Survey of Contemporary Media
Teaching Assistant
2020-2021
*Online Due to COVID-19 Global Pandemic
Student Evaluations
Sarah seemed very engaged throughout all discussions and helped guide our learning without controlling it. She encouraged our participation and gave us worthwhile activities to better our understanding of course topics. She was very responsive to questions and making time for any students' concerns or need for help.
It felt very easy and encouraging to participate as I feel that Sarah was able to guide questions well and would always thoughtfully respond to students. Sarah did a great job of covering information without being repetitive of lessons and helped build our understanding and confidence of these topics while also encouraging us to draw conclusions and make our own connections.
Excellent teaching, very supportive of students and understanding. Was very clear when defining terms and supported student's inputs and built up the proper thinking for analyzing key terms and applying them to real life situations.
Sarah was a very helpful TA. In discussion section, she always made sure to dive in deeper with the terms to help us understand, and she always worked with our offered definitions to help us understand the terms in our own way. She ran the discussion sections very efficiently and overall was a very pleasant TA to work with.
I liked that whenever someone participated in class, she would thank them for volunteering and then elaborate on what they said by giving some more examples that were applicable to us as students and millennials so that it was easier to understand. I also liked that whenever someone raised their hand and Sarah called on them, she would say "[person’s name] yeah, go ahead!" with such an enthusiasm that would encourage me to volunteer and add to the conversation. Her enthusiasm and support for participation was very effective for furthering and facilitating active discussion.
She was down to earth and made the class environment feel engaging and welcoming to everyone.
So good at getting students involved.
Sarah did a great job leading group discussions and explaining parts of the material that were less intuitive.
Sarah was great and really impacted my invested and learning capabilities throughout the semester.
The way Sarah led discussions was excellent. I was always comfortable talking about subjects and I never felt pressured to speak up. Also, she didn't make anyone feel pressured to turn on their cameras-she understands that we just might not be in the right mindset to do so. This was nice.
I can't really describe it. Sarah just is really good at teaching. There's a way in which she speaks to students that gets her point across well and leads to productive understanding.
I thought she was one of the best TAs I have had here at Madison; I loved how into it she got, and it definitely seemed like she wanted to teach the class!
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Faculty Evaluation - Dr. Jason Kido Lopez
Sarah is a very engaged TA. As it was my first time teaching this course (and inheriting it from previous instructors), she was instrumental in helping the course run well in the Fall while also thinking about ways it could improve in the Spring. She also was extremely good about working with at-risk students and students in crisis. She managed to walk an extremely difficult line of supporting the students without sacrificing the integrity of the course. She also was very responsive to students in sections, office hours, by email, and by timely grading. She was a fantastic team member.
Sarah was very professional. She created an inviting space for students to be able to talk comfortably, but it was always focused on actively engaging with the course material. Students felt comfortable coming to Sarah for guidance, which speaks highly of how she presented the material and ran her sections.
Sarah often served as the backbone to this class, which demonstrated her many strengths in the diverse facets of the class. Not only did she show her skills as a discussion leader, but also in the wider skill set necessary to run a class like 250: communication, dependability, and professionalism. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to work with Sarah, and the course was much improved due to her efforts.