Teaching Experience

I have taught for 8 semesters at U.C. Berkeley (7 as a graduate student instructor [GSI] and 1 as a Head GSI). Highlights of my teaching career at Berkeley were receiving the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2018 and stepping in for a lecture of Intermediate Microeconomics in front of ca. 400 students in Spring 2019. The Outstanding GSI Award is given at most once to up to 10% of instructors. You can find a summary of my teaching evaluations and a few quotes from past students below. With an average rating of 6.33 compared to the department mean of around 5.46 for in-person teaching, my individual evaluations were consistently far above the department mean. I hope this conveys the passion with which I teach and my attempt to motivate students to apply their newly gained knowledge in Economics to better understand the world.

All evaluations can be found under the following links: Fall 2016 (1 & 2), Spring 2017 (1 & 2), Fall 2017 (1 & 2), Spring 2018 (1 & 2), Fall 2018 (1 & 2), Fall 2020, Spring 2021

Selected Comments by Students

• Spring 2021:

  1. "Max cared deeply about his students and their understanding of economics. even when I skipped lectures 3 weeks in a row, I could never miss a section even if I knew I would be confused most of the time. Max pushed us to learn and he always made us feel like we could grasp the material. He even created bcourses to communicate with us better. Max deserves all the nice things in the world, he was always helpful to me if I had any questions and I wish him the happiest life."

  2. "Max is amazing and he's such a great instructor."

  3. "The strengths of section were my GSIs ability to transfer what was covered in lecture into section in a more detailed and implied manner. The practice problems he guided us through were great to help my understanding and Max was very easygoing. It was the only discussion that helped me understand the material in this remote world so far and it was very productive."

  4. "My GSI, Max", was very engaging and clearly understood the material.

• Fall 2020:

  1. "Max was also very effective. I appreciated how thorough his sections were and the additional resources they linked. Also seemed very approachable and willing to help."

  2. "Max was a really standout GSI and was super available for talking about the course as well as general research ideas, courses, college."

• Fall 2018:

  1. "Max always came prepared; he made himself extremely available and made concepts easy to understand."

  2. "Very engaging and interactive section. Asks a lot of questions to students and draws graphs to explain. Very good at giving examples and very knowledgeable."

  3. "I thought Max did a fantastic job with the course material. He was knowledgeable, patient, approachable, and honest. I enjoyed the section for this class despite having to wake up early for it. I owe any success I have on the tests to Max's teaching during section."

• Spring 2018:

  1. "Max is the main reason I learned anything in this class. The worksheet he gave us in section gave us excellent summaries of the material covered and the practice problems he gave allowed me to succeed on the exams."

  2. "Max is a terrific GSI!!" or "Max is an amazing section GSI"

  3. "Max was incredibly effective in picking relevant topics in a sea of unintelligible information presented in the lectures. If anything, Max should be the person lecturing for 100a because he was just that great."

  4. "GSI has a lot of knowledge about the topics covered in course and really wants students to learn. Effective teacher. I appreciate his worksheets, thorough explanations of the problems in the worksheet and his availability to help students."

  5. "Max is very organized and well-prepared. He gives very clear instruction and the questions discussed are highly related to the exams. Max is nice and approachable and is very helpful in his office hours."

  6. "Max had the material mastered and was great at teaching us. Going to section was far more useful and educational than going to lecture."

• Fall 2017:

  1. "Max is the best!!"

  2. "Max is a fantastic GSI. He was able to explain every concept in simple yet comprehensive ways and was always happy to answer questions."

• Spring 2017:

  1. "Max was an excellent GSI, he would go out of his ways to try to help you. He gets back to you immediately and he will find articles or anything related to the material to help you."

  2. "Max is a really great GSI and explained all the concepts very clearly. He always made sure we completely understood the problems we were working on. He also sent us cool articles related to what we were learning and was able to connect the course back to current events."

  3. "An amazing GSI. (...) Max has done a wonderful job of teaching this content to us and making sure we understand it beyond the surface level presented in lecture and the textbook. (...) He cares so much about his students and the content of the course. Cannot stress enough how lucky I was to have him as a GSI."

  4. "Max's approach of teaching is extremely careful, well-crafted and effective. I really enjoyed how he gauged the class's understanding and spent sufficient time (not too little, not too much) on all parts of the materials. Loved his personable, friendly vibe too!!!"

  5. "Section was awesome!! Material was presented clearly, and Max was one of the best GSIs I've ever had."

  6. "Max is the best!! Explains concepts clearly, very approachable and engaging. 10."

  7. "I've been telling everyone to go to Max's office hours, review sessions, and all in all just ask Max everything, because ``Dude Max is the BEST GSI hands down''"

  8. "Take Max's Discussion. It's kind of sad he's not teaching next semester."

• Fall 2016:

  1. "Expanded my horizons into exploring new fields. My GSI is incredibly helpful and professional. He's also enthusiastic about teaching the material, and regularly sends out relevant issues pertaining to the course."

  2. "GSI was amazing!"

  3. "I greatly enjoyed being in your section! Max was very clear, thorough, and patient when teaching us the materials."

  4. "I thought Max was a great GSI. He went over the material thoroughly and I always left the section feeling like I had learned something. He knew the material well and presented it clearly."

  5. "Take his section, he is the best"