When I mentioned to my supervisor that I was interested in getting involved as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, to help teach undergraduates and masters students, she put me in touch with the directors of a new course: Computational Medicine. Not being a medic and not being all that confident in my coding abilities I was a little worried, but put my name forward anyway.
I signed up for the teaching because I wanted to a) get involved with teaching b) built my confidence and c) have a little more spending money in the bank.
Yesterday was the first session and it was such a positive experience. Not only did I feel quite at home teaching and explaining concepts and helping where necessary, I also feel like the session benefited my own coding abilities. Python is probably the coding language that I’m most confident in so I didn’t have a problem with the syntax, but it’s the broader concepts behind the code that I am still working on. As this class is aimed at complete beginners to code, I found that the lecture material was helpful for my own understanding of coding in general and also boosting my confidence.
I’m a firm believer that having the knowledge is only half the battle, but if you don’t know that you have the knowledge then what’s the point? Confidence in your own knowledge and abilities is the other half of the battle, and teaching is helping me with that part. More complex things that I am trying to do in my PhD are clunking into place because I’ve been forced to think about the fundamentals in a different way.
I’m so glad that I took this leap into teaching, session one went really well and I’ve fulfilled all the reasons that I wanted to get involved. There’s something immensely satisfying and rare about helping other people progress whilst also helping yourself progress at the same time.
Yes, I did a couple of hours of reading and practice before starting to teach (which I’m not paid for) but I don’t mind. I had the time to put aside and I definitely benefited from it. I think most importantly, it has allowed me to pursue something that I enjoy and want to be involved in: teaching.
For anyone wondering whether to get involved in teaching, but you’re on the fence because you’re not sure if you know enough or if you’re good enough: DO IT. Just make sure you’re willing to put in the extra time if you need to familiarise yourself with the material. My biggest fears before starting were that the students would know more than me and I wouldn’t be able to answer their questions. Neither of those have happened (yet!!) but I think that comes from starting with a module aimed at beginners and preparing well.
I’ll leave you with a quote from last week at Westminster Station which I saw on my way home, it makes me smile and, to me, it suits this post. Confidence is key. I’m ready for day 2.
Shruti's PhD 