Credit: Purvi Singhania
Every year during class programming, students are recommended to take an elective to support their studies. Being a teacher’s aide for the office, the library or a teacher is one of these electives.
Each TA’s job is to support their teacher. If juniors or seniors have an open period in their schedule, they can talk to their counselors and sign up to be a TA.
TAs in the office are given the opportunity to learn how the school system works by helping the counseling office.
“The counseling office TAs … mostly help with running passes from counselors, the deans and assistant principals,” said Caroline Moala, Aragon’s financial aid and scholarship adviser. “What they also help with can be organizing, filing papers here in the office [and giving] tours for our new students.”
Every year, many of the students who want to be TAs look forward to working in the office because they think it is an easy elective.
“We’ve had a TA before [who] was sleeping in here … and the superintendent walked right past him and we felt so bad,” Moala said. “[Since a TA is] a class, you still have to be on time [and] do [the] work. You’re expected to do your job. It’s not just a place to hang out and sleep.”
“You’re expected to do your job. It’s not just a place to hang out”
Jayson Estassi, a U.S. history and guided studies teacher, also puts his TAs in his class to work.
“This year I have two TAs and two tutors,” Estassi said. “TAs will run errands to the office. Sometimes I’ll send them to drop off copies to be made. Other times they’ll have to go around and stamp work that I’ve checked for completion and occasionally take things to the office.”
Tutors aid the students with any work they need support for. While TAs get a pass or fail at the end of the semester, tutors will get a letter grade.
“They help tutor students during tutorial time,” Estassi said. “For instance, in English, [they would] help a student proofread something or give them some suggestions, ideas or feedback on a piece of written work.”
Classroom tutors have many chances to participate and learn. Helping other people can also support a student’s own studies and prepare them for the future.
“Being a tutor is really a great opportunity to [help the community],” Estassi said. “I’ve seen [tutors] helping other students in the classroom … which can be pretty cool and offer me a lot of material … when I’m writing a letter of recommendation.”
Classroom TAs support the teacher by making their workload easier, aiding students if needed and gaining valuable experiences.
“I help grade papers, organize files and sometimes provide feedback on students’ creative writing work [during] class,” said senior Angelina Parker, a TA for Creative Writing. “Getting to experience people having fun with each other [and] letting loose in elective classes is a really nice experience.”
Being a TA not only builds a student’s academic and social skills, but it also strengthens their connection with the teacher that they aid.
“I loved having [Ms. Thurtle] in freshman and junior year,” Parker said. “[Being a TA is] a nice way to continue my relationship … [It] will strengthen your relationships with your teacher in a way nothing else will. If there’s a teacher you really care about on campus, it can be a valuable experience.”
“If there’s a teacher you really care about on campus, it can be a valuable experience”
Each year, the library selects a few students to help out.
“We have five TAs this year,” said school librarian Anna Lapid. “[They help] us check in books, stack them in the textbook room or here in the library and deliver passes to help out the counseling office.”
The library staff makes sure that each TA is well equipped to do their job.
“They need to be self-directed,” Lapid said. “When the librarians don’t have any tasks for them to do, they need to be responsible enough to utilize the time in the library for academic activities.”
The TA elective has been open to juniors and seniors for more than 30 years and will likely continue into the future.
