Are you a T.A. who wants to learn how to hold more effective and efficient T.A. sessions?

Would you like to learn more about current methods and issues in teaching?

Are you interested in developing skills that will be transferable to future employment opportunities?

Come to a T.A. Training Workshop!

(Pre-registration required)

Offered in conjunction with individualized, subject-specific discussions with the professor of the course for which you are a teaching assistant, the T.A. training program includes four types of workshops.

The initial two-hour training workshop will give an overview of T.A. guidelines, discuss ways to structure an effective T.A. session, and discuss ways to create a more inclusive learning environment. In this session, you will receive a manual that includes individual sections that cover in some depth the topics addressed in the workshop, an annotated list of resources on campus, and articles and web sites for future reference.

The “Academic Excellence” workshop (available to all students) will address learning styles, self-assessment and self-monitoring tools and techniques, wellness issues that affect academic performance, and effective learning and organizational strategies.

Optional “special topic” workshops will also be offered during the semester that will focus on specific issues of concern to T.A.s. Possible topics include “Disability Issues and the T.A.,” “College Student Development Theory,” “Legal Issues for Student Teachers,” “Multicultural Issues in Peer Education,” and “Critical Thinking and Logic Skills.”

Interested T.A.s will also be encouraged to participate in case study workshops and study session observation opportunities to receive informal feedback from an impartial visitor and discuss ways to increase effectiveness of their sessions.

The T.A. workshops will:

• Bring T.A.s together so that you can learn from each other and build a support network among yourselves,
• Provide information about resources on campus that may be helpful to you as well as students seeking assistance for academic difficulty.
• Address general T.A. expectations and responsibilities, address issues of professionalism and fairness, discuss consistency among T.A.s across the disciplines,
• Discuss ways to structure and run a T.A. session effectively, including setting goals and performance expectations, selecting instructional tools, developing listening and communication skills, generating subject-relevant and creative questions, understanding group dynamics, role-modeling thought processes, leading group discussions or review sessions so that students take a more active role in their own learning, and using feedback constructively,
• Discuss subject-specific learning strategies and organizational skills,
• Create a more inclusive learning environment by examining differences and concerns that are relevant to learning and teaching, including learning styles as well as disability, retention, cultural, E.S.L., and wellness issues,
• Discuss early intervention strategies to increase student success,
• Discuss trouble-shooting, boundary-setting, and referral processes, and
• Address counseling, confidentiality, and harassment issues as they apply to T.A.s.

To register for this workshop (free for Trinity students), call Dean Reuman at x2154 or x2156.