Record editors were intrigued when we stumbled upon this job announcement in mid-December:
"Professor Elizabeth Warren needs a student to attend each Bankruptcy class in the spring semester to help her keep track of which students she has called on. Surely no student wants to be left out, so it will be the Teaching Assistant's role to be sure that Professor Warren spends quality class time with each person. The TA can enjoy the class, knowing he/she will not be called on."
We have tracked down the person with the power over who gets called on in Bankruptcy. He graciously allowed us to trouble him with what proved to be a quite informative question and answer session (especially for the Record editor in Professor Warren's bankruptcy class).
Q: What is your name and graduation year?
A: Ben Gould, Class of 2008
Q: How did you find out about the opportunity to TA for Professor Warren?
A: I saw an announcement posted on MyHLS in the middle of finals this past fall.
Q: Why did you apply to be her TA?
A: For starters, I was aware of Professor Warren's tremendous reputation as a teacher and as an expert in the field of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is also a subject that I was interested in learning more about. I bid on her course all three years I was at HLS, yet found myself literally within the bottom five or seven names of the waitlist all three times. I felt that serving as her TA would be a great opportunity to experience the course and learn about the topic despite my poor luck with the registration lottery. While the position comes with a modest stipend, the money wasn't even a consideration for me.
Q: What did you have to do to land the job?
A: Within a few hours of seeing the online posting, I sent an e-mail to Professor Warren's executive assistant explaining how my desire to take the course in years past was frustrated by my bad luck with the lottery and committing in advance to attend every single class session this semester. For about a month, I didn't hear anything and assumed I had been passed over for the position. Then, in the middle of January, Professor Warren emailed me to ask if I was still interested in being her TA. I promptly responded that I would.
Q: Did you meet any of your competition for the job?
A: I didn't meet any of the competition. From what I understand, there were approximately a dozen other people who applied. I'm told that she immediately ruled out anyone who was already registered for the class and wanted to give preference to a 3L. I'm also told that my application email was the most enthusiastic of the bunch.
Q: Before TAing for Professor Warren, had you taken any of her classes?
A: I didn't know Professor Warren in person, nor had I taken any of her other classes. However, I had heard about her reputation and teaching style through the grapevine and had seen her quoted in many articles pertaining to bankruptcy and consumer finance.
Q: What are your main duties?
A: When Professor Warren teaches bankruptcy, she engages in rapid-fire questioning of students in the class. Anybody is liable to be put on the spot at any point. To reward students for participating in such grilling, she extends the possibility of extra credit to anyone who misses no more than three classes during the semester. To earn such extra credit, students must be present and participating. That's where I come in. My responsibilities are twofold. First, I'm responsible for keeping attendance, which is performed by circulating a sign-in sheet during each class. Second, I'm responsible for keeping track of who Professor Warren questions during each class, then flagging the seating chart to denote who didn't get a chance to speak that day. During the next class, they are all but assured of being called upon. Professor Warren's goal is to speak with everyone at least once a week and ideally twice, so if someone has gone two classes in a row without saying a word, I will make sure she doesn't stay hidden for a third.
Q: Did Professor Warren give you any advice before the first class?
A: She shared with me some of the techniques used by prior TA's, such as marking index cards with students' names and pulling them out of a pile once they speak, or tracking participation on a scaled down version of the seating chart. Ultimately, the decision regarding technique was left up to me, as long as the final goal is achieved. I've ended up doing my tracking by simple pen and paper on a copy of the class list.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of TAing?
A: I enjoy being able to learn from Professor Warren and experience the class without fear of being called upon at any given moment. I also enjoy being able to develop a relationship with a professor.
Q: Are there any "perks" other than having power over who gets called on?
A: Professor Warren did give me a free copy of the casebook and the supplement. I also get to learn bankruptcy from her without having to thoroughly prepare a bunch of problem set questions every day.
Q: Have any students tried to bribe you to "thwart the system"?
A: No, not yet, at least. While I can make sure people are called upon, I can't keep Professor Warren from calling on anyone who isn't flagged. She routinely deviates from the seating chart and definitely has her favorites.
Q: What practical lessons have you learned from Professor Warren?
A: The reason Professor Warren hires a TA in the first place is that despite someone's attempts to divide their attention equally, subliminal factors end up influencing them to the point where certain people repeatedly receive attention while others are all but ignored. Seeing who Professor Warren tends to call upon when she isn't using the seating chart confirms this hypothesis. It's something that will certainly bear in my mind if I need to manage a group of people later in life.
Q: Having observed the class for a couple of weeks, do you think that other classes that are highly Socratic would benefit from having similar TAs? Moderately Socratic classes?
A: It really depends on the professor. I've had professors who engage in rapid-fire questioning similar to what Professor Warren does who seem to retain the ability to mentally track which students have spoken. I've also had professors who engage in more measured questioning but end up cold-calling the same dozen or so people over and over again. The point of my job is to ensure that everyone is asked to participate, and since extra credit is available for attendance and participation, it is especially important to make sure the professor's attention gets spread around evenly.
Q: Anything else you think Record readers would like to know?
A: Students in the class should know that raising your hand to ask the professor a preemptive question isn't enough to get marked down as having spoken that day. However, if Professor Warren turns your question around and starts asking things of you (as she is wont to do), I'll give you participation credit for that.
My wife's father is hessaby as in www.hessaby.com (they stole his cash and put it there) and my mother-in-law family is related by marriage tot the Pakravans., who headed the SAVAKPan Am was nicknamed PanIran as the Shah's family was the largest shareholder. I have extreme amount of details of exactly was going on
from the Iranians wanting him to return their assets to other coup attempts to 6 months before the Shah son pretended he was bankrupt in a public trial, to my wifes relative coming to our house talking about the coup and we did not know they were in Washington DC, to the Iran Contra hearings trial that was going to start Feb 20 th, 1989 to the tipping of the coup to the Iranian govt, ,to something in writing I can prove the coup to the Salamon Rushtie Feb 14th insult to islam to get the people on the street to avoid the coup to the Iranian govt announcement of a coup by 'dissent mullahs' announced at the time to the negiotations between the Bush people involved pretending they were going to make a deal to the 'nice' stories plant in US newspapers at the time (including the Post) as part of the negotation to the fact the bomb had to placed out of London based on the flight path as I worked at USAir at the time creating the flight plans for the 'planes to fly themselves' to overt CIA agents around me at the time to the fact that Bollier, the guy who made the timer for the bomb's wide was IRANIAN and the Libyans told me and said they were not allowed to say... there were 3 witness only.. the main one was trashed.. Bollier and a guy whom said he soldm the Libyan a suitcase in Malta.. hence, one the suitcase guy would be left.. the Libyans did not put up a defence in exchange for evidence to trash the main witness on the stand to what an overt CIA agent told me in the US 4 years later.. etc. etc and the details of several coups to the new World bank (my wie's cousin involved who used to work at the work bank)and US loans starting May 1990 to Iran to the fact that PANAm was shut down 18 months later as they thought it would be targeted again because of the Shah connection (the US airlines go in and out of bankruptcy all the time - this was the one of the first US airlines - an ICON) etc
I also know where the Iranian govt officials have money in the US, Canada and UK; the back door dealing etccall me for details.. Barry Lanza 00 44 1786831554.. My father-in-law was a convicted spy given amnesty