COS 111 - TA Information

Below are the default lab assignments for COS 111 undergraduate TAs as well as available substitutes for each timeslot. If you are a TA and are not listed in this schedule, please mail emkawas@princeton.edu with your lab preferences as soon as possible and you will be scheduled.

Black = Permanent Assignments for Regular TAs
Blue = Available as substitutes or extra help
Red = Alternate available timeslots for regular TAs

Meetings: TA meetings will be held every Friday to discuss the next week's lab and provide feedback on the previous one. Every TA who is scheduled to work the following week must attend (send email if you have a conflict). It is also very important to read through and try out the Lab before the meeting (see below for how to get paid for this preparation). Then you can ask questions about anything you don't understand as well as point out any typos or bugs we may have missed.

During the lab:All labs are held in the E203 Pentium computer cluster (near the smaller of the front entrances to the Equad). Please get there promptly by 1:30, and ALWAYS read through the assignment beforehand. It is very frustrating the students if you are unable to help with simple questions, or if you have to sit down and read through the lab first! If there are not enough computers to seat all of the students, ask others to leave until there are enough (start with the people who are reading email, web-surfing, or playing games). There is a whiteboard in the front of the room where you can write special instructions that may be necessary in the lab. Also, when it is clear that many students are having the same problem, you can stand at the front of the room and make general announcements.

How to help: During the lab, keep your hands "in your pockets" and make the students type everything themselves -- especially if they are having difficulty doing so. Also, try not to give away answers, but explain the concepts instead and lead them in the right direction. If a student has obviously not read the lab, instruct them to do so before you help them. A lot of your time will be spent helping students figure out where they've gone wrong and why their program or application isn't working the way they think it should. Many students will also sometimes need clarification of lab instructions and help submitting their work. If ever you cannot answer a question, please do not make up an answer -- that just makes things more difficult later. Ask another TA to help the student.

Missing your timeslot: If, for any reason, you cannot make one of your time slots, try to find a replacement from the listed alternates (or regulars) and email emkawas@princeton.edu. Please do this well before the Friday meeting so that your replacement can attend. As long as you are replaced by someone who has attended the meeting, there will be no problems.

To all TA substitutes: If you agree to substitute for a TA who cannot make his/her timeslot, please email emkawas@princeton.edu and show up for the Friday meeting (at noon). There are also some weeks where we will ask you to provide additional assistance for particularly difficult labs. In these cases, we will let you know at least a week ahead of time and ask that you come to the Friday meeting.

Getting Paid: You are entitled to the standard undergraduate TA pay rate for every scheduled hour you spend in the lab, as well as 1-2 hours of preparation each week (only if you actually spend time preparing!). Timesheets and instructions for filling them out are available in the CS Administrative Office on the 2nd floor. They must be filled out on the last day of each payperiod (every other Wednesday) and submitted to Ginny Hogan for approval. You can pick up your paycheck on the Friday of the next week from the Student Payroll Office in New South.

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Undergraduate TAs

Tim	Tom M.	Kelvin	Jay	Ken	Erin	Conrad	Saadiq

Regular:

Jay Alabaster
Maura Dougherty
Lia Gustafson
Roshan Hall (Not Assigned)
Tom Hammell
Tim Van Hooser
Erin Kawas
Toshinari Kureha
Conrad Liang
Sheehan Maduraperuma
TJ Mather
Michael Morley
Saadiq Rodgers-King
Charles Silio
Kelvin Tan
Ken Turnball (Not Assigned)

Anoop Gupta
Dan O'Malley
Ilan Sender