I have served as a teaching assistant for Design Thinking course at McMaster since the beginning of September, and today was the last day of the class for me because I am moving to Orillia soon. (Yes, it is a bi-weekly Saturday class.) It is good to teach at where I had learned. I can use my experiences to help students from a closer position. Since the instructors did not give me specific directions (which is good), I tried to find ways to contribute for the class differently from the instructors. Let me assume it worked.
I like teaching and have many experiences in teaching: as a part-time science teacher, Japanese instructor, TA at EVDS, volunteer instructor at McMaster, and so on. Seeing students’ improvement and their aha moment is my delight. Now many people don’t know that I was not a good student in my high school and university in Japan. Some teachers and professors even disliked me. So, I know what not-so-good students feel when their classmates are doing good. I like to encourage them. Experience of being a bad student helps me teach.
I will miss the class. I hope I will have a chance to come back to McMaster to see their work again.