6 Things I Learned From Being a TA at Michigan
“Hello class. Welcome to EECS 281.”
December 29, 2015: BUZZ. I looked at my phone. *New Email*
I read the subject line.
Me: “NO. WAY.”
Professor DeOrio
Rewind — January 6, 2014:
It was the first day of class of Winter Semester (yeah, we call it Winter semester not Spring…it’s Michigan for godsake) and as usual it was a brisk day in Ann Arbor, MI.
I somehow dragged my hungover eighteen-year-old self out of bed and stumbled my way to class. I was pretty excited, because this wasn’t just any class. It was the first class that I was taking that was a part of the Computer Science major: EECS 280 Data Structures and Algorithms.
Now, I wasn’t supposed to be at this class. I was assigned to a different section. One that took place 4:30 PM — 6:00 PM.
So I decided that instead of committing myself to a semester of being on North Campus until 6:00 PM, I’d try to sneak into an other section. One taught by Andrew DeOrio.
I knew coming into the class that people liked Professor DeOrio. I mean his RateMyProfessorRating was off the chart!
..But this man was so much more than I expected. Stepping into class, he had this cheerful smile. The class was beyond full, so he did his best to help students find a seat.
He started off by just talking...about chickens.
I’m not kidding. This man walked into his class of 200 students and spent the first 15 minutes talking about his chickens. That’s what I call a first impression!
And from that moment, I knew that this was the teacher I had been waiting for.
The thing I really loved about DeOrio is he cared about his students more than any teacher I’ve ever had. There was no yelling. There wasn’t any shaming to people who didn’t do the assignments.
There was never a null moment in the class. He wouldn’t just put up some slides and lecture for an hour an a half. No, he made a conscious effort to make sure that every student understood what was going on before moving on.
He would even stop halfway through the class to tell stories about his chickens and then allow people to recharge for a few minutes. His classes felt like entertainment. You would never feel like it was a burden to come to class because you actually wanted to come to class. You wanted to learn. Every Monday/Wednesday, I would wake up with a little excitement in my toes.
I truly hope that every single student gets to experience a Professor DeOrio of their own. And Professor DeOrio, if you’re out there somewhere reading this…know that you are the most incredible teacher I have ever had. And I most definitely would not be where I am if it wasn’t for how you inspired me in EECS 280 (And also in EECS 281, 370, and 485).
The Journey
At some point throughout the semester, I realized I wanted to do the same for others. If I could get people excited about a class that most people deem as boring or incredibly nerdy, then maybe I could also change the course of other student’s career trajectory. So I sought out to become a TA (at Michigan we called them IA’s for Instructional Aides or Graduate Student Instructors).
And thus began a year and a half journey…
Winter 2014:
Applied to become an IA for EECS 280…rejected.
Fall 2014:
Applied to become an IA for EECS 280 and EECS 281…rejected
Winter 2015:
Applied to become an IA again, but this time I wanted to stand out. I didn’t want to be like any other application out there…so I did something insane. I built a website: why-i-should-be-a-eecs-281-ia.me/ (No longer active)
In that website, I listed all the reasons that I thought I’d be a great teacher. I also made a couple of video showing my style of teaching (Now when I look it, there’s nothing I can do but cringe). See below to see the website and videos I made.
Video #1:
Video #2:
During the summer for which I was waiting to hear back (on my 20th birthday actually), I got this email from one of the professors who ran the class:
I thought THIS was it. I was going to finally be a TA!
Later that summer:
…rejected. Yet again. I don’t think I had ever felt so hopeless. This rejection also came in one of the worse possible times of my life.
This one really stung, because after putting in all the effort I had…I still came up with nothing. And it my mind if all this hadn’t gotten me to where I wanted, nothing would…
So for the next semester, I didn’t even bother to apply.
But something strange happened right before the start of Winter Semester 2016… I got this email:
YES. Finally, after a year and a half of desperately trying to become an IA, I had finally done it. And I was going to make sure I was going to be great at it.
I went on to teach EECS 281 for three semesters. One of those semesters as an undergrad and the other two as a Graduate Student Instructor.
Lessons Learned
1) Always prepare for class
Students can tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Teaching is an art form and most people do it wrong. There is no point of just going up on stage and reading off some slides. That’s NOT teaching.
If you do this, your class will be boring and your students will have walked away having learnt nothing.
2) Be Funny
Make your class entertaining and people will want to show up. Show funny Youtube clips. Dress goofy. Joke around. Students will learn so much more if they’re engaged throughout the entire class.
3) Inspire. Don’t Intimidate.
You can’t force anyone to learn and think in a certain way. They have to want it for themselves. That’s something I learned from Professor DeOrio.
That’s why things like having mandatory class/assignments aren’t effective in getting students to learn things. Instead, show your students something to aspire to…and let them get there themselves.
Show them that what you’re teaching isn’t useless…and that it all leads somewhere. The way I would do this by talking about my experience working at Facebook during the summer time as a Software Engineering intern.
4) Treat your students like human beings
I can’t remember the number of times that a student came to me about to break down into tears. As a teacher, you need to know to be sympathetic to your students. College is tough. There’s pressure to find internships, find your community, do well in school, handle heartbreak, and so much more. Throwing an incredibly difficult Computer Science class on top of that…and things can get quite stressful. Most of these students, I knew were doing their best too.
Treat your students like human beings. Listen to their concerns. Do this and they will respect you.
5) Take breaks
NOBODY has the attention span to sit through an hour long lecture let alone an hour and a half. Take breaks. I always would and students loved it. Just like DeOrio, I would always take time every ten minutes to talk about something that I knew my students could relate to…whether that was Michigan football, the bar I had went to the night before (Rick’s), or maybe the new Netflix show everyone was binging on.
6) Be a Friend.
TAs are in a very unique position. Most of us are the same age and sometimes even younger than the students which we teach. This means we get the opportunity to be more than just teachers…we can be friends to our students. This makes TAs way more approachable than your everyday professor.
Take advantage of this…Two of my closest friends to this day are former students of mine.
The Payoff
Now that I’ve graduated and am living in the real world, I can’t help but think about how much I truly miss teaching. All the long nights of preparing for lectures and grading exams suddenly become worth it when you talk to a student and they tell you about how much they loved your class.
It warmed my heart to read the teaching evaluations I would get at the end of every semester. It was the #1 indicator that I did a decent job:
“He good
Really good” — Anon
“Ish is very welcoming and has a very relaxed atmosphere in his labs which help make them more educational and not feel like “busy work”. Taking the occasional aside, telling a story, or talking about internships or trivia also helped to focus the section on the work or material in the lab.” — Anon
“Pretty humorous guy”
“Ish is great at giving examples that are very relevant and applicable, and that make difficult concepts much easier to understand. Probably the best GSI I’ve ever had.”
“He made going to Lab fun”
“ISH WAS THE BEST!!!”
“Ish is awesome. Probably the only GSI who’s attendance stayed the same throughout the semester.”
#egoBoost
Oh, and I also won a small teaching award which was kind of cool.
Go Blue!
-Ish
