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| What does a TA do in recitation or lab section? |
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The TA discusses the material of the course -- finds out what students are confused about and explains. The trick is to get the students to speak up and to tell you what they need to know so you can zero in on the trouble spots. (See the section on how to avoid passivity.) You don't want to repeat everything in the book or everything the lecturer said in class. It's too boring and slow if you repeat everything, so you have to be selective.
If there are assigned questions or problems, the TA goes over them. If there are no assigned questions, the TA uses the students' questions or covers whatever seems important and/or difficult from the lecture material or readings. The 2 major rules are (1) be selective and (2) be responsive to the students' needs -- find out from the students what they need help with.
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The TA tells students what's important -- what's stressed on exams, what's worth reading, what to memorize, and so on. Teachers differ a lot in what they expect of the students, and the students get very anxious as a result. A well informed TA can reduce student anxiety and free the lecturer from endless questions about what's on exams and "what are we responsible for?" The TA can usually get the necessary information from the teacher or from last year's TAs in the course. Some very successful TAs have acted very much like coaches on a sports team, urging their students on to victory with tips on exam taking, studying etc. For many students the moral support and encouragement provided by a TA can be as important as the scientific information that the TA provides.
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Some TAs are expected to present material which is not covered in lecture (or by the lab instructor). This means that some TAs give short lectures and/or lead discussions of articles.
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(A laboratory TA does all of the above and guides the students through the actual experiments as well. The basic point for a lab TA is to be as helpful as possible without hanging over the students' shoulders. There is a big temptation for a lab TA to sit down in one spot and wait for the students to ask for assistance. It is much better to walk around and look for students in need of help. There are two reasons to seek out the students. First of all, students will often ask questions if you walk by, but won't bother to ask if they have to seek you out in your corner. Secondly, it is better to catch them before they mess up than afterwards. So it pays to walk around and look for students who look lost or as if they are about to mess up their experiment.
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