevant to course topics to encourage creative thinking and deeper understanding of the class material; attended lectures; wrote practice exam questions and held extra exam review sessions.

Teaching Experience, Elementary Level

Session Planner and Presenter / Volunteer

April 2015

Cornell University Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Planning committee member and session presenter for two days of hands-on earth science workshops for 150 students from Dewitt Middle School in Ithaca, NY.

Children’s Activity Center Volunteer

April 2012

Santa Clara Gem and Mineral Society Annual Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Festival

Educated more than 1500 grade-school students over 2 days on the rock cycle, volcanoes, minerals, and soils using games, worksheets and quiz activities, as well as hands-on rock sample exhibits.

CalTeach Elementary Teacher’s Assistant

Fall 2009

As a fellow in the Environmental Leadership Pathway program at U.C. Berkeley (via course ESPM 78A and CalTeach), assisted a public school teacher in the weekly earth science lessons to a second-grade class at Commodore Sloat Elementary School in San Francisco, CA.; planned and taught a lesson on fossils.

Outreach/Inreach Experience

Campus Ambassador, Senior Team Leader

Skyline College, 2005-2010

As a Campus Ambassador at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA I planned and conducted outreach and inreach events to encourage the community to seek higher education and demonstrate the many forms of available financial aid and scholarship opportunities. These events varied in scope and topic, from one-on-one assistance with the admissions or financial aid application process, to small-group presentations on specific programs at the college, to large events at community centers and local high schools in which several Campus Ambassadors collectively gave presentations and assistance to a large group of community members or students. 

I scheduled and presented to classes and groups on campus monthly, and established a connection at two of the local public libraries where I set up a table of information and offered computer assistance to the community on a weekly basis.

As Senior Team Leader, I was a member of hiring committee and represented the Campus Ambassador team to other departments on campus.

Training

Cornell University College of Engineering TA development program, Spring 2016

Twelve hours of training over two days including workshops and informational sessions. Additional microteaching session in which I presented a 5 minute lesson on a topic within my field (Anderson Fault Classification) to a group of peers, recorded by video, and received feedback during and after video playback.

Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI)

GET SET (Graduate students, future Educators, and Teaching assistants pursuing Scholarship and Excellence in Teaching)

I participated in the following workshops (Spring 2016), from which I earned multiple certificates of completion:

• Developing Rubrics for Efficient and Consistent Grading

• Enhance Students' Research Skills Using Library Resources

• How to Facilitate and Evaluate Group Work and Projects

• Active Learning Strategies for Engaging Students in the Classroom

• Enhance Your Teaching by Understanding Students' Learning Styles

• Designing a Teaching Portfolio for an Academic Job Search

• Role of TAs in Cultivating an Inclusive Classroom

• Developing a Diversity Statement

• Best Practices for Inclusive Teaching

University-wide GET SET Teaching Conference, March 5, 2016

Participated in the teaching conference; met with other graduate students, post-docs, and faculty from fields across the university to discuss strategies for better teaching practices. Attended the following workshops:

• Designing Learning Outcomes for Your Course

• Engaging Lectures and Effective Presentations

Courses