Each fall, the Teaching Assistant Orientation is offered to new and returning teaching assistants to learn more about their role as a TA and the support services at Northern Illinois University. The Teaching Across the Disciplines panel of experienced teaching assistants is always one of the most popular sessions at the orientation. This year, we asked the panel members, who are experienced TAs, to share some best practices and practical tips of being a graduate teaching assistant.
Q: How do you balance your school work with your teaching assistantship?
Kelsey Williams, English, GTA for 8 semesters: “I know of two common approaches to this.The first is to handle your work as a student and your work as a teaching assistant separately. That could mean designating Friday as your day to get your own homework done, Saturday as your day to get your teaching duties taken care of, and Sunday as your day of rest because, hey, you’ve earned it. The benefit of this approach is that you can set your brain in “student mode” one day and “teacher mode” the next, rather than doing mental gymnastics by switching between the two. It can also allow you to cross whole items off your to-do list. This is my preferred strategy and it has served me well, even unto the third year of my Ph.D.
The second strategy is to do a little bit of student work, then switch to a little bit of TA work, then switch back to student work, and so on into infinity. The benefit of this approach is that you can slowly make progress on your to-do list without feeling overwhelmed or having to force yourself to focus on a single task for too long. You need to take care of yourself as a person as well. The best way to balance student work and TA work is to balance all of that equally with having a life outside of being a student and a TA.”
Q: How do you prepare for class?
Jeanine Clark Bremer, Literacy and Elementary Education, GTA for 6 semesters: “I’m old school – I bought into the notion to read the top five scholars on each topic you will cover, for every topic you will cover all semester long. In a perfect setting, where you know what you will be teaching well in advance, this works. In a minimally perfect situation, you have probably already read a lot of the scholars due to your graduate level work. Looking at this from the daily perspective of prepping for class, two things come to mind. First, read along with your students. You will be surprised at how many more mistakes you will catch that they are making during a discussion, if you have reread the material for the day it was assigned. Concurrently reading with them also helps you better ascertain who is reading ahead and who is falling behind. Second, it may sound silly, but take a few minutes and really try to think through possible questions you might receive on a day’s topic. You may not come up with everything, because their schema is different than your own, but mentally working through options will make you more agile when they throw questions at you that you were not expecting.”
Q: What is the one thing you learned about being a teaching assistant during your first semester that you didn’t know before?
Amanda Schlink, Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences, GTA for 4 semesters: “The one thing that I learned about being a teaching assistant was how much the students can rely on you. In my first semester, I was the TA instructor for a food preparation lab, where the lab was a separate course from the lecture. Therefore, I was responsible for the instruction, including lecturing, preparation of ingredients, grading, exams and everything in between. Going into the first semester, I had never had a course like this during my undergrad and didn’t know that a TA could essentially teach a separate lab, where the grade is completely independent from the lecture course. However, I found that I gained respect from my students early on by acting as the authority figure in the lab, speaking from experience when discussing course topics and showing care about their academic success in my course. This reliance carried on throughout the semester and eventually led to trust that if something didn’t work out, everything was going to be okay.”
Tips for Grading Student Work
Amanda Schlink:
- Be consistent from start to finish, especially with essays, projects or any assignments that do not have a concrete rubric.
- Avoid grading late at night, as you are more likely to miss errors. I recommend giving all graded assignments a second look over to ensure the grades given are indeed correct.
- Use the rubrics for assignments if possible. In addition, always be able to justify the grades that are given.
- For any exams that require a Scantron, double check that the answer key is correct before the Scantrons are submitted for grading.
Tips for Handling Difficult Situations
Amanda Schlink:
- Always stay professional, especially through email and conversations that occur in person.
- If possible, discuss difficult situations in private, away from other students.
- Be observant of your tone and body language, as students can sometimes misinterpret signals.
- Always remain neutral and do not take sides.
- Never be afraid to go to your supervisor or faculty supervisor for advice if a situation requires additional assistance.
Jeanine Clark Bremer:
- Breathe – no matter what, you are in charge and the student will respond to your action/reaction.
- Listen with an open mind. Really listen to what they are saying so you understand the many facets of the situation.
- Ask questions in a manner that is not accusatory and is fact-seeking.
- Be straightforward and honest. Be honest about the actions you have to take (if any).
Tips for Preparing for Class/Lab/Clinical
Amanda Schlink:
- Always come prepared (unless circumstances arise that are out of your control)
- Students notice when you are not prepared and will comment on it, even if you think they won’t.
- Allow more time to prepare than what you think. As the semester progresses, you will likely become more efficient and therefore will spend less time preparing.
Thank you to the experienced teaching assistants that provided these valuable suggestions on how to develop in the role of teaching assistant at NIU.
