Jayna DeVore and Anna McKee name outstanding teaching assistants
Jayna DeVore and Anna McKee both received recognitions for their outstanding contributions in instruction.
Jayna won the 2010 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Warnell School based on her service in Herpetology (WILD/ECOL 4040/6040) and broader contributions to Warnell’s teaching mission including instruction for the South Pacific study abroad courses Field Animal Behavior (BOIL 3720L) and Sustaining Human Societies and the Natural Environment (ECOL/ANTH/FORS 4271). Jayna has proven to be a dedicated and accomplished teacher in the classroom. Jayna’s accomplishments include developing an extensive set of new materials for laboratories, and taking a significant role in shifting lab from instructor-centered to student-centered learning. In both 2008 and 2009, 90% of the students gave Jayna the highest marks for enthusiasm, knowledge, preparation, and most importantly concern for their intellectual development. Dr. Robert Matthews, a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Entomology, commented in his letter of support that “unlike some other TAs that I have worked with, Jayna actively and continually thought about course objectives and how to best achieve them, and following consultation implemented many of them, resulting in much better courses. Indeed, I learned from many of her ideas and suggestions about alternative ways to both address and assess the course objectives, and as a result have changed my approach in some ways as well...of all of the teaching assistants I have worked with over my 40 years at UGA Jayna ranks as one of the very best.”
Anna was selected by the Graduate School and the Center for Teaching and Learning to receive the 2010 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. For her recognition, Anna has been invited to participate in the University of Georgia’s Future Faculty Program, which is sponsored by the Dean of the Graduate School and coordinated by the Center for Teaching and Learning. The purpose of the Future Faculty Program is to provide graduate preparation which reflects future faculty roles, to develop discipline based pedagogy and to increase peer mentoring in academic departments.
