My philosophy of teaching is built upon formulating questions rather than answers, on truly getting to know my students’ concerns and aspirations, and using these and my own enthusiasm for biology to motivate students to learn and reason in a scientific manner. I believe in continuous evaluation and innovative approaches to teaching biology, which I briefly explain in this letter with examples.

Now at the end of my second year in the program of Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity of the Department of Biology at The University of Pennsylvania, I have been a teaching assistant for the introductory course of Biology BIOL102 four times, the current and last semesters as head-TA, position which I am combining at the present time with the teaching assistantship of BIOL465, a fieldtrip course on conservation biology techniques that takes place in Shenandoah National Park, VA over spring break.

My approach to teaching is rather Socratic, with the exception that I do not put myself in a position that sets me far apart from my students. I do not believe in distances and I make this clear to my students since day zero. While I make sure that my students learn the concepts they need in order to pass the course with a high grade, my major pedagogical focus is to help students think independently and scientifically on how to analyze a problem, anticipate potential troubles, and more importantly, to politely question established knowledge and the teaching assistant figure itself. I do not know the answer to everything, but I believe I am good at facilitating the tools needed for learning. When I am asked a question, whether I know the answer or not, I redirect it to the class so they can start a debate if the question is of communal scientific interest. Nevertheless, I have also done research on specific questions from my students for which I did not know the answer, sharing the results of my search with them at the beginning of the next session.

My students read the pertinent chapter of the lab manual before coming to laboratory.  Consequently, I do not spend much time going over the material other than to highlight the most important points and some additional information that I consider to be valuable for their educational formation, even if it will not be on the test. Very frequently I pay special attention to current applications of the concepts and techniques used in the laboratory. I spend most of my time in real interaction with my students, walking through the lab and making sure they understand the rationale behind of what they are doing, how they are doing it, and most importantly: why they are doing it. I reinforce this by asking them thoughtful questions. For instance, In one of the labs they have to establish the threshold to taste of three different types of sugar; here I ask them why they have to release the drop at the very tip of the patient’s tongue – the reason being that it is there where the receptors for sweet are located, on top of the fact that if they released it in some area of their mouth containing saliva, the solution would get diluted and it could lead to a false “no taste”. In situations in which my students need extra help to answer my questions, I rephrase, redirect and keep asking them more specific questions that can make them realize of the broader picture, sometimes giving them hints. I have never ended up answering my own questions.

As an international teaching assistant, one of my major concerns is to make myself as clear as possible. I have developed graphic and organizational skills that make up for my Spanish accent. In the laboratory, I write clear outlines and protocols as well as draw models of the organs to be dissected.
Despite the long time it takes, I definitely think that simplifying things by means of models is worth the effort because my students always tell me that it helps them visualize processes and anatomical traits much better.

One characteristic of my personality that I take more advantage of is my enthusiasm for everything I do, and specifically for biology. I am a very optimistic person, and I consider myself very lucky because I obtain my stipend out of doing what I really enjoy: interacting with students by guiding them, and learning by means of doing research towards my PhD. Consequently, I do not mind at all investing extra time outside my laboratory and office hours with my students whenever they need my help.

Laboratory sessions should not be a burden for the students. It is my personal challenge, as a teaching assistant, to make a great job so that my students are looking forward to coming back to the laboratory next week. In the cardiac function laboratory, the students dissect a sheep heart, which they always find difficult. Prior to letting them open the heart, I have them dissect mine: I tape on my breast a sheet with an unlabeled heart printed on it, and then I wear a zip-jacket on top. After the introduction, I take a scalpel and simulate a “jacket thoracic” dissection by unzipping it, and then I have them to tell me how the cardiac blood circulation works in my heart – rather than me telling them. In the same lab they have to come up with their own hypothesis on how a given treatment will affect the heart rate and blood pressure. During my first semester TAing this lab they always tried to implement obvious, easy treatments such as running (of course that will increase heart rate and blood pressure!). Over the time, I have implemented candy rewards to the groups that come with the coolest hypothesis in each lab session.  Last semester one of the winning group’s treatment was to play Mario Bros on Gameboy at the highest level of difficulty (other groups tested effects of rock music on one student’s iPod, or reading an advance physics book full of formulae versus ready Harry Potter).

To me, continuous evaluation is the key to a successful teaching because it allows me to gear the content of the class in a more specific way, which will eventually cause the student to learn more and better. For that purpose, at the end of each session, I ask my students to write in a piece of paper, without their names on it, the thing that they have learnt today that they liked the most and the term that was more difficult to understand. I also ask for overall feedback for the class. Doing so has allowed me to see where students struggle more, and pay more attention in the following weeks.

I am highly committed to teaching – between the writing of the last paragraph and this one, on a Sunday, I went to a coffee meeting with my students of BIOL465 to give them advice on how to analyze the biological data they gathered during spring break. Sure teaching is very time consuming, but to me this experience is the short-term reward to my academic career. I just cannot imagine a future in research, acquiring knowledge, away from teaching, where I could not enjoy the interaction with students and feel useful.