1I06 TA Reflection

My desire to be a 1I06 TA originates from a passion for problem-based learning (PBL) and teaching. This format of education requires students to take charge of their own learning and the teachers to facilitate that process. I believe that 1I06 successfully accomplishes that mission and truly makes an impact on students which I will describe below, using my personal experiences of the course.

First of all, this course significantly changed my approach to learning new material. My biggest source of learning was the RAPSES. RAPSES taught me that I had to shift my priorities that is, to move away from memorizing everything but to start applying broader concepts to novel situations. The usefulness of this approach stood out to me during my hospital shadowing experiences this summer. I was in the outpatient wards and what I witnessed over there was no less than real life simulations of RAPSES. Every diagnosis was rapidly built by tying up the limited evidence logically. Thankfully, RAPSES are more concerned with the brainstorming process and allow room for making mistakes. Therefore, my vision as a TA is to highlight to the students, the applicability of PBL to everyday life, including future

This would require me to have expertise on the material but on top of that, to be friendly and approachable. This reminds me greatly of the time when I was the co-president of my high school’s tutoring and science clubs during Grade 12. These experiences taught me students can have unique learning styles and that being flexible around their needs is key to successful teaching. That may involve analogies, role playing and being creative in getting the message across. These are the valuable skills that I want to apply and build upon during my job as a TA and I believe these would prove crucial since the class size has increased remarkably for the upcoming