What characteristics should a teaching assistant have?
- Enthusiastic, friendly, patient, non-judgmental, level-headed, unflappable, ...
- A TAs must have taken the course for which he/she is hoping to TA, but doesn't have to have been an A student in it-feeling comfortable with the lab procedures and having a good "lab personality" are the most important requirements
What does a TA do? For most positions, the TA is asked to
- Assist in teaching one lab/week
- Attend "run-throughs"-the TAs test out the lab procedures during a 1-2 hour TA group session the week before the students in the course will be performing the experiment
- Perhaps grade some easy-to-grade assignments (for ex., worksheets or problem sets)
Application form is due usually in mid-December for spring semester assignments and in mid-May for fall semester assignments.
