Lola Wants

Thanks. I agree with you in terms of small colleges valuing the personal atmosphere of small classrooms. My school likes to advertise the personal interaction students have with professors that they wouldn't get at larger universities. But I will definitely ask if I can lead discussions on the articles I find for class. The professor thinks they are relevant enough to use so I know I shouldn't feel that I hardly contribute anything.

Thanks. Your advice takes a load off of my mind since I know that other TA's do somewhat of the same thing. I don't want to be seen as useless. I'm only a master's student so I didn't know the extent to which I was supposed to be contributing to the class. Thank you for answering as well. I will ask my professor the next time I have class.

Thanks for responding. I'll definitely ask the professor if there's more that I can do. Maybe my duties will pick up at the end of the year. I do enjoy that I have limited responsibilities because it gives me leeway in balancing my studies.

I started TAing this semester for an introductory History course at a small liberal arts college. I'm in a MA program and this is my first time TAing. I attend the class twice a week and it's a small class, around 26 students. I am in charge of recording attendance and grades and keeping them on a spreadsheet. I taught once (only because the professor was ill) and I did okay. I've graded papers only once and when I did the professor told me that I did it perfectly but I haven't done any grading since. I give the professor articles and other information that I find relevant to the material being taught and they are given to the students and discussed in class. I feel like I should be doing more though. My school doesn't have separate discussion sections so I don't lead any discussion sections or hold office hours. Should I be doing more than this or is this it? I would love to hear some advice because I'm worried that I may not be pulling my weight.

Hi Runaway, I'll be applying in the Fall of 2013 as well. I'm in a MA History/MLIS program at the moment. I want to apply to a Ph.D program for North African/Middle Eastern history. I've been doing research into Ph.D programs long before I even started my masters program so I guess it's never too early! I have my list of schools and the names of possible professors at these schools that specialize in the topic I'm interested in. This website is very helpful. It gives a lot of advice for navigating the perilous path of applying to grad school. I don't think I have half of the things I need to be considered as a serious applicant and I have doubts about my qualifications. Nevertheless, I will still continue on.

This is funny as hell. Especially since this is my first semester TAing. But I'm at a small liberal arts college so I don't have to lead separate discussion sections from class. All I do is grade and lead in-class discussions. But all in all, it's still hilarious.