be nice to your TAs....

3 sections, 3 times going over the exact same material and announcements, 3 totally different responses.

3rd section was quiet, just like last week, but a little more interactive. their response was somewhat of a non-reaction.

2nd section was in fairly good spirits. the student who stayed longest at my review session the weekend before the most recent exam got her paper back, was really excited about the grade, and immediately went to whisper in my ear something along the lines of "you're the best TA ever! you're so helpful! i can't believe i got such a good grade this time, thank you thank you thank you for everything!" that made me smile. another student in that section commented inbetween homework problems "what are you teaching next semester? you actually make math fun!"

1st section was fairly standard. giving back tests in there was actually kinda fun since there were a few students who scored *significantly* higher on this exam than last one. (i'm talking like a 30 point difference in grades or more) and it was rewarding to see their reactions to getting back good papers. they've been working hard and it's fun to see their expression when they realize how much it's paid off. however, one student in that section got just about the same grade as last exam. not a bad grade, but not what he wants for an average either. when he got his paper back at the end of class he yelled in the corner of the room for a few minutes then came and showed me one problem and asked "what on earth was he thinking to take of 3 points here?", to which i responded "not HE, *i* graded that one, and here's why you lost points. your answer was on the right track but missing some details. you still got most credit for the problem." he stood there and hollered at me/argued with me for a few minutes before leaving, still noticably upset.

i can understand being frustrated. i can understand wanting to know why points were assigned as they were, etc. it just frustrates me that a student would approach those questions by taking their frustrations out on me. it's not like i take off points just for fun. i grade consistently over 75ish exams and don't assign things arbitrarily.

unlike professors,
(1) TAs are not just dealing with lots of students, we're also in our own "end of semester crunch time" with our own grad classes. so we have similar homework stresses to the undergrads with our own work, PLUS have to field the questions of dozens of other students. don't get me wrong: i love teaching students. but end of the semester, lots of frustrated students trying to figure out how to get the grade they want, lots going on right before finals, crunch time is stressful on all of us.
(2) TAs have to grade a lot more of the students' work than profs. this means that (a) students should know what i'm looking for in a complete answer perfectly well by now, and (b) it's not just my own work and teaching -- this is another couple hours a week pulling on my time, and i take it seriously. -- yelling at me and telling me i was unfair honestly does offend me. it's not just an arbitrary mark of red pen... it's hours of work and thinking about how to most fairly assign credit.

some students are very careful to let profs/TAs know they appreciate their help. but ones who take the time to be loud and imply that i take points of arbitrarily and am just being stubborn or mean frustrate me. i'm tired. i'm ready for summer break too. but i've been trying to put 110% into my students all semester. i don't care if they all like me or not. that's impossible to expect or predict, and it's nice when we do get along well, but that's not the point. i DO care (1) that they realize i've tried to be a consistent grader throughout the course and (2) that they feel that i'm approachable for questions. people who attack me on either of those counts give me a headache.

end of rambling rant.