Spring 1996

Developing a Departmental TA Handbook and New
TA Orientation Session
Karla Hagan-Ingram, TA, Department of Physics

Last fall for the first time, incoming graduate TAs in the Physics Department had an orientation session to prepare them for their leap into teaching physics to undergraduates. This session and an accompanying handbook were created and assembled by myself, three other TAs, and the physics department chair Dan Larson, with much help and feedback from the Teaching Resource Center. With their creation, we have planted the seed for a program that will both aid TAs in nurturing their teaching skill and establish an environment where effective teaching by TAs is seen as a priority in the department.

Handbook Development

We began with a series of informal meetings. Dan supplied us with pizza during these meetings, providing an extra motivation to convene! We came up with a list of broad categories we wanted to cover in the handbook: teaching a discussion section, teaching a lab, office hours, student interaction, faculty interaction, quiz construction, and problem-solving skills. We four TAs divided these topics among ourselves according to our interests and skills, and further developed each category. Each of our sections was revised with feedback from the others after a subsequent meeting. In all, we met three times for about two hours each meeting. The culmination of these meetings was the first draft of the handbook.

Brainstorming

To further improve the handbook, we decided to draw on the larger realm of teaching experience in the department. Last spring, we invited all TAs to give their input into the document at a brainstorming session. Attendance was quite good; again, pizza provided an extra lure. (If you supply free food, graduate students will come!) After the group added their constructive comments and additional insights to the existing handbook, we further revised it to reflect their many great suggestions. It was enlightening to see the enthusiasm and interest in teaching of all my colleagues who came to the brainstorming session.

Adaptation to Workshop

The handbook served as a program guide for the teaching orientation session last fall. We made an informal two-hour presentation during the departmental orientation session, highlighting the main points in the handbook and sharing our teaching experiences. With funds from a Teaching Resource Center TA Development Grant, we printed the handbook in booklet form (entitled The Physics TA's Guide to the Galaxy) and distributed it at the session to serve as a teaching reference (it's available for consultation at the TRC).

Benefits

The training session and handbook were, in my opinion, quite successful and will now be a part of every incoming graduate student's departmental orientation. I found them to be productive in two ways. First, they allowed us to give new TAs tips and advice unique to teaching physics. In this way, they serve as a nice supplement to the Teaching Resource Center's fall and spring teaching workshops. In addition, they demonstrated to new TAs that the department has established teaching as a priority. It will therefore help to establish a team of TAs more interested and focussed on providing the best undergraduate teaching possible.

If you think your department can benefit from these things and you don't already have a departmental TA orientation, think about implementing one! Anything, from a half-hour presentation by someone who cares about teaching to an all-day, more in-depth workshop geared towards the specifics of your field, will help to improve the quality of teaching in your department. All it takes is a few people interested in teaching, and about a dozen pizzas!