Many undergrads feel they have a lot to complain about: school, a job, homework. All of those commitments, all of that time spent, and they’re still expected to show up to discussion section at 8:30 a.m. on a Friday.

They sit in class, waiting anxiously for a paper they handed in more than two weeks ago only to find that the teaching assistant (TA) is very sorry, but she will need a few more weekends before she can sort through the growing stack on her desk. Immediately, those overworked minds wander to the inevitable question, “Just what makes those TAs so busy, anyway?”

According to Ph.D. student and teaching assistant Michele Poff, plenty.

“There’s just so much mystery surrounding TAs,” she said. “Hopefully we can show what’s really behind the [the job].”

Take the general job description of a teaching assistant for starters. As a TA, Poff splits her time between taking classes and teaching them. While she’s enrolled in five classes herself, she must also fulfill her duties as an assistant to her COM 234 public debate class by attending lectures and teaching four back-to-back discussion sections, starting at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays.

“Teaching the same classes four times in a row is just weird,” Poff said. “By 12:30 [p.m.] I’ve said everything three times already; I start to forget what I’ve said to each section!”

Despite the often-lackluster material, Poff said she tries to engage students by allowing them to choose their own section times to attend and what activities they perform, a technique that works for students like junior Kenny Wade.

“I like that she gives us a choice,” Wade said. “Individuals need different things, and she’s good at providing that.”

Wade attends the 10:30 a.m. section on Friday mornings. He estimated she spends well over 12 hours a week preparing for the classes.

“She must be very busy,” Wade said. “[The material] seems like common sense stuff, but in class it’s extremely difficult, and she has to explain all that logic to us.”

As a contracted teaching assistant, Poff must spend 220 hours per quarter fulfilling her duties. According to the UW Ph.D. student guidelines, in order to renew an assistantship, graduate students must meet a minimum GPA of 3.30, receive satisfactory assessments of teaching abilities and provide evidence of scholarly commitment.

The requirements keep Poff busy, or “extremely, extremely busy,” as she puts it.

While her busiest day, Tuesday may appear to be a page off of any undergrad’s calendar, Poff is quick to point out the differences in graduate school.

“In undergrad classes, it’s easier to be anonymous; you can just slide into the back,” she said. “As a grad student, there are about 10 students to a class. Expectations are higher from your peers and your advisers, and if you haven’t done your work, it shows.”

Scheduling teaching assistants can be a challenge, too. Because TAs take classes, their teaching assignments are usually determined by availability. Poff didn’t find out her assignment until just a few weeks before the start of the quarter. If teaching assistants don’t have a strong background in their class assignments, they could end up putting in even more work just to catch up, she said.

“It’s important for undergrads to know that I’m not the professor; I’m not the expert,” she said. “Hopefully they can cut their TAs a bit of slack knowing we are assigned these classes.”

Poff lucked out with her assignment; she teaches a subject she feels is essential to students’ success.

“You can’t get anywhere in life without learning to argue,” she said. “It’s crucial to separate conflict and argument and to learn how to disagree with respect, if nothing else.”

It was her disdain for conflict that motivated Poff to consider graduate school in the first place. After spending several years as a legal assistant and working towards her master’s in applied linguistics at Portland State University (her Bachelor of Arts was in English at UC Berkeley), Poff was tired of dealing with conflicts. Four years abroad in Germany and Italy helped her gain a more “global perspective.”

“I just wanted to do something more important on a universal scale,” Poff said. “I want to teach people to be more aware of how we talk about environment and how that affects how we think about it. I want to make a contribution.”

Professor Kirsten Foot teaches Poff’s design Internet research class, a course designed to give techniques for conducting research to graduate students. As an undergrad at Northwestern University in Chicago, Foot realized she had never talked to her TA or professor about why they decided to teach. After treating her TA to lunch and listening to her story, Foot became motivated to attend graduate school herself.

“My best advice to undergrads is to get to know your TA,” she said. “They know more about your field than you think, and they can help you decide if graduate school is right for you.”

For Poff, it was the idea of contributing to a better world that helped her make the plunge into grad school. While most weeks she barely has time to make the Friday pub runs on the Ave with her colleagues, she finds her work rewarding and worthwhile.

“For me, teaching is life-giving,” she explained. “It’s energizing, and the only thing that I come home and feel good about at the end of the day.”

Reach reporter Tasha Thomas at features@thedaily.washington.edu.