What is Expected of Graduate Student Teachers?
The job of a Teaching Assistant is both demanding and rewarding. For our purposes, 'TA' refers to graduate student teachers, tutorial leaders and lab assistants. As a TA you can expect to be a real asset to a department and to benefit greatly from the teaching experience. As a TA you are expected to be up-to-date and knowledgeable in your discipline, and an effective role model for undergraduate students.
Being a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant (TA)
Being a New Graduate Student Instructor
You are a Representative of the University
As a representative of the University, you are expected to maintain the standards of the University. This includes following all guidelines and rules established by the University. If you disagree with the policies of the University or the professor you assist, you are obliged to discuss these privately with the professor or an appropriate University administrator rather than doing so in front of students or simply refusing to follow the University guidelines.
You are a Representative of Your Department
As a TA you will work as a member of a department at the University of Saskatchewan and are obliged to follow the policies and regulations within the department and meet its standards and expectations. Make sure you understand all departmental requirements before the first class.
You serve as an Intermediary
As a TA you are expected to help reinforce to students the learning outcomes established by the professor you support, and you can also provide feedback to the professor about how students are responding to the learning experience.
The TA/Professor Relationship
Generally, you will be working under the direction of a professor in your department who will determine the content and methods used for your teaching assignments: make sure you understand the professor’s expectations. Once you accept your teaching assignment, you share responsibility for the class.
Most problems with professors can be settled directly by discussion, but a few cannot. Always approach the professor first; if you cannot come to an understanding and you must go to another authority, inform the professor of your intentions before going to someone else.
Professional Ethics
You are an instructor as you will be teaching undergraduate students and/or marking student work. As an instructor it is important that you maintain an appropriate student/instructor relationship and act as a mentor to students. You must be fair and honest and do nothing to exploit your position of power over students. All students must be treated with equal respect.
TAs and Human Rights: Can you see the silence?
North American studies have repeatedly shown that women and individuals belonging to minority groups speak, on average, 30% or less of the time in classroom and lab situations, even when they make up 50% or more of the groups concerned. Studies also show that both female and male instructors call on female students less frequently and are less inclined to make eye contact with them, or to engage in dialogue with them, or to acknowledge the significance of their contributions.
You must be aware of these potential problems and counteract them. For instance, in labs, you can take steps to implement an equal gender division of the technical or manual parts of the lab procedure. In seminar and group discussion contexts, you may try going around the table calling on all students to express their views on a particular topic or question; or, in cases where students are organized into small groups, you can ensure that the role of group leader rotates regularly.
Why do words matter?
You can act as an important role model for students in using language that respects and includes individuals of different genders, races, cultures, physical capacities, and sexual orientations. Using such language is not a matter of “political correctness”; it is a matter of justice and fairness. Studies in a range of fields (linguistics, law, sociology, and psychology, among others) have incontrovertibly shown, for example, terms like “man” and the masculine pronoun “he” are not interpreted as including women, even when that may be the speaker’s intent. Likewise, terms such as “lame” (as in “that’s a lame theory”) may perpetuate prejudices and cause offence where it might have been avoided.
How The Gwenna Moss Centre Can Help You Prepare
There are many ways The Gwenna Moss Centre can help you prepare to teach. You may attend workshops or short courses at the Centre on various topics related to teaching and learning, or join one of our discussion groups. Check the GMCTE Events Overview for a description of what we offer.
The GMCTE also has a small library of books, articles, and resources related to teaching and learning, including examples of teaching philosophy statements and portfolios, written by graduate students. Graduate students may sign out our library books for a period of two weeks, however, the portfolios may not be borrowed from the Centre.
Graduate students may be interested in our non-credit courses offered by the GMCTE and the College of Graduate Studies and Research.
Graduate students with considerable teaching experience are encouraged to share their expertise at The Gwenna Moss Centre by facilitating workshops for other graduate student teachers on relevant topics for their peers such as marking, building rapport with students, or teaching in the lab. Please contact one of the GMCTE staff members if you are interested in working with us. If you have had some experience teaching at the University of Saskatchewan, you or your peers may be eligible for the Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award.
Graduate students who are currently teaching may request a Graduate Peer Consultation. Consultations are completely confidential, providing feedback and support for graduate student teachers who want to enhance their teaching. The process is both collaborative and collegial. The graduate student teacher initiates and directs the process, arranging a meeting with the consultant to plan the nature of the consultation. The teacher may want to address specific concerns, may want impartial feedback from the consultant, or may want assistance in gathering formative feedback from his or her students. The Peer Consultant then makes a classroom visit (administering any feedback forms if desired by the teacher), after which the consultant prepares a report and arranges a discussion with the graduate student teacher. Consultations may also be less formal, consisting of graduate student teachers dropping by to chat about their teaching, or the teaching craft.
TA Preparation: A Checklist for Departments
If your department hasn’t answered these questions for you, be sure to ask for clarification.
- What provisions are made for coordination between the faculty member and Teaching Assistants who run tutorial groups and labs?
- Regular meetings
- Lecture, tutorial, and lab notes are shared
- Material to appear on tests is discussed
2. What routine information is systematically provided to Teaching Assistants?
- Resources: office space, secretarial support
- Instructional materials
- Department policies on grading, plagiarism, etc.
- University policies that directly affect instruction
3. Is provision made for dialogue concerning the professional development of TAs?
- Time set aside for this purpose
- Regular discussion at departmental meetings
- List of mentors, faculty, other TAs available for consultation
4. Does your department have a training Program for TAs? Does it include these topics?
- Preparation of lectures and presentations
- Encouraging student participation
- Motivating undergraduate students
- Classroom management
- Establishing rapport
- Tutoring methods
- Effective communication
- Stress management
- Evaluation and grading
- Practice teaching and feedback sessions with other TAs
- Lab procedures, techniques, safety
Resources for Graduate Student Teachers
Prieto, Loreto R.and Steven A. Meyers (Eds), The Teaching Assistant Training Handbook: How to Prepare TAs for Their Responsibilities. Stillwater, Okla: New Forums Press, 2001.
Curzan, A. and Damour, L. 2006. First day to final grade: A graduate student’s guide to teaching. 2nd edition. U.S.A.: The University of Michigan Press.
Lambert, L.M., Tice, S.L., and Featherstone, P.H. 1996. University teaching: A guide for graduate students. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Curzan, A. and Damour, L. 2006. First day to final grade: A graduate student’s guide to teaching. 2nd edition. U.S.A.: The University of Michigan Press.
Filene, P. The joy of teaching: A practical guide for new college instructors. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. Available at GMCTE library.
Gross Davis, B. 1993. Asking questions. In Tools for Teaching (pp.82-90). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Available at GMCTE library.
Hazel, E. 1995. Improving laboratory teaching. In Teaching Improvement Practices (pp.155-179). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company. Available at GMCTE library.
Lambert, L.M., Tice, S.L., and Featherstone, P.H. 1996. University teaching: A guide for graduate students. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Levin, J. (n.d.). Teaching Introductory Laboratory Courses: Suggestions for Graduate Teaching Assistants Instructing College-Level, Introductory, Laboratory Classes. Teaching Concerns, Teaching Resource Center, University of Virginia. Retrieved August 11, 2010 from http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Misc_Tips/Teachin....
Psillos, W. and Niedderer, H. 2003. Teaching and learning in the science laboratory. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Available as an e-book through the University library system.
Using classroom questions effectively. (n.d.). BCIT Learning and Teaching Centre, Burnaby, B.C. Retrieved August 11, 2010 from http://www.bcit.ca/files/idc/pdf/htquestioning.pdf.
Williams, K. 2001. Teaching techniques in the science laboratory. In Core, York University’s Newsletter on University Teaching. Centre for the Support of Teaching (CST), York University. Retrieved August 11, 2010 from http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/core/article/view/2701/1906.
