Saturday, July 28, 2007

Teaching Assistantship Assignment

The other day I received a most welcome email describing my teaching assignment and outlining the expectations. I really have been unsure what to expect. I thought I'd be assigned to the intro bio class for majors, but instead I'll be TAing a 200-level vertebrate anatomy class. I'm pretty excited about this because I think anatomy is cool and I think I'll be learning along with (or one step ahead of) my students. Someone pointed out to me that it might be full of "whiny pre-meds" but hopefully I'll have some ecologically inclined students.

Here are some of the expectations outlined in the letter:
-Devote an average of 20 hours per week
-Help set up and lead labs
-Be able to answer student questions
-Grade labs, projects, and papers (in a timely manner)
-Proctor exams & quizzes
-Attend lab meetings

Most importantly, they also told me my salary will be $1857.66 per month (before taxes) for 4.5 months. This is about $50 more than they told me when they offered me a TAship in February so that's exciting. This is will be the highest paying job I've had yet, but the cost of living in Big City will pretty much negate the extra income. The grad students I corresponded with last year described the TA stipends as "no luxury but not even starving." I already know how to live frugally so I'm not too worried about it. And it will help that my student loans are back in deferment.

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