Experience Teaching Assistant: Math, Science, Programming

Victoria L.

I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Biology with my Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees in May 2024. I am a computational biologist, and my degrees were both in Computer Science and Molecular Biology. In addition, I graduated from MIT with a minor in theater arts.

I love programming and biology, and have served MIT as a Teaching Assistant as well, bringing students to success. Even before serving as a teaching assistant, I assisted underclassmen at MIT. Biology was a required class, and believe it or not, most MIT students don't gel with it. Before I went into college, I also served as a tutor for computer science students in my high school. In addition, I assisted short seminar-like programs where young students were given an introduction to computer programming, and assistant taught in a Spanish immersion camp at my high school, Park Tudor, during one summer.

All told, I have instructed high school students, college students, and elementary level students. As a teaching assistant, I taught in the classroom setting for recitations, assisted students one-on-one, or one-to-multiple in office hours. My work in high school was volunteer work, and the tutoring was one-on-one as well.

Part of my teaching philosophy is to treat the subject matter like a story where applicable. Going back to the assistance with undergraduate biology, I described the material as an unfolding story. People often struggle with biology because they think of it as many complicated words to memorize, Once I got them to set aside the confusing nomenclature, and focus on the concepts via the story, they came to a much better understanding. I enjoy showing students that they are in fact capable of the work, even if they struggle with it occasionally or initially. I aim to help them cut straight to the heart of the matter and understand their work.