The Woes and Joys of Teaching

I think I'll start with something that was surprisingly fun - teaching. Most of my fellow first-years (and many grad students across the country) received teaching assistantships to teach up to three sections of intro biology labs for undergrads. The level of responsibility differs between schools, programs, and even within programs. Some TAs just grade for large lecture classes, some lead discussion sections, and some are the sole instructors. Even within my program the amount of responsibility differed - those teaching non-majors had more work since their kids wrote papers and completes projects. As a lab teacher for majors, I only graded weekly quizzes (which I wrote) and two practicals. I had the majority of control over my classes; the lab coordinator wrote the manuel, but I was usually able to figure out from other students or trial and error what was actually doable.

It certainly took a while getting used to teaching. I mean, I look like I'm 15 and I sound like it, how was I supposed to control a bunch of people who were (at the most) only four years younger that me?! But surprisingly, my students were for the most part very respectful. I did have to get an attitude at one point, but that was the extent of my harshness. I've still learned some important things for next semester:
- If I don't know something, say so and follow up on it. I was pretty good about this but I'll definitely keep it up.
- Think of every possible scenario and make a rule about it in your syllabus. I was caught offguard a couple of times, so now I know to include those issues in my new syllabus.
- I'm a teacher first. Sometimes I felt bad about saying no to students I like, but a fellow first-year (and former high school teacher) reminds me that I'm not their friend.

I'm so excited to continue teaching next semester!

Life gets in the way sometimes...

So my initial plan was to keep regular posts about how I got to where I am, and how I'm surviving graduate school. Then a little thing called....graduate school....happened. So my apologies; I promise I'll stay on top of things as my life will apparently become ten times calmer (according to older students). So for a quick overview of the past couple of months...

- Somehow survived the hardest semester at my program with a passing GPA....which means I get to keep my TAship, woot!
- Also survived my first semester teaching undergrad biology labs. It started out very stressful, and I often wondered if my kids liked/respeted me. But seeing some kids pass with Bs and Cs when they were failing at mid-term period, to have kids argue over who's lab I should teach next semester...I've never felt such a reward.
- I feel extremely close to my cohort, and to everyone in my program in general. Late-night study sessions will do that to you.

I'm currently back in DC for winter break, so I'll have more time to catch up. For now, a pretty accurate representation of the past four months of my life:

Out of the Classroom

So during undergrad, I was also in three marine-related groups (Wow, my life really does revolve around marine science). Through the marine mammal stranding group, I was certified to assist with marine mammal strandings in south FL. I probably could've been more involved, but it was still a great experience. I was also in my school's SCUBA club, which allowed me to earn an open water certification. Again, wasn't as involved as I could've been, but it's a good skill to have in the field.

However, the most influential organization for me was my marine science honor society. We did so much together; we cleaned up beaches, we hosted various speakers on topics from study abroad programs to graduate schools to aquaculture, we had parties. But best of all, we had an annual spring trip that allowed me to see so many different places and things.

Whale watching in Monterey, CA

South Carolina Aquarium

So if you have the chance to explore similar opprotunities, do!

Classes Classes

So today I'll get into classes and what you should be studying. You might think that it's beneficial to study marine science right off the bat. Wrong! The important thing is to study basic biology, chemistry, physics, geology and math, all of which you can accomplish with a biology, chemistry, etc. major. Make sure that if you do study marine science, your program recommends - or better yet, requires - these courses. I've herd through the grapevine that at least one undergrad program doesn't require all of these courses. Unless you know to take them, you'll be out of luck in you want to continue on to grad school. As far as what courses I'm talking about...(and this is from the POV of a biology major...this will be different if you're studying one of the other sciences)...

Intro Biology - Your run-of-the-mill basic bio class for science majors. This should be a repeat of what you learned in high school, but on a more in-depth level.

Cellular and Molecular Biology - At some schools, these are two separate courses. At mine, this was one course.

Genetics - A lot of people dislike it, I love it. Punnett squares get more complicated, and there's more math involved. But come on, population genetics is awesome!

Ecology - I personally found it ridiculously easy and boring (partially because my instructor is a plant ecologist....sorry, plants aren't my thing)

Physiology - Almost forgot this one! My class was on comparative physiology. Really tested my poor memorization skills, but I got through it.

But wait, there's more! (Man, I can still hear my art history instructor's voice when I write that)

Intro (inorganic?) Chemistry - again, an in-depth repeat of high school chemistry.

Organic Chemistry - You'll need at least one semester unless this is your major. It sucks, no matter how, no matter where, it is unnecessarily difficult and there's no way around it. Embrace it, go into it with an open mind and you'll get out alive (God help you if you have to take the second semester though as I did :/). The labs were far better/fun.

Physics - For all the grad programs I applied to, you just needed a year, no level specified. My school has two level: University is Calculus-based and is usually taken by overachievers or younger students with Calculus fresh in their minds. College is Algebra-based and is for the masses who just want to get by alive. Guess where I was...

Geology - This is sort-of the wild card....you might not need it, but if you can fit it into your schedule you'll be that much more well-rounded in the sciencesgo for it, so I say . I don't have much to say about the lecture: honestly, my habit was to read the school paper and then pass out (In my defense, I later realized it was because the lights were always off. My instructor left the lights on for the last class and I was unnaturally alert.). The lab was by far one of my favorites, and I've gushed to other students about how awesome the lab instructor is.

Math - You should take Calculus I, which will be decently easy if you've taken AP. Calculus II gets a little more dicey.

So that's the minimum you should take as an undergrad. But if your institution has a marine science major or marine science faculty, then you'll be lucky enough to take marine science courses. I had four required courses and some electives.

Intro Marine Science - In my program, this is the "Let's dabble in everything possible and separate the real marine scientists from the dolphin trainer wannabes" class. Yes, most of the class was on the dull side. I'm not terribly excited by the Coriolis Effect, and I hope to study plankton as little as possible from now on. But someone who is genuinely interested will see the relevance of all this and appreciate it. The ones who just want to swim with whales will give up - and about a quarter of this class did. We also had a lab on our marine science campus which introduced us to different topics. The includede pic is from this lab.

Marine Biology - Now it starts getting fun! This is what most people want to learn about, marine organisms. A bit dull at the beginning with smaller invertebrates, but you eventually get to the better stuff like corals, fishes, mammals, and birds. This class included my favorite lab, where we explored different local communities and ended by designing our own projects (on a small scale) which we later presented.

Chemical Oceanography - You know how I said earlier that you have to find the relevance to get by sometimes? Yea....that was this whole course for me. It was rough, it was so hard, it involved a cruise in which I spent most of the day in the fetal position on the deck of the research vessel. And personally, I can only learn so much about chemical processes in the ocean before I toss my hands up in defeat. But it was required. And this pains me to say it, but for the record: the lab was very relevant to my research internship....damnit.

Physical Oceanography - I'd put this class in the middle...not at "Chem O" level, not at marine biology level. This class focused on physical processes, and much of it focused on the relationship between the atmosphere and the ocean. Class material was a bit hard, but we could complete writing assignments for points, which helped me better grasp concepts. It ended with a large paper (not mandatory) where you chose 500 km of your favorite coastline and reseached every physical aspect possible. I must admit it was one of the more rewarding papers I've written on marine science.

I also took classes in...

Marine Mammals - The class to be in at my institution. Finally, we get to learn about dolphins and whales! My class was physiology-heavy.

Readings in Marine Science - One of the best classes I've taken. Every week we read on or two articles (My specific class was on diseases in marine organisms) and once a week we met to discuss and critique.

My only other advice would be to remain interested in other non-science topics. A lot of people in my classes liked to take the easy way out and focus solely on science. That's great at times, but I would rather be in an interesting class than a boring class. (However, PLEASE don't even take a 300 level philosophy class. Talk about testing my sanity!) My primary interests are in biology, but I also love art and history and took many classes in them (Alright, they were required gen ed courses but still). Hopefully you're a bit more excited now!

Next up - extracurriculars!

How I Got Here

Summer '09 - hard at work in my summer internship.
I'll get into those later.

My first post! As I have two weeks at home before moving south and getting into my new life, I thought I'd use this time to focus on my undergrad experiences and what I've learned.
So the obvious first question....how did I get here?

So, I grew up in DC...I know, not the best place to lear about marine life right? But anyways, I was always interested in science. Around pre-school/kindergarten, I decided that I was going to be a paleontologist (luckily that fell through, that requires studying geology o_0). I was immediately whisked away to the National Museum of Natural History for years to feed my curiosity (props to Ma for that!), and my dream stuck until I was nine and we visited my godparents in San Diego.

In San Diego, we visited - what else - Sea World. And as I told a friend, Shamu showed me the light. I don't know why exactly, but from then on I was hooked on marine life. I read a ridiculous amount of books on marine life at the public library and trips branched out to include the National Aquarium in Baltimore. In high school, I worked hard in science and math and took AP courses in both. The summer before my senior year, I interned at the local aquarium (that's right, y'all didn't know DC had an aquarium did you?) as an education docent, which really cemented my interests in marine science. And with that, I applied to marine science programs at five schools, four in Florida and one in South Carolina. Yes, I am not a fan of winters (well, I wasn't, I appreciate seasons much more now). I ended up at a school in Florida, and here I am four years later with a degree in hand and a new adventure in front of me.

I think I'll go into my college experience - specifically classes - tomorrow.