While studying in CEGEP—or, Quebec post-secondary college—at the age of 16, I distinctly remember standing in front of seven or eight of my peers in a reserved library study room re-teaching them the bulk of our Ancient Philosophy course prior to exams. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle: we went over the whole gang. In that little study room, reviewing all the key themes from our study notes, drawing diagrams on the chalkboard and having several smiling, nodding, enlightened faces turned towards me, I remember thinking, “This is something I like to do. This is something I can do well.”

Three years later, in my second year of university, I was sitting in an Introduction to Psychology class with 400 other university students completing the Myers-Briggs Type personality assessment, and I am informed that my personality follows the ‘ENFJ’ type, or The Teacher. Allegedly, only 2-5% of the population adheres to this particular type, and though I was pursuing a degree in communications at the time (as opposed to education or Teacher’s College), I remember feeling empowered by this knowledge.

At the age of 24, I decided that teaching was, in fact, the key to my career, and I launched into a Masters in History program at McGill University in Montreal to make it happen. Luckily, in graduate school, students are often given the opportunity to act as teaching assistants for the duration of their degree. It sounded terrifying, and at first, it really was. However, it also happens to be the single most important duty one can have in the pursuit of higher education. Thesis be damned! If you are contemplating grad school (which, in the present economy, you may very well be doing), I advise you to sign up for as many teaching assistantships as you can possibly get away with. Not only will you sharpen your own presentation skills, but something squishy and wonderful happens in your chest the first time a student thanks you for “being the best TA” they’ve ever had. (That happened, and I died.)

As graduate school acceptance letters begin to fly across the country this month, here are some key tips for those stepping into their first teaching (assistant or otherwise!) positions:

  • Be a good listener: Discussion group settings can be terrifying for the best of us. Being articulate is a learned skill and often a challenge for freshmen students.  Learn to listen carefully to each student, offering questions or segues based on their contributions. Sometimes they will have literally no idea what they are trying to say, and sometimes they just won’t be articulate enough to say it. It’s your job to encourage conversation by making students feel as though the things they have to say are important and worthy of everyone’s time.  
  • Be prepared and organized: In my very first teaching assistant position, I was expected to lead three, hour-long discussion groups on a weekly basis. I had roughly 40 students to keep track of. This wasn’t an absurd number, but ensuring the students could discuss and engage with early European history in a meaningful way required a few hours of reading and preparation each week. Having the ability to answer the majority of questions posed by your students—and offering to look up information that you may not know off-hand—does not go amiss. Everyone has experienced the flakey, disorganized and indifferent TA. Don’t be that guy. 
  • Be creative: If you are lucky enough to have free reign in the way you lead your tutorials and discussion groups, be creative. Ask students to bring questions based on the readings or to make oral presentations based on their scholarly interests, place students in mini-groups to discuss different topics (and to give shyer students a chance to contribute), or  hold a mini-essay writing workshop. Spice things up. Don’t let them get complacent, or worse, bored. 
  • Be happily available outside of assigned class hours (within reason): Office hours aside, try to reply to student emails within 12 hours or less, particularly around assignment due dates. Again, remember the time you had last minute questions before an exam and you received your TA’s reply email three days late? Yeah.

From a young age, I really do think our future career paths are “following” us around. The future likes to poke its head out where you least expect it: in a passing compliment, in a newly discovered skill, or in a room of 400 people. Imparting knowledge to another person in a clear, concise and critical way is daunting and difficult – but, I do think every person has the intrinsic ability to teach that which they are good at, or passionate about. This could be snowboarding, cooking, gardening, or (in my case) the details of Charlemagne’s reign in the 8th century. Put your nerves in your back pocket, buy a new blazer, and jump in with both feet.