A couple of weeks ago, we asked for nominations for Columbia’s best TAs. We’ve narrowed down the list and now, over the next few days, check out the TAs who our readers recognized.

Ben Leshchinksy

1. What classes have you taught in the past?

I have served as a TA for Soil Mechanics for 4 years, Advanced Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Tunneling Construction and Design, Principles of Construction Systems, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanics of Solids, and Freshman Gateway.

2. Do you plan on teaching a class for fall?

Indeed, I will be involved with Freshman Gateway.

3. What is one thing you do differently from most other TAs?

Two things: I encourage a bit of humor or levity when I teach since I find that it softens a student’s attitude to material that they might find boring, difficult or frustrating. It is so important to not take yourself seriously. Also, I demand that students think critically. This is an essential component of an engineer’s judgment and easily the most important thing to take away from their education. I always ask students to look for weaknesses and errors in experiments and thought processes. My students have become so good at this that I almost have to convince them that what we are doing is acceptable.

4. What is the strangest moment you have ever experienced as a TA?

One groggy, late spring morning I am on the uptown 1 train headed to school to teach lab. I am nervous as I am running much later than usual. Once we hit the 96th street stop, the engineer says that “all uptown trains are suspended past 96th street for the remainder of the morning.” I rush upstairs hoping to find alternative means of transportation with no luck. The only option left is to make like Forrest Gump and run (in boat shoes) all the way to school. The strange looks I got on my jog did not match those of my students who see me stroll in, drenched, out of breath and ON TIME!

5. Can you tell when your students aren’t prepared for recitation?

I teach in the earlier morning, so this is a toss-up. Usually, if most of them are awake, it is a good start. If they are asleep, they seem like a good person to volunteer for a lab demonstration.

6. What is your favorite candy bar?

Not really a bar, but Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are nice.

Daniel Kang

1. What classes have you taught in the past?

Ordinary Differential Equations is the first class I’ve been a TA for.

2. Do you plan on teaching a class for fall?

Yes, I was thinking of being a TA for ODE again – or maybe a Calculus course, or Intro to Higher Math – but I’ll probably be assigned to ODE by the math department.

3. What is one thing you do differently from most other TAs?

I like to grade HW pretty thoroughly – even if it means I take off more points than a student would like. I like to write as much as possible about what the student got wrong, how they can do better, etc. To me, subtraction of a point or two on a homework means that student will be less likely to get 5 or more points off on an exam. I also meet individually with students for free tutoring outside of the help room hours if needed – all they need to do is shoot me an email, we coordinate a time, and I’ll help them as much as possible until they understand the material.

4. What is the strangest moment you have ever experienced as a TA?

Being a freshman TA has been kind of weird to start with – a lot of the students in the class are older than I am and/or in the classes of ’13,’12, and ’11. Aside from that, there was this one time a student wrote me a poem in the middle of a homework problem. He later told me it was supposed to be a rap.

5. Can you tell when your students aren’t prepared for recitation?

Don’t really hold recitations – but for the review sessions before exams, it’s pretty clear who has a solid grasp on the material based on the specificity of questions. A kid who asks “How do I solve this second order nonhomogeneous ODE” is often more prepared than the guy who doesn’t remember what that kind of ODE is.

6. What is your favorite candy bar?

Snickers Bar. *drool*