TAing at Sac State

Published by

Isaac

November 20, 2014

One of the lab benches of the room I teach in.

For the past few months I have been assisting in teaching a introductory biology lab at Sac State.

I TA Bio 15L which is a general education course for non-science majors. The course uses interactive labs to go over all the basics of biology, like ecology, speciation, DNA, genes, and that good stuff.

The class has been a lot of fun for me for a lot of different reasons.

I like helping out the students. Its nice to see some of them so interested in biology even if it is nowhere near what their major is. One of them is even considering switching her major.

It’s nice to go over all the material again. I learned it all years ago and everything is easy for me now. Obviously I should know the material in a class that I teach, but its still fun to know that I could get any of the questions in the class right if the teacher called on me, even when I am the teacher.

The experience of being on the other side of a class is also interesting. I have to deal with making quizzes, grading, student absences, and preventing cheating.

Student absences is probably the hardest part. This is a college level class, so they’re free to not show up if they don’t want to. Its just inevitable that the ones who don’t show up do poorly on the quizzes that cover the material they missed or they miss the quizzes entirely. And this is college so there are no makeup quizzes.

There’s nothing I can really do about absences, but I’d like to be able to tech the students that do come to class so that they can all understand the material and use it in their own lives later on.

Learning biology is important for a number of reasons. How can you be an informed voter on GMO issues if you don’t properly understand what GMOs are? How can you vote on global warming initiatives without knowing more about that? And wouldn’t you like to know how genetics work when you start planning a family to see what genetic risks your potential child could have?

I try to teach the students that sort of stuff. I feel like I’m just learning how the labs work this semester. I know I’ll do way better next semester when I can focus more on directing what we are trying to learn with the labs and giving the students more specific strategies for learning.

Also, I can hopefully be more enthusiastic when I give lectures. The mid-semester student evaluations indicated that the only place I really needed to improve was in how enthusiastic my voice sounded when I was presenting the material.

-Mister Ed

2 responses to “TAing at Sac State”

Jessica Shaker

November 23, 2014

I love hearing about your TAing. I think its awesome how you help students understand how biology is relevant to their own lives. You help them see the purpose of their education!

Reply
1. Mister Ed
  
  November 25, 2014
  
  And the course I’m teaching next semester is for people who are learning to be elementary school teachers. I get to teach them why teaching other people is important. Meta-teaching!
  
  Reply

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

77 – KPop DnD Hunters (Dan and Idols of the Neon Dark) – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Dan talked with me about his Kickstarter campaign, Idols of the Neon Dark. It's a D&D 5e supplement that tries to bring the fun and atmosphere of K-pop to Dungeons and Dragons. The media frenzy around KPop Demon Hunters inspired Dan to create a product based on the musical genre that his young daughters could enjoy with him.Idols of the Neon Dark contains an Idol character class to represent the teamwork and coordination of K-pop groups. Alongside the Idol class there's a setting called Lumenica City. The city is an undeground haven of neon lights, skyscrapers, and music. There's campaign for levels 1-6 and a bunch of side adventures as well to place within Lumenica City or your setting of choice.You can support Idols of the Neon Dark on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrenegade-dan/k-pop-5e-hunters-shadows-of-the-neon-darkIdols of the Neon Dark Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/SREMffsEGWIdols of the Neon Dark Playtest Materials: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CqyORb1gD6blKjSvRlPFzO-n9cj6QI68?usp=drive_linkPAX East Playtest Schedule. BOOK NOW! These are in March! https://www.projecthedron.com/events/697b8b2a040ec653b52091b6/sessions?search=name_li_Idols__nd__associatedEventId_eq_697b8b2a040ec653b52091b6&advSearch=true&page=1UKGE Playtest Schedule: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/ukge-idols-of-the-neon-dark-free-play-test-4817224Dan also runs a marketing business for Kickstarters that you should check out if you're thinking of launching your own crowdfunding campaign. Look at how well it worked for Idols of the Neon Dark! https://wrenegadecrowdfunding.com/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.