Have you thought about your interactions with your teaching team members as you plan your Fall semester? Intentionally welcoming and orienting them can ensure a shared vision for the course, communicates your expectations of them, and fosters collaboration to support your instructors’ teaching and your students’ learning.
Get to know your teaching team.
Ask about your teaching assistants’ strengths, relevant experience, and goals. A survey can help you understand their goals and identify how they can contribute to the team.
Be transparent: share your expectations and team responsibilities.
Clearly define each team member’s responsibilities—whether they’re leading labs, facilitating discussions, holding office hours, supporting lectures, etc. Communicate your expectations for their performance, including their interactions with students, how they collaborate with the teaching team, and how they should respond to issues.
Foster a culture of respect and open communication.
In large classes, your teaching team members can give you the student perspective and share what is and what is not working in class. Create an environment where team members feel respected and valued, and provide the communication channels for them to share their feedback. Make it clear that their input is not only welcome but essential for improving the course. When teaching assistants see that their concerns and suggestions lead to meaningful changes, it builds trust, boosts morale, and strengthens the overall teaching team.
Share your course expectations.
While your undergraduate teaching assistants may have taken this class with you, your graduate students may be unfamiliar with your course structure and our institutional norms. Explain your learning goals, teaching philosophy, and assessment strategies. Let your team know what kind of learning environment you aim to create, the behaviors you expect from students, and how you define successful teaching and learning.
Clarify how you want your teaching team to support students.
Specify how assistants should support student learning—whether guiding problem-solving, offering alternate strategies, or facilitating group work. If they lead sessions independently, provide templates or slides to ensure consistency. Discuss how you would like them to explain content and procedures to students and share your rationale with the team. For example, let them know whether they can share alternate problem-solving strategies and short cuts, or whether there is a specific method you would like your students to learn.
If you’re unsure what happens in those sessions, consider incorporating peer observations. CITL can help develop observation checklists for constructive feedback.
Discuss time management.
As the semester progresses, assistants may feel overwhelmed. Early discussions about time commitments and regular check-ins can help you adjust responsibilities and reassign tasks as needed.
Prepare for challenges.
No team is immune to difficulties. Build time into meetings to address issues and encourage open communication among team members. Proactively addressing issues strengthens team dynamics and supports student outcomes. Additionally, mid-semester student surveys can include questions about how the teaching team supports learning—this feedback can highlight areas for improvement and reinforce what’s working well. Listening to both team and student input helps create a more responsive and effective course environment.
For help with training your teaching team, reach out to Madeleine (mgonin@iu.edu). She can share the CITL’s new teaching team facilitation guide. This guide suggests ways to get to know your students, structure class meetings, engage with students and groups throughout class, and to reflect on the effectiveness of class sessions. I hope you have a great start to your semester and, as always, reach out if we can be of help.
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