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Working Effectively with Your Teaching Assistant

Student and professor shaking hands
Developing and maintaining a strong instructor-teaching assistant relationship

First meeting:

  • Have an agenda (see page 17 of resource #4 below).
  • Spend time getting to know one another.
  • Clearly define the specific roles and responsibilities of each TA. This could include a group discussion about social norms / ground rules that they will be expected to observe as a TA in your department.
  • Share your expectations of them, and invite them to share theirs with you. Keep a note of these.
  • Share and talk through the syllabus with them (including the course learning objectives, and assessments throughout the semester). This provides context for the work that they will be doing for you.

Throughout the semester:

  • Meet regularly throughout the semester to gauge how they feel the class is going and to see what issues they may have experienced in their work. These need not be formal, and can be a great space to reflect and relax.
  • Check in with them as students (not as your TA) -- how are they doing in their own courses?

End of semester:

  • Debrief the course with your TAs. What worked for the students? What didn't work?
  • Review what you (and/or they) could have done to improve the course and their experience.

Always remember to:

  • Provide your TAs with a list of campus resources for academic and non-academic purposes: Health & Counseling, Financial Aid, the VISA Office, Writing Center, Food Bank, and so on. (TAs are student-facing and may be asked by students for non-academic support.)
  • Respect your TAs' perspectives and experiences - they are often at the front line, and may have more insight about what's going on than you do.
  • Remember that your TAs are still learning -- about the course content and their levels of interpersonal skills. Give them space and grace to learn.
Resources:
  1. Mowreader, A. Academic Success Tip: Investing in Effective TA Work. Inside Higher Education, December 19, 2023.
  2. University of Massachusetts Amherst, How Do I Work Effectively with Teaching Assistants? Accessed January 30, 2025.
  3. Columbia University CTL, FAQs for Teaching Assistants, accessed January 30, 2025.
  4. University of Pittsburgh University Center for Teaching and Learning, Working With Your TA, 2018.
  5. Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, Collected Wisdom: Strategies and Resources from TAs for TAs, 2007.

PDF Download: TA Duties Checklist, adapted from University of Pittsburg University Center for Teaching and Learning, Working With Your TA, 2018.