Hello everyone! As my journey with the CUTF comes to an end, I have reflected intensively on how the fellowship has allowed me to grow professionally and develop my teaching skills. However above all, the CUTF has taught me the importance of a flexible and open mindset. Teaching is a skill that requires utmost patience….
Tag: CUTF
CUTF 2: Becoming Involved in Teaching
I became a Peer leader for Dr. Bell’s class during the Fall 2021 semester, hosting weekly content reviews. One observation I made was that students often did not take advantage of the course resources until the days leading up to the exams. For example, there was low attendance at peer sessions in between exams, then…
CUTF: Figuring it Out
Like many undergraduate students, I came to Pitt believing I would go on to medical school. My freshman year I took courses like Chemistry and Biology but quickly realized I did not have a passion for what I was learning. I started to explore other classes the university had to offer. I tried computer science,…
CUTF: A Computational Social Sciences Exploration
This semester, I am an undergraduate teaching assistant for Political Theory and the Future Analysis. Under Dr. Andrew Lotz’s mentorship, I will aim to bring analytical and technological components to what is typically a theory and discussion based class. Growing fields such as data science and artificial intelligence have a role in the successful learning…
CUTF and Readings In Contemporary Fiction: The Power of An Idea
Over the past semester, my experience teaching in Readings In Contemporary Fiction has transformed my outlook as both a student and aspiring educator. Going into this experience (especially from a student perspective), I already knew I wanted my teaching to be student-focused. The syllabus itself reflected my goals; I chose readings that were targeted at…
A River Never Truly Flows in One Direction, Reflections on a Chancellors Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship
Teaching, much like learning, is a process that takes time and iteration, adjustment and patience. It’s about developing tools and implementing them only to find that the tools themselves need to be adjusted. Sometimes the goal isn’t even the completion of the task, or even conveying a message, but rather developing a method for how…
Engineering Intuition, a Chancellors Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship for PHYS 0476
Our world contains many forces that we can feel – but we can’t see. Gravity is a good example because there isn’t anything that we can visually perceive to be holding us down and yet we remain on the earth due to the force of gravity. We do have the ability to view and perceive…
A Catalyst for Change: Post Reflection
When group project presentations begin, final exams start approaching, study sessions become rampant, that usually means the end of the semester is near. For me, I have the privilege of adding one more thing: a reflection of my CUTF fellowship. I began this fellowship with one question in mind: What does an inclusive education look…
My CUTF: Changes in Myself
My CUTF experience this semester brought me a whole new perspective on teaching and the work that goes into it. There were things I already anticipated doing going into this experience–such as providing feedback, adding to class discussions, etc. as these are the things most teaching assistants do inside and outside the classroom. My most…
CUTF Blog Post #2: Teach the way you want to be taught
I connected to my faculty mentor for the CUTF project, Dr. Lotz, at first by taking several of his courses. My first course with Dr. Lotz as the professor was a large lecture for the Political Theory course (PS 0300) that is a requirement for all Political Science Majors. I didn’t connect personally with Dr….