Experience Summary
While working on my PhD. I was a graduate teaching fellow for the Dept. of Ed. Teacher-Scholar program. I supervised undergraduates in organic chemistry labs, graded exams, led recitation sections and graded homework for both organic and general chemistry lecture courses. I developed and presented a chemistry class for HP technicians, and was the HP Education Liaison for the University of Oregon. As an undergraduate at the University of Montana – Billings I was a teaching assistant in the general and organic chemistry labs and tutored both chemistry and physics at the college level. I have also tutored high school students in chemistry, physics and algebra. I was a substitute teacher for all grades in La Veta, CO.
Teaching Style
My basic teaching style utilizes a multimedia approach since different students learn in different ways (audio, visual, or hands-on). I like using simple “demo” experiments to show the “magic” of chemistry. Demos are then backed up by showing the chemical equations to explain what is actually going on. I also tend to use a lot of analogies, that students can related to. I access web information to help explain chemical concepts in creative ways. I also try to get students to think of problems as puzzles. I believe learning can be a fun experience as long as we never forget to ask the fundamental questions - "Why and How?"