Has anyone been an SI leader for a class?

[Elizabeth89]

If so, how was the experience? Is it as terrifying as I'm making it out to be?

A few months ago when I was frantically applying to every job posting I was vaguely qualified for because I was desperate for any source of income, I applied to a position as an SI instructor for Principles of Biology (I or II; they haven't told me which I would be leading yet.)
It said the only requirements were currently being enrolled in at least 6 credit hours and a B or higher in Principles I and II. I made As in both, so I applied. Never really thought I'd hear back on the application given that I'm not a bio major, but I did it anyway.

I got an email from the biology department today saying they would like to hire me and need to know my schedule and whether I prefer cellular or organismal topics (I assume to determine whether to put me in bio I or II). I am guessing the position is mine if I still want it since the email said they would like to hire me rather than saying they were considering me.

I'm nervous that I wouldn't make a good fit for the position, however. For one, I took bio 1 and 2 back in 2008, so my knowledge of the material is rusty. At the same time, I obviously need to dust off my knowledge anyway for MCAT purposes; I just worry that I won't be able to do it quickly enough to effectively lead SI sessions. I've also never taught before and am worried I will be terrible at it and wind up confusing students.

Has anyone been an SI instructor before who can maybe ease (or confirm, that works too!) my worries?

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[QofQuimica]

I took bio I and bio II back in 1993, so help a fogie out here. What the eff is an SI? In my world, SI stands for "suicidal intent." Before med school, it was "Sports Illustrated." I assume in this context it's something like a TA?

 

[Elizabeth89]

I took bio I and bio II back in 1993, so help a fogie out here. What the eff is an SI? In my world, SI stands for "suicidal intent." Before med school, it was "Sports Illustrated." I assume in this context it's something like a TA?

Yes, it's similarish to TA. It stands for Supplemental Instruction. Certain classes will have optional SI periods scheduled that students can attend for additional material review led by someone who has been through the class and succeeded. My gen chem class I just completed had SI sessions, but I never attended because I found studying on my own to be a much better use of my time. Wish I had now so I'd know what goes on in SI.

 

[QofQuimica]

Yes, it's similarish to TA. It stands for Supplemental Instruction. Certain classes will have optional SI periods scheduled that students can attend for additional material review led by someone who has been through the class and succeeded. My gen chem class I just completed had SI sessions, but I never attended because I found studying on my own to be a much better use of my time. Wish I had now so I'd know what goes on in SI.

Well, do you like to teach? If you do, you'll probably enjoy it, especially if you don't have to grade (by far the worst part of the job). I TAed gen chem and organic chem, not biology, but basically what I did was a combination of holding office hours to answer student questions and grading. When I was an instructor, I gave lectures, taught labs, and did grading along with holding office hours and giving review sessions before the exams. Will you have your review materials provided to you, or do you have to create them yourself? I made new exams each semester, which was a lot of work, but I used the old exams for review sessions, so prep time was minimal for those.

 

[WaterPog]

At my school we call them workshops and "workshop leaders"
I've done it for gen-chem and am currently doing it for physics and love it, but I have a lot of teaching/training experience from my previous career and strongly considered teaching instead of medicine for a while.
Here the instructor provided a worksheet the week before, we met as a group after working through the sheet to review, and then just helped the students work through it. We were specifically told not to do any "teaching" and to just help them figure out the path to the answer with leading questions.

 

[HinduHammer]

I am an SI leader for Gen Chem and a tutor for Orgo for my chem department. Its a love/hate thing. When students actually try, do hw, take your suggestions, and come with questions - its very rewarding. When students expect to not do hw because they come to "SI sessions," its very frustrating. For example, some of my students would act like since SIs are supposed to 're-teach' the material to an extent, that I should re-teach it to them the exact way they prefer to learn (oh you don't know what an atom is? Well we're on colligative properties, you should have asked that on Day 1 -- but if I don't explain it to you the way you understand, you will go the instructor and tell them that I'm confusing you!).

At the end of the day, it did a few things for me:
1. helped me really, really solidify my knowledge in chem, especially conceptual stuff
2. made me really hate explaining things like Sig Figs and unit conversions
3. made me understand why alot of teachers literally just come lecture, proctor tests, and call it a day (its so hard to take teaching seriously when your students don't)
4. made me realize that the students whom you WANT to teach -- are the ones already getting As/Bs and rarely come to SI. You're stuck with people who don't go to class, don't do HW, don't own the book (seriously!), and expect you to do the heavy lifting for them, very frustrating
5. looks good on a resume/app...I have paid experience as an educator and good LOR from profs. can't complain about that.
6. helped with confidence/public speaking/being a leader --- if you don't take charge of the group, the loudest/most obnoxious student will take control and you will end up being a problem-solving monkey for them
7. decently easy money (though really crappy pay)

I think you should do it!

Edit: one more con: alot of students have a sense of entitlement that you "work" for them, which is extremely frustrating -- you are a student too and you kinda want to be like "listen dude/lady, I'm here to SUPPLEMENT what you should be doing as a responsible student!" - but of course you are a paid college employee now and have to eat as much crap as they give you. (the way you explained that confuses me; your way is harder than my way; this is a waste of time; just tell me how to do #73A) etc.

 

[familyaerospace]

Now that someone explained what a SI was, yes, I did several. I did not get paid for it.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

If you're outgoing/extroverted and like to teach, SI.
If you're introverted and like to teach, tutor.