Evans Boadi believes in his students even when they doubt their own abilities.
“As a TA, I ask myself, how do I help my students succeed in their math courses or help students get rid of the notion that mathematics is not for them?”
Evans has been a TA since the fall of 2016 when he came to Brock from Ghana to begin a master’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics. His TA activities include first, second and third-year courses such as Applied Calculus I and II, Differential Equations and its Application, Advanced Differential Equations and its Application, and Theoretical Mechanics I and II. He has improved his teaching skills through student feedback and participation in TA workshops.
“My experience as a teaching assistant over the past few terms has given me a new perspective about teaching. I have come to believe that teaching is not just delivering content to students to pass a course. Teaching is bridging the gap between students’ knowledge and that of the teacher. This is achieved by creating a conducive atmosphere for students to feel at home and to interact.”
Evans focuses his teaching philosophy on active learning methods to provide an interactive lab experience in his classes. “I engage the students in the whole problem-solving process. For example, when I write down the problem of the day, I allow the student to suggest an approach to solve the problem and then I guide them through the steps of the solutions. It changed the atmosphere of the lab in which students were more engaged to ask questions and contribute to discussions.”
Testimonials
“Mr. Boadi was an indispensable help in MATH 1P06. He was very punctual, organized and enthusiastic about the course. He always showed us applications of the topics which greatly helped us visualize and fully understand the course. He makes the lab/tutorial more interesting.”
“He makes class interesting by creating an environment that makes me feel comfortable. He always encouraged us to invest more time in our studies and put in great effort as we pursue our math career. For me, Evans is someone I look up to in my mathematics career.”
“I really appreciate Evan’s open willingness to assist me one-on-one with questions that I had about my returned assignment. Evans always put in effort to explain where I went wrong. As a whole, I leave Evan’s class with a more thorough and in-depth understanding of the course material.”
“Most importantly, Mr. Boadi encouraged us daily to commit time and effort to study the course ourselves and reminded us that there is no shortcut to succeed in Calculus or any other course without hard work, which made us more confident about our capabilities by the end of the course.”