10 Types of TA's

10 Types of teaching assistants! Which one is yours?

[zeplin]

Dude you nailed the acting. But you're forgetting the TA who is way better at teaching than the actual lecturer.

[AaronTsuii]

“Drunk off Power” and “The Harsh Grader” is almost always together

[pinkghst]

The TA that is "the friend" while simultaneously being the "harsh grader" is the worst combination.

[darkermatter.]

I had the friend. He let me turn things in late, he had no safety rules except don't look directly into the laser, we ate breakfast in lab because it was early, and he babysat his kid during lab by just making sure the kid was shorter than the lasers haha.

[alexbenanti]

“It’s unplugged so I know it’s not overheating” 😂😂

[conflixrotmg]

I had a TA who for our first lab, waited for everyone to sit at a station and then said "work on the work." Then he hid for the duration of the lab.

[loganfisher]

Lastly: The TA who kept everything from their undergrad and just copies what their professors did. Sometimes that's a good thing... sometimes it's not.

[jensenzack]

"Just mention it and tell me what you would have done".

That, along with all the real world factors I've been told to ignore in lab reports, is the most accurate description of lab work.

[dialga]

You forgot the TA that is fun and helpful and genuinely makes the lab enjoyable
But then again i never had a TA like that in physics, so you were probably right to exclude them

[ummwho]

I'm TA-ing a stat-therm course this semester. I was explaining Taylor Expansions.
"You can think of it as like a polynomial that's been TAILORED to fit the function..."
Not a single person laughed. I could literally hear* the crickets chirping.
A student came up afterwards because they still didn't understand. I explained it again.
Student:"Oh, now your terrible joke makes sense."
I found out that day what kind of TA I am. I have never wanted to run to my office and hide so fast lol.

P.S. I are tHeOriSt.

[upandatom]

Lovely stuff. The never prepared TA rings a lot of bells.

[aidanbennett]

I lost 10% of my grade because I stapled a lab report on the wrong side.

[ajleecardinals]

You forgot the TA that not confident enough to actually lecture so they do not say a single word the whole lab.

[praharmitra]

I'm a theorist and have never TA'd a lab... but I can safely say that I'd be a mix of "The Theorist" and "Never Comes Prepared"

[olixx]

You forgot about the TA that, upon having been asked literally any question at all, goes ahead and does the entire lab because they'd rather not answer the question

[edmund]

the TA in your intro physics class that lectures you on relativity when you asked him about work energy theorem

[Felixkeeg]

Total missrepresentation: The students actually talk to the TA or at least answer instead of just staring blankly

[otiagomarques]

At least now I understand momentum: you have thing and then a distance from a thing.

[the_ALchannel]

The real question is, what type of TA is Andrew himself?

[michaelhosack]

This brings back memories. I was a physics TA for 3 years back in the 1990s. I generally received complements from students and high marks on the student evaluations. My first semester I got several "nice guy" comments on my evaluations. My last semester TA'ing something changed when I was neck deep in my PhD research and stressed out. I felt like I was teaching the same way as before but the positive comments were scarce. One student I had the prior semester that had high praise for the lab then, told me he wasn't enjoying the second semester. Maybe it was the student attitudes or maybe I was less talkative and in a hurry, or maybe both. I took this as lesson to remain enthusiastic during class, even when stressed out. I don't know if it makes a difference in how much students learn in a course, but I do think having a positive experience in a science class helps with lifelong learning.