Application for Undergraduate Section Leaders, Spring 2008
The Computer Science Department hires undergraduates to serve as Section Leaders for CS127A, CS127B, CS227, CS245 and CS335. The pay for new Section Leaders starts at $8 per hour for CS127A, and CS227 and $9 per hour for CS245 and CS335. All introductory classes will be taught in Java. You do not have to be a CS major to be a Section Leader.
Each Section Leader is assigned to a small group of students (approximately 15-20) for their class. A Section Leader runs a weekly discussion section for these students and grades their programs and assignments. Exams will normally be graded as a group. Section Leaders are expected to attend all lectures for the class in which they are working. They attend a weekly meeting for the class staff. Section Leaders hold office hours in the lab for helping students on assignments. In addition, CS127A, CS127B and 227 Section Leaders and instructors from those classes will gather for a weekly "Community Meeting" where the instructors share information about the current assignments. This is necessary information because Section Leaders for CS127A, CS127B and 227 will be expected to help students in any of these courses during their lab hours.
New Section Leaders must enroll in CS391, a 1-3 unit teaching techniques class. This class meets once per week for 50 minutes to provide discussion and training to help you become a better Section Leader. The credit counts as upper-division CS independent study. The university expects a student to work 3 hours for each unit of credit, and it does not allow students to get both pay and credit for the same work. Therefore, a Section Leader taking CS391 for 1 credit will receive three hours of pay less each week, 2 credits means 6 hours per week less and 3 credits means 9 hours per week less. This no longer applies after your first semester.
Here is an approximate breakdown of a typical workweek for a new Section Leader:
- 1 hour discussion section (or 2 if 127A)
- 1 hour preparation for section
- 2 hours grading programs
- 1 hour interactive grading sessions with students
- 3 hours attending class lectures
- 1 hour staff meeting
- 1 hour community meeting
- 2 hours at the lab answering questions from students
- 1 hour attending "teaching techniques" (CS391) class
13 total hours
The following are the important times for each of the relevant classes and meetings:
| Name | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| CS127A | MWF | 3:00 - 3:50 PM |
| CS127B | MWF | 1:00 - 1:50 PM |
| CS227 | MWF | 10:00 - 10:50 AM |
| CS245 | MWF | 2:00 - 2:50 PM |
| CS335 | TR | 3:30 - 4:45 PM |
| CS391 | ? | ??? |
| Community Meeting | W | ??? |
The application deadline is Friday, November 30th at 5:00 PM. All applicants must sign up for an interview in order to be considered for a position. Interviews will be conducted on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. Interview times shall be considered on a first come first serve basis. Please sign up for a time on the forms posted on Gould-Simpson 707 by Friday, November 30th at 5:00 PM. The interviewers will be the current two Section Leader Coordinators and the newly hired Coordinator for the next semester. They will be dressed casually and applicants are welcome to dress casually or in business attire if they choose. During your interview you will be asked to give a 5 - 7 minute presentation about a non-trivial CS topic of your choice. Acceptable topics would be stacks, queues, linked lists, binary trees, arrays, recursion, etc. The purpose of this is to give us an idea of what your teaching style would be like.
To apply to be a Section Leader use the paper application.
Please download and fill out this application, attach your short essay and a copy of your unofficial transcripts, and return your packet to the bottom-right mail-slot marked "Section Leader Applications" in the Computer Science Mail-Room (Gould-Simpson Room 713).
Don't forget to sign-up for an interview by Friday, November 30th at 5:00 PM!
Applications are also available in the slot next to the turn-in slot, as well in the Computer Science Department's Academic Services office, in addition to both computer labs.
We look forward to meeting you!