Obligations and Expectations for Undergraduate Teaching Assistants Contents

Home , Course (education), Teaching assistant

Introduction ...... 1

Unique Pressures for an Undergraduate TA ...... 1 Social Concerns ...... 1 Time and Schedule Pressures ...... 1 Conducting a Class: More Than Knowledge ...... 2 The Need for Commitment ...... 3

You and the Course Instructor ...... 3 The Instructor’s Expectations of You ...... 3 Your Expectations of the Instructor...... 4

When Things Go Wrong ...... 4

Enjoy Your Experience ...... 5 Introduction Before the start of the semester, you should Serving as a teaching assistant can be a review the list of students for whom you are great source of personal pride and responsible with the course instructor. satisfaction. However, acting in this Ideally, a student who presents a potential capacity carries a unique responsibility conflict will be moved into another section because you are directly assisting your or the faculty member or another TA can peers in their learning process. Therefore, grade that student’s work. If these solutions the quality of your work has the potential to are not possible, you should probably have affect many students. a frank talk with the student before the semester starts about the temporary roles you find yourselves in. You must also take Unique Pressures for great care to double check your objectivity an Undergraduate TA regarding these students.

Social Concerns Time and Schedule Pressures Unlike a graduate teaching assistant, you As an undergraduate, you face a more rigid are a part of the same social structure as the academic schedule than most graduate people you are teaching and/or grading. You students. You are enrolled in many courses, will probably know a number of them, and and most of these have fairly strict may even have personal relationships with timetables for homeworks, presentations some. You are now being placed in a unique and exams. As you well know, these tend to situation, in which you are given a degree occur at about the same times each semester of “power” over your peers—a very (around mid-semester, for example). challenging situation for anyone to be in. Obviously, your teaching and grading The job calls for being objective and neutral pressures are both likely to peak at these in all of your teaching and grading efforts, exact same times. Because your teaching but there are times when human nature may and grading work potentially affects so make this almost impossible to achieve. many other people, it must receive top priority and attention, but it may be You must make every effort possible to impossible to pre-schedule your workload avoid situations that create a conflict of to account for this added demand. interest. Do not simply assume there will be no problems; it is far better to be cautious Again, you should try to identify potential upfront than to be caught in a difficult time problems as early as possible. You situation once the semester is underway. need to communicate your advance Remember, you will continue to socially concerns to both the instructor of the course interact with your friends and peers long you are helping to teach, and possibly to after the semester is over. your other course instructors as well. It may be possible to make some pre-arrangements

1 when conflicts are identified far in advance. especially true in the first semester you TA. Both groups of instructors will be less able Skills that eventually become automatic will or willing to make last-minute exceptions or require conscious preparation at first. All changes. In fact, it may be impossible for aspects of your presentation must work the teaching course instructor to do together to explain an idea. You must be anything because so many other students sufficiently prepared that you can write or would be affected, and the timetable for the draw while speaking, so as to convey a very course has already been set into motion. complex topic or chain of ideas to a large audience. You must also understand the Conducting a Class: material at a deeper level than that at which More Than Knowledge you teach. The class will ask questions, and You were probably chosen for a teaching you are expected to provide an answer—if role based on your good grades or excellent not the definitive answer—most of the time. performance in the course in which you will It is your duty to the class to be as effective assist. Although it is certainly a recognition as possible, in the same way that you expect of your academic talents, it is not enough to effective, engaged instruction when you automatically make you an excellent participate as a student. teaching assistant. There are many people with world-class knowledge of a subject Beyond effective communication, you must who are, nevertheless, poor teachers. involve the students in your class. This is a difficult task, because your students’ abilities You will need to work at building your will cover a wide range. There are those who skills as a teaching assistant, even if you were born for the subject, and others who feel it will be an easy job. Recall some just aren’t getting it. It is your job to engage activity in which you now excel, such as as many as you can, and to make the material swimming or playing chess. Undoubtedly understandable to those who are willing to you weren’t good at first and the activity work with you toward that goal. This means took much more conscious thought than it that your instruction will frequently deviate now takes you. In addition, early on, you from your planned course of action. You may probably reached a point where you thought have to slow down, speed up or go over you were good, but then encountered a material in much finer detail than you would situation that showed you still had a lot have thought to be required. You are walking more to learn. Conducting a class is similar a fine line between engaging the slower to these activities. The best teachers make it students without alienating the quicker ones. look easy, but this is highly deceptive. This involves a continuous mental balance adjustment in the same way that walking a You are undoubtedly a good student, but tightrope requires continuous physical you will have to work in order to become an adjustment. Both activities also require your effective teaching assistant. This is full attention at all times.

2 The Need for Commitment • Timeliness and punctuality in all course- Teaching or grading commits you to a fixed related activities. schedule. As a student, you have some leeway to be late for a class, skip classes or • Availability to the students. vary deadlines. You do not have these luxuries when you teach or grade. Students • Feedback to the course instructor, to help expect you to be prompt and timely in your identify problem areas. actions. They also expect feedback, help and an open communication pathway. The • Adherence to the course instructor’s rules course instructor expects you to follow his and guidelines, and participation in all or her instructions and guidelines, and to course formation and evaluation meetings communicate effectively. In other words, as required. your actions are integral to the success of the entire course. So a failure on your part Your Expectations affects not only you, but the entire class. of the Instructor In turn, the course instructor also has obligations to you. All of these obligations— You and the yours and the instructor’s—are rooted in the Course Instructor need to effectively present course material to the students. The Instructor’s Expectations of You • Especially in your first semester, the We have already touched on a number of course instructor should help you to these expectations, so let us summarize a prepare for the task of facing a class, or few: direct you to training sessions for TAs. The instructor should work with you to at least • Effective communication at the start of help you plan your first few presentations the semester to identify potential personal if you are in charge of a recitation, and conflicts with students in the class, and possibly attend some of your initial class schedule conflicts with major demands in periods to give you feedback. Additionally, your other courses. the instructor could refer you to someone who has been a TA for the course • Familiarity with the class material, at a previously for advice and help. deeper level than the presentation requires. • The instructor should not expect you to have the knowledge or experience of • Good preparation for class, to make the graduate student TAs. He or she should presentation effective and maximize the work with you more, and at a more learning experience. fundamental level.

3 • You should not be required to make up • You should always feel comfortable about questions or solutions for homeworks, approaching the course instructor with quizzes or exams without oversight. If your course-related problems, needs and you do participate in these activities, the concerns. At no time should you be made instructor should review any materials to feel intimidated, “stupid” or to have you create before dissemination. your concerns and questions ignored or trivialized. You are not attending the • The course instructor should be explicit course as a student; you are working as a about the material you are to present. You partner with your instructor to convey should not be expected to create course knowledge, insight, ideas and feedback to material or to decide content of the others. Undoubtedly, you will have to course. Again, you may choose to do work at learning material in order to be an some work at this level to gain effective teacher, but you should not have experience, but the material you create to generate your knowledge alone. should be reviewed and modified as necessary by the course instructor prior to presentation. When Things Go Wrong Most undergraduates find teaching and • The course instructor should be available grading to be a rewarding experience. to you, at least weekly, in a time and Nevertheless, problems do occasionally manner of your mutual choosing, to arise and you will need a course of action to review the course materials, progress and follow in order to resolve things as quickly other concerns. Your concerns should be as possible and with a minimum of acknowledged and discussed, including disruption to the class. any personal problems that arise with other students. Most problems can be resolved through the course instructor. Hopefully you will never • The course instructor should address have to go beyond this level, but if you do, concerns that affect the entire class, such here is a suggested procedure for dispute as continuously disruptive students, resolution: problems with the overall course material or timing, class concerns with course 1. Start with the senior TA or course material or policy, and other “big issues.” instructor. Arrange a meeting specifically You are not responsible in any way for to discuss the problem. Be clear about the solutions to these problems, although you problem and the assistance you need. Do may help in their formulation and may be not minimize the situation or allow the involved in implementation. course instructor to dismiss it as trivial unless he or she has convinced you that this is, in fact, the case.

4 2. If your department has designated a 5. If these steps fail or you feel the need for faculty member to deal with discussion with a third party, you may undergraduate TA issues, this person consider contacting the Eberly Center for should be your next level of contact. You Teaching Excellence. The center has no will need to present your case in more formal role in resolving disputes, but it detail, as he or she will not be familiar does embody a wide range of teaching- with the situation. Always be objective in related experience. We may be able to your presentation, and stick to the relevant help you effectively resolve the situation, facts. If your department does not have a or come to terms with it. designated contact, you may consider talking to your faculty course advisor. Enjoy Your Experience 3. If the situation still cannot be resolved, We hope the information and advice in this you should schedule an appointment to brochure proves useful to you as you begin discuss the situation with the your new role as a teaching assistant. You undergraduate assistant department head will find that teaching can be very fulfilling, or the department head, as appropriate. and we hope you enjoy the experience. Again, be prepared to discuss the background and facts of the case in as succinct a manner as possible. It is also Also Available helpful for you to have thought through Obligations and Expectations for Faculty some potential ideas for resolving the Using Undergraduate Teaching Assistants problem. http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/ PublicationsArchives/UGTA_Faculty.pdf 4. After all of these steps, if you still feel Policy Guidelines for Departments Using your concerns have not been dealt with, Undergraduate Teaching Assistants you may consider speaking to the http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/ associate dean of your college. The deans’ PublicationsArchives/UGTA_Depts.pdf offices have considerable experience in dealing with student concerns, and they The Eberly Center wishes to thank all of the may be able to help resolve the issue. undergraduate teaching assistants—and the Before taking the concern to this level, faculty who work with them—for sharing you should ensure that you have truly their best practices for this series of given the department every chance to booklets. We are also grateful to Mark resolve the situation, and you must be Kieler and Brian Zikmund-Fisher, who firmly convinced that the resolutions they collected data and interviewed members of have offered are seriously lacking in some the Carnegie Mellon community in important aspect. preparation for these publications.