Your primary Trad GTA duties will depend on whether you’re TA’ing lab or recitation, but all Traditional GTAs are required to proctor and grade tests for both 2211 and 2212, regardless of their specific teaching assignment.
If you’re assigned to TA recitations, your primary duties (in addition to proctoring and grading) will be:
- Leading 4-6 recitation sections (1 hr each) of either 2211 or 2212
- Grading recitation worksheets for all the students in your recitation sections
If you’re assigned to TA a trad lab, your primary duties (in addition to proctoring and grading) will be:
- Leading 3 lab sections (2 hrs each) of either 2211 or 2212
- Grading lab reports for all the students in your lab sections
On average you should expect to dedicate 12-13 hrs/week to your GTA duties (and probably many more hours than that on your own physics courses!). On some weeks you may work significantly fewer hours (e.g., on weeks when labs or recitations don’t meet), and on other weeks you may work significantly more hours (e.g., on weeks when you have to grade tests in addition to worksheets or lab reports). If at any point you need to miss some of your teaching duties (for example, if you’re sick on a day when you’re teaching), let Jarrio/Murray know as soon as possible and then get someone else to cover for you (which of course means that you should cover for them at a later date to even out the hours). Please don’t make any switches without first notifying Jarrio/Murray.
There are no labs or recitations during the first week of the semester, but there is an organizational meeting that week of all the trad GTAs with Jarrio and Murray. The students do attend lecture, and they have homework assignments, but you don’t meet with them until the following week. Therefore, your teaching duties actually begin on the SECOND week of the semester. There may be some other weeks during the semester in which some recitation or lab sections don’t meet. For specific dates you’ll need to consult the schedule on the course website.
Trad Lab and Recitation GTAs don’t need to host office hours, but there is a TA Office in the Clough building (room CULC 365) that all TAs have access to that you can use if you need to meet with students… or if you’re in Clough and need a place to sit down and do homework or whatever. This is also the place where the recitation GTAs pick up the weekly worksheets.
If you need any office supplies related to your teaching duties (e.g., a binder, whiteboard markers, printing/copying), you can ask in the School of Physics front office (C-101, in the first floor of Howey, big glass doors with equations on them, right in front of the main entrance to the building).