Fall GTA Orientation
Purpose
• To advise new graduate students on
how to serve as a responsible and happy
GTAs
• To describe the common responsibilities
of GTAs
• Provide advice from experienced GTAs
Who is a Graduate Assistant?
• Research Assistant: A GRA is funded to
assist a professor in research or to
conduct her own research.
• Teaching Assistant: A GTA is funded to
assist in the classroom or laboratory and
may eventually be a “teacher of record”
(TOR).
Who is a GTA?
• GTAs have diverse responsibilities and varied
experiences.
– Senior Learners*
– Colleagues in Training*
– Junior Colleagues*
• GTAs may have diverse relationships with
their supervising professors
– E.g.. Employer-employee, Trainer-Colleague in
training, Collaborating Peers
*Jody D. Nyquist and Donald H. Wulff, Working Effectively with Graduate Assistants, Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage Publications, 1996
Working with “The Professor”
Starting out Right:
• Introduce yourself
• Responsibilities
• Introduction to Students
• Clarification & Deadlines
• Office Hours
Working with “The Professor”
Know Your Environment:
• Room & Technology
• Dress Code
• Printing
• When things don’t go well
• Intra-departmental politics
Campus Communication
• E-mail : Daily, Official correspondence
• Copy (Cc) the professor to all official
correspondence
• Cell-phones
Common Responsibilities
• Attend Classes
• Read Textbook/assignments
• Maintain Seating chart
• Take attendance
• Take class notes
• Maintain office hours
Other Possibilities
• Editing work
• Proctor exams
• Prepare Mid-Semester Reports: Athletes
• Conduct Field Trips
• Research for Profs; Acquisition of
materials …
Teaching Responsibilities
• Sub Lecturing
• Tutoring / Review Sessions
• Grading
Substitute Lecturing
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Clarify expectations w/ Prof
Balancing style
Structuring your lecture
Confidence
Technology issues
Access to room
Expect to submit lecture notes to your
Prof
Tutoring / Review Sessions
• Frequency
• Location
• Content
Grading
• Allot hours at the end of the semester do your own papers early.
• Grade and enter grades quickly; ask
about expectations.
• Providing Reports: to students and prof
• Familiarize yourself with the Scantron
machine.
Research Tools
• Library Webpage
– Two Libraries: Moody and Jones
• BearCat: http://www3.baylor.edu/Library/
• OsoFast: ILL at Baylor,
https://illiad.baylor.edu/illiad/logon.html
• Electronic Resources:
https://www1.baylor.edu/ERD/Search/AdvancedSea
rch.aspx
• BearSpace: Storing Information,
https://bearspace.baylor.edu
Student Issues
• Ethical Behavior (honesty, plagiarism,
cheating, doing homework)
http://www.baylor.edu/honorcode/
• Special Services (OALA):
http://www.baylor.edu/oala/
SET
• Seminars for Excellence in Teaching
– Improves quality of undergrad
education
– Assists departments in preparing
teachers
– Documents SACS required training
SET
• Requirements for TORs
– Prior to or during your first semester of
teaching:
• Core Workshop 1 (180 minutes)
• Core Workshop 2 (120 minutes)
– Each subsequent semester you teach:
• One elective workshop (60 minutes)
“Working as a GTA”
Q&A with a Panel of Senior GTAs
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Lydia Cooper, English Ph.D.
Michelle Porter, Spanish M.A.
Alicia Myers, Religion Ph.D.
Bracy Hill, Religion Ph.D.