Fall 2005
After finishing CSCI 1300 Computer Science: Programming I was invited to be a Learning Assistant for the next year class, in Spring 2006. This was quite a challenge at the time, as I had not taken any other programming course.
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The course I taught followed the curriculum of Python Programming. I worked under Dr. Grunwald, my mentor.
10 hours a week, I taught students everything from "for loops" to "recursive functions". This was additionally challenging as the students who I taught needed additional assistance and had very little foundation.
Using creative methods, I taught students new concepts by providing cognitive problems and paradigm shifts. Imagine teaching a student from Africa who can barely speak english how a for loop works.
By the end the students were able to make a fully running tic-tac-toe AI and solve the Traveling Salesman Problem using a recursive program in C.
Being a TA here fortified my skills in programming and ignited my passion for teaching. I still keep the relationships I made with the students I taught in this class.