Skip to main content
Blog post

An Insider’s Guide to Being a Teaching Assistant

September 28, 2018
|
By GradProSkills


What makes a good teacher?

Bringing you highlights from the GPTK722 Teaching Assistant Orientation workshop! This annual event, offered by Concordia’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, provides teaching assistants (TAs) from all faculties with the best practices for stepping into the role of TA.  Through a series of discussion tables (referred to as Knowledge Café’s) chaired by teaching and learning experts, participants were provided with tips for taking on their new role of TA, interacting with professors and students, translating your TA skills to your CV, and finding TA supports at Concordia. Here’s our summary.

Stepping into the role of a TA

When starting a new position as a teaching assistant, the gap between student and teacher closes. This brings up some questions about how to best approach the professionalism needed in the relationships you will build. You may feel as if you’re the intermediary between the students and the teacher, and that is by definition your role, but you’ll need to differentiate your approach to building the relationship with your supervisor from that with your students. To best navigate these dynamic professional relationships, practice applying the following tips in your role as TA:

  • Be respectful and transparent in your work
  • Have open communication with your supervisor and students
  • Discuss responsibilities and expectations from the beginning
  • Meet regularly with the professor and check in with your progress
  • Talk to your supervisor with confidence and clarity
  • Give effective feedback to your students
  • Set clear boundaries with the students

For more help with your TA role, explore and register for our upcoming teaching workshops.

Strategies to succeed as a TA

As graduate students taking on a teaching assistantship, it may feel overwhelming to balance your new role with your grad school workload. From keeping up with readings, to grading essays, supervising labs, facilitating discussions, organizing slides, responding to student questions, and dealing with professors, not to mention your own graduate school work, TAs have a lot on their plate! To manage both, you must schedule your TA hours and your preparation time in advance. Sometimes students are assigned to TA a course that they have no previous background knowledge in, so they’ll need to factor in the appropriate learning time. Time management is the key, but it is only the first step. Here are some more strategies on how to succeed as a TA:

  • Set goals: what do you want to teach and why?
  • Know your assets and what skills you need to improve
  • Network with other graduate students and learn from their experience
  • Find mentors that can help you throughout your experience
  • Never stop learning and improving your skills
  • Know what you need to prepare prior, during and after your TAship

For more help with time management and achieving success as a TA, explore and register for our upcoming success in graduate school workshops.

Leveraging your TA experience for your future career

Being a teaching assistant will not only provide you with teaching skills and experience for your teaching dossier. To gain the most rewarding experience from your TAship, you must recognize the professional tasks you are being asked to do, reflect on how you can improve your skills related to these tasks, and translate these new skills to your CV and next job interview. Some transferable skills you can attain from being a teaching assistant, that can be benefit your future academic and professional careers, include: leadership, organization, communication, critical thinking, and presentation skills.

For help in developing diverse professional skills, explore and register for workshops from our eight different skills domains.

TA resources and support

If you’re ever stuck and need some support in your role as teaching assistant, you can always seek help from any of these valuable resources available to you:

Back to top

© Concordia University