Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]
Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.
287
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How to express dissension as a grad TA while maintaining professionalism
I have a problem with the courses I'm TAing. I am a math PhD student at a large (supposedly good) state university where the lower-division math classes are taught in the "discussion section" format (...
- 273
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1
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Is it wise to do teaching-assistantship in a university I am not studying in?
The universities from which I earned my BSc. and MSc. degrees are not the same. Last week, a professor who knows me from my BSc. university called me and asked me to accept his teaching assistantship ...
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8
answers
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How should I deal with my groupmate's unprofessional behavior as a TA?
I have a colleague in my group who became TA for a course which we took together, which is taught by our mutual advisor. It is almost a policy that a student can't become TA unless he scores an A in ...
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3
answers
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What are the standard workloads for mathematics TAs at state and private universities in the US?
I am an international student, and now pursuing my Ph.D in pure Math in a not very good (ranking 70+) and relatively small state university in U.S.
As usual, I am a supported TA, and I am wondering ...
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1
answer
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As a teaching-assistant, how can I avoid repetitive teaching?
As a teacher assistant, I am always thinking about preparing my students with up-to-dated teaching materials and examples; however, I can see many TAs in my department who teach the content they used ...
- 7,470
3
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3
answers
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Who pays for TAs?
A TA normally has a hourly contract for working with a professor. Who pays for this contract? The professor's external funding is for research, not education.
If the department pays for that, how the ...
- 2,968
7
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4
answers
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Is it popular to request TA presence in the classroom for all lectures & is it right?
A Professor normally send his TA to conduct some sessions of his course (e.g., for problem solving).
It is also possible to ask the TA to attend all sessions to keep the track of the course. This is ...
- 2,968
5
votes
3
answers
675
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How to grade students' lab worksheets to prepare them for a final lab exam?
I am a physics lab TA and I was recently informed that my engineering students will receive a lab final at the end of the semester worth 50 percent of their grade. The final exam is not personally ...
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2
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Is it appropriate for a TA to say "My Students"?
I am a teaching assistant for the first time this semester. A couple of friends have asked how it is going, and I have used phrases like "some of my students..." or "my students are ..." when telling ...
- 463
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6
answers
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Is teaching a graduate course with 30 students an unreasonable expectation for a PhD student with a TA contract?
I am a PhD student in a social science field, and am on a teaching assistantship. My contract stipulates that TAs are to work no more than an average of 15 hours per week.
For my particular ...
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What should I do if I don't know the answer to a question posed by a student?
If I am the TA for a class, what should I do if a student asks me a question which I can't answer? While "tell the truth and say you don't know" is one approach, are there other options?
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How to improve myself as a recitation (discussion,lab,tutorial) teacher?
This question is related to How to improve myself as a lecturer?. However, being a PhD student, my main teaching obligation is leading recitations, i.e. sessions for groups of ~20 students that take ...
- 296
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2
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In a tenure-track position application; Is it appropriate to ask for recommendation letter from a professor for whom I only served as a TA?
When applying for a tenure-track academic position in the US right after my PhD (in the US too), is it a good idea to ask for a letter of recommendation from a professor in my graduate school with ...
- 161
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1
answer
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What to do in recitation?
Forgive me if this is not the right place to ask pedagogical questions, but it seemed the most appropriate.
I am a TA for a programming/CS course. This is my first time teaching recitation and I'm ...
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1
answer
319
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From which level of education, is it better to choose teacher assistants?
I think that it is normal to choose teacher assistants for BSc courses from MSc or PhD students and TAs for MSc courses to be from PhD students;
In case that the PhD or MSc students are not ...
- 7,470
8
votes
2
answers
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Is it acceptable that a teacher assistant encourage students to read his authored materials too?
During my leisure time, I used to prepare some pamphlets in the topic of courses I always wanted to teach. Each, full of examples and solved problems which I designed and solved myself, not ...
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3
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How is it common that universities provide assistantship positions for their graduate students? [closed]
Do a lot of graduate programs provide assistantships to their students (e.g. teaching or research assistantships)? How common is it for graduate students to be paid while going to graduate school?
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1
answer
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Do any schools offer teaching or research assistantships via distance education?
I would like to complete an MRes or PhD, but do not live in an area with any schools. I would rather not relocate. I see that many schools offer paid MRes or PhD programs entirely via distance. Do ...
- 12.4k
4
votes
3
answers
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What is a TA called when he/she is in charge of organization?
I am a non-native speaker and writing my cv. In my subject (mathematics), there are small exercise groups where you have to grade the students' homework and discuss it with them; some are hold by ...
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73
votes
11
answers
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Should I reward points for an incorrect answer if it is the result of misinformation presented in a TA's office hours?
So a TA came to me asking for advice. He gave wrong information in office hours leading a student to a wrong answer.
The TA showed the student how to solve the problem via the wrong statistical test ...
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2
votes
1
answer
269
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What is the history of teaching assistants (TAs) in France?
I know that in France, as late as the early 20th century, although I'm not sure if this is true now, a university student (undergrad or grad?) would take a nationwide concours exam to receive the ...
- 3,495
30
votes
4
answers
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How to deal with students asking very incremental questions?
I'm a TA/grader for an online course in introductory programming. We have students ask us questions related to homework/labs/etc. on Piazza where we can have quick back-and-forth with questions and ...
- 403
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3
answers
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Can you teach at a community college with a master's degree?
I'm interested in teaching a class at the community college level. I'm not interested in it as a career, but rather because I like teaching people about computer science. How likely is it that I ...
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2
answers
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Student asks TA if his result (figure) is correct
I'm TAing a class that uses Piazza (an online student forum), in addition to the traditional office hours. A student made a (private) post, where he uploaded a MATLAB figure and asked whether it is ...
95
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11
answers
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"You are paid to answer my questions!" - how to handle silly questions?
How do I handle silly questions? By silly, I mean questions that are unrelated to the material of the course.
First, I am a TA. Recently, a student asked me a very silly question at the end of a lab ...
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3
votes
1
answer
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views
How to describe the relation between a course instructor to his teaching assistant?
How do you describe the relation between a course instructor to his teaching assistant? Is he the "teaching supervisor" to his TA? This is encountered during PhD application. Thanks!
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2
votes
3
answers
541
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Contract signing session etiquette for student coaches
I am a first time faculty member straight out of grad school and I have been installed as a director for a "learning center". We hire undergraduate and graduate student "coaches" in the learning ...
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36
votes
7
answers
25k
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How to prepare for being a TA (Teaching Assistant)?
I start my graduate program next week, which includes spending some of my time as a Teaching Assistant. It is my least favorite part of job, and I do not want to teach in my career after that. I don't ...
- 2,765
4
votes
2
answers
563
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Regarding "discussion sections" for undergraduate science courses
I will be undertaking my first teaching position as a graduate student in the fall - I will be leading two of the discussion sections for an undergraduate biology course.
What sorts of things should ...
user7123
12
votes
2
answers
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Is there a stigma of assigning the title TA to an undergraduate?
I am entering my senior year of undergraduate study in Computer Science at a small, primarily undergraduate institution. I plan to attend graduate school and pursue a PhD in Computer Science and ...
12
votes
1
answer
514
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Should I talk to my advisor regarding undergrad advising workload?
Recently one of my profs (other than my advisor) told me that I am not doing well in his subject. Should I tell this to my advisor? Actually the reason of me not doing well is doing other jobs ...
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16
votes
1
answer
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How to effectively supervise grad student calculus teaching assistants (TAs)?
Those of you at universities where calculus is taught in small sections with graduate student instructors;
what sort of structure do you have for supervising/mentoring the graduate students and ...
Jeanne Clelland
8
votes
2
answers
305
views
Is it alright to skip problem solving sessions during coursework?
During coursework, there are sessions where a problem set is distributed beforehand and a TA works out the solutions in front of the class in a stipulated session.
Given the student works out the ...
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34
votes
2
answers
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What are some ways to increase grading speed?
I sometimes spend too much time on grading students' homework in the class I am a TA for. I am asking if there are some ways to improve grading speed? I hope that I can learn some useful tips from ...
- 1,719
18
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1
answer
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How will this departmental restructuring plan affect students and faculty?
I am an undergraduate Computer Engineering student at the University of Florida. In response to recent budget cuts to higher education in Florida, my department (Computer and Information Sciences and ...
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3
answers
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As a teaching assistant, how important are student evaluations?
I have seen a number of résumés of doctoral students, but only a few of them listed their evaluation scores when presenting their teaching experience.
How important are these scores in evaluating ...
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15
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4
answers
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Teaching Assistantships and research
I'm working as a TA now, and I've found that I'm spending an inordinate amount of time on my TA-ship. Is this normal? Furthermore, is this expected? I'm worried that my research career will suffer ...
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