Author's note: Just for the record, I am probably going to end up being a TA in the next few years. I know it goes both ways. I have had a number of awesome TAs and I applaud them for their work, especially within the university's guidelines, but this is for the ones that blow.
Interest in Course Material Permanently Maimed by Awful TA 102
TA: Please God, I'd Rather Die Than Have This TA (pidratherdie@wisc.edu)
Office: Fifth Right and Second Left through a dimly lit, windowless corridor that smells of tuna on B2 (East)
Office Hours: 6:45A-6:55A W or by appointment!!! (but not on M, Tu, Th)
Attendance/Participation:
You must be present at EVERY one of our 8:50 Friday discussion sections, even if I am not. Failure to do so will result in the loss of a letter grade (in case you don't understand what that means, if you have an A, you'll get a B, which is one letter away from A). Participation is MANDATORY so when I ask you to anthropomorphize a global concern for a presentation or answer questions as a character from the book we are reading, I will only accept the most convincing and moving performances. The grade breakdown of the section is as follows:
Participation (including willingness to speak): 80%
Beginning of the semester Color-Your-Hopes-and-Dreams worksheet: 10%
Paper One (8-10 pages with 5 non-internet sources): 2.5%
Midterm: 2.5%
Final exam: Varies
Section Goals*:
1. To put you under the impression that we are not in the same generation by saying things like ""What bands are popular for you kids these days? The Jonas Brothers?"" when I am clearly two and-a-half to three years older than you and still fresh off the last stages of puberty.
2. To work ""you kids"" and ""when I was your age"" into all facets of discussion.
3. To belittle you with such unbelievably patronizing leading questions that you are too humiliated to even speak.
4. To overload you with menial 6th grade style worksheets and 50 page bi-weekly required readings so tedious and so unrelated to anything that could possibly be on the exam that they will make you want to stick your whole body into a garbage disposal.
5. To have weekly quizzes on those readings to make sure, as your TA, that you (my adult student at the third best research institute in the United States) are smart and responsible enough to do your assignment.
6. To assign weekly response papers on convoluted topics to be completed in both 10-point Times New Roman font and a passive-aggressive and wholly insincere, rushed style.
*All of these goals aside, my biggest goal is to make you feel the most awkward you have ever felt in a classroom setting by having you stand in a circle and give your neighbor, a complete stranger, a back massage while telling them your major, favorite joke and a little something special about you on the first day, just to break the ice a little.
Questions, comments, cares, concerns, cookies? Email VP at evanpay@wisc.edu if you have any issues, or just want to talk (by the way, I always have an open door policy!)!
