Necessity or not, some professors and students claim that undergraduate TFs are actually preferable to graduate students.

Senior Lecturer Henry H. Leitner, who teaches Computer Science 51, the notoriously grueling departmental introduction to object-oriented programming, says he believes undergrads are better suited to teaching his course because the students he hires have taken the course very recently and so are intimately familiar with the concepts and assignments.

"Undergrads are much more in tune with what students know and don't know," Leitner says.

Besides having fresh memories of the material, undergraduate TFs can be advantageous in other ways as well, according to Andrew P. Marcus `01, a chemistry concentrator and currently the lone undergraduate teaching fellow for Chemistry 7: "Principles of Chemistry."

"A lot of first-year grad students don't speak English well, which can be a problem in section," he says.

In addition, because undergraduates are not forced to teach to maintain departmental support, as most graduate students are, those that choose to do so are often more enthusiastic about teaching than their graduate counterparts.

"All the undergrads who TF really want to do it, and throw themselves into it with great enthusiasm," says Davis, the Chemistry Department head tutor. "Many of the grad students are outstanding TFs, but not all the grad students really want to teach."

"They have generally done excellent jobs, and in fact have won more Bok Center teaching awards than the grad student TFs," he says.

Learning Through Teaching

Gortler, who teaches computer graphics, says when he first came to the College he didn't think TFing was the best way for undergraduates to be spending their time.

Having seen undergraduate TFs benefit from the experience, however, he has since changed his mind.

"I think the students who do TFing get quite a bit out of it," he said.

These benefits include getting to know course material extremely well, developing strong relationships with faculty and other students, and improving key presentation and explanation skills.

To help students develop these skills, all students who teach at the College must undergo a two-day training program at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. The center video tapes students and provides constructive feedback.

"They remind you of the little things," says Vicky Zhao, a sophomore currently TFing CS51, "like stand to the left side of what you're writing."