Teaching Evaluations
Introduction to Ancient Greek Philosophy Fall 2017 (full comments)
"Rima has a passion for philosophy and always pushes her students to really engage with and understand the material beyond simply reading it. Discussions are fast-paced and challenging, but she will always stop and make sure the basic understanding is there for everyone. She was always available to comment on work and give suggestions for assignments, and help me to think through my questions and develop my own arguments rather than answering them outright. Sometimes section activities seemed to reflect the content of the readings more broadly rather than the topics covered in lecture. Sometimes this made section difficult but other times it was helpful review."
"I really admire Rima's preparedness. You can tell she has really thought about the material and how best to present it to students in order to facilitate learning. Her enthusiasm for the subject has made me excited to be a philosophy major. Additionally, Rima is great at facilitating discussions on small and large scales and really helps you explore your thought process. I always come out of section feeling like I achieved a greater understanding of Plato, Aristotle, or whatever we have read that week."
"Rima did a great job of changing up the way we learned or discussed the material in section. I have taken a fair amount of philosophy classes here and this is rarely if ever done. We debated the material, discussed it in games, or did other creative stuff instead of her just lecturing at us. Rima was also very helpful in that she was more than willing to look over student's work, drafts, or outlines. She would then also give very detailed helpful feedback. Rima was also a fair grader, I would recommend her to a friend without hesitation. I particularly enjoyed Rima's enthusiasm for philosophy in general, it bled into class and created a cool atmosphere for learning."
"Rima answered every question we had without fail. She was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and encouraging. She was always willing to delve deeper into the material, and connected it to other interesting subjects she knew. She made use of interesting group techniques and kept us engaged. I have no negative feedback. Rima was great. She would be a great TA for anyone."
"Rima did an excellent job teaching as a TA. She not only directly covered the material from lectures, but also posed new questions in sections, which allowed us to think about and better understand the material. I would certainly recommend her for her performance. I think Rima helped us best as students by her style of posing new questions related to course topics. Instead of just repeating the content, we understood it more broadly, which I think is a helpful skill for any class. That being said, I would prefer to have some more direct tie-ins, but not too much to disrupt the established flow."
"Rima has been a great TA. She is strict on writing philosophy papers and making good arguments, but she is also available to meet in person and give constructive feedback. Overall the sections have been very helpful; it would be even better if we could have the time to cover more materials for the course, or with a more efficient section structure. I really enjoyed working with Rima."
"I would definitely recommend Rima to my friends. She always comes to section prepared, and since she attends lecture, our discussions directly relate to what we are learning there (unlike some other experiences I had at this school). Rima is also very helpful in essay feedback and one-on-one sessions. She gives good constructive criticism and helped me grow as a writer. I have never taken a philosophy lecture and, so I was very unsure on how to approach philosophy essays, and Rima helped guide me and show me different approaches that people take to writing in philosophy. I really appreciate Rima's dedication and insight in this class. She's a great TA!"
"I most liked Rima's enthusiasm for philosophy and the great extent to which she takes the subject matter seriously. This meant that in our discussion section, ensured that all questions, even seemingly small ones, about the texts and confusions regarding particularly difficult passages or concepts were addressed. She also maintained an environment that felt extremely collaborative. I would have preferred to have had more time to discuss confusions, as sometimes class felt rushed."
"Rima is an excellent TA. She is very knowledgeable about the course material but open to students' ideas and interpretations. She's very approachable, so going to her for help is easy and encouraged. She always has detailed plans for sections to lead discussions. Her one-on-one help has been a highlight of the course for me. I always feel like I understand the material better when I speak with her. I'm not particularly a philosophy-type of person, but Rima made me feel and gave me the tools to better understand philosophy. I would highly recommend Rima as a TA to any friend. I feel much more confident about the material with Rima's guidance. I do not have any recommendations for changes for Rima's teaching."
"She is very enthusiastic about the material and always willing to explain things in a different way so you understand them. I would definitely recommend her to a friend. She really helped me have a better grasp on how to create a sound argument and what makes an argument good and persuasive. She showed complete competency in ancient Greek philosophy and did a lot to help me understand how the philosophers thought about some of the topics in their writings. She is a very blunt person and is not afraid to tell you exactly what she thinks of your argument which was a little scary at first but I think it really helped me to be very thoughtful before stating an argument."
"I think Rima did a good job in summarizing each week's material. She prepared very well before each section as one can tell from her note on blackboard. I would certainly recommend her if I have friends who are also taking philosophy classes. Before essay submission, she gave me a lot of great advice that could better restructure and add extra, more compelling evidence to my essay. I think overall Rima is a very good TA."
"Rima strives to understand how her section learns and then teaches according to that. It seemed like she genuinely searched for areas of weakness and then targeted them. I would recommend her to a friend primarily because of her helpfulness outside of section. Perhaps she could mention exam/essay writing strategies a bit more throughout the semester to improve, although she did give us an extra opportunity to improve our writing."
"Rima is remarkably passionate about philosophy. And when passion and intelligence are combined, I think a special learning environment is created. I have had previous experiences w/ philosophy courses, but due in part to Rima's orchestration of our Friday section (met once a week), this one was the most instructive. She is always willing to tackle a student's philosophical quandry head on, never dismissive of the question, even if it might not be phrased quite right - and on the rare occasions she didn't know the answer she'd email the class a scholarly article detailing a response."
"I liked how well Rima engaged the students in her class, and she helped me grasp the material better. I would personally prefer if the material covered in section was more expansive, but Rima did a good job engaging discussion and collaborative work. rima was extremely nice and willing to provide help outside of section as well. Her enthusiasm and bright personality made section each week a rewarding experience."
"I liked that she was very easy to talk to. Also, she reached out for contact and went above and beyond to ensure I was capable of effectively writing my last paper. Yes, I would recommend this TA to a friend. She clarified multiple philosophical ideas and gave effective time to my paper even though she's probably super busy. I would liked to have an assigned group for the year to talk w/ to expand our horizons before getting into the larger group. This would instantly get rid of any student-student awkwardness and probably have more come out of larger group discussions. Great job overall :)"
"She clearly had rich knowledge of and passion for the material taught in this course. She also always wanted section to be a time for further learning and growth. I would recommend this TA to a friend. She helped me stay on top of the material from week to week. I would recommend this TA changes the pace at which she teaches. Oftentimes, section went through material too quickly for some of us to follow. Thus, her sections would have benefitted from a slower pace/more focus."
"Excellent preparation for recitations. Yes [student would recommend this TA to a friend]. Helped me to think more clearly about the material. Work on explaining things a bit better so that all students regardless of major can grasp it fully."
"I loved how enthusiastic the TA was in every section and admired her ability to teach the material using analogies and relatable concepts. I would definitely recommend her to a friend. She is easy to talk to and genuinely cares that we learn the material. There were times when she could not always answer our questions, but she always recommended sources to look into or admitted the topic is quite obscure/controversial and yield one clear answer. I like her teaching style overall and would only suggest we went over how to write a philosophy paper more in depth as I struggled with this. Perhaps going over a previous years' paper or specifying key parts of a philosophy paper would help since it contributes greatly to our overall grade."
"Rima is an excellent TA to have. She is genuinely enthusiastic about philosophy and is a very encouraging mentor. She works very hard at her job and goes out of the way to be available for any questions and doubts. It's a true privilege to have her as my TA."
"Rima is extremely knowledgeable both about the subject and a great number of topics intrinsically related. She attends all lectures and sections with materials prepared. However, sometimes I think she assumes that we, the students, are more aware of the subject that we actually are. So she could possibly benefit from slowing down."
"Rima is very knowledgeable and explains the material very well. I also like that our sections aren't just another lecture, but time to discuss and present ideas brought up in class and of our own. Her feedback/critique on our assignments is very useful."