UGST 497: Reflection 4

The biggest obstacle has been making sure I follow the lead of my professor. Even though this is my Capstone project, it is still her class first and foremost. I have been running all of my decisions by her so she has the opportunity to review my work and make corrections if needed. Other than that, I have had a lot of freedom in constructing assignments and lectures as well as integrating new additions into the coursework to enrich student experience. The students seem to be enjoying the class, from participating in discussions to critically analyzing pieces of pop culture to excitedly working on their projects. On my end, guiding the class on assignments has been successful and an eye-opening experience to me.

To continue to work on this project, I was appointed the Teaching Assistant (TA) for Dr. Rahn's section. This way, I can sit in all the classes without my presence being asked about and have access to all class materials, including the gradebook. Perhaps the biggest role I have taken on in addition to the designer is the grader. I grade almost all of the assignments in the class, including bonus questions on exams. This has taught me how much time goes into identifying student success and making sure students have understood and able to apply the lessons properly. This whole experience has proved to me that I want to take on more TA roles in my graduate studies and to become a health educator as part of my career.

If I could start over, I think I would open my schedule more to host TA office hours. A regret of mine is that I am not able to set aside hours outside of class for people to approach me for help. Though I am not sure it would be needed for this class, as this is more of an application-based class, I do want to aid students better. I have been contacted via email, so I know some students trust me, but I wish to expand that on a larger-scale.