Teaching Assistant and Recitation

Nervous and anxious on this new role, in the two recitation sections that I got assigned to, felt I was taught more by my partner TAs and students, than I have taught them computer science.

Silence

I wished to minimize silence in any social interactions, felt the existence of it came from me not asking the right question, or my counterparts being confused on what I said. The mere presence of silence was, akward to me at the time, and that’s exactly what occured in the majority of the recitation when I got up and teach :’). Even when recitations that semester being entirely on zoom, whenever no one answers my call, I can almost touch the akward silence floating in my bedroom.

Funny enough though, my teaching partner in the eailer recitation was never afraid of that. Instead of panicking (like me), she would intentionally pauses for a moment whenever she finishes a sentence.

Counterintuitive at the time, but it did make sense. Compare to us, who have learned the material in advance, with the solution right in front of us, students in recitations have little idea on what’s going on, and would oftentime need some moment to process everything we said & asked. By keeping some instances of silence, she allowed students to breath, reflect on the material, recall for the process of problem solving, and also for her to process what she wants to say next :).

Voice Fluctuation

Rather than observing this from my recitation partner in the latter section, voice fluctuation was something she wished to learn, something her sister is appreantly great at.

In her words, the way we present material are just as important as the material itself, and by shifting our tone of voice, we highlight things that’s important and deprioritize things that’s not, helping students to understand better, without actively interpreting what we say B).

As I attempted to learn this alongside with her, different ways of direct student’s attention, was something broader about presentation that I witnessed while she teaches. Things like present visulizations with contrasting colors, align pseudo code with actual solutions, bring up questions that student might have without them asking for it. Felt she understood her student and viewed problems from their perspective, which helps her to allocate time/attention on more confusing topics, gave students some idea on what’s important/will be seen throughout the future, and what’s not.

On a side note, as much as she tried to fluctuate her voice that semester, she always sounds excited during recitation, not sure if these students ever figured out what was going on….

Say ‘I Don’t Know’

With a weaker grasp on the course material compare to other TAs, even when I left space for silence and bettered my presentation, I often would be just as confused, when student asks follow up questions regarding solutions, or clearfication on course concepts.

With all the options that I had, admitting incapability were usually my last resort. The moment that I say such phrase, I felt, weak and incompetent as a TA. TAs that I look up to always seem to know what to say, regardless of scenarios in front of them, and everytime that I say ‘I don’t know’, the gap between me and these people just seems to get, wider and larger.

And that’s where I was taught by my recitation students. Only towards the end of the semester that I realized, most student I met doesn’t mind when I say ‘I don’t know’, they care more about what I say after that. Whether it is to look it up on the web, let my partner TA in recitation chime in, or to do some research and get back to them through email. Understanding that my job is to provide the best possible answer, and I have more than one way of doing so, it did make me feel less intimidated, whenever a student rises their hand in the end of every problem.

Ending Thoughts

Rather than saying I learned, these were things that I observed, things that I want to work on in the future. I wish one day I can leave myself some time to think evertime before I speak, convey my emotion and thoughts by rising and lowering my voice, and be more honest with others, including myself.

Going back to these recitations itself though, knowing that my path would unlikly cross again with these people, I guess it’s now safe for me to say, it was nothing but joy working with them this semester, they were some of the best people I’ve met, and I wish them the best in coming chapters of their jounrey :).