My experience in undergraduate was at a small liberal arts college, and at a larger research focused institute. I have had the opportunity to explore and witness the different teaching approaches between the two education styles. I have seen first hand, from feedback from students that they learn more from interactive sessions than they do in pure lecture based approaches.

I further try to ensure that regardless of the situation, every student matters. Recalling one such occasion where other TAs suggested to me to shrug off a student's request to meet for additional help in catching up because they had missed a few classes. I did not, that student was in my physics II recitation the following semester and, albeit a small sample size of 8 students. During the following semester the student was struggling to understand diffraction gratings. She came up to ask for help, she stated that she did understand the problem now. The following week she was only one of two who were able to correctly answer the take-home quiz problem on the same topic, specifically realizing that the computed angle returned was a negative value because that particular wavelength was not at a maximum value which was not part of the in-class example.

This led me to realize two key points, one, that I need to ensure students understand that just because they can calculate an answer they need to ensure it makes physical sense, and secondly, no student should be ignored or dismissed.

My experience includes  general physics laboratories and smaller general astronomy laboratories. I very much enjoyed teaching both. The ability to engage, mentor, and assist the students in the astronomy labs was very fulfilling and rewarding! I often found that I enjoyed the added challenge which was unique to the astronomy laboratories as they often had more students who were not physics or astronomy majors. This added challenge was figuring out how to reach students who may not have had the same training as physics students. For example complex topics required in the laboratories such as relativity, black body radiation, quantum mechanics and other physical subjects would be new to these students, along with the required calculus and trig. The smaller astronomy labs also opened the avenue to grade lab reports and help the students.

Another key focus for me is ensuring that students who take the generalized courses, as well as core physics courses are well versed in critical reasoning and understanding the basic ideas behind science. Over the years at UAB I have tried to ensure my labs cover and point out key concepts such as the difference between Laws, Theory and Hypothesis. Our physics labs which are grouped general and major specific students, start in the second week of the semester, I have found that students are not learning these key points within the first two weeks. For students to receive a well rounded education then it is crucial these points be taught to all students.

My approach to teaching, at its basis, requires feedback from students. The goal is not to have students get the best scores, the goal is to ensure the educator is a facilitator of knowledge, creativity and ingenuity in students. Critical to ensuring the feedback from students is applied to my future teaching, I strive to understand why I received various feedback, not simply adjusting a small part of a course to make it easier, but rather to explore and understand if there is a different way the content could be communicated.

Google Gemini was used for review and typographical error checking.