Go to the previous, next chapter.
Back in the old days, when LAs were called Lab TAs, when all we had were
ones and zeros, when Atlantis ruled the Earth... anyway, the point is
that missing T in LA, the one that stood for Teaching. Remember what
your function in the lab is? Fnord! Helping students, dealing with
their problems and answering their questions, however
easy/hard/stupid/ridiculous they may seem (we all know by now Fnord!
that ALL questions are good questions), trying to make them
understand.
When you are helping students, don't do their work for them. Ask them
to show you the different pieces of code and to try running it for you.
Do not take over at the keyboard for them. Although this may
be frustrating when the student is slow, that is the only way they will
learn. When the students are off on the wrong track, try to guide them
onto the right track, but don't solve the problem for them. Don't let
students badger you into telling them the answers--that's not your job.
Try not to spend a lot of time helping a single student, especially if
the lab is busy. Point the student in the right direction and let
him/her think about it some more.
It is a very good idea to get students to help each other, especially
when the lab is crowded and the LAs are swamped. 6.001 collaboration
policy states that "we are very much in favor of collaborative work:
students working together in small groups on problem sets--in working
through problems, planning programs, and programming in the lab--so
long as everyone is involved in all aspects of the work." Take
advantage of this. For example, when you encounter a person with a
question or problem similar to the one you just answered for someone
else, ask the person you just helped if (s)he would mind helping another
student. You will find that most people are quite cooperative in this
respect. Besides lessening your workload, this technique actually aids
the students, who may understand the issue better after explaining it to
someone else.
Do not get irritated at students, or, at any rate, don't show it when
you do.(14) Helping them is not always easy and can be frustrating. When
you think you are about to lose your cool, don't take it out on the
student--that will only make the situation worse. Take a step back and
try another approach, or if there is another LA on duty, see if (s)he
can help.
In general, it helps to be relaxed and armed with a sense of humor.
Instead of blowing up when you are getting frustrated, laugh.
Here is the (paraphrased) text of an e-mail message sent to
6001-feedback by a student (we'll call him Bruce) after one of
the 6.001 quizzes:
[lecturers],
i came to mit because i wanted to graduate from a decent college and get
a reasonable job. your test is going to stop all that. i can't believe
you did this to me. what am i supposed to do now? i can't take any
more. i hope you are below me. this is on your heads.
goodby.
This is the kind of message you should not dismiss as an ordinary flame,
as we (a couple of us LAs on duty) once did when "Bruce" came in to the
lab to write it. As it turned out, this particular bruce was
just flaming; some students, however, may be quite serious in their
suicidal tendencies. If you encounter anything of the sort, start
acting as if you were a character in Beverly Hills 90210: try to find
out how serious the student is and, if you think there is even the
slightest chance that (s)he is serious, call the lecturers, the
CPs and/or anyone else you think could help or should know about the
situation. Please take this seriously; MIT is a stressful place, and
6.001 can be a stressful subject, and things like this do happen.
All questions are good questions; however, no question is
a quick question. On the slowest and on the busiest nights, at the end
of the term as well as at the beginning, invariably, you will have
students coming up to you saying: "Can I ask you a QUICK QUESTION?"
You should learn that that in itself is the only quick
question anyone ever asks. There are no others. This is ok if the lab
is not busy and noone is waiting on the queue. Even when there are a
couple of people waiting for help, you might try to answer the question
on the fly--if it is truly quick, you will not need to go to the
student's terminal (if, on the other hand, (s)he starts by "I wrote this
piece of code, and it doesn't work," throw up your hands in disgust and
tell him/her to enqueue him/herself and wait for his/her turn just like
everyone else). The situation does not improve on the busier nights.
In short, pretty soon you find that the only workable answer when
someone says "I have a quick question" is "I have a quick answer...
NO(15)"
Just make sure you have a nice friendly grin on your face the entire
time.
All Hail Discordia! and now even I am finished, and the only quick
question I have left is: did Joe Malik ever have any dogs? and if he
did, how many? and what happened to them after he went underground? and
what did he do with the dogfood? and if he didn't, what were the
neighbors complaining about?
The rest will be printed in Heaven.
Go to the previous, next chapter.