being a ta

7/27/2019 Being a TA

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Networks: Vol. 9, Issue 1 Spring 2007

Author Last Name 1

Tips for First Time Teaching Assistants: A PersonalNarrative

Maya El Shareef

"A teaching assistant (TA) is a junior scholaremployed on a temporary contract by a collegeor university for the purpose of assisting aprofessor by teaching students in recitation or

discussion sessions, holding office hours,grading homework or exams, supervising labs(in science and engineering courses), andsometimes teaching classes, among otherduties. " (Wikipedia, 2006) The TA experiencemay be something new to many graduatestudents. Sharing the experiences of one TAcan assist others who are new to thisresponsibility. This paper provides broadguidelines for TAs based on my personalexperience of being a teaching assistant for

three different courses over one academic year.It provides TAs with tips on important topicssuch as: their relationships with courseinstructors, their relationships with students,grading of student papers, session evaluations,teaching methodology, as well as the properways of introducing change, particularly in theuse of technology.

Few TAs have written about their experiences.The little that is written suggests that being aTA can be a complex undertaking (DeCesare,

2003). I am sharing my TA experience withother TAs in the hope that it helps to improvetheir experiences.

This paper is a product of my personalexperiences as a teaching assistant. When I wasfirst told that I was going to serve as a teachingassistant, I became anxious. The whole conceptwas new to me as I was still a novice graduatestudent. I felt that I was given a huge

responsibility; I was responsible for students'grades and I knew the importance of grades. Ofcourse, this is not to underestimate theimportance of having the student benefit fromthe course content that was also partially myresponsibility.

Throughout the process of being a teachingassistant, I documented my experience. Iconstantly asked students for their commentson my TA skills and archived their responsesfor future reference. I felt that thisdocumentation would help me improve my TAskills.

This paper is based on a personal report Iwrote at the end of my service as a teaching

assistant; it features students' comments on myTA skills and aims to provide broad guidelinesfor TAs. The paper presents a set of suggestionsbased on my TA experience at the AmericanUniversity of Beirut.

After graduating with a Master of Public Health(MPH) degree in June 2003, I was appointedas a full-time research assistant whoseresponsibilities included working as a part-time TA for the academic year 2003/2004.

During this year, I was responsible for 3graduate courses which are part of the Masterof Public Health program: 'Introduction toHealth and Environment I' attended by 48students, 'Design and Evaluation of HealthPrograms' attended by 18 students, and'Theories of Health Behavior' attended by 9students.

My responsibilities included ( i) monitoringstudents submission of weekly assignments,


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taking note of absences and partial marking ofstudents papers (ii) assisting in designingcourse content and in the selection of coursereadings, (iii) acting as a liaison between thecourse instructor and the students andassisting guest speakers; and (iv) answeringstudents questions, and commenting on their

ideas, and drafts while they are writing theirassignments. In addition, I was responsible foradministrating the Web Course Tools program- a course management software package(Barker, Winterstein, and Wright 2004) - usedin two of the courses. Reflecting back on thisexperience has allowed me to identifyparticular experiences that were crucial to mylearning.

Tips #1 and #2: Clarify responsibilitiesand meet regularly with the course

instructor

Some TAs may face the problem of havingminimal discussion about their duties(DeCesare, 2003). Professors may be immersedin their research and working on theirpublications. They may not provide enoughtime for discussion with their TA. As former orcurrent students, TAs are trained asresearchers rather than teachers (DeCesare,2003); hence the transition to accomplishingthe TA responsibilities becomes a difficult task.

My case was relatively easy. My supervisor, theprimary instructor of the courses, defined myresponsibilities early in each semester. While Idid not understand all my responsibilities atthe beginning, meeting with my supervisorwhenever she wanted me to perform a new TAtask allowed me to incorporate this task amongmy other TA responsibilities. The key point isto remember is that when a TA is not veryexperienced and has other responsibilities

besides being a TA, the professor remains themajor source of information and support.

Tip #3 : Learn from teaching

People tend to learn what they teach (Luo, 1999as cited by French and Rusell, 2002). When Iwas given the chance to teach properreferencing techniques, I made sure to learn asmuch as I could from the experience. TheAmerican University of Beirut has made a

serious commitment to academic integrity andhas implemented a cheating preventioninitiative. Students at the American Universityof Beirut receive free student handbooks whichinclude the definition of plagiarism in additionto information on its serious penalties.Authorities at the University stress the

importance of discussing plagiarism early ineach course. The issue of plagiarism what itis, what it is not, and how to properly citereferences in the texts and on reference lists -was tackled in the introductory course I wasresponsible for as a TA. I presented the sessionon plagiarism and how to avoid it throughproper referencing. As a follow-up, I wasresponsible for correcting the referencesections of assignments. This whole experienceprovided me a valuable skill in appropriate

referencing practices.Tip #4: Be available during all classsessions

My ability to effectively answer studentquestions was dependent on attending all classsessions. This helped me remain up-to-datewith the material. It also provided studentswith a chance to get to know me, whichenhanced their willingness to search me out forquestions after class. Moreover, I was betterable to assist students with issues that aroseduring class. If the course instructor neededme, I was available to assist her withoutdisrupting the class.

Tips #5 and 6 : Connect with studentsand be available to them

Wh en TAs ha ve st rong int erper sona lcommunication with students, they appreciatetheir students more and become moreinterested in their students learning processes(Nyquist and Wulff , 1996 as cited in Luo,Bellows and Grandy, 2000). In my interactionwith students, I always applied an open-doorpolicy. Some of the students approached memore than others. They approached me torequest that I read drafts of their papers, toquery about proper ways of referencing, or toinquire about the location of universitylibraries and their services. Frequentinteraction with students enhanced my


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communication skills and rendered me betterprepared to answer their questions.

Tip #7 : Encourage the use of technology

Web Course Tools program is a coursemanagement software program. It allows forlive chatting, online discussion, and other

activities (Barker, Winterstein, and Wright2004). In two of the courses, I was responsiblefor using Web Course Tools for the followingactivities: posting the course syllabus andupdating it as needed, posting assignmentrequirements, receiving assignments online,uploading Power Point presentations in aprinter friendly manner, posting an onlinecalendar listing due dates, and creating anonline discussion forum.

When students were first told that Web Course

Tools program would be used, some of themdid not like the idea. Some indicated that theypreferred receiving Power Point presentationsvia email. Others wanted to be notified byemail when something new was uploaded toWeb Course Tools program. Students were notfamiliar with the new program and wereuncomfortable using the program to monitornewly posted material.

I was responsible for encouraging students to

use the Web Course Tools program andconvincing them of its importance. I worked tomake the program more appealing to students.In one course, students were encouraged topost their thoughts and opinions about anassigned topic on the discussion board. Theyactively participated in a theoretical discussionof stress and coping by describing the stressthey faced as students and how this stressaffected their health, and how they coped withit. Their stories were used to illustrate theconcepts examined in class. Students liked theidea; one student posted the followingmessage, [this] Web Course Tools program isnot as bad as I thought...let's have morediscussions.

On the other hand, in another course, studentswere asked to share their experience in writinga proposed evaluation of a health promotionprogram using the Web Course Tools Program.Unfortunately, none of the 18 students taking

this course participated. When I asked themwhy, students told me that they were busypreparing their projects. I realized that fortechnology to be feasible, it must be woven intothe course expectations.

From my experience, I believe that the WebCourse Tools Program helps the instructor, theTA, and most importantly the students byhaving most of the course materials readilyavailable in one place. This material is availablefor people on or off campus. It also extendscourse discussions making discussions possibleat times when members are not physicallypresent. As students become more comfortablewith the Web Course Tools program, it can beused for other purposes including online chatrooms. Student should always be encouraged tomake use of technology and become aware of

its benefits (Barker et al, 2004). Beingresponsible for Web Course Tools program as aTA, helped me explore different ways ofcommunicating with students.

Tip #8 : Requesting self-evaluation

Student evaluation of teaching is important sothat teachers can improve their teaching skills(Luo et al. 2000). At the end of the course, mysupervisor and I asked the students tocomplete an evaluation form. The questions on

this form were drafted by me and edited by mysupervisor. We used a likert scale format thatranged from strongly agree to stronglydisagree. Questions addressed the followingtopics: helping students keep track of theirassignments, helping them in the process ofwriting their assignments, communicatingtheir concerns to the course instructor whenneeded, and improving the overall quality ofthe course. The majority of the studentsresponded with either strongly agree or

agree to most of the questions.The students were also asked an open-endedquestion about the most helpful aspect ofhaving a TA for their course. Most of thestudents identified the TAs role as a liaisonbetween them and the instructor. They alsonoted that it helpful to have the TA availablewhen they needed assistance.


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Student 1: [I] feel comfortable that there issomeone to help anytime

Students 2: [The TA is] a liaison between thestudents and the professor

Student 3: [the TA was] always available forquestions [and] her emails are quite

informative. Her help with Web Course Toolsprogram [was] very important

Student 4: She was there when we hadquestions. Very helpful

Student 5: [The TA was] very effective atcommunicating and discussing points ofcontention

When asked about what they thought could beimproved, one student responded that the TAshould be more involved in lecturing. Thestudents evaluation of my work helped me tounderstand what students value in TAs andenabled me to better meet their needs.

When TAs start working, they worry aboutwhether student will like them or not (Luo etal. 2000). This is normal and I worried aboutthat myself. Hence, I asked the students torespond to the following comment, Theteaching assistant had a positive attitudetowards students. The majority of the students

marked strongly agree. The rest markedagree and two students marked neutral. Ibelieve that their positive responses were atleast partially influenced by my accessibility.

I also asked the students to evaluate me on theclass session I taught. The closed-endedquestions addressed their overall impression ofthe session and my style as a presenter. Theanswers to both questions were good andaverage. On the open-ended questions,students were asked about what they liked

most about the session and what neededimprovement. In the session on Stress andCoping, which incorporated Web Course Toolsprogram, the students reported that they likedbeing able to share examples from their ownlives as students. They also commented that mypresentation style needed improvement andthat I should do less reading from the slides.This evaluation inspired me to continue to

refine my strengths and work on improving mypresentation skills.

Tip #9 : Continuously strive for selfimprovement; build your own skills

Interacting with students is not always easy.Students sometimes ask difficult questions.

Being a fresh graduate with no experience inteaching, I had to search for the correctanswers to make sure that accurateinformation was conveyed to students. Thismeant always being up-to-date with the coursereadings and surfing the web for additionalinformation. My supervisor and other facultymembers were always available forconsultation when needed.

Introducing the Web Course Tools programwas a challenge. The whole concept was new

for me, as well as for the students. I took fourworkshops on the Web Course Tools programin order to prepare for this challenge. As aresult, I was comfortable with the program andwas able to convince students of its value.

Based on comments on the evaluations, Idecided that I needed to enhance mypresentation skills. I am now a member ofToastmasters International, an organizationthat aims to improve peoples public speaking

skills. I also attended a workshop on presentingand charismatic public speaking.

Tip #10 : Continuously reflect onteaching

Being a TA provided an opportunity to practiceteaching techniques before becoming fullyresponsible for a course as an instructor.However, for this opportunity to be maximized,reflection is necessary. As I started correctingthe reference sections in students papers, my

challenge was to remain as fair and unbiased aspossible. Hence, in the beginning, I asked mysupervisor to review my corrections. I tooknote of the students mistakes and gave them adetailed explanation of the assessment criteria.Thus, both the students and I had a referencein case of a problem or misunderstanding.Correcting papers and comparing my attemptswith the course instructor's grading andcomments broadened my vision of correction.


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Helping TAs continuously reflect on teachingwill enable them to identify what worked or didnot work and why (Luo et al., 2000, p 2).

In addition, as mentioned earlier attendingclass sessions allowed me to observe theteaching style of the course instructor andreflect on my own pedagogical practices. It isrecommended that new TAs observe theirmentors (Turman 2001). Attending all classsessions habituated me to my supervisorsteaching style and enabled me to identifyeffective teaching skills. This, in addition to myown teaching attempts, helped me define myown teaching style and philosophy.

As a teaching assistant, I gained a lot ofexperience. I now feel more at ease withcorrecting specific parts of papers,

communicating with students, and acting as aliaison for professors and students. I am nowmore familiar with ways of introducing newconcepts to students and convincing them oftheir importance. I know my strengths as a TAand where I need to improve.

I hope this paper serves as a guide to TAs,especially novices. Being a bit scared at thebeginning is normal. It provides TAs withincentive to explore what students need andwhat is required to fulfill their needs. My

advice to TAs is never to stop learning andasking. The literature on teaching, advice of thedirect supervisors and other faculty members,comments and feedback from students, andtraining workshops are all resources that canhelp TAs. The key point is to listen tocomments and advice applying what is mostrelevant to the students and the situation.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Rima Afifi Soweid for

helping to pave my way as a teaching assistant,and for her valuable suggestions on ways forimproving this manuscript. Thank you to Dr.Robin Heath for helping me become skilled atappropriate referencing. Many thanks to allthose who helped me make the most out of myexperience as a teaching assistant.

References

Barker, S. , Winterstien, A., & Wright K. (2004).

Tools for creating e-learning objects. Human

Kinetics , ATT 9(1), 10-14.

DeCesare, M. (2003). On being a graduate teachingassistant. The Journal of Graduate Teaching

Assistant Development, 9(3) , 149-158.French, D., & Rusell, C. (2002). Do graduate

teaching assistance benefit from teachinginquiry-based laboratories. BioScience, 52(11),

1036-1041.

Luo, J., Bellows, L., & Grady, M. (2000).

Classroom management issues for teachingassistants. Research in Higher Education,

41(3), 353-383.

Turman P.D. (2001). Central states outstanding

teaching award winners: Learn to play thegame: recommendation for being successful as

a graduate teaching assistant. Communication

Studies, 52(4),266-212.

Wikipedia. (2006). Teaching assistant, Retrieved

J u n e 1 5 , 2 0 0 6 , f r o m

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_assistant

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