Graduate
Dear Fall 2008 Incoming Teaching Assistants:
Welcome to U.T. and to the wonderful world of TA-ing! I am writing to you to introduce myself as Assistant Director of the Sophomore Literature Program, and to give you some information about your new job along with some resources that will be available to you as you begin your teaching this fall. My AD position exists in order to offer you, our English Department’s TAs, teaching support, and to coordinate and expand your TA training.
About me: I am starting my 5th year as a graduate student, focusing on 20th century American ethnic literature. I entered the program with no teaching experience but subsequently TA-ed for American and British variants of the large introductory 316K class. I have also designed and taught my own classes while here at UT. I’m very interested in creating new avenues within the department that help TAs learn about and improve their teaching effectiveness in the classroom and knowledge of pedagogy outside of it. I hope you will contact me with any questions you have or suggestions for the kind of support you need throughout the year.
In terms of your responsibilities, as a TA you will oversee two discussion sections of approximately 25 people each from a large introduction to literature class (316K). You are responsible for attending the lectures, leading your sections once a week, and meeting with the professor and other TAs every week or two. You will also be responsible for grading the work of those students in your sections. Different professors have different expectations for their TAs: some may ask you to help in the construction of assignments and exams; some may tell you exactly what to cover in your sections, while others give you complete freedom over the planning of your sections; and some may require little from you besides grading. No matter for whom you TA, the workload is much lighter than teaching your own class, and these first two years are an excellent time to concentrate on your own course work. As an added benefit, many graduate students find that they learn interesting and valuable information from the 316K lectures, as well.
But this is just a brief overview of your role--we will be meeting in person at the TA Orientation, which will be held on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 19th. During the orientation, we’ll hear from experienced TAs and professors who work with TAs about what to expect in the classroom and different strategies for managing your discussion sections. We’ll also discuss concrete issues such as what to do on the first day you lead section and how to create a policy statement. I will also be on campus those first few weeks to answer your questions, help with paperwork, and generally introduce your to the process of working as a TA. Once we get into the semester, I will meet with each of you, in groups, as a follow-up, to cover any questions or issues that have arisen during your first weeks of TA-ing. You will also be required to attend several mandatory workshops throughout the semester, the subjects of which I will put together based on the suggestions and needs of this incoming class. In both the fall and spring semesters, I will also hold weekly office hours in our graduate student lounge, Chez Cal, to answer your questions, provide moral support, or just in case your want to run your teaching ideas by someone.
In the time between now and orientation, I encourage you to browse the efiles website set up by the Computer Writing and Research Lab. This site contains resources for graduate students teaching for the department of English, from teaching assistants to assistant instructors, but you will probably find the section on teaching 316K most useful: http://efiles.cwrl.utexas.edu/e316k. Please note that you will have to request an account and a password for the site. Another place to look for information is the Graduate School Handbook. It offers basic information on many topics: an overview of being a TA (pg. 44), an breakdown of your TA funding package (pgs. 42-43 and pg. 49), and a checklist of what you have to complete in order to work as a UT employee (pgs. 50-51). Finally, in order to provide an additional space in which TAs can both questions and mine the vast wealth of information and experience, I will be subscribing each of you to a listserv for incoming and 2nd year teaching assistants. In this space, please feel free to post queries and generate discussions about teaching.
In addition to these (somewhat) more formal activities, you will be learning a lot from your colleagues. A number of the people with whom you will TA will be in their second year and will already have a wealth of information to offer. Some of my best teaching experiences came out of collaborating with other TAs and simply talking with my colleagues. In addition, many of the professors who teach E316K see it as an opportunity to mentor graduate students and help them develop as teachers. They meet with their TAs often and discuss all kinds of pedagogical issues.
In several cases, I know that TAing for the English department is not your first teaching or TAing experience. If you have had previous experience in the classroom, it would be helpful for me to know. Please drop me an email letting me know in what capacity and for how long you have taught or TAed.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions you’d like to see addressed in the orientation, situations you might be anxious about, or just to talk further about anything I’ve mentioned in this email. I hope your summer is going well so far, and look forward to meeting all of you in August.
Sincerely,
Erin Hurt
Assistant Director--Sophomore Literature Program
Department of English
erinhurt@mail.utexas.edu