## Sections ##

### Sample section schedule
* TAs will be teaching in pairs for both sections on Thursday. This will be a rotating schedule.

### At the start of the quarter
* If you can: visit a section room ahead of time. 
	* Consider what the room layout and types of desks will allow you to do, particularly regarding group work. 
	* Also make sure that you can use the projector  if needed (If you want, you can buy a dongle, but you can also  borrow one from UW IT or check one out from CSE Support in room AC   207). 
	* Check out the room's accessibility 
* Things to do in your first section
    * [Ice breakers](icebreakers.md) 
    * Setting [norms](norms.md).


### Preparing For Section
* Spend time each week before section preparing what you will cover
  and what you will say. The more prepared you are, the less nervous
  you will be and the more successful section will be.
* Pay attention in staff meeting; the instructor and head TAs will explain their thoughts on section
* Familiarize yourself with any section problems & solutions, as well as the assignment for the week.
* Read the lecture slides from the the previous Friday/Monday/Wednesday before section to review what's been covered and what they need to know -- while sitting in lecture, you may want to take notes about what's covered/what to reinforce
* Every week we will make a sample section agenda - feel free to print and bring to section!
* Circulate around the room while students are working. Students might ask a question if you're near by rather than calling you over.
* Check in with students often - try to get a gauge of where they're at, what common challenges are, what resources   students may be using to get unstuck, etc.

## General Tips for Section/Lab
### When You don't Know
* If someone asks a question you don't know the answer to, don't be afraid to admit you don't know!
  * Students are very forgiving and understanding, and they will feel more relaxed knowing that their TA doesn't know everything,
  either.
  * Students would much rather you give them a delayed answer than the wrong answer.
  * You could use this opportunity to model `lead learner` where you show them **how** you would go about learning this information.
You could also set this also set this up as a challenge to the class to help find the answer.

### If they ask...
* **Questions about course registration**
  "Send an email to Pim" (pl@cs)

* **Some question about course logistics (grading, exams, etc.) that you don't know**
  "We haven't discussed this yet in our TA meetings, but email me the question to remind me and I will get back to
  you."

* **Some advanced programming question that you're not sure of**
  "This is beyond the scope of the class, but email me and we could talk about it more then if you're still
  curious."

* **Something about a topic/language that you should know but forgot**
  "That's a good question, and actually I forgot the answer haha, let me double-check for you" (if you have a
      laptop, you could check on the spot or when they're working on other problems)

* **Some question about the section problem that you should know but forgot**
  "Just a sec, let me check to see what the solution does so I don't tell you something wrong."