ALL-CAMPUS TEACHING ASSISTANTS ORIENTATION

General Overview

The All-Campus TA Orientation provides an introduction to teaching skills and administrative policies related to teaching at UIUC. The orientation is made up of

• Large group presentations on core teaching and policy issues
  
  
• Small group sessions on effective classroom teaching strategies for TAs in the same or similar departments
  
  
• Concurrent sessions on a wide variety of special topics (TAs select two sessions to attend)
  
  
• Microteaching session, in which TAs teach a short lesson to their peers and receive feedback

Sessions are presented or facilitated by University administrators, experienced faculty, experienced TAs, and staff from the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Session Descriptions

Here is a brief summary of the sessions at the TA Orientation. Large group sessions are listed in bold and small group sessions are listed in bold italics.

Teaching and Learning

This session explores different models/theories of learning and the implications of the understanding of how people learn on the way we teach. Recent presenters have been Donald DeCoste, Chemistry, and Jose Mestre, Physics and Educational Psychology.

What's Right? Policies You Need to Know

Knowledge of University policies on academic integrity, FERPA, accommodations for students with disabilities, and harassment and discrimination will help new TAs understand their responsibilities as teachers at this University.

Grading

This presentation includes general grading guidelines, methods for assigning course grades, strategies for grading exams and assignments, and common grading concerns.

Making Critical Connections

This is the first small group session of the TA Orientation and provides a time for TAs to get to know one another. The session encourages TAs to think about what they will get out of being a TA, to realize the importance of their job, and to utilize a framework of critical connections in the classroom to support their success.

Questioning Strategies

In this session, TAs will learn how to use effective questioning strategies in class by examining the purpose of questions, the phrasing of questions, and the asking of questions. TAs will also learn how to respond to student questions and answers.

Planning a Class Session

In this session, TAs will learn how to plan an effective class session and will gain experience in planning by working on their lesson plans for the microteaching sessions.

Microteaching

The microteaching sessions are 90-minute sessions in which seven TAs teach a short lesson to each other and receive immediate feedback from the facilitator and the other TAs. Each TA signs up for a specific session, which is videotaped. The TA and CTE staff person meet early in the semester to view the videotape and have a more private feedback session.

Concurrent Sessions

Sessions on a variety of topics of interest to TAs in different departments and with different responsibilities are offered. TAs select two sessions to attend.

 Comments from TAs

The orientation gave me more confidence and some good guidelines about being a TA.

I believe the chosen topics were relevant and well presented...the information will be valuable in my teaching.

I learned effective ways to ask questions and that I should allow students time to think.

Small group sessions were useful…they discussed topics that were applicable to what I will be doing.

It was nice to hear some experienced TAs share some of their good ideas.

The orientation showed me how to use a mixture of teaching techniques including active learning.

I wish we could have a reunion of my small group to see how everyone has dealt with problems, issues, and topics we talked about.

December 6, 2006