Teaching Assistant - American University Biology Department

While studying for my master’s degree, I was also a teaching assistant (TA) for the Biology Department. I taught a few different types of labs, including two introductory biology labs (General Biology I & II), an upper level dissection focused lab (Vertebrate Anatomy), and an upper level experiment focused lab (Vertebrate Physiology).

The two sections of General Biology I (Cellular and Molecular Biology) I taught were undergraduate lab courses with 18 students (max.) per lab covering many different topics including: the scientific method, metric system, information literacy, cellular respiration and fermentation, photosynthesis, intra- and inter- cellular integrity, mitosis, meiosis, gene expression, cellular differentiation. I also taught two sections of the General Biology II (Organismal and Ecological Biology) undergraduate lab course. These sections also had 18 students (max.) per lab and dove into various areas including: study design and data visualization, measuring biodiversity, plants, protists, prokaryotes and fungi, invertebrates, vertebrates, food webs, and a rat dissection. My main responsibility as the TA of these two introductory lab courses was grading quizzes, homework, and lab reports. I was also responsible for attending weekly TA meetings with the lab director who instructed us on what we would be teaching the students.

One of my senior undergraduate/post-bachelors lab courses that I taught, Vertebrate Anatomy, had smaller class sizes at 12 students (max.) per lab section. Students dissected dog fish shark, mink, and humans (virtually) and studied their external anatomy and all of the major body systems: muscular, digestive, respiratory, skeletal, urogenital, and circulatory. As the only TA for this lab, I hosted study sessions for the students; graded all quizzes, lab notebooks, and practical exams; as well as proctored laboratory quizzes and exams. Because this was a dissection heavy lab, I also did live demonstrations and assisted students during class with their dissections.

The other senior undergraduate lab/post-bachelors lab course I taught, Vertebrate Physiology, also had 12 students (max.) per lab section. Students in this lab did experiments to see how all of the major systems functioned and worked together. The systems that were studied in this course were: sensory, endocrine, muscular, neurological, respiration, cardiovascular, urine, and digestive systems. My responsibilities as the sole TA was to grade homework and lab reports, assist students during lab, and teach the students how to write graduate-level lab reports.