Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]
Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.
294
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How to move forward after microaggression allegations against my TA
Context: I am an associate professor of mathematics at a small liberal-arts college in the US.
I am teaching multiple sections of a general-education mathematics course this fall, and I have an ...
- 4,161
5
votes
4
answers
359
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Decreasing the workload of Teaching Assistants
I am a teaching assistant auditor at my university and my duty is to assess the working conditions of the TAs in my department (Physics & Astronomy). To do this, I send out surveys towards the end ...
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2
answers
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Should a TA position which requires teaching a class offer more money than one that doesn't?
I am currently a PhD student (international) at a University in the US (TX). I was offered a TA position, however the position requires me to work as an instructor of the course. I worked before as ...
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1
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2
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241
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Are there Ph.D. or postdoctoral positions in Europe that primarily focus on research without significant teaching assistance?
I am currently considering Ph.D. or postdoctoral opportunities in Europe and have a strong preference for research-focused positions. I am interested in pursuing a program or position where the ...
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11
answers
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Are TAs supposed to get paid for hours it takes to grade?
I help students in a lab for 10 hours a week then have to grade their labs every other week. Does anyone know what the norm is? Are they supposed to assign grading hours for you as well?
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3
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Writing personal information in a teaching statement
I'm writing a teaching statement for a cs/mathematics teaching position. I start the statement with a section "Personal Background" in which I simply say that both my parents and brothers ...
- 301
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votes
0
answers
123
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How to proceed with a problem with a professor and class structure as a whole
I am a teaching assistant for an introductory summer term class. I have not previously been a TA for this specific course, but have worked within this department and typically teach an accelerated ...
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1
answer
129
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How to approach getting a TAship as a new grad student
I'll be starting my graduate(MS CS) program in the upcoming fall at a US university.
I'm looking for GTA opportunities. However, the course-professor mapping is not publicly available and there is no ...
- 11
4
votes
1
answer
332
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Does a teaching assistant position improve your PhD application?
I am currently working on a Master's degree in mathematics and was recently offered a teaching assistant position for a graduate-level course that covers material I am really comfortable with.
My ...
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3
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Can a school make a grad student TA if the student was promised an RA by admissions?
A student applied to a 5-year PhD program after graduating from an undergraduate program. The student was accepted to the graduate program and was promised a research assistantship and tuition waiver ...
- 227
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2
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How to write a teaching assistantship statement for PhD application without teaching experience?
I am applying for PhD programs and some of them ask for a teaching statement for TA positions. However, as a graduate student, my only experience related to teaching is working as a grader of a ...
- 1
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6
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Is it ethical to become a volunteer teaching assistant?
There is a negative attitude towards volunteering in academia.
I am about to graduate (currently an undergraduate student). There is a 6-month gap between my graduation date and the matriculation date ...
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22
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7
answers
10k
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Is it appropriate to ignore emails from a student asking obvious questions?
A student often sends me emails asking obvious (homework) questions whose answers can easily be found in the teaching materials.
I do not always keep the teaching materials with me, so I cannot reply ...
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14
votes
8
answers
7k
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Unreasonable requests to a TA from a student
One of my students' behaviour just feels always disrespectful to me. A homework was due tonight, and she asked me yesterday evening how to solve multiple questions. I try to respond as soon as I can, ...
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6
answers
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Handling unprepared students as a Teaching Assistant
I am a Grad student and this is my first time as a TA, in a first-year undergraduate course.
My concern is students that come to office hours completely unprepared, asking things that have already ...
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1
vote
2
answers
380
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Are TAs expected to solve the homeworks or do they get the solutions from professor [duplicate]
Is the TA expected to solve the homework for the professor or is the professor supposed to provide the solutions to the TA for grading homework?
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38
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6
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Being TA for abusive professor
Over the course of my PhD, I've had the pleasure of being a TA for many courses under many different profs, all were great experiences. I learned a lot, did a lot of good work with the other TAs and ...
- 567
23
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6
answers
5k
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As a TA, how much information should I share with the professor about students?
This is my first semester being a TA. When students email me and include personal reasons (e.g. sick family member or mental health struggles) when they ask for things like extensions or to switch ...
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3
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Should I accept an unpaid TA position?
I am a fourth-year undergraduate math major. I come from a not-so-big school, where the mathematics department is not funded that well. Recently, a professor asked if I would be interested in becoming ...
- 1,853
18
votes
5
answers
8k
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Being undermined as a TA over grading
I have marked several writing assignments for this course and the grade grubbing from this cohort was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced as a TA.
The primary instructor and I were given a heads up ...
- 217
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2
answers
543
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how to deal with difficult students who do not reply to teacher's email?
I hope all is well,
I find myself in a situation where one student keeps a grim face when I teach. It seems he is not happy with the way I deliver the material. This makes me feel uncomfortable and it ...
- 2,518
2
votes
1
answer
94
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Should I ask the program coordinator regarding an offered PhD TAship for 11 months?
I have been offered a Ph.D. position in the USA where the offer says 'the admission comes with an 11 month per year teaching assistantship that carries a $2,000/month stipend, health insurance, and a ...
- 1,996
40
votes
9
answers
10k
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What to do if you are assigned to TA a course you are not qualified to teach?
I am a PhD student in an Applied Math program. Recently, we received our TA assignments for the next quarter. To my surprise, I was assigned to TA a graduate-level class that I had never taken before ...
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42
votes
7
answers
12k
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My peers think I slept with my overly friendly TA - what do I do?
I am a female undergraduate student and in a bit of a situation here.
Last semester, I had a male graduate teaching assistant for one of my classes, and I got the very strong impression for months ...
- 447
0
votes
1
answer
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Are there universities with permanent long-term tutor positions?
In the two universities I studied at, as well as in the university I am currently teaching at, the tutors (teaching assistants) are usually master students. This means that they work for two years, ...
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5
votes
2
answers
208
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How to communicate students' feedback about a professor as a TA
I'm a TA. Recently a few students (good students) approached me, because they are having a hard time retaining the information from the main professor's lectures. (They think he is putting too much ...
- 51
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votes
4
answers
2k
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Do you graduate slower with TA funding for PhD students?
I am in computer science in the usa with a PHD offer. I’ve been told that if u get funded with a TA position, it doesn’t necessarily slow your graduation time. Is this true? It seems obvious to me ...
- 1,694
7
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9
answers
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Is it unprofessional that my TA texted me on a Saturday night?
I had an academic issue during the week and I reached out about via text (he is okay with this method of communication. In fact, he gave me his number without me asking for it). I reached out to him ...
- 103
0
votes
0
answers
617
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Dating my TA after the fall semester [duplicate]
Long story short, my TA and I have expressed romantic feelings for each other; I’m a man while she’s a woman, if that matters. We’ve not acted on our feelings yet, but now that grades are submitted ...
10
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3
answers
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Is it normal for a professor to contact only one specific TA regarding the course?
I am one of the teaching assistants for a course with multiple TAs. However, the professor keeps sending all the important information regarding the course, like when the exams are, information about ...
- 187
6
votes
2
answers
336
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Department forcing me to teach a course even though my advisor has funds available to fund me from a grant
My advisor has funds for me to use for research from his grant so that I don't have to teach in my final semester. Unfortunately my department is denying the request and forcing me to teach a course ...
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1
vote
1
answer
648
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Am I being taken advantage of as a teaching assistant?
I'm a valedictorian of a university and wanted to continue the research path by applying for a teaching assistant position at my faculty. After submitting the profile, the faculty announced that I ...
- 121
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3
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Do outside-funded graduate students normally have TA or grading responsibilities in the US?
Assuming a student has full funding from an outside source. Do the TA and grading responsibilities become optional?
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2
answers
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Best practices after the termination of your teaching assistantship
My university is an "at will" employer. Graduate students are not unionized. I'm a PhD student and I'm sensing a possibility for a TAship termination, so I want to explore possibilities.
(1) ...
18
votes
8
answers
6k
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Dealing with a micromanaging instructor, as a teaching assistant
I'm a teaching assistant at a US university for a calculus class. My major duties are to write worksheets and then grade them along with the homework.
I have been a TA long enough (5 years now) to ...
user82663
2
votes
2
answers
332
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Am I too young to be a TA for a Master's programme?
I will graduate from my Master's programme in a week. I did exceptionally well and landed a TA position within the same department. I am truly humbled by the faith that my professors have put in me ...
7
votes
3
answers
586
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Got negative teaching reviews, can this affect my prospects for postdoc
I’m a sociology PhD student in the EU. Back in September, I started teaching a recitation class. My MSc is from another institution (which is also in another country – I moved from Finland to France......
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0
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2
answers
349
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Is it unusual for UK univerisities to give tuition waivers to teaching assistants?
I've been checking the websites of different UK universities for teaching assistantship benefits. None of the websites I've visited so far disclose the specific benefits that TAs receive. So, I wonder ...
1
vote
1
answer
251
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Is it polite to ask about scholarship/assistantship opportunities during a Ph.D. interview at a UK university?
I am scheduled for an interview in August for a Ph.D. program that I applied to at a UK university. However, even if I get an offer of place on the program, I would not be able to accept it unless I ...
- 11
5
votes
2
answers
641
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Are undergraduate TAs appropriate/ normal in upper level courses?
I came back to school after a long break (5+ years) and jumped right back into higher level courses (junior and senior level courses). First thing I noticed was that a professor did not lecture or ...
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3
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As a TA how to ask for more time to prepare tutorials
I am currently a graduate TA and my duties include preparing tutorials for an undergrad course, we are supposed to prepare the sessions based on the material sent to us by the professor.
The problem ...
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22
votes
10
answers
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I've developed a close relationship with my past graduate teaching assistant, and I'm very interested in her: is it appropriate to pursue this?
The graduate teaching assistant I'm interested in taught one of my introductory courses. She needed research assistants, so I decided to join her lab. From all this we became very close. Ever since ...
user139545
12
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2
answers
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Is it okay to publish less and teach more during your PhD? (CS USA)
Background: I read this Quora post where someone mentioned they TA'ed pretty much their entire PhD tenure and took up extra TA spots as well for the same because they really liked teaching. The person ...
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4
votes
2
answers
530
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Is my university using TA's excessively?
Currently, at a broad level, the scenario I am observing is as follows:
Tasks by Instructor (assistant professor, associate professor, professor)
Collecting presentations from either the internet or ...
- 7,777
30
votes
14
answers
25k
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What to do with students requesting deadline extension due to the death of a relative (but without a doctor's note)?
I am currently working as a teaching assistant for several courses in STEM in the US at the college level.
During the past two semesters since Covid19 started, I have noticed that whenever a deadline ...
- 1,013
20
votes
4
answers
6k
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How do I voice my opinion that the teaching of students is being neglected?
I'm in a Phd program right now and it seems there are some unethical practices going on in my department. Examples include: testing over irrelevant material or material that was not really covered, ...
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6
votes
0
answers
328
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Losing one's teaching assistantship due to weird circumstances [closed]
So my best friend is sort of in a strange situation. We are in the same graduate program. Here's the story.
Last semester I was stuck in a class with a professor with an extremely weird way of running ...
- 579
5
votes
3
answers
869
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How to grade unequal contributions to group work as a TA bound by instructor's rules
I am a TA for a freshman course in the humanities at a US university. Due to pandemic restrictions, the class is entirely online and the medium through which students learn is Canvas. Lectures are pre-...
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38
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5
answers
9k
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How can I deal with students who try to steer a course (in the online setting)?
I am not a course instructor, but I am a teaching assistant for a large course in STEM in the large US school. I have been soliciting advice from students to improve the course and tutorial for the ...
- 1,029
34
votes
9
answers
11k
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How can I motivate the teaching assistants to grade more strictly?
I am a lecturer in charge of a course with over 250 students and several TAs. The TAs are partly responsible for grading the homework assignments. Since these are assignments in programming, no two ...
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