Provides advice for graduate teaching assistants on how to organize the first meeting of a class and what to include so that they will be regarded as "real" teachers. Also provides a sample outline for a first class period. (SLD)

Graduate teaching assistants are too often given only "survival training" to prepare them to teach freshman composition. For the following reasons, the focus of teacher preparation in this area should be on rhetorical theory: (1) the study of theory informs the practice of teaching, (2) the study of theory is likely to give the beginner…

Offers a description of three prominent pedagogical approaches observed in freshman English teaching assistants (TAs): expressivism, formalism/mimeticism, and rhetoricism. Finds that, although a teacher may teach from all perspectives, usually one is emphasized. Studies and presents examples of each type. States that the rhetorical type is…

In outline agenda form, this guide addresses the issue of training and supervising graduate students teaching the basic undergraduate speech course in university speech departments. The sections are as follows: (1) Introduction of staff and participants; (2) Rationale for assuring quality and standardization in the basic course by systematically…

Noting that materials available on the topic have undergone a numerical explosion over the last decade and now number in the hundreds, this 43-item annotated bibliography on preparing graduate teaching assistants includes books, journal articles, conference papers and videotapes published between 1963 and 1990. The first item in the bibliography…

This book offers successful teaching approaches based on college surveys and interviews with 30 professors who have received awards for teaching excellence. Chapter 1 is an overview of the challenges of college teaching. Chapters 2 and 3 consider agents for change, institutional inertia, and an historical evaluation of faculty development.…

This book offers the notion of a "toolkit" to allow Teaching Assistants (TAs) and colleagues to review and revise their thinking and practice about real issues and challenges in managing individuals, groups, colleagues and themselves in school. In a rapidly changing educational environment the book focuses on combining the underpinning knowledge…

Presents some strategies that have been used to overcome problems in instructional areas of introductory biology programs. Focuses on maintaining an emphasis on inquiry, developing the process of science, the design of process laboratory activities, reducing cookbook laboratory orientation, and educating staff. (CW)

A program of teacher training that encourages graduate students in speech communication to develop an independent and inquiring style of teaching is outlined in this paper. The program described involves three phases: first, a preinstructional workshop designed to reduce the anxiety of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) about instructional…

Presented are the results of a survey of several classes in a college of agriculture to determine whether students had different attitudes about being taught by professors vs. teaching assistants. Data indicated that professionalism and course content are the most important variables to students. (CW)

Describing the various forms evaluation can take, this book delineates problems in evaluating writing faculty and sets the stage for reconsidering the entire process to produce a fair, equitable, and appropriate system. The book discusses evaluation through real-life examples: evaluation of writing faculty by literature faculty, student…

First published in 1951, this guidebook for college instructors and teaching assistants was written to answer the questions posed by new college teachers, to place them at ease in their jobs, and to get them started effectively in the classroom. The book contains the following parts: (1) Getting Started (e.g., course preparation, meeting the…

A handbook for University of Georgia graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) is presented that provides practical information about teaching for inexperienced GTAs as well as experienced teachers who seek new ideas. Attention is directed to: responsibilities of assistantships; relationships with faculty and with students; policies, procedures, and…

Methods developed by faculty to involve students in the classroom are described in 13 articles, based on the experience of University of Minnesota faculty in the Northwest Area Program on Active Learning. Each article considers: how to get started, sample applications of the method, challenges and how to deal with them, rewards, and where to get…

Designed specifically for graduate assistants teaching composition at Michigan State University (MSU), this handbook provides a general information base for teaching assistants, offering practical advice and discussing various aspects of course design, classroom practice, and the logistics of teaching at a large public university. A section on…