TEACHING

In my time as a graduate student at UCI, I have also acted as teaching assistant to undergraduate lower and higher level economics courses. As of summer 2022, I have TA-ed for a total of 17 terms (12 quarters and 5 summer sessions). I enjoy teaching and helping students grasp challenging, new concepts. Although most of my teaching has been in person, I am also familiar with teaching virtually.

I have also been fortunate to have been awarded multiple fellowships by the Department of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) at UCI. I received the DTEI Summer Fellowship and the Summer Teaching Apprenticeship Program (STAP) Fellowship in the summers of 2020 and 2022 respectively. The programs introduced me to pedagogical intricacies, especially active learning techniques, and helped me become a better teacher in general. Details on the classes I taught, the DTEI Fellowships and some selected student evaluations I received are below.

You can also read my teaching statement here and a summary of my teaching evaluations here.

Classes Taught
As Teaching Assistant for Undergraduate Economics Courses

The classes I TA-ed for along with the number of terms is listed below:

Managerial Economics (10)
Intermediate Economics II (3)
Basic Economics I (3)
Probability and Statistics I (1)

Teaching Fellowships
with Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation

As a DTEI Summer Fellow, I provided instructional support to undergraduate and graduate level instructors in pedagogical training dedicated to online teaching. This involved creating Canvas space for teaching modules, assignments, exams and using Zoom to teach virtually in a manner that most closely replicates in-person student-teacher interaction. I also supported four courses as they were converted to a remote format using educational software.
As a STAP Fellow, I was engaged in faculty mentor meetings, asynchronous and synchronous training session on preparing student writing outcomes, assessments and implementing active learning techniques in classroom. This involved learning how to sequence and choose instructional methods and determine assessments. I also completed a course syllabus draft and set up course webpage as instructor for a basic economics course.

Sample Syllabus

Student Comments

Intermediate Economics II:

``The best TA I've ever had at UCI. Coming from 100B, getting someone to practice examples was impossible but this TA did everything!"

``I thought the strongest points in your notes had to do with the organization, whether it was because of the color coordination or the charts you created, everything was really easy to follow."

``(She is ) Very well prepared with the materials, everything she taught in discussion was very clear, included a lot of practice examples that werent even shown on lectures"

Managerial Economics:

``Sayantani was able to explain concepts clearly during discussion section and helped clear up confusion that students may have had."

``Sayantani is great, she knows what she is teaching very very well. She prepares for discussion and has things orderly ready for us to get in, get help with the material as much as possible, and get out in 50 minutes. Amazing TA."

Basic Economics I

``(She is ) Good at simplifying concepts and making content easy to understand."

``The strong points were that she was able to cover all the topics of that week's chapter in such a short amount of time while also having enough time to answer any questions we have when we are doing our discussion assignment."

Probability and Statistics I

``Sayantani presented the material well and in an organized fashion to the class. She always
presented the material in depth and fully explained the reasoning and calculations behind the
problems in Econ 15A."