Being a TA in a MA program

[QuietScholar]

I'll keep this short and sweet:

I am entering a terminal MA program as a first-time TA, and am wondering what my general responsibilities will be; how will it differ from having (presumably) more responsibility as a doctoral candidate a few years down the road at another school? Having just graduated from college and now starting an MA program with no teaching experience, I am certainly not ready to start teaching classes or presenting myself like an expert in my field. Anyone with experience with this similar scenario willing to share how first-year grad TA's cope/manage their responsibilities? How may it differ from being a TA in a doctoral program?

I am in a MA History program at a relatively small honors university.

I appreciate any insight!

QuietScholar

[wtncffts]

Welcome to the forums!

As far as I know, at the schools I've been to, there is no difference between being a TA as an MA or PhD student, in terms of the concrete job responsibilities. Both 'kinds' of grad students are often assigned to the same course, so the duties would be the same, though sometimes there will be a 'Head TA' position which carries a little bit of extra responsibility.

There may very well be qualitative differences, though, in the way you present yourself, the way students and colleagues see you, and how you choose to run your sessions within the leeway of the course.

[robot_hamster]

I'm just speaking from my own experience, I don't know how it is at other schools. There are not many TA positions available in my program. The TA positions where the TA actually teaches a class appear to be reserved for PhD students (or at least preference is given to PhD students for said positions). I am a masters student and my TA responsibilities so far have been grading and supervising lab activities. I suppose it all depends on the type of program you are in and what they offer for TA positions, so take this with a grain of salt.

[Rose White]

I'll keep this short and sweet:

I am entering a terminal MA program as a first-time TA, and am wondering what my general responsibilities will be; how will it differ from having (presumably) more responsibility as a doctoral candidate a few years down the road at another school? Having just graduated from college and now starting an MA program with no teaching experience, I am certainly not ready to start teaching classes or presenting myself like an expert in my field. Anyone with experience with this similar scenario willing to share how first-year grad TA's cope/manage their responsibilities? How may it differ from being a TA in a doctoral program?

I am in a MA History program at a relatively small honors university.

I appreciate any insight!

QuietScholar

I am relatively certain I will be going into the same program you are, based solely on the state and your mention of being a TA in the MA program! Please PM if you'd like to keep it private--I'd love to make a friend there before arriving!

[ktel]

In my experience most Master's TAs either do grading or run tutorials or lab sessions only. Only PhD TAs will teach a class

[wtncffts]

OK, let me just clarify from my end. Obviously, there's variation in course structure, between and within fields. So there won't be a simple answer to this question. Where I TAed, and where I did my undergrad, it was always the case that large courses were divided into two basic parts: the lecture and the small group session (called tutorials, sections, conferences, etc.). The prof would, of course, be in charge of the lecture and overall course management, while the TAs led the small group sessions. So, each TA would lead 2-4 of these, 4 being considered a 'full' TAship. In a class of 300 students, say, there would be 5 or more TAs, and these would be both MA and PhD students.

So, the TAs had the same responsibilities: leading the small group sessions, and grading papers and exams. Now, as I said earlier, individual TAs would choose, within the limits of the course, how to lead their sessions. Some would 'teach' a little more than others, such as giving a short lecture of their own, while others, like myself, would tend to allow as much student discussion as possible, as long as it was on topic. As far as I can tell, this variation wasn't between MA and PhD, but simply individual style.

A different thing altogether is graduate students who are the sole instructors of a class. This is what I equate with the term 'teaching a class', and is, I think, almost always reserved for PhD students, usually by special application, i.e., it's not necessarily part of the funding package and is not a strict requirement of the program.

This is all in a social science at two Canadian universities.

[runonsentence]

It's going to vary by field and your specific program—your best bet is to talk to current grads in the program.

For instance, when I was an MA student, we MAs had the exact same responsibilities as the PhD students in my program. I taught my own class of 23 students, and was responsible for creating my own syllabus. The department outlined the major assignments I was to have them complete (students wrote three major essays), but I was responsible for coming up with daily lesson plans, homework, etc.

But if your situation ends up being like mine, don't panic; we had a lot of support. It was a little like jumping into the deep end of the pool, but also not. We had a long orientation to familiarize ourselves with the curriculum and teaching in general. We had sample syllabi to crib from, and most of us took the strategy of only giving out two or three weeks worth of assignments at a time to our students, so that we wouldn't have to come up with an entire term's syllabus the week before our very first teaching gig.

Edited July 13, 2011 by runonsentence

[TheSquirrel]

I'll keep this short and sweet:

I am entering a terminal MA program as a first-time TA, and am wondering what my general responsibilities will be; how will it differ from having (presumably) more responsibility as a doctoral candidate a few years down the road at another school? Having just graduated from college and now starting an MA program with no teaching experience, I am certainly not ready to start teaching classes or presenting myself like an expert in my field. Anyone with experience with this similar scenario willing to share how first-year grad TA's cope/manage their responsibilities? How may it differ from being a TA in a doctoral program?

I am in a MA History program at a relatively small honors university.

I appreciate any insight!

QuietScholar

Hey QuietScholar,

I'm a PhD student in PoliSci. TAships in my department are divided into "grades".. PhD students get Grade 1 TAships as part of their funding package. Generally speaking, we're expected to grade assignments and quizzes (I've never had to grade an exam because the course I've TAed has a major term paper but no final exam), attend lectures, and sometimes do office hours. The description of the Grade 1 TA, however, also includes this: "lead seminars." Usually, only PhD students are assigned to courses that have a seminar component, although there may be one or two MA students TAing courses with a seminar component (usually during the summer semester, when some of the PhD students go home). The course I've TAed had that seminar component, and all but 1 of the 6 TAs for the course during the fall and winter terms were PhD students. I TAed the same course in the summer, and the other TA was a MA student. So I think it depends on the department's needs / availability of students during the different terms, etc. At least for my university. But in general, the department prefers that PhD students, rather than MA students, TA courses that have the seminar component. That said, some PhD students have been assigned for courses that only had a grading component, but it was still considered a Grade 1 TAship (i.e. they got paid the same, for much less workload... not fair, but that's life, I guess)...

Anyhow, when I TAed courses with other MA students, we had the same sort / amount of responsibilities, but generally speaking, our input into the course and what was useful to do in the seminars) was valued more by the prof. Also, although we were given a lesson plan for the seminars, I usually went ahead and did things my own way (while covering pretty much the same ground), without being worried that the prof would be upset. Usually, MA students stuck to the lesson plan word for word.Not sure if they would've gotten into trouble if they hadn't. But I'm guessing PhD students have more leeway doing that sort of a thing.

Also, now that the PhD program has gotten quite large, the word that's been going around is that few if any MA students will now receive TAships. In fact, during my undergrad years at another university, I had never encountered a TA who was doing his/her MA. All my TAs were PhD students... Also, at the university where I did my MA, we weren't assigned TAships -- we only did RAships. So when I started my PhD program, I was shocked to see MA students TAing.. especially TAing the same course alongside PhD students. That probably won't be the case anymore at my university though.

Edited July 13, 2011 by TheSquirrel

[wtncffts]

hey theSquirrel, just curious, are you describing Concordia? I did my MA at McGill, but I took one course at Concordia, so I knew a few grad students there. This was a few years ago, though. Interesting to hear about how Concordia's program works, if that is indeed where you are.

Hey QuietScholar,

I'm a PhD student in PoliSci. TAships in my department are divided into "grades".. PhD students get Grade 1 TAships as part of their funding package. Generally speaking, we're expected to grade assignments and quizzes (I've never had to grade an exam because the course I've TAed has a major term paper but no final exam), attend lectures, and sometimes do office hours. The description of the Grade 1 TA, however, also includes this: "lead seminars." Usually, only PhD students are assigned to courses that have a seminar component, although there may be one or two MA students TAing courses with a seminar component (usually during the summer semester, when some of the PhD students go home). The course I've TAed had that seminar component, and all but 1 of the 6 TAs for the course during the fall and winter terms were PhD students. I TAed the same course in the summer, and the other TA was a MA student. So I think it depends on the department's needs / availability of students during the different terms, etc. At least for my university. But in general, the department prefers that PhD students, rather than MA students, TA courses that have the seminar component. That said, some PhD students have been assigned for courses that only had a grading component, but it was still considered a Grade 1 TAship (i.e. they got paid the same, for much less workload... not fair, but that's life, I guess)...

Anyhow, when I TAed courses with other MA students, we had the same sort / amount of responsibilities, but generally speaking, our input into the course and what was useful to do in the seminars) was valued more by the prof. Also, although we were given a lesson plan for the seminars, I usually went ahead and did things my own way (while covering pretty much the same ground), without being worried that the prof would be upset. Usually, MA students stuck to the lesson plan word for word.Not sure if they would've gotten into trouble if they hadn't. But I'm guessing PhD students have more leeway doing that sort of a thing.

Also, now that the PhD program has gotten quite large, the word that's been going around is that few if any MA students will now receive TAships. In fact, during my undergrad years, I had never encountered a TA who was doing his/her MA. All my TAs were PhD students... Also, at the university where I did my MA, we weren't assigned TAships -- we only did RAships. So when I started my PhD program, I was shocked to see MA students TAing.. especially TAing the same course alongside PhD students. That probably won't be the case anymore at my university though.

[TheSquirrel]

hey theSquirrel, just curious, are you describing Concordia? I did my MA at McGill, but I took one course at Concordia, so I knew a few grad students there. This was a few years ago, though. Interesting to hear about how Concordia's program works, if that is indeed where you are.

Yup , I'm at Concordia!

[Guimauvaise]

I just finished my MFA in Creative writing at the University of Arkansas, and will begin a PhD here this fall. The English dept. doesn't make distinctions between MA/PhD students as far as responsibilities go, but there are some variations in the stipend. MAs are paid less than PhDs by about $500 a year, but MFA students with 30+ credit hours (it's a four-year degree here) get PhD level pay. Otherwise, the benefits package is the same.

As for coursework, there are other subtle differences. MFA students can apply to teach introductory creative writing courses, and PhD students can apply to teach their own "special topics" version of Comp 1 or 2 (for example, last spring, one of the courses somehow examined composition-related topics in the realm of video games. World of Warcraft was a primary source.). All TAs in the English dept. -- which includes creative writing, comp. lit., and English lit. -- teach two sections, unless they are a fourth-year MFA or PhD...those students only teach one section, allowing more thesis/dissertation time.

I'm not sure what other depts. at my school do, but the English. dept. is by far the largest. We have nearly 100 TAs, and another 50 or so faculty/lecturers. Regardless, you should get a feel fairly quickly for how your dept. views its TAs. If there is a difference between MA/PhD students at your school, I'd imagine it will be a subtle one. Hope that helps.

[ZeeMore21]

As a TA in my Masters program, my responsibility was to attend class lectures to take attendance as well as hold recitations every Friday so that the students could discuss the readings. I also had to grade assignments and calculate/enter final grades. I am not sure what school you will attend, but usually only doctoral students are allowed to teach courses by themselves. I'm not quite sure if you would be teaching on your own as a MA.

[Timshel]

It very much depends on your program. I was a TA in my English department where it was terminal MA. The first year I sat in with a mentor and just took notes, taught a couple of the classes, but mostly observed and helped with grading. My second year, I was on my own. I taught two composition courses a semester on my own: my own syllabi, my own assignments, my own grading, etc. I did have to take a class the year before on pedagogy, and we did weekly meetings with the other TAs and the composition coordinator.

[hermandez]

As far as I know, at the schools I've been to, there is no difference between being a TA as an MA or PhD student, in terms of the concrete job responsibilities. Both 'kinds' of grad students are often assigned to the same course, so the duties would be the same, though sometimes there will be a 'Head TA' position which carries a little bit of extra responsibility.

There may very well be qualitative differences, though, in the way you present yourself, the way students and colleagues see you, and how you choose to run your sessions within the leeway of the course.

[wtncffts]

As far as I know, at the schools I've been to, there is no difference between being a TA as an MA or PhD student, in terms of the concrete job responsibilities. Both 'kinds' of grad students are often assigned to the same course, so the duties would be the same, though sometimes there will be a 'Head TA' position which carries a little bit of extra responsibility.

There may very well be qualitative differences, though, in the way you present yourself, the way students and colleagues see you, and how you choose to run your sessions within the leeway of the course.

I can't tell if you quoted me to add something and messed up, or this is spam, but it's... Odd.

[shenanigans]

Yup , I'm at Concordia!

Concordia has a great Poli Sci program, I did my undergrad there and credit my turn around to Nachfolger.

[MadameNon]

In my terminal MA program the TA ran discussion sections, so it's basically just more in-depth study of the material learned in class (taught by the professor). For me, that usually consisted of leading group analysis of a text vis-a-vis the material from the lecture class. I'd also give quizzes, hold office hours to answer questions about grades or assignments (or other things, if they didn't want to ask the prof), and I was responsible for grading exams and assignments.

The prof in charge of the class was pretty great and made it a learning experience for me. I was the "guest lecturer" one day and had to write and give the lecture on the day the class topic was closely related to my research. I also had to write one of the short essay questions on the mid-term and final.