The Life of a TA
In case you noticed the title, it is as boring and monotonus as can be without even an iota of creativity... I assure you the post will be in the same mould... so the title, Ladies and Gentlemen.
A TA (short for Teaching Assistant) job in DA-IICT means sacrificing 20 hours a week of your precious time, correcting endless assignments, tolerating the professor's eccentricities and managing the barrage of students who knock on your door and disturb you when you are fast asleep. This was exactly what I had in mind when I got the offer. How wrong I was!!!
I would have never given a second thought to that offer had it not been for a Mr.Sivakumar Venkata Priyatham. PRIYATHAM, my friend, my dearest friend, has this enviable knack of talking you into doing things no matter what the circumstances. He was the one who convinced me to write the damned GRE when the last thing I wanted to do in future was travel to the other side of the world. Well, I'm indebted to him now...
After Priyatham was finished with me, I was like totally convinced that I had to take the TA offer else die a gruesome death. So I approached the dean and completed the formalities. I was assigned Communication skills, a 2 credit pass/fail course for the freshers. The professor was very nice and she insisted on doing all the assignment correction by herself. How lucky could I get? (I guess Lady Luck has a special liking for me becoz this has happened so many times throughout my life that I have lost count). All I had to do now was attend a class once a week and clarify any doubts that my students had (MY STUDENTS!! This phrase sure has a good ring to it!!).
All good things come to an end... I know I mentioned this adage in my previous post and I am mentioning it again simply becoz it is so TRUE. The fairytale beginning came to an end when we were handed out a set of rules. I stared disbelievingly at one particular rule printed in BOLD font. All TAs had to sign the register everyday at 8:30 AM at the administrative block ( a good 5 minute walk from my room) failing which the day's stripend would be fined.. What a bummer!!!
To add to our misery was the really annoying receptionist in the administrative block. She was the one in charge of our attendance and she took it upon herself to deprive us as much as possible of our salaries. 2 days of failing to sign up, 3 days of late attendance and several complaints later, some one got through to the dean about our plight and somehow convinced him to extend the attendance deadline to 11 AM. What a breather!!! May God shower upon that 'some one' wealth and prosperity. Now atleast we were to be up by 10:45 which was not so bad....
The one thing which was tough in the beginning was clarifying the ridiculously silly doubts that my students (That phrase again!!!) came up with with a straight face. I don't really blame them... I probably had the same doubts when I was a fresher. Now I guess I am used it... Some students refer to me as 'Sir' which gives a real kick (In my defence: Being called 'Sir' is not exactly humbling).
On the whole, TA job is totally cool (I would recommend it to the 3rd years who are potential TAs...), the 2500 bucks per month that you get being the icing on the cake (rather I would prefer to call it the cake under the icing).
A TA (short for Teaching Assistant) job in DA-IICT means sacrificing 20 hours a week of your precious time, correcting endless assignments, tolerating the professor's eccentricities and managing the barrage of students who knock on your door and disturb you when you are fast asleep. This was exactly what I had in mind when I got the offer. How wrong I was!!!
I would have never given a second thought to that offer had it not been for a Mr.Sivakumar Venkata Priyatham. PRIYATHAM, my friend, my dearest friend, has this enviable knack of talking you into doing things no matter what the circumstances. He was the one who convinced me to write the damned GRE when the last thing I wanted to do in future was travel to the other side of the world. Well, I'm indebted to him now...
After Priyatham was finished with me, I was like totally convinced that I had to take the TA offer else die a gruesome death. So I approached the dean and completed the formalities. I was assigned Communication skills, a 2 credit pass/fail course for the freshers. The professor was very nice and she insisted on doing all the assignment correction by herself. How lucky could I get? (I guess Lady Luck has a special liking for me becoz this has happened so many times throughout my life that I have lost count). All I had to do now was attend a class once a week and clarify any doubts that my students had (MY STUDENTS!! This phrase sure has a good ring to it!!).
All good things come to an end... I know I mentioned this adage in my previous post and I am mentioning it again simply becoz it is so TRUE. The fairytale beginning came to an end when we were handed out a set of rules. I stared disbelievingly at one particular rule printed in BOLD font. All TAs had to sign the register everyday at 8:30 AM at the administrative block ( a good 5 minute walk from my room) failing which the day's stripend would be fined.. What a bummer!!!
To add to our misery was the really annoying receptionist in the administrative block. She was the one in charge of our attendance and she took it upon herself to deprive us as much as possible of our salaries. 2 days of failing to sign up, 3 days of late attendance and several complaints later, some one got through to the dean about our plight and somehow convinced him to extend the attendance deadline to 11 AM. What a breather!!! May God shower upon that 'some one' wealth and prosperity. Now atleast we were to be up by 10:45 which was not so bad....
The one thing which was tough in the beginning was clarifying the ridiculously silly doubts that my students (That phrase again!!!) came up with with a straight face. I don't really blame them... I probably had the same doubts when I was a fresher. Now I guess I am used it... Some students refer to me as 'Sir' which gives a real kick (In my defence: Being called 'Sir' is not exactly humbling).
On the whole, TA job is totally cool (I would recommend it to the 3rd years who are potential TAs...), the 2500 bucks per month that you get being the icing on the cake (rather I would prefer to call it the cake under the icing).
posted by Charan at
2:30 PM
5 Comments:
@kavali
Hey man, you've got to understand that the whole point of blogs is giving a subjective view of life. Your opinions and feelings get reflected in your blogs. So what fun is there if I dish out an objective analysis of the pros and cons of being a TA? All I care and write about is my life...
My defence rests.
By
Charan, at 12:34 AM
here is a deal.. i will sign the register for u and what all i need is not being called sir or not being questioned by your students but just a few bucks of the stipend and that 'few' is negotiable :D
By
Mohan Kodali, at 4:21 AM
i was under the impression tht u guys had to get up and sign the reg at 8:30 even now! (but it's gud tht u dont hav to)
u've used the phrase "my defence rests" twice, john grisham influence ehh ;)
btw, mast likha mama, lagey raho !
By
Abhay, at 12:04 AM
@chandu
your offer wud have been more interesting had the dead line been 8:30... but now thanks but no thanks
@abhay
yeah i've always had a fascination for law (probably due to grisham books as u said)
By
Charan, at 9:20 PM
nice one...something i can sort of relate to....:)
By
Adroit, at 1:39 PM
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