"I simply like to teach," says Richard John '81, a resident history and literature tutor in Mather House. "I like to talk to students about books, [and being a teaching fellow] gives me an opportunity to do that in the classroom instead of the dining hall."
And the financial and educational rewards ofbeing a section leader make the job enticing.
"It is a combination of factors [that makes mewant to teach]," Brown says. "The bottom line isthat you need money to live, but we are intraining to be teachers so we obviously want toteach."
The pressure to teach is exacerbated by thefact that Harvard faces a growing shortage ofavailable TFs.
University policy dictates that faculty membersmust give priority to Harvard graduate studentswhen hiring teaching fellows for an undergraduatecourse. Only when the pool of Universitycandidates is "exhausted" can faculty hireteaching fellows from outside Harvard.
The Government Department follows theUniversity guidelines, but, according to HeadTutor Mark A. Peterson, faculty in the departmenthave had an increasingly difficult time findingenough University graduate students to teachsections. "It is a tough situation we face now,"Peterson says. "Our demand and supply situation isso out of sorts...that flexibility is limited anda professor often doesn't have as much leeway ashe or she would like" when hiring a teachingassistant.
The History Department faces a similarsituation, according to Assistant Head TutorThomas A. Schwartz. "There is a definite shortageof teaching fellows in history," he says. "We haveto look pretty hard quite frequently" to findenough graduate students to cover the courses.
Part of the problem lies in how the Universitymatches teaching fellows to professors. TheGovernment Department makes lists of the coursesand faculty in need of graduate students. Petersonsays. But graduate students say the departments dolittle organized recruiting, so they must make theeffort to look for teaching openings.
John says that securing a teaching position fora given semester requires sending letters andresumes to departments and faculty, but if agraduate student stays alert, he can find a spot."If one asks around, one can usually hear ofopenings" for teaching fellows, he says.
Brown says that he too had to apply for hispositions. "I don't remember exactly how itworked, but I know I had to apply" for thepositions, says Brown. "They [the departments]didn't do any active recruiting that I was awareof."
Brown adds, however, that he has not had anytrouble finding a job as a teaching fellow. "Ihaven't had any problems, and if I did, it wouldbe partly my fault since they [the faculty] areabsolutely respectful and helpful when I apply."
The teaching fellow shortage has led someprofessors to hire students from Harvard's otherschools and MIT to teach their courses. Inaddition, TFs often end up teaching subjects inwhich they have little expertise.
The History Department's sophomore tutorialprogram, for example, requires the same person toteach units on Medieval and Modern Europe and theUnited States. By definition, Brown says.sophomore history tutors cannot be experts inevery area they must cover.
The fact that teaching fellows may not beexperts, however, does not trouble John. who findsthe word "expert" inappropriate in academia in thefirst place. "It's not being an expert that'simportant," he says. "A willingness to engage thematerial is what makes the difference in atutorial or a section. That [willingness]translates well to the students and helps themlearn."
Despite the problems associated with sections,for most graduate students, however, the timespent teaching is time well spent. "Teaching doesrequire a lot of time, but it is never wastedtime," says John Farrell, a veteran TF in theEnglish Department, citing the experience andknowledge he gains from teaching intelligentstudents.
Really Rewarding
Ellen Havdala '88, an undergraduate teachingfellow for Science A-30 last fall, says herexperience has led her to consider teaching as apossible profession. "I had never consideredacademics. But now, 10 or 15 years down the road,I could see myself as a teacher...Being a TFreally gives you a sense of gratification; it'sreally rewarding."
Havdala says that the key to success as ateaching fellow is having fun. "To be a goodsection leader you have to not take yourself tooseriously but take the job itself very seriously,"she says. "I tried very hard to have fun and letthe students have fun as well. In a certain senseyou have to try to be low key about the teaching,that's what is important."