Being a TA at UCR
Michalis Faloutsos
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The Idea
TAs are the face of the Dpt
Critical for undergraduate education
You need to take it seriously
Teaching can be a lot of fun
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How can you achieve this?
You need the right attitude
Pride, professionalism, care
You need to
Prepare
Communicate
Support each other
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Having the right
mentality
Fact: TAs and Instructors are on the same team
Assume the role with pride:
You are the Dpt, you are the course, you are the lab
Communicate and speak up
Follow the decisions made by the team
Express concerns and objections politely
Be cooperative and proactive
Be a team player
Help other TAs
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Being A Good TA
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Being Professional
Beware of your responsibilities in lab
In case of problems, take initiative to
detect/solve them
Discuss and determine all policies with
your instructor ahead of time
Grading policy
Lab procedures, student responsibilities
Academic dishonesty
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Being Effective
Be a good leader: firm and fair
Set rules to make life pleasant for everybody
Be proactive:
Thinking ahead can save time at the end
Manage time well
In lecturing/lab,
Between TA duties and your own work
Establish relationship with students
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Being interactive
Feel your class and adapt
Students are afraid to ask or answer
Encourage them!
Best trick: long pauses work well
Try waiting for 3 seconds
Use questions:
Help you see if they follow.
Answer every question:
Even if to only promise to follow up later.
But, take irrelevant material offline
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Effective Time
Management
In every aspect of life
A critical element for success
Difficult to achieve
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Selected Tips - I
SPEND TIME PLANNING AND ORGANIZING.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
SET GOALS.
Select a long enough horizon.
Set goals which are specific, measurable, achievable.
Goals should "stretch" but not "break" as you try
USE A TODO LIST.
Writing off loads memory requirements and worry.
Remember to check your list.
PRIORITIZE. Use the 80-20 Rule
80% of the reward comes from 20% of the effort.
Deadline based vs importance based priorities
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/homemgt/nf172.htm
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Selected Tips - II
AVOID BEING A PERFECTIONIST.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Account for interruptions and distractions.
DO THE RIGHT THING RIGHT.
“Doing the right thing is more important than doing things
right”
PRACTICE THE ART OF INTELLIGENT NEGLECT.
Delegate or eliminate
LEARN TO SAY "NO.”
Decline politely to undertake unnecessary things.
REWARD YOUR EFFORT.
Having a tangible goal makes it easier (for some at least).
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Plagiarism is an offense
Plagiarism means using another's work without giving
credit.
Plagiarism includes the copying of language, structure, or
ideas of another and attributing (explicitly or implicitly) the
work to one’s own efforts.
Unpublished sources are, but are not limited to:
class lectures and notes
speeches
handouts
casual conversation
other's students' papers
material from a research service
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Handling plagiarism
You don’t have to resolve it, just report it!
Report to the instructor
Instructor meets the student
Usually they confess!
Checks facts and claims, if disputed
Sends to the appropriate office
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Lecturing
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Doing good presentations
Preparation
Oral and Written communication
Making things interesting
Humor and jokes
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Preparation
Think about your audience, goal, context.
Develop your plan (slides, notes, speech)
Target to the needs of your audience.
Rehearse, prepare mentally
Make sure you know what you are talking about.
Have a few skeleton points in front of you.
Have fully worked out difficult parts
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Oral communication
Speak in a way that feels natural but
Loud, and slow.
Speak as in a one-on-one conversation.
Make eye contact: a few is enough
Mind your body language:
Don’t pace up and down nervously
Don’t fidget with your hands
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Written communication
Write legibly, don’t rush
Use large enough letters!
Try to be concise and clear
What you write should capture the
lesson:
Main important points
In a stand alone fashion, is possible
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Making Things
Interesting
Try to use examples
Motivate your lecture
I.e. this is important to know, needed in next course
Break monotony:
Take a vote on current events (who likes the Lakers? Who
plays tennis? Who saw the new movie?)
Tell them a what happened to you or a friend
Ask them a puzzle (even irrelevant to class, solve next time)
Get a student to do something on the board
Be funny
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What is funny?
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What is funny?
There are some general “rules”
…but it is a personal thing
But, the line for “offending” is more clear
Avoid risky jokes
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An effort for a definition
of “funny”
http://rinkworks.com/funny/
Category #1: Pain Pain is the basis for all humor. If
nobody gets hurt, it isn't funny.
Category #2: The Unexpected When something
happens that you do not expect to happen, that's
funny.
Category #3: Exaggerations, Lies and Other
Untruths. Lies are inherently funny.
Category #4: Wordplay - Puns.
Category #4: Impersonations, funny voices,
accents (NO!).
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Teaching and Jokes
Use it to attract attention, wake up audience
Don’t overdo it: jokes should not obscure flow
Keep them focused and short
Choice: spontaneous vs preplaned
Try to appear natural when you do the joke
Be prepared to “bomb”
Have an exit strategy
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Some practical tips
In class, non boring = funny
Small effort on your part - great results
Make things interactive: feed off the audience
Have them pick variable names
Use examples they can relate to
Don’t loose your composure:
“Good thing I don’t tell jokes for a living?”
If I could tell good jokes, I would not be a TA
Somehow this was funnier in my head
Ouch! Tough crowd today.
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Practical Tips Continued
Good topics to make fun of:
Yourself, by far the best and safest topic
“Accepted” situations: work/debugging/school
sucks, beer is good, parents are clueless, profs
are wackos
Current events: (avoid politics) athletes, stars etc
Avoid at all costs:
Racial references, unless it is your race
Gender references
Physical appearance references, except your own
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Humor and jokes
Do what comes naturally
Try things slowly as you build confidence.
Must be appropriate:
Don’t insult anyone present
Prefer jokes with words: not slapstick
Don’t be discouraged
They usually appreciate your efforts.
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Least liked TA attributes
Our TA speaks too softly (Number 1 problem)
My TA is not fair
Vague definition of fairness though
My TA is not helpful, s/he does not know…
My TA is arrogant and condescending.
Our TA is never in his/her scheduled office
hours.
My TA favors certain students.
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Conclusion
A TA represents the Dpt and UCR:
Be professional
Do your job well
It can be very satisfying
Try to make things interesting
Don’t overdo it
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