TEACHING
Every day is an adventure filled with learning
I LOVE TEACHING
Sharing my knowledge with others is so rewarding. There are many professions that give people the ability to have a positive impact on the world, but there are few professions that have as direct of an impact on creating a better society as teachers do. Every day I strive to inspire students and get to learn from them as much as I teach them.
Courses Taught
Animal Behaviour - BIOLOGY 3436F 002 FW19 (September - December 2019)
Introduction to the science of animal behavior with emphasis on the evolution and adaptive nature of behavior. A comparative experimental approach is used to illustrate topics such as the development, control, and organization of behavior, foraging, predation, mate choice, mating systems, parental care, communication, and social behavior.
Behavioral Ecology - BIOLOGY 4436G 002 FW18 (January - April 2019)
A study of the relationships between animal behavior, ecology and evolution. Topics include: behavioral genetics and learning; mating systems, reproductive strategies and parental investment; foraging behavior, predation and competition; social groups and communication.
Animal Behaviour - BIOLOGY 3436F 002 FW18 (September - December 2018)
Introduction to the science of animal behavior with emphasis on the evolution and adaptive nature of behavior. A comparative experimental approach is used to illustrate topics such as the development, control, and organization of behavior, foraging, predation, mate choice, mating systems, parental care, communication, and social behavior.
Evolutionary Genetics - BIOLOGY 3466B 001 FW17 (January - April 2018)
The study of evolution in large and small random and non-random mating populations, showing discrete and quantitative inheritance. The roles and importance of mutation, inbreeding, drift, selection and linkage.
Scientific Method in Biology - BIOLOGY 2290F 001 FW17 (September - December 2017)
A laboratory course designed to promote understanding of the scientific method by acquainting students with selected technical and conceptual tools that will enable them to generate, analyze and communicate data from experimental investigations of their own design in the areas of cell biology, population biology and genetics.
Student Feedback
Anna is an excellent TA. She was my TA for Biology 3436F and made the wet-lab and tutorial components very enjoyable. She gave detailed explanations for assignments and labs, communicating clear expectations for the work we needed to submit. Specifically, she spent the extra time in class to explain the statistics needed for our lab reports since they were the most confusing aspect. She was always willing to answer questions and give feedback to us as students. She marked lab work quickly and gave fair grades and comments. On top of making Bio 3436F an enjoyable class, she has given me helpful advice to further my career in biology and a lot of guidance to improve the quality of my scientific writing. I am now taking Biology 3466B with Anna and I am excited to have her as a TA again.
Anna was a very helpful TA, who was always willing to help us both within laboratories and tutorial but also via email. She was always very quick to respond and she would do a good job conveying exactly what she was looking for in our work. She would also take the time to give us extensive feedback on mistakes we made in past lab reports to ensure we would progressively do better on the next assignments.
Anna has made be realize that having a TA that is reliable and caring does truly make a difference in making my learning experience easier and more enjoyable. She clearly communicates what is needed for us to succeed and always encourages us to do our best. Her passion and interest for animal behaviour and educating is conveyed in her teaching and and attitude.
For all these reasons and many more, this is why I believe Anna Chernyshova should receive the GSTA Award.
She took time to fully go through concepts (statistics) that were supposed to be already known for the class just because a lot of the students didn’t fully understand when to use each type of analysis. I struggled a lot with statistics but she made it easy to understand by showing us flow charts explaining it all that she had prepared for us. She also was always available to contact in person or through email for help in our lab write ups and genuinely wanted us all to do well. Her guidance and support helped me improve my lab writing while still having fun doing it. I’m in my fourth year at Western, but she has been my favourite and most memorable TA.
Overall a wonderful experience especially with one-one help, always gives constructive feedback and cares a lot on succeeding on coming assignments. Also spends the time to get to know individual students. Furthermore, always very quick to reply for any help regardless of office hours and makes sure to give the best possible answers.
Communication: she marked our labs and had really great feedback that made me excellent from a C to an A+, while other TAs for the courses couldn’t return feedback on time by the next lab section. She also was present at office hours and answered many of my emails concerning questions about the lab work and the course itself. Always told us to feel free to approach her and question her. I’ve never had a TA so inclusive and caring.
Management: really organized and prepared very well (example explained above). Her marking scheme was immaculate (i.e. using different colour pens for different sections, making it visible for us)
Impact: I didn’t enjoy 3436 at first and it isn’t a class that I saw myself doing well in because I lost personal interest even if the concepts were interesting. I started off really bad too, academically and it affected my self perception of myself and how I felt about going to class. My mental health wasn’t that great during that period, and I had a hard time getting to class. However, with Anna’s encouragement, comments and seeing that she saw potential in me, my marks excelled (never experienced that to that extent) and it made me see my self potential, as well as encouraged me to go to class indirectly. I did really well. I feel really proud of myself, and I told her that she was the reason that got me to class. I really appreciate her.
Anna was the best TA I have ever had. She was so helpful and you could tell that she really wanted to help me. I lost my grandmother in the middle of the semester and she frequently emailed me and asked me how I was doing and if I needed to talk. She made labs and tutorial so much more enjoyable and really taught me a lot. I hope she continues to teach others because there are not many people who are born to teach and make difficult concepts seem easy, but Anna is.
Anna was always there for me when I needed help. I started my 4th year not having written a single lab report. Subsequently, my writing at the beginning of the course was pretty terrible. However, with Anna’s help, I was able to greatly improve my skills and even ended up getting perfect on my final report. Even though she was a TA to approximately 50 other students, she took the time to learn my name and give me specific feedback. Anna always stayed back and helped me understand the goals behind the labs we were conducting. She took the time to explain statistics multiple times to our lab section. Her notes were clear, concise and very well organized.
She attended every lecture to make it easier for her students to be able to talk to her in person and she was always available during office hours. Additionally, for those who were unable to come in person, she was quick and incredibly helpful over email. She taught my a lot about scientific writing and has showed me how capable I am.
I really appreciate all that she has done for Bio 3436 and the rest of the department.
Anna was a really good TA for the Animal Behaviour course and provided me with several useful tips and guidance throughout the course. She always did her best to mark lab reports quickly and provided really constructive feedback in return. She deserves an award because she did a commendable job at being a very approachable, friendly and resourceful TA for our class.
Anna is very dedicated to teaching and helping the students. It’s very easy to talk to her and ask her questions too. I appreciate that she takes so much time to make sure we understand what we have to do for assignments, what we did wrong, how we can improve, and much more. For written assignments, she writes very detailed comments about the things we did right and wrong, which helped to improve future assignments not just in the same course but general writing abilities as well.
When we had problems or didn’t understand something, she made sure to try to solve our problems. When we needed help on SPSS, she gave detailed instructions on what to do instead of telling us to figure it out ourselves.
She’s also very understanding of our concerns outside of the course (e.g. being busy with other things, looking for and applying to future endeavors), reflecting on her own experience as a student. Even after the course ended, she still offers her help and guidance to us, which is very much appreciated. Without her, I would’ve had a lot more trouble in the course.
Anna is an extraordinary TA, always respond to me in no time, engaging students during the class, providing external knowledge, teaching in an organized yet interesting manner, also giving me support and advice for aspects other than academic. The experience with her is memorable and helpful! Thank you!
Anna helped out students a lot with the labs. A lot of students coming into the course (myself included) were caught off guard by the amount of stats required for completion of the lab assignments. Anna gave helpful guidance in the labs themselves, made herself available often for consultation, and always responded quickly to emails. Her grading was fair and she provided a lot of feedback on each assignment, which really helped with my learning. She made the assignments seem approachable, and was always available to help if you needed it. She’s a great TA.