Teachers are often swamped with work. Hundreds of students rush in and out of their classrooms each week, leaving behind massive stacks of papers to read, grade and return. Having an extra set of hands — or four — can help cut days of work down to just hours. 

Teacher assistants (TAs) are a major part of the classroom environment. They often help out in the classroom by answering questions, checking over work, grading papers, watching over the class if the teacher steps out and by completing other odd tasks.

“Usually, I walk around and I help people with citations for their papers, or checking over their work and stuff,” Emily Kennedy (12) said.

Becoming a TA requires just a few steps. First, a student must build a strong relationship with the teacher of their choice and request to be a TA for them. If the teacher accepts, they sign a form and give it to the student who fills it out and turns it in to Discipline Secretary Stephanie Schusster. 

“I took [Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry] last year and I loved it,” Cannon Barron (12) said. “I wanted to continue doing AP [Chemistry] stuff but [I] also can’t take it again, so I was like ‘Might as well just help out.’”

AP Seminar and AP Research, often referred to collectively as AP Capstone, do not allow teachers to directly assist students once they have begun work on their AP Portfolio. Montana Young, White Station High School’s (WSHS) AP Capstone teacher, has two AP Seminar classes and enlists the help of multiple TAs, or research assistants, in each class period. Kennedy is a TA for 5th period AP Seminar along with Hadrian Graham (12), Ellen Tan (12) and Andrew Yount (12). Although Young cannot provide direct feedback to AP Seminar students due to the rules of the class, her TAs can. As the TAs have taken the class before, they know what to expect from each task the AP Seminar students are assigned.

“[Young is] like one of my favorite teachers and also I just really like her class,” Kennedy said. “It’s just a nice class. Also, it’s a much different TA experience, I think, than another class might be … An AP Seminar TA is much more hands-on with helping. I think other TAs just grade stuff.”

WSHS’s AP Chemistry teacher, George Richardson, teaches two AP Chemistry classes, Honors Chemistry, Dual Enrollment Chemistry and teaches at two colleges. Barron is a TA for 4th period AP Chemistry with Carolin Chou (12), Anthony Nguyen (12) and Allison Totty (12). These TAs help prepare labs, grade assignments and answer students’ questions. 

“I really like helping in the labs, so I just like to float around back there,” Barron said. “AP [Chemistry] is two class periods, so I’m only in there one, so by the time I get in there they’re all moving in the lab. It’s really fun to see how they’re going and a lot of them will need help, so it’s fun to do.”

All WSHS students are required to take Algebra II in order to graduate. So, teachers like Elizabeth Kirby teach many students each year. A large number of students means a large amount of work, so Kirby recruits multiple TAs to help lessen the load. Kailyn Card (11) TA’s with Adaria Crutcher (12) for 6th period Pre-AP Algebra II. 

“As a TA … we grade a lot of papers, we go on missions,” Card said. “Mrs. Kirby does a lot of the Key Club [tasks], so we take a lot of stuff to her car, to her trunk, donations. I usually — after the Room in the Inn event — pass around cookies to the teachers. She’s a busy woman.”

TAs are able to build connections with the students in their class, other TAs and their teacher. TAs can act as a teacher and friend to students since they are the same age as the students taking the class. Students who TA together spend a lot of time together and often build or develop friendships that continue outside of the classroom. Many TAs even opt to ask for recommendations from the teacher they TA for. 

“Some of my favorite experiences of being a TA is just being able to connect with the students that are in the class,” Card said. “It is fun, you know, and I get to talk to them and all kinds of stuff and I get to explain things to them my way … I feel like, probably, my favorite part about being a TA is just being able to teach people things successfully.”

Whether students become TAs to spend more time in their favorite classes, with their favorite teachers, helping students, or simply to escape the bleachers or cafeteria tables of study hall, they are an integral part of many classrooms. 

“I already know that several of the juniors are trying to claim a spot for next year already,” Barron said. “[Totty] and I … both claimed spots for this year on the second-to-last day of school, like ‘We’re doing it.’ But, yeah, I would absolutely recommend it.”