6.042 TA INSTRUCTIONS


TEACHING.  Spend time preparing.  Start and end recitations and
tutorials on time.  MIT classes begin 5 minutes after the hour and end
5 minutes before the hour.  Budget your time wisely.  Teach to the top
80 percent of the class.  Deal with the lower 20 percent outside of
class.  Challenge the top 20 percent at least once every recitation.
Be careful.  Teach and insist on highly structured proof arguments,
especially near the beginning of term.  At all times, be cheerful,
friendly, and excited about the subject.  Work on improving your own
communication skills and professional personality.  Attend all
lectures.  Keep in synch with the class.

RECITATIONS.  Your recitation notes should show what goes on board.
Distinguish comments to yourself.  Always rewrite any notes you obtain
from elsewhere.  Measure how long it takes to teach a page of notes to
avoid running short or out of time.

TUTORIALS.  Collect homework at the beginning of tutorial.  Look
through homework while asking students to show solutions to problems
at the board.  Don't allow any student to spend more than 5 minutes at
the board for a single problem.  Ask the students to show how to solve
pieces of a large problem.  Don't ask who wants to show his solution.
Instead, you choose who should go to the board.  Be fair.  Grade
tutorial performance with check-minus, check, check-plus.  Give a 0
for an absense.  Write the tutorial grade on the graded homework.

GRADING.  Grade each problem 1-10.  If the problem was not done or no
attempt was made, mark with an asterisk (*).  Do not take points off
when grading.  Instead, give points for problem parts.  Give fewer
points for sloppiness, circuitous reasoning, etc.  Make comments.
Praise elegance, especially for students having trouble.  Record
grades on the master spreadsheet frequently, but keep your own backup.
Entering grades on the master spreadsheet is more easily done by two
people.

PROBLEM SET SOLUTIONS.  For each problem set, one TA will be assigned
to prepare homework solutions with the head TA.  Solve the problems
before the homework goes out to the class.  Don't waste time LaTeX'ing
the solutions.  Write up the solutions by hand.

CHEATING. Be aware of cheating.  Watch out for copied homework, especially
between sections.  Remind students that copied homework is illegal,
although they are allowed to collaborate on figuring out solutions.
Get to know your students and their collaboration groups.  Look to see
who sits together in class.  Talk to the professors if you have any
suspicions that cheating may be going on.

WORK HARD AND HAVE FUN!