Tuesday, March 18, 2008

It's time to hate being a TA

Almost any term, there is a day, a moment maybe, in which I lose the will to go on working. I think the moment has arrived. Beorn's birth-daughter has been visiting all weekend, Saturday was a friend's 50th birthday party, and the grading load has been ridiculous. Last Thursday I gave a mini-lecture in the class I'm TAing and then Friday a presentation to faculty on how I use technology in the classes I TA.

Most days I like being a TA. I usually like the professors I work with. Often though, I'm frustrated with instructors that don't talk to their TAs about plans for the class or let us look over the assignment prompts before they hand them out.

I'm so tired of grading at this point it's not funny. Yesterday I read 20+ essays. I should read another 20+ tonight. By Saturday night I need to grade another 50+ take-home essay exams. The grading load for this course has been insane. Bleck!

1 comment:

Inside the Philosophy Factory said...

Because of the trends toward students going to teaching colleges their first two years, most of the faculty positions will go there as well -- so, one of the things that will be most useful to you as a faculty member will be the ability to write assignments that are more easily graded--- along with the ability to grade quickly.