Teaching & Studenting

A colleague pointed out this interesting feature from Poets & Writers by Kelly Ferguson on "Confessions of a Teaching Assistant." Although Ferguson is a MFA at U of Montana where they teach on semesters, it is a pretty good description of the job that our TA's do here at OSU on quarters and would explain why the first term can seem so overwhelming as the incoming TA's learn the school, the concept of first year composition (many are such good writers that they never had to take the course themselves), elements of rhetoric, techniques for classroom instruction, while simultaneously starting to work on their own writing. No wonder TA's feel overwhelmed at first.