This chapter describes a program aimed to help international graduate students navigate linguistic, pedagogical, and cultural challenges they face as new college instructors by connecting them with undergraduates who share personal insights and campus resources.

Professional development of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) regarding interpersonal boundaries is key not only to the well-being of the GTAs but also to the undergraduates they are teaching. GTAs who are developing their professional identities are a primary contact for undergraduates, especially in lower-division classes, and thus play a key…

One September morning, the author woke as a teacher--an international teaching assistant (ITA), to be exact--at a California State University (Cal State). As a twenty-five-year-old teaching assistant, he had the opportunity to teach hybrid public speaking classes that were designed for the American Culture and Language Program (ACLP), which turned…

This chapter presents an autoethnography of a Chinese American woman's twenty-five years of experience in higher education at universities in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Her career is discussed in four stages: master's teaching assistant and student, part-time instructor, doctoral teaching assistant and student, and professor.

A model for examining the relationship between the professor and teaching assistant (TA) was tested at the University of California, Irvine. Based on an open communication system between professor and TA, problem identification and solutions strategies were a participatory process. Professor and TA opinions about participative restructuring were…

Six keys to successful instruction in large classes are identified: don't be intimidated, prepare carefully, be natural, be personal, prevent students from feeling insignificant and anonymous, and stay in touch with teaching assistants. (MLW)

A review of existing training programs for international teaching assistants indicates that trainers generally use one of four approaches: orientation, precession, concurrent-term, or preterm programs. The key to success to any of these approaches is the staff members who conduct the programs. (MLW)

The potential contribution of classroom research as a tool in the training of teaching assistants is explored. By collecting data on what students are learning in their classrooms, teachers can assess the effectiveness of their own teaching. (MLW)

Teaching assistant supervisors accept responsibility or overseeing the work and professional development of one or more teaching assistants. The complexity of such responsibility, the teaching assistant supervisor role, understanding teaching assistants from a developmental perspective, etc. are discussed. (MLW)

Of great importance in large class instruction is the need to ensure that students learn how to learn. Course organization and evaluation methods grow out of a recognition of the course's learning goals. (MLW)

Departments have a responsibility for helping TAs develop as teachers, for evaluating TA performance, and or addressing the special needs of foreign-born TAs. The Teaching Assistant's role, course assignment procedures, supervising faculty, training programs, and informative feedback systems are discussed. (Author/MLW)

The international teaching assistant as employee or visiting scholar, screening for proficiency in oral English, course training versus ongoing training, staffing and curriculum, and international teaching assistants as teachers of minority undergraduates are discussed. (MLW)

Among the many teaching strategies that actively engage students are writing tasks, speaking activities, small-group activities, case-study methods of instruction, simulations, role plays, and field studies. The use of writing and small-group discussion by teaching assistants is discussed. (MLW)

One educator's experience suggests that having graduate teaching assistants use classroom assessment techniques (CATs) in structured assignments is a good way to develop teaching assistants' ability to look beyond their classroom survival concerns in that it provides a safe way for them to engage students in dialogs about learning. Examples of…

Socialization of teaching assistants occurs through a process of communication as new teaching assistants learn what it means to be teachers as well as graduate students. The skills, behavior, and attitudes developed while one is a teaching assistant are important determinants of a future faculty role. (MLW)