The Privilege of Teaching

This year I had the privilege of being a TA for two UG courses. Data Structures and Algorithms. I am a rather unusual case. I have not had the best academic records through my UG curriculum, but have developed pretty well albeit quite late. I think the rigors of the dual degree program forced me to work very hard and improve myself. This TAship has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my stay at IIIT till date. How well I have done is for UG groups A1 and A2 to decide.

I must admit I was very nervous and rather skeptical of my abilities to teach what could be considered IIIT's premier course for UGs. A few words from K.Srinathan before the first lab I took gave me a lot of confidence. Piyush also told me not to worry and it would turn out to be just fine. To walk into a class with 60~70 people staring at you, waiting for you to give the class direction is a daunting task. The fear of screwing up or worse teaching something wrong was a very big concern for me in the first few classes. I used to prepare for 3~4 hours for a lab and perhaps even more for a tutorial (I later discontinued tutorials for my group but more on that some other time). I think this year has been particularly challenging for the TA's as there is a new curriculum, and a lot of new topics were taught in the DS course. On some occasions, some of the things we were teaching was stuff we had not studied. This made for an even tenser situation. However something Abhilash said, calmed me down at the time, quite a bit. He said that no matter who the TA is and how good or bad they do, the DS course is always kind of on auto pilot. At the time i was relieved as I was assured that UG1 can be sand boxed from any failures that I may be responsible for. In hindsight I find that to be sad because, I believe that TA's can have a fundamental contribution to the course and despite having some wonderful talents among the 3/4/5 years if we are not able to influence a DS course it is a tragedy.

In my opinion, that was not the case. During each lab session I found myself challenged by some or the other student who wanted to implement a particular DS or solve a problem in a completely new way. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good a lot of ug1 students are. The way they responded to the last assignment we posted was extraordinary. I was also very impressed by the the assignments Abhilash produced. The assignment set this year was in my opinion was one of the best sets produced during my stay. GG Abhilash.

Over the years, I have always believed that knowing a subject well enough is necessary and sufficient to be a good teacher. Based on my experiences this year, I can confirm that the sufficiency case is false. To be a good teacher requires a unique ability to communicate and get through to people. My experiences have helped me develop a new found admiration for those people who are blessed with the ability to teach well. It is indeed a rare gift.

I hope I do get to interact with UG1 again. It is hard work, but it's also an unmatched satisfaction. To work with some of the best and the brightest truly is a privilege.