In the Classroom

Professor:
Your teaching style should be a reflection of your personality. For instance, if you have an outrageous personality, your teaching style will be to do outrageous activities in class that a TA with a shy personality would never attempt. That said, there are many different teaching strategies that are compatible with the different styles. Both the outrageous TA and the shy TA can be comfortable having students work in groups, for example. Your goal is to create a “toolbox” of strategies that you are comfortable with so that you can use the strategies and activities that are most appropriate for the lesson.

TA:
When I first started as a TA, I would design a detailed plan for section and make sure that I looked at every question I could be asked. Being organized is who I am, so I believe that being over-prepared made me feel more comfortable in the new for me TA environment. Later, I came to experience that interactive sections are much more fun and much more instructive than passive ones where I do all the work. Thus, I would still prepare important examples, but rather than just doing them I would ask the students to try them first and we will together come up with a solution. My point is that being true to yourself is just as important as trying something new.