Cody Kroll, a graduate student and teaching assistant in the art department, is currently the sole teacher for both Sculpture I and II. Kroll has no professor to report to and is responsible for creating course curriculums and developing projects for students, in addition to taking courses needed to fulfill his graduate-student status.
Yet Kroll insists he is truly happy with both his workloads and loves the free reign to do what he pleases in the classroom.
"I feel that my duty as a teacher is to provide students with a tool box of skills in order to actualize whatever they can imagine," said Kroll. "Students want to learn, and they need to have confidence, and I feel that I have provided them with quite a bit of that."
Often underpaid and unrecognized, both teaching and graduate assistants take time out of their schedules to gain firsthand experience in the classroom, performing a variety of duties like grading, leading recitations, organizing lectures and simply offering a connection between student and professor.
Both teaching and graduate assistants perform many of the same duties, except GAs must act as course instructors. This line is blurred, however, by the fact that some TAs are forced to instruct classes as well due to departmental budget constraints.
Kroll was disillusioned when he discovered programs within the art department change each semester and incoming replacement TAs generally do not take up where previous instructors left off. Kroll feels that student projects and resources will become entirely too different, and fears undergraduate students will regress, rather than progress, in their studies.
"Rather than the students concentrating on mastering one specific art form, I want so much for them to have a feel for all of them, and this is what I've tried to instill within my students, just an appreciation of 'art,'" said Kroll. "They need passion, they need diligence, creativity and craftsmanship to succeed in this career. I can only hope that the incoming TAs will do the same for these students."
Dan Cavanugh, a TA for professor Alan Birnholz's World Civilization 112 course, performs the duties that many students more typically associate with assistants. Cavanugh plans and leads three recitations, grades papers and rarely lectures, but confers regularly with the professor.
Cavanugh says these discussions are done in a "peer fashion," meaning the sessions are more relaxed and comfortable. Birnholz officially reviews Cavanugh only once a semester.
"It's comforting because so many professors are so specific with the things they want covered in their courses and how they want it done," said Cavanugh. "But [Birnholz] isn't and it allows me to do what I want to do, which is a nice advantage to have."
Recognizing that the nature of students tends to change each semester, Cavanugh tries to keep student interest by modifying his work and lesson plans.
"It's so important to modify my plans as frequently as needed because as much as I want my students to get a lot out of the material, I want to be as reasonable as possible in the manner in which they are to learn," he explained.
Some TAs share teaching responsibilities with a professor. Bob Hughes, a sophomore biology major, works alongside professor Dave Mischler to lead a new independent study course on clinical and emergency medicine.
The two co-create lesson plans, co-facilitate the course and share grading responsibilities. The class is more interactive than traditional courses and Hughes says he has his hands full, despite the fact that only seven students are in the class.
"It's nice to be a TA over such a small class because [the class size], and the fact that the course is so interactive, allows you to have a really close relationship with the students," said Hughes, adding that the students feel comfortable with both Hughes and Mischler and would seek help, if necessary.
Maria Horne, an associate professor in the department of theatre and dance, agrees with Mischler's methodology to handpicking teaching assistants. Horne said she chooses students who have done impressive work and who will excel at the job. She said she also looks for people who she can connect with on a personal level.
"The relationship between a professor and her assistant is an empowering one," said Horne. "In my experience, I've looked to my assistants for a different perspective on the material being taught, because they are usually at such an age where they can serve as this kind of bridge from 'undergraduate' to academia.
"I feel that the more that we listen to our assistants, the more enriched we become as teachers because it keeps us abreast as to the idiosyncrasy of the population."
Many students agreed, saying assistants have a great deal to offer the classroom. Some point to graduate assistants as the reason for making the classroom experience so powerful.
Colleen Ford, a sophomore social science major, offered an example from her fall semester psychological statistics course.
"To be honest," said Ford, "my GA was so much better than my professor was. She only taught my recitation, and that's where I learned everything for that class."
Other students, however, said that assistants do not always perform up to full potential. History major Matt Morton reflected on his past experience.
"On the whole, I think that most of them do a very good job," said Morton. "But, it's as if they're doing a job only for the professors. Some of them don't even seem to do much of anything in class, but they still do all of the grading for the professor, and I don't think that's right."
