While in grad school one of the ways you're likely going to draw a paycheck is by being assigned as a T.A., or teaching assistant. In the sciences, this generally means you run a lab and/or a tutoring session. In total you will likely hold class about 6 hours a week, plus grading, plus classroom preparation, plus running open lab times and office hours. They'll pay you for about 20 hours a week. Let's just say you get very quick at grading. I personally LOVE teaching. Even when classes are at their worst. This week I'm going to walk you through how a standard week for a science TA goes. Next week I'm going to clean house with some nice do's and don't tips to help you along your journey. This is a great topic for questions or experiences.
A week of teaching actually starts the week before. At the end of the previous week you'll meet with your TA coordinator, your other TAs (usually anywhere from 2 to 6 of you total) and, rarely, the professor who teaches the lecture portion of the course. You'll spend a little time making sure there weren't any major issues and the rest of the time getting the handouts and outline for the lab next week. Although the coordinator will go over major chunks of material and go over pitfalls, they will not be teaching you the material. Whether it's rusty, or even a little new, it is your responsibility to learn the material. Don't panic though, you've already been through college and aside from some crap you were forced to learn that you DON'T remember there is a real benefit. As I try to tell my own students, it's not about what you can memorize, it's about how you build your tool box that will allow you to tackle any problem that any teacher throws at you. You absolutely have the ability to teach yourself just about anything and certainly have enough base knowledge to hack it. I recommend making a detailed outline of the information you have to cover. Not only will it ensure that you don't miss any major points when giving your talk but it will also make a good, discreet resource if you get a tougher question.
Alright, so then the week of teaching you'll have 2-3 sections you teach. I personally like to break them up over the week, other TAs prefer to compound it up and do them all in a row and be free. It's a balance and you need to decide what makes you the most comfortable. So you teach and I won't go into any detail here and will go into lengthy tips and advice next week. Before the end of the week you will also have to have 2-3 hours of office time, usually over 2 days throughout the week. This makes for great grading time as students tend not to show up so much to these. They come a lot right before the test and right at the end of the semester-aka times you don't care that they are trying to squeak by. You do get a few good ones who put forth the effort. I've used this time in the past to bring in students that need a talking to as well. Generally in lower level courses but when I've flagged cheating or plagiarism I use this time to talk to the student face to face. We'll talk more on this later, both in tips and as a particular horror story of mine.
Regardless of what method you use and how the semester goes, the best thing I can say is KEEP A PAPER TRAIL. If a student has an excuse, print out the email or photocopy it. If you give extensions, write it down. While you're grading, on your master sheet make note of what you accepted and what got half credit. Post reminders on open lab times or office hours. There will always be one student who will say "well my friend wrote basically the same thing on his test and got credit" or " I didn't know you had time for us to look at the specimens again!" Make sure if they run crying to the coordinator that you have something that shows, yes you did. Then it's the coordinator's problem and likely WAY above your pay scale to deal with. More on this next week!
"For every person who wants to teach there are approximately thirty people who don't want to learn--much."
W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman
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