It is four o'clock in the morning and the conversation is swiftly jumping from the existence of God to Matthew Perry's current hair style. An intense curiosity is the main characteristic of College senior Jonathan Slotkin. In order to avoid boredom, Slotkin continuously satisfies his curiosity with action -- which leads to learning opportunities for himself and the people that come in contact with him. This semester Slotkin found a unique way to challenge his own intellectual limits, while affecting the minds of 251 other undergraduate students. Slotkin is the first undergraduate teaching assistant in the College of Arts and Sciences. "I am one of those people that always needs to stay active," Slotkin said. "I get my hands dirty in whatever it is that is going on." Throughout his high school years, Slotkin volunteered as an emergency medical technician. He spent four nights a week responding to calls at night and attended classes during the day. While Slotkin explained the situation as "me and 15 other guys and girls with toys that were real," it was this experience that led him to the field of medicine. Slotkin arrived at the University knowing that his studies would include medicine and mental health, but he did not know from what angle to attack. Three years later, Slotkin has already completed a double major in Biological Basis of Behavior and Psychology. Slotkin earned this degree while fulfilling what he describes as a "weird, masochistic habit" of taking the hardest course in each department. "I am just one of those people who learn best when multiple disciplines intersect," Slotkin said. "I enjoy more than one frame of reference because I get bored with one subject too easily." In November of this year, Slotkin had enough credits to have graduated already. "And then something scary set in: I realized that college was coming to an end," he said. "In a few months, I was literally going to be elbow deep in cadavers and I was going to have gross anatomy forced down my throat for the next year and a half during my first year of medical school." Slotkin wanted to have one more intellectually stimulating experience at the University -- and becoming an undergraduate TA was the perfect solution. Psychology Professor Martin Seligman decided to permit Slotkin to be an undergraduate TA as an experiment. Three experiences have influenced the way Slotkin conducts his class. During his sophomore year, Slotkin fell in love with the subject matter of "Abnormal Psychology" and began an independent research project in Seligman's lab. Within the same year, Slotkin presented his report on racism, depression and learned helplessness at a Conference of the American Public Health Association. Two other influences came from his summer research in Baltimore at the University of Maryland Hospital and his "Special Topics in Abnormal Psychology" course, which serves as his model for the perfect class. Slotkin said he draws from his own undergraduate experiences for his teaching skills, but also has the assistance of Linda Hansell, an instructor at the Graduate School of Education. Hansell's job is to advise Slotkin and to point him toward the proper literature on the theory and practice of teaching. Each week, he meets with Hansell to discuss problems and to turn in a journal. Because of his desire to affect students, Slotkin devotes eight hours to preparation for every recitation along with extensive research for lectures and his regular office hours. Slotkin says he does not mind the work, but is concerned about giving the students too much information and quelling their interest in the subject. Because of his concern, nervousness was the only barrier he has faced. "On the first day of class, Dr. Seligman gave me the microphone to make an introduction, but I was so nervous I could speak for 10 seconds," Slotkin said. "Finally I just started muttering some technical words like bio-psycho-social approach about my recitation. "I remember sitting down and thinking that no one was going to come to my recitation," he added. Now that more than half of the semester is done, Slotkin and administrators are beginning to consider the future of undergraduate TAs in the College. Both Seligman and Slotkin believe that the path is prepared for future Psychology students to take TA positions. "Jon has broken the ice," Seligman said. "Undergraduates are generally as qualified as graduate students. Also, they relate to undergraduates with immediacy." Slotkin says he plans to enjoy the end of his undergraduate experience as he interviews for medical school. "This is my last and greatest experiment as an undergraduate," Slotkin said. "The only data will be the opinion of students as to whether or not it worked. The numbers will shine when the TA evaluations go out at the end of the year."
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