Going into sixth year, I knew I wanted to do a rotation that involved teaching. After four years as an anatomy lab TA and three years as a Seminar teacher, I had become rather fond of bossing kids around (just kidding!). Stlcop already had a few academic rotations set up at school with Dr. Becker and Dr. Katz, but I decided to start my own rotation with Mrs. Tranel, because after all, her class and curriculum was the one I knew best.
My anatomy academic teaching rotation was back in September, and I loved it. I had a couple of projects during my rotation, and one of those projects was a research project that looked at whether teaching students through drawing improved their retention and learning. And surprise, surprise, drawing does help :).
Fast forward to January.
I received an email from Mrs. Tranel suggesting that I submit an abstract of my research to the American Association of Anatomists. What the heck, I thought, I’ll submit it just for kicks and giggles. Imagine my surprise when AAA accepted my abstract and asked me to present a poster at their regional meeting. CRAZY. So little Ruthie got started on her research poster, when, SURPRISE! The AAA asked me to do a platform presentation instead of a poster. Apparently, Mrs. Tranel had asked the AAA if my research could be considered for a platform presentation, and the coordinator was on vacation at the time so I didn’t get the notification until late. So, with less than two weeks before the conference, I ditched the poster and scrambled to put together a presentation, and that’s why I’ve neglected the blog for the past week :).
The AAA regional meeting was this past Saturday, so Mrs. Tranel and I hopped on a plane and flew to the freezing city of Chicago. I found out I was actually going to be competing against other graduate students in the anatomical education category of the platform presentations, and I about peed my pants. I was up against amazing projects… there were two med students from Columbia University who wrote an entire anatomy lab dissection manual from scratch and a girl from Ontario who developed a 3D program to view the brain stem and cranial nerves. My research seemed so small against theirs… all I did was write a rubric and grade drawings. So imagine my shock when I won. I was so sure that I hadn’t placed that there was an appetizer in my mouth when they called my name. Real classy, I know.
The competition :).
To celebrate, Mrs. Tranel and I went out for sushi, and the woman is surprisingly good with a pair of chopsticks!
But anyway, that was my weekend in the Windy City 🙂
And before I sign out, here’s a funny quote pertaining to this weekend:
Me: “Mrs. Tranel, what if we end up in a sketchy part of Chicago?”
Mrs. Tranel: “Well, if anyone thinks they can mess with you and me, their ass is grass.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
stlcopruth 