Lyra Hilliard

What Instructors Are Saying

 

Working with UTAs: Philosophy and Approach

Since working with Undergraduate Teaching Assistants, I’ve led with the belief that the program is, first and foremost, for them.  As UTAs, students should be directly involved in communicating and planning what they would like to achieve/gain/learn, both within the classroom and beyond, within a given semester.  With this in mind, I’ve always made it a priority to chat with individual UTAs before we begin collaborating in the classroom.  Though I always share a generic ‘Goals and Expectations’ sheet during this initial session (included below), each UTA is invited to present his/her personal goals and expectations for the class by editing/redefining the set criteria.  These personal objectives then shape the role of each of my UTAs.  

 

Throughout several past semesters, I’ve had the opportunity to work with both personally selected and randomly assigned UTAs in both ‘Blended’ and ‘Non-Blended’ writing courses.  In each case, I would bet that I’ve learned as much, if not more, from my UTAs as they have from me and the program.  After working with each assistant to establish class agendas and their individual goals, we pair up in the respective classrooms and strive to form a united front— our students know they can come to ‘us,’ or that ‘we’ will respond to their discussion posts.  

 

Again, it is crucial, for me anyway, that UTAs be given the opportunity to practice and hone the skills that they seek or establish as important.  My methods have, thus far, produced UTAs interested in addressing student work, engaging in peer review, collaborating with students, leading extra lessons (beyond the requirements of 388V), and promoting technology in the classroom; clearly, an agenda dictated by the UTA still serves both the instructor and the class, and, even then, my UTAs often perform above and beyond the call of duty.  As I have mentioned before, my approach has always provided me with a true collaborator, willing and ready to promote and enhance learning in the classroom.           

 

 

UTA Philosophy

The purpose of working with UTAs in the classroom should be, as Linda Macri says, to make the class better for students, but I also hope the TA will gain valuable knowledge and practical experience as well. The TA brings the student perspective back to the front of the classroom, reminding me how the material or my approach will come across to students, and providing a role model of a successful student and near-peer for those in the class. Ideally, the TA will be a great help to me, but working with a TA is actually an extra project in and of itself, and very rarely results in less work for me, so I always try to keep in mind that the project is and should be geared to the student experience. 

 

The TA can serve as a touchstone for the students, acting as a sort of intermediary between them and the teacher, keeping communication open, being available in-person and over email to answer questions and concerns. I assume my TA will maintain contact with each member of the class, providing general reminders and specific advice on written work and other assignments. Although this certainly doesn’t replace interaction between teacher and student, it can serve as a supplement. I’ve found that my students are more apt to contact the TA than they are to contact me, no matter how much I plead with them.

 

The TA should assist me in continually seeking to improve class lessons and the approaches we take to class work from semester to semester. Despite having and often using the same lesson plans from past semesters, we should always discuss the goals of each class during the week prior, and question whether or not the existing plan will best meet those goals and student needs. 

 

One of the TA’s defined duties is to monitor and maintain discussion on our class’s online discussion board. From these online conversations, we are able to glean what students are fully understanding and what they may still need more help on or explanation of. We are then able to address this in class. The TA can also make use of past semester end-of-semester surveys that I distribute. From these candid, anonymous survey responses, the TA will also able to glean which areas and elements of the class students found most helpful or unhelpful, which are most in need of improvement. I find this especially important as I continue to develop my approach to a blended learning course. 

 

The TA writes on the board, distributes materials, assists with peer–review sessions and small group work, but she will also lead class discussion from time to time, particularly in areas she feels most knowledgeable about and confident discussing. From this I hope the TA will gain valuable experience in classroom teaching and communicating with larger groups.

 

 

A Clarification of Expectations