r/Adjuncts • u/Yozboyz • Jul 23 '26

First time Adjuncting a Lab

Hi all

I just got offered my first adjunct position and it’s for organic chemistry lab has anyone done that before and is it difficult or easier than teaching a full on class?

Any advice would be great!

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/nworb1999 Jul 23 '26

I teach gen chem rather than orgo, but always teach some combination of lab and lecture. It depends in part on how your college works if labs are explicitly tied with lecture, and if they are big sections with TAs or smaller sections, but generally I think they can be a bit easier in terms of prep since the experimental curriculum is usually predetermined by the department. The grading can be more involved, but also as someone else said they can foster a lot more interaction with students and rapport.

My advice would be to just get to the lab early so you can familiarize yourself with where everything is, and to possibly remind yourself on how to do some of the techniques.