Final Portfolio

CARLEY ANN TOBLER

The University of Maryland, College Park
FALL 2021

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Mentorship Philosophy Statement 2

Evidence of Fearless Mentorship 4

Reflections and Future Goals 7

Introduction

I am currently halfway through my senior year as a civil engineering student at the University of
Maryland College Park. This is my first semester as a UTA for technical writing (ENGL393).
My professor reached out to me during the summer to ask if I wanted to assist with grading and
teaching the class. I decided to take this position because I want to help students who were in my
same position to succeed. I was excited to be in a classroom from a different perspective and be
able to assist my professor and the students in any way possible. I also wanted to gain experience
with supporting professors. During the semester, my primary role was to create and grade
grammar quizzes as well as facilitating discussions.

Entering the semester, I set a few goals for myself. One goal I had for myself this semester is to
gain better time management. I had a heavy course load with 5 engineering classes and being a
UTA. Before the semester, I always struggled with balancing free time and work. At one point I
had over three hundred unread emails. With job searching and being an AMP, I knew I had to
change those bad habits. My other goal is that I wanted to provide an environment of open
communication for students to feel comfortable asking questions. Throughout college, I have
always done especially well in classes where the professor was approachable, which made me
feel comfortable to ask questions. In the next section, I will expand on these goals.

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Mentorship Philosophy Statement

As Mark Van Doren, a famous poet once said, “The art of teaching is the art of assisting
discovery”. This quote encapsulates what my aim is as an AMP. I enrolled in the class last
semester, and thoroughly enjoyed my experience learning about technical writing as well as gain
important skills. As someone who took the class and had success, I want to help other students
do the same. Any class can be intimidating, but my overall goal is assisting students to reach
their potential. Technical writing is an integral skill to have in any field, whether it is
engineering, psychology, or biology. I wanted to express the importance of the subject matter
and be someone for the students to look to for guidance. I had a few personal goals I wanted to
achieve to help my students reach their potential.

One goal I wanted to accomplish is to be approachable and reliable. Throughout college I have
had many kinds of professors. The classes where I have the largest drive to succeed and
performed the best were led by approachable professors. While the professor I am currently
assisting is very approachable, students can still be intimidated. Students who feel alone in the
classroom usually perform at lower levels and lead to poor results. Learning in a healthy learning
environment that promotes discussion will help students to perform to the best of their abilities. I
hoped to accomplish this goal by attending all classes possible and having conversations with the
students before and after class to create a trusting bond. There are a few active learning activities
that I incorporated into my teaching style to promote an approachable environment. The one-
minute paper I utilized, where the professor sets a timer and ask students to write their biggest
question or something important in the course. The activity was inventive and helped students to
focus, be creative, and participate. Another activity is peer reviews. Throughout the semester, a
few larger assignments had allocated peer reviews for the students to complete. Constructive
feedback helps students excel by receiving another perspective. Promoting an open speaking
environment with activities overall helped the class feel comfortable enough to participate and
ask questions.

Another aim I had was to achieve is better time management. This fall semester I had five
engineering classes; was in club volleyball and was a teaching assistant. I wanted to be able to
properly balance all my activities and responsibilities without falling behind on any item.
Efficiently managing your time improves work-life balance and helps to reduce stress. It is
important to work smarter to increase productive work, instead of slipping behind and feeling
overwhelmed. My specific responsibilities included creating and grading grammar quizzes,
facilitating discussions, attending class, and be an available avenue for students to ask questions.
I planned to integrate this goal by setting an hour on the weekend to prepare grammar quizzes
and reach out to the professor asking if he needs assistance. It is especially important as an AMP
to be available and flexible, so that students do not feel alone in the classroom. I wanted to
integrate checking my texts and email twice every day to be available as a resource to students. I
missed an email earlier in the semester from my professor regarding setting a meeting, and I was
embarrassed and disappointed in myself. It is a common mistake to miss an email periodically,
but this event drove me to want to make a new routine.

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I wanted to be an approachable source and manage my time efficiently to be the best teaching
assistant I can be. I hoped to accomplish these goals through incorporating communicating with
my students and professor into a routine and creating bonds to help everyone feel comfortable
and empowered. Learning in a classroom can be daunting, but I wanted to ease the intimidation
for my students to lead them to success through fruitful discussions.

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Evidence of Fearless Mentorship

I have completed my first semester as a UTA for Technical Writing (ENGL393). I decided to
accept this position to assist other students in the same position when I took the class, as well as
gain experience with assisting professors and students. Entering the semester, one goal was to
gain better time management. I have achieved this goal by checking my email every day and
responding to students’ messages while balancing my other workloads. In the beginning of the
semester, my professor emailed me about a few different details including meeting him before
class to discuss activities in the classroom. I completely missed the email and was very
embarrassed, and after that point this goal became very apparent for me to work on, and since
then I have always responded to professor and student emails.

My other goal was to create an environment in which students felt comfortable to ask anything.
This goal aligns with the climate section in the components of Fearless Teaching Framework.
The climate portion describes that when students feel that the environment is supportive, they are
more likely to engage on a deeper level with the material and ask questions. Classrooms can be
very intimidating. Students who feel alone in the classroom usually perform at lower levels
which leads to poor results. At the beginning of the semester, I hoped to accomplish this goal by
attending all classes possible and having conversations with the students to help them feel
comfortable approaching me. I feel that I have completed this goal because many students come
to me with questions, and I am in every class talking to students about what is going on in their
lives as well as course content questions.

I posted my evidence below. In the first example, I drew from previous experience to assist in
their current assignment. I included a pun as humor to continue to create bonds with the students
to have them feel comfortable to continue to ask questions. My time management improvement
also was shown in both examples. As a mentioned earlier, I had trouble keeping up with emails
and usually missed messages. The second message was important for me to respond quickly so I
could open his missed quiz to have him complete it in a timely manner. I attended class every
Thursday night and most of my communication took place in person with that class section. I
communicated through email in the other section since I couldn’t be there in person. Both ways I
tried to connect as effectively as possible and thoroughly explain my answers to show I care
about the students succeeding and want to help and assist them to the best of my abilities.

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I had an official progress report meeting with my professor in October. We discussed my overall
performance as a UTA. He has informed me that he has had students emailed him telling him
that I have been a great resource and that I’ve helped them with whatever issues they had. My
professor also mentioned that no students have complained about me lacking in any department.
He expressed to me that I have been doing a great job being a UTA and that is happy with my
work I have produced and gave me a perfect score. Receiving effective feedback is very
important to me because I always want to work on bettering myself. I was very happy to receive
such positive feedback and this class has helped me figure out ways to achieve my AMP goals
and help me handle different situations in the classroom.

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Reflections and Future Goals

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed being an AMP/UTA. My main goals included wanting to
create an environment in which students feel comfortable, manage my time more efficiently, and
create stronger bonds with my professor and students. I have put in effort to check my emails and
texts daily and attend every class I can to show my availability for the students. Being a UTA
helped me to grow as an individual by improving on communicating with people and evolving
my time management skills. During senior year, it is imperative to check your email and
communicate effectively with others to expand your network to seek future opportunities. As an
introvert, I was often insecure about how I talk with others. During this semester, I feel that I
have improved my communication skills by practicing daily by communicating in the classroom
more often. Something I could work on in the future is being more knowledgeable on all
assignments. It is difficult juggling two sections and trying to stay on top of when their
assignments are due and their requirements. To work on this, I will add my students’ schedule on
my calendar to make sure I know the ins and outs of all work involved with the class. In the
future I hope to continue to effectively communicate, and time manage, as well as work on my
understanding of all the assignments to properly help students.

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