Returning TA Workshop Recap
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L&S hosts a Returning TA Workshop before every fall semester. The workshop consists of a Canvas course and a training day with small group workshops led by experienced L&S Teaching Mentors. This fall, the workshop was held on August 27. TAs connected with peers, discussed common teaching challenges in a supportive environment, and advanced their teaching practice.
Read on for photos and descriptions of the day’s events!
All participants attended a plenary session in which they worked with peers to address the common teaching challenges that Teaching Assistants can face in the classroom. They practiced proactive and reactive strategies for resolving or preventing challenges through small group discussion and role-play.
Participants chose between four breakout sessions:
- In Building a Sustainable Teaching Plan, TAs identified time-saving practices to support their work this semester. They reflected on their patterns in time, effort, and energy, considered their values and goals for the next academic year, and discussed relevant strategies for managing time and resolving challenges.
- In Developing Your Teaching Philosophy, TAs discussed their teaching values and began drafting a teaching philosophy. They considered their strengths and positionality in the classroom and aligned their teaching statement to potential audiences and purposes.
- In Facilitating Discussions, TAs discussed common discussion challenges and practiced facilitation techniques to meet their discussion goals. They reflected on their personal facilitation style and considered what makes a discussion productive and inclusive.
- In Public Speaking for Instruction, TAs identified their strengths and areas for growth and practiced public speaking techniques. They identified strategies to effectively communicate with audiences within different contexts and practiced strategies for controlling breath, voice, and body.
Four L&S Teaching Mentors prepared lesson plans and facilitated the small group sessions. Those selected to be Teaching Mentors have not only a proven track record of excellence as educators, but also a strong desire to share their experience and mentor other graduate student teachers.
The Returning TA Workshop by L&S is organized by the TA Training & Support Team in L&S Teaching, Learning, and Academic Planning.
Photos by Jonathan Klein (Director of the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative).