Grading papers, bolting to class to beat the students, lesson plans and coffee-stained file folders-just a day in the life of a Miami University professor.
Or is it?
For many Miami undergraduate and graduate students, life as a teacher's assistant (TA) mirrors professorial life-minus the research and plus a class load.
Senior Maggie Smith and graduate student Amanda Storm know what it means to juggle. Smith is a journalism law and ethics TA. Storm is a general chemistry TA and conducts the lab portion of the course. She is a first-year graduate student and has been a TA for two semesters. Kari Taylor, associate director for student development in the Honors and Scholars program, said she thinks there are a lot of benefits for student teacher's assistants.
"The Undergraduate Associates Program gives Miami students an opportunity to explore careers in academia by working closely with a faculty member," Taylor said. "The program also allows students to take a leadership role in a classroom setting and experience a different side of the learning process."
Smith said she agreed and said that when she applied to become a TA, she was looking to expand her leadership abilities.
"I wanted to be a TA for the leadership experience and also to learn what goes into preparing information for a class," Smith said.
To apply to be a teacher's assistant, students fill out an application that's filed with the university Honors and Scholars office. In fall 2009, the Honors and Scholars department had 39 student teachers on campus.
To qualify as a teacher's assistant, Taylor said students have to be sophomores, juniors or seniors with a GPA of a 3.0 or higher, an average GPA of 3.2 or higher for courses in their major and have earned at least an "A" in the course they will be co-teaching with the professor. If the student hasn't had a course with the professor they want to assist, the applicant must have completed a course covering the same material at a higher level.
Smith said she got her job through the pre-law office.
"I was on the Blackboard site and noticed that they were looking for a TA for journalism law and ethics." Smith said. "Since those subjects relate to both my major (political science) and minor (ethics), I e-mailed the professor and after some correspondence, was offered the position."
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Bill Brewer, professor in the department of communication, said he appreciates his teaching assistants' work and input.
"They help create outstanding community learning opportunities," Brewer said. "They also provide me with additional feedback and thoughts on class design, clarity, etc."
Storm and Smith said teaching days are filled with their own homework, office hours and attending their other classes.
Storm said her TA work takes about 20 hours a week, similar to a part-time job.
"I know TAs for other classes that spend a lot more time," Storm said. "It depends a lot on the format of lab reports that are being graded."
Junior communication TA Kristen Pangrazio said her experience as a TA has done more than just pad her résumé. Pangrazio said the relationships between the TAs and their professor have made the experience worthwhile.
"We all have so much fun together, and I really love being able to spend so much time inside and outside of the classroom with such an amazing and intelligent group of people," Pangrazio said.
Like professors, TAs are also responsible for some course organization.
"As a TA, I did quite a bit of organizing, some things I would keep track of were things like attendance and various documents," Smith said. "I would also help to run the technical side of things. I would take care of running computer programs and helping students set up their presentations."
Storm said in the general chemistry department, there is a weekly meeting when TAs go over experiment grades and look at next week's experiment. Weekly discussions also cover general announcements, demonstrations, discussion of common student mistakes and safety issues. Storm said TAs and professors also do the week's lab experiment ahead of time to understand what the students will be doing and foresee any potential questions. In addition to the meeting, TAs grade the lab reports, proctor exams and are available for student questions during office hours.
Out of the lab and into the world
When considering her future plans, Storm said the lessons learned from interacting with students will extend past Miami's chemistry labs.
"One of the things I am learning from being a TA is how to interact with the students-how to phrase questions to get them through problems, how to identify and clarify topics that students have trouble with and how to make chemistry more interesting and applicable to their lives," Storm said.
Storm said she would like to be able to teach science in an understandable and approachable way. She said she would like to make contributions to the field that benefit future students and strengthen understanding in the classroom.
Pangrazio said she is thankful for the interaction with the students and the real world work experience she gained.
"We aren't just there to take attendance, but we actively engage with our students, lead discussions and review their work," Pangrazio said.
"Reviewing their work is probably one of the most educationally beneficial experiences for me because through proofreading and answering questions about their writing assignments, I am improving my writing."
After graduation, Storm said she would like to teach chemistry at a smaller college or work in a medical research center.
Smith said she wants to attend law school. She said that through being a TA for law and ethics, she learned as much by sitting in on the class as well as leading it.
"I also was able to better my organization and communication skills which I think will be beneficial in law school," Smith said.
Brewer said he takes pride in what his student assistants accomplish throughout the year and values their friendship.
"Some of my fondest memories over the past two years have been to witness how the TAs grow and develop," Brewer said. "Since we work so closely together it provides me with a unique opportunity to know my students in another setting."
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