Though it may be a job most traditionally associated with graduate students, a number of undergraduates at the University have taken on the added responsibilities of being a teaching assistant.
One student said working as an undergraduate TA can feel a little awkward at times.
"I don't feel like I'm in a very different position than [the students] are," said second-year Engineering student Christina Stamper, who is a TA for a course taken by first-year Rodman Scholars. While the students see her as having an instructional role, Stamper said she sees them as peers.
The job may have felt unusual at first, but Stamper said those feelings have not gotten in the way. She said she can still successfully interact with the class.
"The students feel ... comfortable with me," Stamper said, adding that she responds to many e-mails from them every day.
Stamper said she enjoys talking to the students in the class.
"Seeing their take on things is interesting to me," she said.
Fourth-year College student Linh Nguyen said being an undergraduate alone does not undermine a student's ability to be an instructional leader.
"If you just get up there and try your best, no one is going to give you any grief for that, no matter how old you are," Nguyen said.
Nguyen is currently a TA for Chemistry 141 and 151. She said she has primarily been working with first-year students.
The experience is not quite the same as it would be teaching fourth-year students, who "walk around like they own the place," Nguyen said.
Nguyen is responsible for holding a review session in the Chemistry auditorium once a week. She said the closeness in age and academic progress between her and the students is very helpful.
Because she is closer to the students, it is easier to understand their confusions, Nguyen said. She added that undergraduate TAs have generally taken the same courses as their students, while graduates may have studied at a different school altogether.
Fourth-year Engineering student Louise Montgomery, a computer science TA, said undergraduates can relate to each other very well, which "takes down barriers [to] being able to learn from one another."
Nguyen said she began working as a TA when she was a second-year student specifically because of her age. She assisted chemistry Prof. Dean Harman in Chemistry 181, a course he taught at the time.
According to Nguyen, Harman liked bringing in undergraduates who had just taken the course and still had the material fresh in their minds. When Harman began teaching the 141/151 level, Nguyen moved along with him.
Nguyen said she agrees with Harman's idea.
Whereas teaching is a requirement for many graduate students, the only reason an undergraduate would take on the responsibility "is if he or she really loved teaching," Nguyen said, adding that she discovered her fondness for teaching when she was selected to be an assistant to a high school computer science teacher.
"It was a great time to be a TA," Nguyen said. "Everything was so new."
Nguyen helped both her teacher and classmates during the transition from the C++ programming language to Java, the language taught today in many of the University's courses.
Everyone -- herself, the other students and the teacher -- was learning the material at the same time, Nguyen said.
Not all TAs engage in direct teaching roles. Stamper, for example, said her involvement has shown her a lot about what goes into the management of a University course. In fact, it was surprising to see the amount of behind-the-scenes work, Stamper said.
Stamper said the professor has taught the class for about a dozen years, and it took that long for it to become as smooth as it is.
"Now it runs kind of like clockwork," Stamper said.
The course, entitled "Scientific and Technological Thinking," uses case studies and a "nanotechnology simulation" project to explore topics such as ethics, Stamper said.
Stamper and the other TAs must facilitate e-mail, collect and distribute course materials, maintain grade books and occasionally assist in grading and leading the class.
Stamper said the managerial work is time consuming, but she meets with the professor often and had a lot of preparation before the course began.
Being a TA was not something she ever really considered doing until she received an e-mail one day from her professor, Stamper said.
The experience, however, has been a positive one. She noted that she has enjoyed the ability to develop a working relationship with a professor.
The job "has given me insight to see how classes are run," Stamper said, adding that this can help her one day to decide if she really wants to be a teacher.
Montgomery has also considered the teaching profession. She said she has an interest in teaching high school math.
Montgomery said her work as a tutor in the University's math department has given her more actual teaching experience than her few weeks as a computer science TA.
Her current responsibilities as a TA involve answering questions about assignments and lectures, helping out in lab sessions and assisting the grading process.
While she is not doing the instruction, per se, Montgomery said she still has the chance to work in the classroom and do the fun part of teaching: interacting with the students.
"I would like to use this as an opportunity to practice effective teaching without having the responsibilities of a full-time teaching position," Montgomery said.
Students said working as a TA at the University can be a rewarding experience.
Nguyen said she has been able to practice her public speaking skills and experiment with various teaching techniques.
Sometimes, the rewards come from the challenges involved.
"When someone asks you a question, especially when it's about a simple concept everyone who's been in the field for a long time accepts, it really challenges you to go back and reexamine the fundamentals," Nguyen said.
Other times, the rewards simply come from a job well done.
Nguyen said she realizes this every time she sees a student suddenly "get it" in the middle of lecture or whenever someone walks over to thank her in the dining hall.
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