TAing with WS

Thank you for your interest in TAing with me. This is a big responsibility where I entrust my students to you. One of the reasons that many students want to serve as TA is that they have had a helpful and inspiring TA themselves.

After great responsibility comes great reward! You will play a foundational role in the academic and, probably, personal growth of the next batch of Habib's computer scientists. You will engage deeply with the subject material that you love. You will garner teaching experience which will boost your graduate school application. You will develop a close relation with the faculty who can write you a strong recommendation letter.

Being an effective TA takes a mix of academic capability, communication skills, accessibility and approachability, passion for teaching, responsibility and reliability, and, of course, love of the course content. In order to decide if you are a good fit, I have to ask you for a few things. If these seem prohibitive, you are welcome to discontinue your application - no hard feelings!

Please make a LaTeX document containing the following.

  1. Your earned grade in this course, and any other courses that you believe to be related or have taken with me.
  2. A note on any prior TA experience.
  3. An interesting problem (with solution) or proof that you think brings together several aspects of the course.
  4. A statement, no more than a page, on the importance of this course in the CS major, why you want to TA it, and why you will be a good TA for it.
  5. (optional) A link to a post made by you in the CS Students group that alludes meaningfully to your problem or proof.

Send me your CV and the LaTeX document in an email with the title, "TA application: <course_name> - <semester>", e.g., "TA application: CS/MATH 113 - Spring 2024". Your email will have 2 attachments as mentioned. A Word submission or non-compiling LaTeX (it must compile on my machine, I use the latest MacTeX) leads to automatic disqualification.

I will judge your application on

  • how accurately the application follows the submission instructions
  • the relevance of your problem/proof/solution to the course
  • the clarity with which your problem/proof/solution is explained in your document
  • good academic practices, e.g., attribution
  • your LaTeX prowess
  • the correctness of your language
  • your speed in completing the above tasks
  • your creativity in the above tasks - good CS people are rational, great CS people are crazy (within reasonable bounds)
  • your judgement in the above tasks - achieving the right balance between too little and too much
  • a possible interview

The above may seem arbitrary but I hope that with some thought, you can appreciate how these relate to your eventual responsibilities as a TA. Some of the criteria may contradict, e.g., given more time, you may find a more creative problem. I hope that you also appreciate that achieving the right trade-off among competing factors is an important life skill, one that plays out quite explicitly in CS. Lastly, some things above may be vague. That is intentional, and yes, it can be unfair. But I want to test your judgment as a CS student.

viel Spaß!