# data[].attributes.body
In a pre-med microbiology degree plan, I tend to be places in many classes with lots of fixed mindsets - which is kind of weird. Personally, I think this is because a lot of kids come from either high school being easy for them or have the privilege of the stakes of success not being as high. In elementary school, I was placed in the GATE (Gifted and Talented Program) and got extra learning opportunities to push my learning. In particular, I can name 2 kids who were also in there with me and were super smart, so it was easy for them. For me, it wasn't as easy and I think this is where a lot of my grit stemmed from. Fast forward to harder classes in high school and even college, those two students struggled with not being perfect whereas I have allowed myself the room to improve. I feel like many pre med students have experienced the former of this situation which is so sad! This fixed mindset has caused a lot of my friends to question their worthiness within the field which is so heartbreaking. So, I believe that my perception of me being gritty and saying that most others aren't is simply who I'm surrounding myself with.

# data[].attributes.body
I thought it was really beautiful to reflect back on my item using the Kolb's Cycle. We had chatted about how cool it would be if all hypotheses began with inquiry such as this instead of just starting out at a research lab with pipetting. Personally, I adore research, so I am totally okay with doing the pipetting and genotyping until I reach the point of conducting my own research and seeing those successes. However, I feel like this really stunts the growth of lots of minds if they cannot see past that initial (not as fun) step. I feel like this exemplified Principle 5 (reflecting on one's beliefs about teaching to maximize self-awareness and commitment to inclusion) because it lead me to think about why I adored my item so much and why it might not mean as much to someone else. This helps me remember whats important to me and helped me understand what was important to my partner as well. If this were evaluated, we might want to include principle 3 to allow students to express their findings and reflection in however they see suits them best.

# data[].attributes.body
Common Assessments:

making SLO's very clear, and allow students to focus on where they're deficient

muddiest point to be able to communicate back to the instructor where their deficiencies are

having students come to class with prepared questions help with the understanding and confidence in material

10.7 - In class (on Zoom) today we learned a lot about how we could create SLO's that are able to be assessed though backwards course design methods. After working though this, I thought my approach might work well as I tend to do it in my own classes. My SLO was: Given accurate study guides and good communication of what material they are expected to know (conditions), successful students will be able to pinpoint (verb) their muddiest areas of confusion and communicate (verb) back to the professor, LA, or tutor for furthered clarification in order to increase exam performance by 10% (standard).

My assessment was:

Students will be able to communicate a list of muddiest points to the professor to be discussed and further explained in class. This will result in students being able to understand and excel on those questions in exams.

My pedagogy was:

Students will be given iRats and tRats weekly with the discussed muddiest points from their peers, and themselves to allow them to seek additional help if they are still not understanding even after further discussion and assessment.

I do this on my own in my courses, but since I LA for LIFE1010, there are lots of students who haven't learned this practice yet. They just go their scores back from their first exam and a lot of them were very discouraged which was sad! I feel like this could better improve scores greatly because one muddiest point is probably 10 muddiest points. Also if you format them in a google questionaire thing, maybe it wouldn't be as intimidating if it were anonymous.

10.28 - We asked “would having students come to class with prepared questions help with the understanding and confidence in material? We could ask students to rate their confidence before exams and look at their exam scores, too. We would expect an improvement in confidence and scored. It would be unexpected to see a decrease in confidence and scores. We could go public by presenting to the class and other professors.

# data[].attributes.body
Common Pedagogies:

accessibility

encourage students to take care of themselves

collaboration with students of different interests

allowing students to express what they're passionate about within the course (ex. allowing them to show their knowledge however they choose)

iRATS to make sure all people in the team are held accountable and can eliminate issues both academic and non-academic.

9.9 - accessibility of the activities we are doing. It never occurred to me that some of the active learning techniques may not be accessible on their own and may require modifications…As we continue to go through the semester and try out new active learning techniques, I will try to focus my mind upon modifications and accessibility for all.

9.23 -  As far as my personal learning, I am going to make it more of a priority to break up my homework time to move my body. Taking a walk outside actually will increase my productivity and will help me learn better. So its actually NOT a waste of time like I used to think. Looking at modalities of learning, I really liked the turn and teach approach because it also clued me in to what my partner thought was important which I thought was cool. One time I had a professor use this technique but made us find groups where everyones major was different. I thought it was interesting to see what people with other interests pulled as interesting.

9.30 - Today as we dove deeper into the research and data of active learning and its effects, we had a lot of good points and ideas come up throughout class. One point was how active learning levels the playing field for equity and minorities. When you're in a smaller group, it might not seem as scary to be learning and working towards a male dominated field. I thought this was a good point because I have been placed at tables with people from all different backgrounds which I think is so cool! It is fun to see different perspectives of what we are learning in class from various different people of different backgrounds and interests. We also talked about how random groups work better than selected groups. While I do agree with this, I also liked how we got random partners and kept that same partner 2 classes in a row. I feel like this allows for better conversation over getting into random groups. We also talked about how maybe there results are better highlighted in college students than K12 because maybe college students just don't have the capacity to sit through a lecture without physical movement, or maybe there are other life stressors. I think this all highlights how we all should be a safe space when teaching because you never know what is going in in someones life, and also meeting people where they are so they can best learn however is fit for the.

11.4 - It also helped me to understand the importance of iRAT's and just overall readiness when I come to class. Sometimes it's annoying for me to complete iRAT's but after reading the case study it has really opened my eyes to why they are important and how they can help avoid issues like these.

# data[].attributes.body
Common Outcomes:

making outcomes very blatant, and allow students to assess themselves before being assessed by the instructor

10.21 - Today in class we evaluated a professors form of teaching. His class was very upset and gave negative vibes about the class. They struggled with not practicing what they were being tested on. I, too, have felt this real struggle in some of my classes, and understand what it feels like to have that disconnect. In my own teaching, I aim to make it blatantly clear what students are expected to know and also have them work through tough problems while in class so they really understand the content and not just understand enough to do okay on an exam. This will facilitate confidence and will in turn help with attendance and performing better on exams while having this transparency.

# data[].attributes.body
Common Values:

meeting students where they are in all areas

listening to understand and not to reload; to make students feel seen and valued

be graceful with students

given encouragement without condemnation

allow my passion to exude onto my students and giving them room for theirs to shine through onto me

9.9 - "meeting students where they are in all areas"

9.16 - This class and form of communication was beneficial for me to practice for a multitude of reason. Not only does this type of listening help in an academic sense, but also in a professional and relational one as well. I feel like this really plays into my learning philosophy of really hearing students and not just listening to what they're saying. Looking for the meaning behind their words instead of trying to snap back with an immediate response. This form of communication really opens the door for a welcoming and safe environment. When students are in this type of environment, thats when true, quality learning takes place.

9.23 - Learning about how stress plays a huge part in how we learn is impacting my teaching philosophy as well as how I am going to plan to be a good learner myself. As far as my teaching philosophy, I think it just emphasizes how making the classroom a safe space (along with being a safe space myself) is critical as not every one has a safe home life. It also reminds me to be a little more gentle to everyone around me because you never know what others are going through.

11.4 - After reading the case study on inclusion, it really draws my eye to how as an LA I can help foster a more comfortable learning environment. When a student gets something right, I should be excited for them without talking down on the other students if they don't quite understand yet (like the TA did in the case study).

# data[].attributes.body
After reading the case study on inclusion, it really draws my eye to how as an LA I can help foster a more comfortable learning environment. When a student gets something right, I should be excited for them without talking down on the other students if they don't quite understand yet (like the TA did in the case study). It also helped me to understand the importance of iRAT's and just overall readiness when I come to class. Sometimes it's annoying for me to complete iRAT's but after reading the case study it has really opened my eyes to why they are important and how they can help avoid issues like these. Overall, I think it is so important as both an LA and as a student to be prepared as expected as well as treat others with kindness.

# data[].attributes.body
Today in class we evaluated a professors form of teaching. His class was very upset and gave negative vibes about the class. They struggled with not practicing what they were being tested on. I, too, have felt this real struggle in some of my classes, and understand what it feels like to have that disconnect. In my own teaching, I aim to make it blatantly clear what students are expected to know and also have them work through tough problems while in class so they really understand the content and not just understand enough to do okay on an exam. This will facilitate confidence and will in turn help with attendance and performing better on exams while having this transparency.

# data[].attributes.body
In class (on Zoom) today we learned a lot about how we could create SLO's that are able to be assessed though backwards course design methods. After working though this, I thought my approach might work well as I tend to do it in my own classes. My SLO was: Given accurate study guides and good communication of what material they are expected to know (conditions), successful students will be able to pinpoint (verb) their muddiest areas of confusion and communicate (verb) back to the professor, LA, or tutor for furthered clarification in order to increase exam performance by 10% (standard).

My assessment was:

Students will be able to communicate a list of muddiest points to the professor to be discussed and further explained in class. This will result in students being able to understand and excel on those questions in exams.

My pedagogy was:

Students will be given iRats and tRats weekly with the discussed muddiest points from their peers, and themselves to allow them to seek additional help if they are still not understanding even after further discussion and assessment.

I do this on my own in my courses, but since I LA for LIFE1010, there are lots of students who haven't learned this practice yet. They just go their scores back from their first exam and a lot of them were very discouraged which was sad! I feel like this could better improve scores greatly because one muddiest point is probably 10 muddiest points. Also if you format them in a google questionaire thing, maybe it wouldnt be as intimidating if it were anonymous.

# data[].attributes.body
Today as we dove deeper into the research and data of active learning and its effects, we had a lot of good points and ideas come up throughout class. One point was how active learning levels the playing field for equity and minorities. When you're in a smaller group, it might not seem as scary to be learning and working towards a male dominated field. I thought this was a good point because I have been placed at tables with people from all different backgrounds which I think is so cool! It is fun to see different perspectives of what we are learning in class from various different people of different backgrounds and interests. We also talked about how random groups work better than selected groups. While I do agree with this, I also liked how we got random partners and kept that same partner 2 classes in a row. I feel like this allows for better conversation over getting into random groups. We also talked about how maybe there results are better highlighted in college students than K12 because maybe college students just don't have the capacity to sit through a lecture without physical movement, or maybe there are other life stressors. I think this all highlights how we all shoudl be a safe space when teaching because you never know what is going in in someones life, and also meeting people where they are so they can best learn however is fit for the.

# data[].attributes.body
Learning about how stress plays a huge part in how we learn is impacting my teaching philosophy as well as how I am going to plan to be a good learner myself. As far as my teaching philosophy, I think it just emphasizes how making the classroom a safe space (along with being a safe space myself) is critical as not every one has a safe home life. It also reminds me to be a little more gentle to everyone around me because you never know what others are going through. As far as my personal learning, I am going to make it more of a priority to break up my homework time to move my body. Taking a walk outside actually will increase my productivity and will help me learn better. So its actually NOT a waste of time like I used to think. Looking at modalities of learning, I really liked the turn and teach approach because it also clued me in to what my partner thought was important which I thought was cool. One time I had a professor use this technique but made us find groups where everyones major was different. I thought it was interesting to see what people with other interests pulled as interesting.

# data[].attributes.body
This class and form of communication was beneficial for me to practice for a multitude of reason. Not only does this type of listening help in an academic sense, but also in a professional and relational one as well. I feel like this really plays into my learning philosophy of really hearing students and not just listening to what they're saying. Looking for the meaning behind their words instead of trying to snap back with an immediate response. This form of communication really opens the door for a welcoming and safe environment. When students are in this type of environment, thats when true, quality learning takes place.

# data[].attributes.body
In reflection of our class on September 9th, on of my biggest takeaways was accessibility of the activities we are doing. It never occurred to me that some of the active learning techniques may not be accessible on their own and may require modifications. I think I would like to add "meeting students where they are in all areas" to my original teaching philosophy. As we continue to go through the semester and try out new active learning techniques, I will try to focus my mind upon modifications and accessibility for all.

# data[].attributes.body
My teaching philosophy is to have students enjoy their growth in discovery of the material, and not just learn for exams. I've noticed that LIFE1010 is a prerequisite for many other courses and majors, not just science based learners. While everyone benefits form a passionate teaching staff, excitement around the curriculum can better reach those who aren't innately drawn to science. Because of this diversity, I feel like it is crucial as an LA to share my passion for learning so others can begin to appreciate the process.