Becoming a Teaching Assistant in Dietrich College
Teaching Assistantships (TAs) provide students a unique opportunity to support and educate fellow students, while working collaboratively with a CMU faculty member and growing personal and professional skills.
What Does a Teaching Assistant Do?
While the TA role varies across different courses and faculty, some common responsibilities among teaching assistants might include:听
- Grading papers, projects, tests, etc.
- Holding office hours
- Leading recitation sections
- Leading discussion sections
- Assisting in laboratories or studios
- Supervising group projects
- Conducting review sessions of course content.
Why Become a Teaching Assistant?
- Gain valuable experience to add to your resume and to talk about in interviews
- Clarify future career goals and prepare for future Experiential Learning opportunities
- Enhance presentation, organization and leadership skills
- Develop relationships with faculty mentors
- Learn about different teaching models and styles
- Improve language and communication skills
- Refine the ability to balance multiple responsibilities and prioritize tasks
- Practice handling difficult situations
- Gain personal satisfaction from helping others
How Do I Find and Prepare for a Teaching Assistant Position?
While the TA position in each course is different, here are some of the qualifications that might be needed to become a TA:
- Prior completion of the course, sometimes with a specific grade earned
- Enrollment in similar courses
- Be a declared minor or major in the department sponsoring the course for which you wish to TA
- Good academic standing, sometimes with no academic integrity violations
- (offered through the Student Academic Success Center) may be required for multilingual speakers.
Each academic department hires TAs differently. Some have a formal application and interview process, whereas others may hire TAs more informally via conversations between the faculty member and a student. If you鈥檙e not sure where to start, your academic advisor is always a good first point of contact. The first step in finding a TA position is determining what courses or department you wish to TA for. Once you identify what department you鈥檇 like to work for, contact the department representative.听
As with any job you might apply for, you want to be prepared with your application materials (i.e. resume and cover letter) and ready for a potential interview. The Career and Professional Development Center (CPDC) can help you create or edit your resume and cover letter and can hold a mock interview with you to prepare.
Most departments host a TA training and/or orientation. Be sure to communicate with the department about any necessary paperwork or steps you need to take.
What Resources are Available to Teaching Assistants?
- The Eberly Center鈥檚 Graduate and Undergraduate Student Instructor Orientation (GUSIO) training on how to create a welcoming climate, teach problem solving, conduct discussions, work one-on-one with students, and grade and provide feedback on writing or quantitative assignments.
- The Eberly Center鈥檚 graduate student support resources, including workshops, one-on-one teaching consultations, classroom observations, early course feedback focus groups and lesson plan reviews.
- 鈥�Collected Wisdom (pdf)," a compilation of teaching strategies and resources for TAs, written by TAs. Topics include setting and understanding expectations, how to effectively be in front of the classroom, best practices for supporting outside of the classroom, how to hold effective office hours, how to grade, guiding on the side and improving your teaching.
- Student Employment Resources
- The CPDC offers workshops on time management, study tips, group work, motivation/procrastination, etc.
- Department Resources: some departments offer a handbook, a mentor program or a practicum to support TAs. You may also be observed or be given feedback from your instructor.
Meet Your Peers
Rana Fotouhinia
Major: Political Science, Security and Technology听
What course(s) did you TA for?听
I have been a TA for 84-405/605: The Future of Warfare and currently TA for 84-319/619: Civil-Military Relations.听
Why did you decide to become a TA?
I really enjoyed taking the course and wanted to be involved in a different way, so I knew I could share my passion for the subject to students taking the class.听
What did you enjoy most about being a TA?
Seeing people finally understand a theory or topic that had confused them has been really rewarding. I also love seeing students find subjects that they are really interested in, especially when it is new to them.听
What did you gain from your experience as a TA and how has it impacted future employment or experiential learning opportunities?听
The greatest skills I've developed from being a TA have been communication and time-management. Whether it's grading papers, organizing lots of assignments or providing concrete feedback, being a TA really teaches you to be organized and driven to provide the best for your students.听
Sienna Lehner
Major: Creative Writing听
Additional Major: Statistics and Data Science听
Minor: Literature and Culture
What Courses did you TA for?
I was a TA for 36-200: Reasoning with Data for four semesters, including a Summer session, and I am currently a TA for 36-202: Methods for Statistics & Data Science.
Why did you decide to become a TA?听
I loved the material I was learning in the introductory statistics courses, and I wanted to become more involved in the department and help students learn and appreciate the content.
What did you enjoy most about being a TA?
I am really grateful for my education and have always been fascinated by analyzing and interpreting data, so getting to teach others about something I am really passionate about is amazing. I hope to help students find love in learning as well.听
What did you gain from your experience as a TA and how has that impacted future employment or experimental learning opportunities?
As a TA, you get the opportunity to engage with material you have previously learned more critically. When teaching a room full of students, you gain more confidence and experience in the skills and subjects you learn in college. It helps you feel more prepared to handle employment and future learning opportunities.听
What advice do you have for future TAs?
I would encourage TAs to let your enthusiasm about the subject show. The more excited you are to teach the content, the more students will want to understand the material. You may be the reason they want to pursue a career in the class you TA for!