Graduate school can be a balancing act. Consider Joe DePalma, a first
year chemistry graduate student at the University of Delaware. In
addition to taking classes and identifying a research lab, he is also a
teaching assistant (TA) overseeing three introductory chemistry
laboratories each week. Managing a lab full of first-time chemists can
be nerve-wracking, but fortunately, Joe has some help. Part of being a
chemistry or biology TA at Delaware is participating in a TA training
class, where students learn the fundamentals of good teaching. Held just
as the school year was getting started, that class included watching
videos of what not to do as a TA, and then discussing the good, the bad,
and the ugly.
