Introduction to the GTA Handbook
As a graduate teaching assistant, you face the difficult, but exciting, challenge of balancing your roles as both student and teacher. While the graduate student/TA "balancing act" may prove difficult at times, a variety of resources and strategies are readily available to ease that task.
This online handbook provides only a brief introduction to the most common concerns of graduate teaching assistants at UNL.
For more detailed and comprehensive information on TA matters, we strongly encourage you to consult:
- your supervising professor
- your academic advisor
- your department head
- your college dean
- the Office of Graduate Studies
Most TAs follow a fairly predictable schedule: class meetings, assignment due dates, exam and test dates, grade submission deadlines. Because your own graduate class and study schedule will likely prove more flexible, you might be tempted to devote less time to your own learning activities. The most important step in getting started as a scholar/teacher is to establish a firm schedule for your own work — integrating your research and coursework into your teaching schedule.
While it is important to remain available to your students, you need not grant every student request. Your own work is important, and sometimes that means saying "no." Also, consider how much free time you will need for yourself outside your classroom — you might wish to leave one or two entire mornings or afternoons free from any student interaction, thereby reserving uninterrupted time for your graduate studies.
Your best strategy for managing your new "identity" is to prepare well. Good teachers are not born — they are made — of hard work, dedication and a good understanding of their importance in the academic life of the university.
