Early in my teaching career, I ran into an old friend who expressed surprise bordering on horror that I would be allowed to develop and teach my own course without the sort of intensive training she had been exposed to as an elementary school teacher. I had taken workshops as a TA but, beyond that, began to develop my teaching techniques in the time-honoured tradition of emulating (or avoiding) what my own TAs and professors had done with me. Sadly, I couldn’t recall as many great teachers as I could not-so-great teachers, and in many ways the not-so-great teachers have most shaped my teaching. I remember, for example, a very ernest, nice, mild mannered, and extremely soft spoken TA who had the unfortunate habit of speaking well below the threshold of the average human ear, a problem compounded by the classroom’s location adjacent a noisy steam pipe. He asked lots of questions, but never seemed to have any obvious expectation of where these questions should lead, or evident interest in our answers. I knew he was well intentioned, but I also knew—without really having yet developed a strong sense of why—he was an ineffective, teacher.

Be a presence in the classroom

From where I sit now, I can say with conviction that his main failing as a TA was that he failed to create or hold anything resembling a classroom presence. By this I do not mean that he ought to have been authoritarian, loud, or dramatic. I mean that he was physically there but could not, or would not, do anything to direct and inspire learning. A teacher must be able to lead and however much a classroom can resemble a conversation among peers, you must never forget that it is your job to direct and lead the discussion. Be clear about your learning objectives. Be flexible and willing to change things up if you do not think your objectives are being met. But think of your class as a vehicle that needs to be moved in a particular direction and imagine where it will go if you do not have at least partial control of the steering wheel. You do not need to badger students in order to lead them toward learning. Being an effective presence does not require authoritarian behaviour; it means remembering that you are a teacher and, whether you want it or not, you will be looked to for guidance. Project your voice, speak with confidence and a sense of purpose, and never forget that, while you are a student as well, you are not just a student.

Be friendly, but don’t be a friend

You must be approachable to students, but do not be their friend, in either the conventional or social media sense. Students may try to “friend you” on Facebook or similar platforms and you ought to politely decline such requests. Do not be aloof or superior, but maintain a professional distance. Students will often attempt to engage you in their private matters, sometimes innocently and sometimes in order to gain concessions. Remember to draw a boundary between empathy and involvement, and do not solicit or encourage disclosure of private matters in any form of communication, including emails. Obviously student wellbeing should be a concern for you but UBC has numerous and excellent resources to which they can be directed, links to which can be found in the Resources tab of this guide. You are a teacher, not a guidance counsellor, so be empathetic but do not continually indulge office hour visits that have no direct or obvious connection to your role as a teacher. Leave the professional advise to the professional advisors.

Be aware that nothing good can come from dating your students! While UBC does not have specific policy that prohibits consensual intimate relationships, it is important for TAs to know “if they choose this route they may be putting themselves at considerable risk because of the power differential between professors and graduate students.” And “The University does require that any real, perceived or potential conflict of interest situation, such as a faculty-student intimate relationship, be disclosed and properly managed under UBC’s Conflict of Interest Policy” (from the Discrimination and Harassment Policy Guideline, UBC).

Be and look organized, and have a plan

Try not to make a habit of bursting through the door in agitation. If you are one of those people who arrives late for everything… don’t be that person. You can’t hope to convince students that you are organized and prepared when you can never manage to arrive on time or, better yet, a little early, and you certainly can’t expect them to do so. And, if you arrive late but still managed to grab a coffee on the way, you are telling your students that they are a very low priority. If you plan to use technology, great, but arrive early and make sure it works. Some of the most awkward and torturous silences I have ever sat through involved watching colleagues struggle to load a film, turn on the sound, establish an internet connection to run Prezi, figure out what HDMI stands for…. you get the picture, even if their students didn’t.

Never simply show up and try to wing it through a class, and never tell students that “you are looking forward to learning the material with them.” It’s okay to model yourself as a fellow learner, and to admit that you are not an expert. But remember that they are looking at you to lead them somewhere, and not simply as a fellow traveller. If you are running a tutorial, remember that it is an extension of a larger class—a break-out session to further explore and develop objectives introduced in the lecture. A tutorial should have lots of discussion, but this activity should be guided toward learning, and stay on message with the professor. That cannot transpire without genuine discourse or where a small handful of students are allowed to dominate “discussion.” If you do not come prepared with one or two objectives for the class, articulate these clearly, and use them to guide discussion, the class can devolve into directionless banter, with or without widespread “participation.”

Be aware of your body language

Always try to present a friendly, relaxed demeanour while taking care not to come across as one of the gang. If you like to smile at students, great, but make sure you’re smiling at everyone if you don’t want to appear to be favouring anyone or, worse, unintentionally provoke a romantic attraction. This might sound a bit paranoid but trust me, it can happen. Stay tuned for more in a future blog post.

Never come into the room  grumbling about anything, and be especially careful not to complain about how teaching cuts into your research time. Rule of thumb: if you look and sound bummed at the start of your course this will grow exponentially as the weeks drag on, and before long all prospects for a room filled with engaged and happy learners will be lost.

Try to make eye contact with your students and don’t hide behind notes. If you want to write something down for students, fair enough, but don’t turn your back on them and mumble into the chalkboard. There are many ways to engage students and you will find sample class activities under the Resources tab. But whatever you try, do not turn tutorials or seminars into mini lectures, even if some especially quiet students might prefer if you did. Do not talk or read at students; a good class is a dynamic class, and a good TA engages with the students.

Have some rules if you must, but don’t be rule-obsessed

It’s important to be clear about your expectations but don’t burden students with page upon page of rules. Ask yourself whether you really need to police  everything from the use of cellphones, to how and when emails can be sent or addressed, how to address you, whether eating or drinking is allowed, who can talk when, what corner of the paper should be stapled, how many sources it must have, the colour of ink that can be used in an exam, whether or not a paper that is half and hour late is actually a day late, whether students can go to the bathroom, and on and on. You will want some agreed and clear standards, of course, but pick your battles, be sure these are clear, defensible and reasonable, and kept to a minimum.

Don’t agonize over grades

If marking assignments and/or evaluating participation is part of your job take it seriously and be professional, but don’t let it paralyze you. My own experience, and past work with TAs, suggests that anxiety over grading is extremely common. Develop concrete and reasonable criteria and have confidence in your capacities for critical discernment, abilities, after all, that got you into grad school or hired as an undergraduate TA. Recognize that you are fallible, but also recognize that grading is not a science. Develop grading rubrics, and consult your instructor and/or other resources in doing so, but do not concoct overly complicated systems. Students want and deserve substantive feedback on their work, but are not likely to appreciate 3 to 4 pages of comments, positive or otherwise. Nor are they likely to appreciate or gain anything from 2 or 3 platitudinous sentences. One of the most frustrating comments I ever received on a paper was “Good!” and my pleasure at seeing the grade was quickly eroded by the reality that I had no clear sense of why I achieved, and thus how I could try to replicate, that result. It is normal to rethink grades, and troubling if you don’t, so use post-it notes (or very light pencil) for your comments, especially for the first few assignments. Finally, never consciously use yourself as a standard to evaluate the work of your students. One of the most horrifying things I ever heard in my days as a TA was this comment from a colleague: “An A grade is something on a par with my work. An A+ is something better than I can write. I very rarely give an A, and I have never given an A+.”

Treat students equitably and with respect

Students are diverse, with a variety of capacities, skills, levels of motivation, and ambition. Not all of your students will go on to do graduate work, and many of them will find occupations that do not require academically rigourous writing, or deep critical reflection. It is important to keep things in perspective and to not become offended or disdainful when students appear not to value or comprehend the same standards you might cherish. You are here for every student and while clearly there cannot be an equality of outcomes in their grades, you must strive to treat them with equal consideration. Students also have different learning styles and may come across as disengaged when they are not. You are not obliged to indulge or ignore students who are disruptive, or openly disdainful, but you should avoid too quickly labelling someone a “difficult” or “problem” student.

When you offer comments in tutorial or in writing always direct it to the comment or written work offered by, and never at, the student. Avoid phrases like “what did you mean by that?” in favour of comments like “the paper was less clear in this section than elsewhere” and “that was an interesting position but what about other possibilities?” And try to always direct feedback toward future improvements of the work, not the author. Be mindful also that criticism is neither an exclusively or necessarily negative activity and should always aim to be positive, not in the sense of false praise, and not for the sake of sparing someone discomfort, but in the spirit of always looking to improve.

When students complain

You will often be the first line of appeal for students who have problems with their grades, or are unhappy with some aspect of the course. Despite you best efforts students can become defensive, even unpleasant in response to your comments, but it is very important that you not become defensive yourself. Remain calm and professional and, however unreasonable the appeal may seem, recognize that students have a right to request clarification. You may justifiably suspect that someone is simply testing you, and trying to disguise a cynical attempt to raise their grade in the rhetoric of seeking to improve. This can be upsetting, but do not get rattled.

It is a very good idea to have clearly set rules around this, and to promulgate these at the start of class. If you have not yet had a student demand a reassessment of their paper the second you place it in their hand, you will, sometimes to your face, sometimes in an email. This is likely to frustrate you given the time and effort involved in offering feedback on an assignment that someone is not even prepared to read and digest before reacting. The knee-jerk response is by definition ill-considered and the guilty student will often come to regret it. You should mitigate this common response with something like the 24 hour rule: “I will not response to or discuss assignments within the first 24 hours of their return,” or something to that effect.

When a student does appeal do not be defensive, do not take it personally, and do not try to dissuade them. It has been suggested that you warn them that if you reconsider the mark, it could go down as easily as it could go up, but I do not personally agree with that advice. It is best to simply thank the student, tell them you will respond in a timely manner but not then and there, read the assignment again, read your comments, and explain your position. Don’t feel pressure to change a grade, but also try to be sure that your motives for sticking to your position are sound. You should not, for example, be afraid that changing your mind implies weakness, or will invite further appeals. Nor should you feel any obligation to keep students away from their instructor. You are a teaching partner, not a gatekeeper, and should not hesitate to refer the matter to the instructor if you think the grade is correct and the student is unhappy with your explanation, or you feel for any reason that you should refer the assignment to the instructor for re-evaluation. Do not take it personally, or feel betrayed, if the instructor agrees to change a grade that you refused to change after a student came to see you. The instructor always has the final say.

Bottom line: be professional

Summing up,

• Be prepared, be on time, be accessible (within reason)
• Construct a syllabus for your tutorials—set out your expectations of students, and expectations they can have of you
• Think and plan for the future—be sure all parties know what they have to do and when it must be done
• Manage time for yourself as well (plan ahead of time so you have less work when your own papers are due; know when their papers are due so you can decide when/how to mark in accordance with your schedule)
• Be professional in your marking—be fair, take the time, deal with frustrations of marking 90 papers (time management)
• don’t vent online/social media (if you must let off steam, do it a bar, with your friends, and make sure your students aren’t there listening)
• Office hours—show up when you said you would, make them convenient for you and students, and be sure to budget these hours in your worksheet
• Keep your office door open when students are present

Whether you are a first time or experienced teacher there will be things about which you are unsure, and there is no way this blog can anticipate everything. Teaching is not a science —there is no infallible guide, and the latter is certainly not what is being offered here. Trust your instincts, rely on common sense; do not let students take advantage of you, but do not assume that they will. Feeling comfortable in the classroom is something that comes more easily to some of us than others. You may or may not be, or become, a great teacher but if you use common sense and embrace the Platonic virtue of moderation it can go along way toward making you feel empowered in the classroom, and helping you shrink the range of challenges that can arise. The “dos and don’ts” offered here are neither exhaustive in scope or unassailable in wisdom. What I have tried to do is anticipate where problems of our own making can arise, and suggest how these can be avoided or at least mitigated. If there is a golden rule here it is always take the middle road when confronted with extremes.