Michigan State University is fortunate to have passionate educators who are committed to enhancing the experience of their students and who help to provide the best education possible.
The Graduate School is featuring some of these educators – graduate and postdoc educators – every month to share their unique stories and perspectives on what it means to be a dedicated educator, how they’ve overcome educational challenges, and the ways they have grown through their experiences.
For November 2025, we are featuring Sophie Buysse, a dual-degree doctoral student in the Plant Biology department and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. In her writeup, Sophie shares how she overcame doubts as she grew as an educator.
What does it mean to be an educator at a university?
Being an educator at a university means engaging with students to equip them with the knowledge and skills to pursue their education and career goals. As a biology educator, the students in my classroom go on to diverse careers, from health professionals to land managers. They may be in my classroom because they are already interested in the topics we will cover, or simply because it is a prerequisite for other courses. My role in the classroom is to teach biology concepts, but more importantly to teach students the skills they need to succeed in their future classes and careers. In doing so, I focus on teaching science literacy and problem-solving skills.
By focusing on teaching skills through biology content, I can simultaneously increase student knowledge and self-efficacy. It is important to me as an educator that students feel confident in their ability to evaluate and interpret scientific figures and writing when they leave my classroom. This skill empowers students to engage with scientific literature on their own and to evaluate the scientific figures they see in the news or on social media. The most inspiring moments in a classroom for me are watching students ask critical questions and then answer them using the skills we have practiced together.
I became interested in teaching while I was a naturalist on the Chippewa National Forest. I still enjoy outreach opportunities to discuss science and nature with folks of all ages. However, teaching at a university is special. The classrooms and labs are filled with students pursuing their goals, even if they are still figuring out what exactly their goals are or are changing their minds when they learn about a new career path. I enjoy working closely with students to connect the material to their interests. Seeing their “aha!” moments, when a difficult concept finally clicks and they can explain it in their own words, inspires me to both continue teaching and continually improve my teaching.
My experience as an educator at a university, though not without challenges, has motivated me to pursue a career centered around teaching.
Challenges you have experienced and how have you grown from these?
One of the greatest teaching challenges I experienced was during my first GTA assignment. I completed my undergraduate degree at a small liberal arts college that did not have graduate teaching assistants. I was not confident in my role, and I was nervous because some of the course material was outside my expertise. On top of it all, I was teaching a laboratory-methods-focused course online, where practicing techniques in the lab was replaced with online simulations.
On the first day of class, I got a flat tire on my bicycle and my internet connection was unstable. My first class did not go very well; I was worried about losing internet, students were not participating in discussions, and I was doubting my ability to teach at all.
Over the course of the semester, I adapted my teaching approach to engage students and encourage discussion. The zoom break-out rooms were still quiet, but there was more discussion as the semester progressed. I began to build confidence in my teaching, and I learned that flexibility is key. While there are some factors I can control, such as being in a location with stable internet and being prepared to teach the material, there are also factors I cannot control, like glitches in online simulations or a power outage. Embracing flexibility in teaching is not always easy, but it has made me a better educator. I can teach to learning goals while allowing my students to guide discussion, I can rephrase explanations with diverse examples, and I can demonstrate problem-solving skills in front of students.
My first semester as a GTA remains the most challenging semester of teaching I have experienced. I made many mistakes, but I also learned a lot about teaching and about myself. Reflecting on this semester as I near completing my degree has helped me acknowledge and appreciate how much I have improved.
What value do you see in teaching professional development?
Teaching professional development has transformed my experience as an educator. My engagement with the FAST fellowship prompted me to think critically about teaching pedagogy. It was easy enough to develop activities for the classroom that I liked as a student or that I thought would be effective. However, the FAST fellowship taught me to use my scientific background in my teaching approach: how can we use data to teach more effectively? This fellowship not only empowered me to engage with education research, but to see student responses to assessments as data points that I can use to adjust my teaching in real time and to continually improve as an educator.
Student responses do demonstrate knowledge, but they are also important feedback to me as an educator about misconceptions to address or skills to reinforce. While collecting data has helped me recognize where I can improve as an educator, attending professional development seminars and workshops has been a source of inspiration for how to improve. The graduate teaching community at MSU continually inspires me to be a better educator!
I am thankful to the FAST Steering Committee and to my advisors, Drs. Emily Josephs and Jeff Conner, for supporting my teaching professional development and for many conversations about teaching pedagogy.
What is one piece of advice you would give other graduate educators?
My biggest piece of teaching advice is that it is okay to say “I don’t know” when you are in front of a classroom. It can feel like you need to know everything on a topic to give a lecture on it or lead an activity about it. However, one of the major skills that students need to succeed is how to ask questions and how to answer them. Not knowing the answer to every question is a great opportunity to find the answer together and show that learning is a continual process.
More broadly, it is important to remember that we are graduate educators, but we are also humans. Because we care about teaching, it can easily take up all our time. To be effective educators, though, we need to be taking care of ourselves – whatever that looks like. For me, it means tracking my time, so I do not overextend myself and building in time for a walk or another activity after a class period to help me reset before continuing with my day.
What do you enjoy in your free time?
I enjoy being outside! I spend a lot of time biking, hiking, skiing, and camping around Michigan and around the US. My favorite adventure this year was a road trip to Washington for a backpacking trip in North Cascades National Park. I also enjoy baking muffins and trying new restaurants around Lansing.
What non-academic book are you currently reading/ or is a favorite?
I recently finished “Accidentally on Purpose” by Kristen Kish. I am a big fan of “Top Chef”, and I was inspired by Kristen’s ability to leap into the unknown and embrace unexpected opportunities to build her career.