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About the Handbook
The
handbook is now in its fifth edition. In the ten years
since this manual became the first Teaching Assistant (TA)
resource provided by the Center For Teaching, the roles of
TAs at the University have continued to evolve. We wish to
thank our readers, both students and faculty, for providing
us with feedback to help us keep the handbook developing
along with the campus. We will continue to incorporate
suggestions into future editions of the handbook with the
goal of creating a resource which addresses the changing
realities and concerns of teaching assistants in a variety
of settings.
The role of teaching assistant is likely to be a part of
the educational experience of many graduate students during
some part of their professional training. The teaching
assistant's role as an instructor is a somewhat unusual one
since few TAs receive any formal training in the skills of
teaching. It is often assumed that graduate students will
make good teachers simply because they have achieved a
certain level of expertise in their chosen fields. However,
it cannot be assumed that the possession of knowledge of a
particular discipline provides any guarantee of an ability
to transmit it to others. Beginning TAs often speak of
their initial frustration with teaching because of their
inability to communicate to students the information and
enthusiasm they themselves have accumulated over numerous
years of study. One of the tasks of the new TA, then, is to
learn to translate the language of a discipline to students
in a way which makes it both accessible and meaningful.
This handbook has been put together with the goal of
helping new teaching assistants in the process of becoming
competent university instructors. The TA experience may be
the only opportunity graduate students have to prepare for
their future careers as college teachers. It is an
apprenticeship of sorts. In compiling this handbook we have
drawn upon the information and guidance provided in the TA
handbooks of a number of other colleges and universities,
and in so doing we hope to have included the best of the
existing literature designed to help TAs with the tasks of
teaching, advising, and evaluating students, and with
juggling the various expectations of graduate student life.
It should be noted that this handbook addresses teaching
development. For information on your department or the
University's policies governing teaching assistantships
such as the terms of employment, conditions for
reappointment, stipends, etc., please consult with your
department.
If you have any comments or suggestions for improving this
handbook please feel free to contact us.