You're coming off kind of contrived and pretentious, you're not saying anything we haven't heard before

Once again, it's time to share the highlights from my TA evaluations from last semester. As always, these are taken verbatim from the evaluations themselves.

Laboratory Activities
What was your favorite lab exercise? Why?
- The video, because it doesn't stink.
- Disection*, because it is dirty and exciting.
- Leaving, because it was always late.
- Ugh, none! Labs were just very boring.

Which lab experience was most informative and educational for you?
- Disection because I can do it and touching

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Disections, because the stink.
- Anything w/ plants -- hella boring!
- Earthworm dissection and looking at live flat worms because both creep me out.

What is the major weakness of the [biology] lab?
- The only thing I didn't like was the detailedness of the quizzes.
- It's too hard (that's what she said?)

What is the major strength of the [biology] lab?
- Actual action take and tangible to all senses.
- [Minnow] is just a big bucket of win


Laboratory Instructor
In general, how would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?
- A for awesome
- Damn, he's good (maybe because he's young?)
- Nothing special either way
- Kept me awake

How would you assess your lab instructor's ability in making things understandable and their willingness to help?
- A for always helping
- Godly

Assess your lab instructor's knowledge about the topics covered.
- A for abundance of knowledge
- He's a smartie-pants.
- Knew pretty much everything - I mean he is a doctor!!
- Again, he is a plethora of knowledge, or maybe even a cornacopia.
- Knew more than I knew, answered things

Assess your lab instructor's examination policy, fairness, and grading.
- B for Boy some of those quizzes are hard

What were his/her strong points?
- He got an attitude (in a nice way)

How could he/she improve?,
- Not allow and/or engage in so many loud and disruptive conversations that do not pertain to lab.
- He is at his MAX!
- Somehow make preservatives (for disections) smell like flowers or something.
- "insert mean statement"
- Not to blast the A/C when driving [on the field trip].
- Nothing that I can think of, even my best friend who joined our lab commented on your greatness ;)
- SMILE MORE!
- Maybe go the the gym a little
- talks too much, which wastes lab time
- Be more cool
- psst . . . make the quizzes easier









*Apparently I need to do a better job of teaching these students how to spell 'dissection'

So sentimental, not sentimental no

Once again, it's time to share the highlights from my TA evaluations from last semester. As always, these are taken verbatim from the evaluations themselves, so don't blame me for spelling and grammatical errors.

The Lab
What was your favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Pig disection. We Disected a PIG!
- Push ups. It gets me pumped.
- Invertebrate diversity I and II. Because worms, clams, and crawfish are probably the most exciting organisms to dissect. Also the starfish gonads get me excited.

Which lab experienced was most informative and educational for you?
- [Field Trip]. On the ride up, a fellow student said to his friend, "Why does anyone come out here? There's nothing out here, and Vegas is 15 min away!" I learned people can be dumb. And I'm a biased jerk.

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Everything with plants, hate plants.
- Invertebrates =( gross

What is the major weakness of the lab?
- The pine cones suck
- Some ppl suck

The Laboratory Instructor
How would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?
- Bill Clinton!

Assess your lab instructor's knowledge about the topics covered
- Pro!!!
- Freakishly thorough
- He knew everything we needed to know . . . and nothing more.
- He is smart, yo!

Assess your lab instructor's examination policy, fairness, and grading.
- Very fair! Especially in all situations.

What were his/her strong points?
- Being a damn good man.
- You are awesome, [Minnow]! Hot and helpful.
- Pure awesomeness.
- Euthuastic*

How could he/she improve?
- By giving me more 10/10.
- Listen to better music. Just kidding! :)
- Build a time machine and convince former self to not get married.
- In every way imaginable. Just kidding. Nah, just kidding again. No, just kidding. Again.

Then there was the guy who merely wrote "I &hearts [Minnow]" across the entire page, and also signed his name. Should I be flattered? Or afraid?







*Pretty sure they meant enthusiastic.

Nothing here matters the spiders get fatter

Once again, it's time to share the highlights from my TA evaluations from last semester. As always, these are taken verbatim from the evaluations themselves.


The Lab
What was your favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Animal part, cuz I like to cut
- The pig dissection because I thought I never would cut up a pig, but I did it anyway

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Grasshopper - smelly
- The field trip because I'm lazy and don't like to hike
- Earthworm dissection. 50% ethanol + water + Annelid = semi crul death to worm


The Lab Instructor
Assess your lab instructor's knowledge about the topics covered
- You know a lot. Go you!
- A for all-knowing!

What were his/her strong points?
- His demonstration of the root tip model

How could he/she improve?
- Don't be a plant expert. Fish is cooler. <')}}}>< *
- Get a pig dissection shirt
- If he went back to church
- Listen to better music
- Tell funnier jokes
- Lose the earring you pirate!







*That was my lame attempt to re-create the fish drawing that accompanied the comment.

What's mistaken for closeness is just a case of mitosis

Once again, it's time to share the highlights from my TA evaluations from last semester. As always, these are taken verbatim from the evaluations themselves.

The Lab
What was your least favorite exercise? Why?
- The worm. We had to kill it.
- The clam dissection, I'm not a fan of sea life, I would have preferred a plastic model.
- The guppies, they were racist.

What is the major weakness of [the lab]?
- Looking at slides SUCK!!

What is the major strength of [the lab]?
- Cutting things open ROCK!!



The Lab Instructor
What were his/her strong points?
- Superhuman strength and stopping gang violence*.
- Unbelievably strong and the ability to obtain vast amounts of knowledge.

How could he/she improve?
- Lose the earring.
- Not sure. Hurry up and finish his doctorate so he can have his own lecture. He's getting up there :)
- I suggest giving students time to copy notes on board should be a different time than when you are explaining lab because it's hard to listen to someone while copying stuff off board**.
- Drawing pigs on casts.
- Learning how to fly! (There can only be one!)






*Native Minnow: Putting an end to gang violence since 2008.

**Because the two and a half hours they have in lab after I finish talking isn't enough time for them to copy stuff down.

My only offer, stifle copies of myself

These are a little late, but they always say better late than never, right? Well, here are the highlights of my evaluations from spring semester. As always, these are actual student responses to the questions they were asked on the evaluation form.

Laboratory Activities
What was your favorite exercise? Why?
- Dissections, because cutting up stuff is fun.
- Field Trip. Not too much gross stuff, interesting and different.
- Yoga; da bomb for real!
- Dissecting Mr. Johnson's* Johnson.

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Bacteria phylums was sooooooooo borrring.
- Cutting open the grasshopper. They are gross.
- Pig dissections. I like pigs and would rather have a live one than a dead one.
- Dissection of the grasshopper. It's the most disgusting thing. I may never eat rice again.
- Fetal pig, stinks really really bad - actually made me cry with chemicals in my eye.

What is the major weakness of the lab?
- Have [Other TA] as TA. She is rude, racist, have bad languages** in lab. Horrible.


Laboratory Instructor
How would you rate your instructor's ability in making things understandable and their willingness to help?
- Always available and helps butcher the pig.

How could he/she improve?
- Listen to Death Cab For Cutie!
- Don't be a jerk to girls who cry on exams, ok?
- No more quizzes of DEATH.
- Make a clone of himself***
- More cowbell, better molecules.




*I always make my students name their pigs.

**Really? You're going to use that language to criticize someone who "have bad languages in lab"? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?

***Looks like that DNA technology is going to be put to another practical use after all.

Ego tripping at the gates of Hell

It's TA evaluation time again. Actually, it was TA evaluation time about a month ago, but I just got mine back, and you know what that means: I'm sharing my favorites with you. But don't get your hopes up too high, all in all, it was a pretty boring bunch. Sure, there were plenty of people who said they liked me, that I was nice, funny, yada yada yada, but there are really only two that are worthy of sharing. The first because it's hilarious. The second because it boosted my ego.

Evaluation 1: (just the hilarious response)
What was your favorite exercise? Why?
Pig Dissection - More hand job* (I could actually see organs).


Evaluation 2: (minus the questions that were left blank)
What was your favorite lab exercise? Why?
I liked the dissections.

Which lab experience was most informative and educational for you?
Cutting things up.

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
I liked all labs cuz I could come see my lab TA.

What is the major weakness of the [biology] lab?
The quizzes & my lab TA he was HOT** and made me buckle @ my knees.

What is the major strength of the [biology] lab?
Everything

In general, how would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?
I love you [Minnow]!!

What were his/her strong points?
Everything about [Minnow] was great!!

How could he/she improve?
He was wonderful.





*I'm pretty sure they didn't really mean to write what they did. I assure you there are no hand jobs given or received in any of my labs.

**For a limited time only*** I'm giving in to peer pressure and am posting a few pics of myself. This way you can judge for yourself (but mostly I just want to see if the waitress will continue stroking my ego).

***Sorry, time's up.

It's coming down to nothing more than apathy

It's that time again. Time for me to share some of my favorite comments from students on my TA evaluations from last semester. (It was actually that time a couple weeks ago, since that's when I got the evals back, but I've been too lazy to put the post together until now.)

As always, misspellings, bad grammar, etc. come from the students, not from me. Without further ado:

Comments about the lab

What was your favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Cutting shit up! I love disection.
- The pig. You get to cut up a pig need I say more?

Which lab experience was most informative and educational for you?
-Pigs win again!

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?
- Anything on the computer SUX!
- Anything to do with plants. It was just an insufferable bore.
- Invertebrate anatomy - too many things to remember on a lame subject.

What was the major strength of the lab?
- Semilive/live specimens
- You learn cool stuff.
- Hard-on learning!!!
- <3 [Native Minnow] <3

Comments about the lab instructor

In general, how would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?
- Woo! Very helpful and explained things mucho well.

How would you assess your lab instructor's ability in making things understandable, and their willingness to help?
- Check and check - maybe get an aka Keil Holliday =P

What were his/her strong points?
- Best TA Ever!

How could he/she improve?
- I don't think [Minnow] can improve - he is perfect.
- Don't do the SpongeBob laugh unless you mean it.
- Pierce other ear too.
- Bring in more candy.
- He could improve by working out more.
- Smile more =D, and bring coffee in the morning.
- Bring breakfast.
- A boombox in the lab with a CD to make a [lab] soundtrack.
- Be less douche-y. Just kidding, outstanding guy that [Minnow].

And you'll begin to wonder why you came

It's time for another installment of 'The Best of Native Minnow's Teaching Evaluations!' As always, these are actual comments from my students (and as always, some of these won't be funny unless you're a biologist).

Comments about the Lab:

What is the major weakness of the lab?

• The amount of memorization is retarded . . .
• The dead frog in the fish tank!! (it wasn't really dead, it just rarely moves)
• Best Bio lab so far. (how is this a weakness?)

What was your least favorite lab exercise? Why?

• Anything that dealt w/plants. I don't care about plants.
• Plant/boring
• Any plant exercise - plants suck
• [Computer] labs because I would click reset when I wasn't supposed to so I'd have to start over. (I'm not sure how that's the fault of the lab)
• Anything with stupid plants. Too complex for doing nothing. (Do you mean besides providing the rest of us with oxygen?)
• Gymnospears. Too much info to remember. (including the fact that they're called gymnosperms)

Which lab experience was most informative and educational for you?

• Plant morophogeny (I think it's supposed to say morphology, but hey, nothing like making up a new word when you don't know the answer).

What was your favorite exercise? Why?

• [The field trip] - it was exceedingly boring but at least we got out of the lab room.
• Dissecting the pig, I liked learning the vascular system of mammals. (Do you mean circulatory system?).
• The pig, because I never saw a pig beyond the porkchops.

Comments about the lab instructor:

In general, how would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?

• Clear, presents ideas, well. He rules. (I just liked the punctuation on this one)

What were his/her strong points?

• Knows his shit

How could he/she improve?

• EASE UP ON THE QUIZZES!!!
• You cannot improve upon perfection!
• He's already perfect
• Keep it real
• Dress up for Halloween this time
• Give out candy?
• Be more boring, no one likes a show off [Native Minnow]!
• Buy long sleeve shirts because it's freezing outside.
• Become a Buddhist monk in Tibet for a year

Yup, these are my students

At the end of every semester I have my students fill out a TA evaluation sheet where they are able to rate both the lab and me as an instructor. I always read through them to see if there are areas where I can improve, but most of my students seem to really like me. The same can't be said for the lab itself, but I have no control over that.

I just got my evaluations back from last semester (I can't see them until grades come out so that the students will feel free to say how they really feel rather than trying to suck up to get a better grade, or hold back for fear of getting a worse one, not that I would let a comment affect someone's grade anyway, but it's supposed to give them peace of mind). Here are some of the answers that I thought were funny:

LABORATORY ACTIVITIES
What was your least favorite exercise? Why?
"The stinky grasshopper"
"The grasshopper, crawfish & earthworm dissections. I'm not a big fan of bugs. It's a good thing we didn't do spiders!"
"Looking at slides . . . very gay."
"Everything with plants. I hate plants, they are possibly the most boring thing on earth."

What was your favorite exercise? Why?
"Intervertebrates. It was a nice break from plants." (note: you may need to read this again to see why it's funny. You may even need to be a biologist, I'm not sure).
"Jumping jacks and the pig dissection"

LABORATORY INSTRUCTOR
How could he/she improve?
"Sometimes he gabs to other students about non-biology things."

What were his/her strong points?
"Good talker"

In general, how would you rate your lab instructor as a teacher?
"Very" (I don't know what that means either)