TAs and the Teaching Team

Teaching Assistants (TAs) are an important part of any teaching team. Here are some suggested practices and resources that can help faculty and TAs be more effective and efficient when working together.

Clarify tasks and responsibilities

TAs and instructors have a wide range of tasks and responsibilities to consider.

• Discussion Sections – Who is responsible for discussion sessions? How will discussion sections be facilitated?  
• Office Hours – What is the format and frequency of office hours? How will you adapt to virtual office hours?
• Grading responsibilities – What is the expected turnaround on grading? What tools will you use? (SpeedGrader, Gradescope)
• Canvas – Who will develop and maintain the Canvas course site? What Canvas training might be needed?
• Real-time class meetings – Who is in charge of the Zoom meetings? Who will facilitate Zoom tasks such as breakout rooms, monitoring chat, and so on?

Communicate frequently

Frequent communication on goals and expectations, responsibilities, and feedback throughout the quarter is beneficial to the instructor(s) and to TAs. 

Before the quarter begins

Set clear expectations with TAs. This allows for effective planning and time management, as well as reducing the chances of misunderstandings during the quarter. The TA Responsibilities Form allows you to clarify TA tasks and time commitments.

Connect early with an initial team meeting. This allows the team to set expectations and norms, brainstorm goals, and share resources. The Initial Meeting Agenda template is a customizable resource that can keep your initial meeting on track.

Make sure that TAs are registered in ExploreCourses. If they are not, contact your department administrator for assistance.

Collaborate with experienced TAs during the course design phase when the employment agreement allows.

During the quarter

Meet regularly to foster positive working relationships and initiate dialogue between the teaching team members. This will help the team to coordinate grading assignments, share information about how sections and office hours are going, and learn about the feedback that students are providing. The Weekly Meeting Agenda template is a customizable resource to optimize weekly team meetings.

Have a mid-quarter check-in with your TAs. This is useful for getting feedback from the TAs on their experiences with students and how the teaching team's work can be enhanced. This Mid-Quarter Check-In template can be helpful when planning a check-in meeting with TAs.

Share and model a variety of teaching strategies, activities, frameworks, and example resources.

At the end of the quarter

Reflect on the course together as a team to identify what went well and why, and what could be improved and how. This allows your team to learn from its experience, both individually and to benefit future iterations of your course. Use the End-of-Quarter Reflection template to guide this conversation and preserve knowledge for future teaching teams.

Preserve section materials and resources for reference and future iterations. 

TA training and support

CTL offers many resources for TAs, graduate students, and postdocs at every stage of their teaching careers, including:

• Workshops and courses
• TA Orientation
• Feedback on teaching
• Training for Department TAs
• Graduate teaching opportunities

Learn more

• 10 Strategies for TAing Online, Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• TA Training & Support, Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• Working Effectively with Teaching Assistants Online, Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• Teaching Team Resources Suite, Center for Teaching and Learning (2021).