In my second semester, I worked as a regular TA for a general chemistry course. Now, I had 2 sections with about 18-20 students per section, so about 38 students in total. In addition to attending lectures, I taught discussion twice a week plus a 3-hour in-person lab each week. I also worked the chemistry help desk once a week for 1 hour, proctored and graded exams as needed.
In this post, I’ll share my experience as a chemistry TA during the second semester of my chemistry PhD.
Establish boundaries with your TA position.
Since I was teaching more regularly, it was easier to manage my schedule. However, I felt more exhausted often, especially since my classes started quite early (7:45am-8:35am, 8:50am-9:40am.) In the first semester I felt that I was too invested in my students and spent more time than I needed to on grading and teaching activities. I wanted to establish boundaries with my TA position so that I could manage own energy better. For example, I started using a time tracker to see how much time I was spending on grading or preparing for class each week.
Establishing boundaries also means learning how to detach from my students’ success from my own teaching performance. Initially I felt guilty for not helping my students out more. Eventually, I realized that their grade is their responsibility, not mine. I reminded them of all the resources available to them as often as I could. I was happy to help out those who reached out, but I was neutral otherwise.
There are some TAs who really love teaching and go go above and beyond for their students, and I applaud them for that. However, we are not paid more to do that, especially if it’s at the expense of our own PhD progress. It’s totally OK for us establish boundaries, which is completing the responsibilities that we are paid to do.
This doesn’t mean that we do a crappy job though. We should still do our best as TAs by preparing for class and redirecting them to the right resources. But we simply don’t have the time or energy to coddle those who don’t want to learn. It would take away from our own studies and research.
Student will try grade-grubbing.
Grade-grubbing is when a student asks for one or two points here and there on assignments, usually with no strong basis for it. It sucks to have to deal with grade-grubbing, but it is likely to happen.
With grading, I stuck to the rubric as best I could. If I had a grading question, I consulted other TAs or professors to get their opinion. At first, I graded too leniently, so my professor suggested that I recalibrate my grading. Even after being a little more strict, my grading average was 80-90% on lab reports and 70-80% on quizzes.
It surprised me when students started grade-grubbing, especially since they’re college students. It’s a different story if I graded wrong – in that case, then I would obviously correct my mistake. It really annoyed me when it happened, but I always tried my best to explain to the student why they didn’t get the full credit.
When students start arguing with me over email, I loop in my professor, provide context, and ask for their opinion. They typically supported my decision. It’s important to loop the professor in so that the response is the same across the board. A brazen student may disregard your authority and go straight to the professor, hoping for more sympathy.
Dealing with academic misconduct is a pain, but students must be held accountable.
Academic misconduct is a more serious offense and sensitive matter to handle. This past semester I dealt with multiple cases of academic misconduct over lab reports, quizzes, and even exams.
I’m not a confrontational person, but I have no problem with providing a stern warning like “put away your phone during the quiz or lab” or “time is up, turn in your quiz.” If I noticed odd responses in lab reports or quizzes, I reported directly to my professor. I would not confront the student directly because I felt like it was not my place. My professor gave suggestions on how to move forward, which was usually them speaking with student 1-on-1.
In an ideal world, students would follow all the rules and not cause problems. However some students may feel pressured to do well, so they will resort to cheating. As TAs, it’s our jobs to hold them accountable for their actions. We’re not judges to punish them, but we shouldn’t let them get away with it either, or they will suffer even bigger consequences in the “real world.”
Final Thoughts
I learned a lot from being a TA over the past two semester. I’m grateful for the experience, because I honed skills such as being patient with others, facilitating learning, and directing an in-person lab. But I hope that I won’t have to teach chemistry too many more times again. I would much rather deal with the challenges in the research lab.
I hope that you enjoyed reading about my personal experience and takeaways from my chemistry PhD journey. If you’d like to chat more about what I’ve shared, feel free to send me an email at hello@brittanytrinh.com or send me a message on Twitter and Instagram @brttnytrnh.