In addition to the workload in her graduate classes, Hayley Charney often finds it difficult to balance taking classes with teaching them.

Charney, a graduate assistant in comparative literature, said her dual roles as both student and teacher make the transition from undergraduate to graduate student challenging.

"It's very difficult when you're teaching; you can't skim an assignment, you have to read it through," she said. "The tricks you learn to manage time as a student, you can't do when you're teaching --you have to put in the extra time."

But some students worry that graduate-student teachers do not have the necessary experience to teach college-level courses.

Adam Sokolic (sophomore-prelaw) thinks graduate students should be tested for teaching ability before teaching classes.

"How do they know if they'll be able to get material through to students if they've never been tested for qualification?" Sokolic said. He also worried that "sometimes graduate students are too concerned with their own studies to focus on class needs."

When conflicts arise between the classes he takes and the ones he teaches, Blake Scott, a first year Ph.D. candidate in English and graduate teaching assistant, said his priorities are with his own studies.

Jeffrey Walker, director of the composition program for the English department, said few problems have arisen with graduate student teachers.

"Most graduate students get very solid evaluations from their students," Walker said. "Occasionally, someone doesn't do well in the classroom."

But this is not necessarily true for all graduate students. Amy Weinblum (sophomore-speech communication) said her teaching assistants have been very energetic.

"Graduate students are often more motivated and have fresh teaching ideas," she said.

Although his students are close to his own age, Scott said he does not have trouble gaining their respect as long as he presents himself as a credible instructor.

"Students can tell if you're qualified to teach, whether you're a professor or a graduate student," Scott said.

Graduate students are accepted as teaching assistants according to their areas of study, said William Taylor, acting dean of the Graduate School. Selected by faculty members for particular courses, graduate students usually start teaching lab sections where not much formal teaching is required, Taylor said.

"We are trying to get away from graduate students teaching large sections unless they are quite skilled," he said.

Graduate students often teach classes that have many sections because more teachers are needed to fill all the sections, Taylor said.

Walker said graduate students mostly teach English 15 and English 202, composition classes required for all majors. They take teacher-training programs before teaching these courses.

An instructional-development course also helps graduate students improve their teaching skills, but it is not mandatory, Walker said.

In the Chemistry department, graduate students do not teach their own classes, said John Lowe, assistant head for undergraduate education in the Chemistry department. Their duties include supervising lab sections and grading lab reports and quizzes.

In some departments, Charney said the graduate student has complete control, while in others, they only assist the professor by grading papers and proctoring exams.

"A graduate student can be given a syllabus and books, or they can design the syllabus themselves," Charney said. "It varies from department to department."