William F. Tate, dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences;
vice provost for graduate education; and professor of education and of African and African-American Studies, both in Arts & Sciences
Like most doctoral students, I served as a TA (teaching assistant) during my time in graduate school. The experience was important, not only for financial reasons, but it gave me the opportunity to apply five years of teaching experience and pedagogical strategy in a university setting and that was exciting for me. I was fortunate to collaborate with a mathematician committed to teaching and curriculum development. He wrote the textbook for the class and his background and interests in teaching made the opportunity rewarding.
Our professor engaged the group of TAs on matters of curriculum design, assessment and classroom instructional practices. In many respects, our interactions evolved into a class within the class. In essence, I was mentored, and that experience shaped how I view the pedagogical preparation of PhD students today. If we value teaching as a central part of the learning process in Ph.D. education, then we should eliminate the TA as traditionally implemented and refocus the experience to a mentored experience.
Graduate students today are often expected to teach classes, without the benefit of being mentored.
Read the full piece in Diverse Education.
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