Notes from both sides of the desk I magine grading your best friend's final exam in one of his most difficult classes. You uncap your red ballpoint pen and begin to compare his test with the answer key. He makes a few grave errors and you ask yourself if you effectively taught that specific concept in class. Every scarlet checkmark stabs you as if the red ink on the page were in fact your own blood. That is the feeling I faced every day as an assistant instructor of French 101. As a graduate assistant, I was required to work at least 12 hours a week for the Modern Foreign Language Department. Since I was working to meet the requirements for a master's degree in education, the department chairman opted for me to spend a part of my 12 hours CAUGHT. Alan Mashburn, graduate, leaves the mail room after mailing a letter for Charles Walker. Mashburn was a graduat e a ssistant to Walker in the Principles of Marketing class. -Photo by Sharon Bowles. in preparation of lesson plans and instruction of a class. At first, I was overjoyed that my professor of three years trusted me enough to be a part- time instructor of one of his courses. I accepted this position without a second thought. And then it hit me. I would be teaching my peers, my friends. You know the ones. The people who make fun of you at the drop of a hat. My stomach began to do somersaults and my knees began to shake. If it weren't for the fact that my tuition was being paid because of this position, I probably would have quit, dropped out of school, and joined the Peace Corps. But I steadfastly held my ground. I encountered many obstacles along the way. On my first day of class, I recognized five people in my classroom (even though I was teaching a freshmen level course), and sweaty visions of Speech 101 flashed back into my mind. If that weren't bad enough, one of the people I knew sat TEST TASK. David Dearin, graduate assistant, sets up a test for his French class. Dearin both took classes and taught them as he worked on his master's degree in French. - Photo by Sharon Bowles. two rows over from me in my Bible class. "Oh, great," I thought to myself, "This is the guy who I planned to get notes from when I skipped class. How will he take me seriously as a teacher? What am I going to do?" In the spring semester, I had a class that met 10 minutes after my French class was over. It was very interesting to sit back and take a good, hard look at education from both the teacher's and the student's point of view. My teaching experiences helped me to gain more respect for exactly what our professor went through in a single day. To be quite honest, I thought it would be much easier than it turned out to be, but it was worth the obstacles. Gradually, I learned exactly what to do to be successful in teaching. It was a long process with many embarrassing moments, but in the end, I gained a lot of necessary teaching experience and a few good friendships along the way. -David Dearin LAB WORKER. The writing lab provided assistance to students who needed work in English. JoAnn Clay, graduate assistant, worked in the lab as part of her job. -Photo by Sharon Bowles. Graduate 297
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