What is the 'standard' TA workload (PhD)?

[Jacques22]

I've been offered a funding package that involves 1.5 - 2 years of service-free study time (which is awesome)... but approximately 3 years of a 2-2 TA situation.  To me, that sounds pretty heavy.  

 

Another school has offered a 2-1 situation...

 

I would to hear what others have been offered.  I'd like to have some idea what the norm is these days.   

[Kamisha]

I think 2-2 is pretty standard. 

[toasterazzi]

I've seen a lot of variety in programs, so I'm not sure there's any one standard. I've seen 2-2, 2-1, 1-2, and 1-1.

 

Personally, I currently have two acceptances, but only one has been able to offer me an assistantship at this point, and it's 1-1. Traditionally, my MA program has been 2-2, but they switched for the group that started the year after me so now it's 1-1 BUT they also have to complete tutoring hours every week.

 

I will say that I adjusted to the 2-2 situation fairly easily. I'm a teacher by trade, and I was coming off a year of teaching roughly 75 middle schoolers on a daily basis when I started my MA. Some of the other people in my program who either hadn't ever taught before, or who hadn't ever been solely responsible for classes on their own, had more trouble adjusting.

[Algernon]

One school has offered a 1-1 load in the first year and a 2-2 load beginning in year 2, with competitive opportunities for fellowships that would replace some of those teaching responsibilities in a given year. Guaranteed funding for 7 years.

Another school has offered a 1-1 load beginning in year 2 (no teaching responsibilities the first year). Guaranteed funding for 5 years with "good opportunities" for an extra year or two if needed.

I agree that 2-2 seems like a lot, even if it is typical. (I do have some experience teaching, if that's relevant.) And I don't particularly like the idea of teaching from day one. It seems like new graduate students should be allowed to acclimate, at least for one semester, before being asked to teach and role-model for undergrads. Maybe if grad students weren't commonly asked to teach 2-2, it wouldn't take 7-10 years to get a PhD in the humanities....

But what do I know.

I'm also curious to hear what others have to say. 

[ComeBackZinc]

Bear in mind that teaching two sections of the same course is worlds easier than teaching two sections of two different courses.

 

It all depends. Here, you start with a 1/1, but our introductory composition class is a 4 credit class and you have to teach every day. After your first year, it really depends on you; there's a ton of different options you can apply for, like teaching business writing or technical communcation, working in the writing lab, teaching or tutoring in the oral English program, applying for many competitive administrative roles... Most everyone tries to get to .75 time, simply because it's much easier to live on that money. But after the first year, how busy you are and what you do to earn your funding is highly variable and largely up to what you apply for and what you're accepted to do.

 

I think 2/1 is probably the most common, but I'm sure it varies a great deal.

[bgguitarist]

The most I did for my M.A. was a 2-1, but, as ComeBackZinc noted, when they're sections of the same course it's not terrible. Sure, the grading load sucks, but that's the life of an instructor/professor. I've noticed that a bunch of universities require you to take a pedagogy course / instructing course before actually teaching for them, unless you have prior experience. 

 

I'd be less concerned about the course load and more concerned about the course caps, to be honest. I can handle a couple of courses of 20-30 students, but undergrad courses can be huge in some places...

[toasterazzi]

I'd be less concerned about the course load and more concerned about the course caps, to be honest. I can handle a couple of courses of 20-30 students, but undergrad courses can be huge in some places...

 

This is a really good point. My current program caps our classes at 25, but I know people in other places have to contend which much larger classes.

[shortstack51]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what does 2-2, 2-1, etc. mean?

 

Right now I TA for a course as a part time job ("TA" in a loose sense--I actually just grade the papers). I grade 30 3 page papers a week. It's a bit rough because I also work as a tutor on campus and in the admin. Add a full course load on top of that... I'm actually looking forward to whatever I get from a PhD program because at least it won't be 30-40 hours a week (what I'm doing now--well, what I'm doing when we aren't canceled due to snow)!

 

I know my school's PhD program and a couple of others put grad students into the writing center to start and then have you take pedagogy courses. That seems pretty logical to me.

[mikers86]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what does 2-2, 2-1, etc. mean?

 

# of courses taught per semester. So 2-2 would be 2 in the fall/2 in the spring, or 2 in the fall and 1 in the spring, etc.

Edited February 17, 2014 by mikers86

[rhetoricus aesalon]

For my MA, which is on the quarter system, we do 1-2-1 or 1-1-2 in the first year and the same (adding the option for 2-1-1) in the second.

 

From talking with Ohio State and Wisconsin, they have mentioned their teaching load for PhD programs is 1-1, and fellowships relieve you of that for anywhere from 1-3 years.

 

Something else to keep in mind in how your teaching load (especially if it varies from term to term) affects your stipend pay. For my MA, we are paid significantly less when teaching 1 section vs. the quarter in which we teach 2 sections. This can have a bearing on if you will need to take on a second job or loan money until you make a higher income to offset your initial stipend payments.

Edited February 17, 2014 by Chadillac

[mikers86]

My current MA program is a 1-1, and the PhD follows that also.

[mmorrison]

Does anyone know: what does a 50% appointment equate to in teaching load? I haven't seen anything that specifies 2-2, 1-1, what have you. Just "half-time" and "50%."

[bgguitarist]

Does anyone know: what does a 50% appointment equate to in teaching load? I haven't seen anything that specifies 2-2, 1-1, what have you. Just "half-time" and "50%."

 

The only place I've run into that terminology is the CU Boulder GTF info, which indicates that 50% is a two course load. Not sure if this is true of other places, though.

[Gauche]

Kansas has a 2-2 teaching load with a cap of 20 students per class. We also teach the same class for both sections, which is actually better, in my opinion (especially when you're a first year and you're just experimenting different things to see what works). We're also required to take two additional classes.

[mmorrison]

Well, scratch that question. I just received the official "small print," and it appears that "half-time" or "50%" equates to three sections per year (2-1 or 1-2).

[ComeBackZinc]

Yeah .50 time/.75 time is often a legal definition that state schools are required to use. There tend to be a lot of rules tied up with it-- we can never go over .75 time, which is typical, and I think that federal law says that international students can never exceed .50 time on a student visa. So you have to get a bit creative with your teaching - our freshman comp classes 106 and 106i (international designation) are .50 time; our accelerated comp, 108, is .25; working for the writing lab is .25; teaching oral English skills to grad students is .50; etc.

Edited February 18, 2014 by ComeBackZinc

[jazzyd]

I don't know if there is a standard - it necessarily varies with the size of the school along with of course the program's general philosophy on teaching and commitment to professionalization. My alma mater had English grad students not on fellowship teaching in their first semester, which I have a much better appreciation for now as a grad student myself! But my alma mater is a huge public school. Where I am now is pint-sized in comparison and doesn't need grad students teaching until after they've completed courses.

[hashslinger]

I think 2/2 sounds like a bit much, but the two years of fellowship probably offsets this.

 

I taught 2-1-1 during my MA, and I have to say that I accomplished nothing during the quarter I taught two sections. Might have been a lack of discipline on my part, but 40 students were really a time suck.

 

I don't know if there's such a thing as a "normal" or "standard" load, however. Some schools really shield their grad students from teaching responsibilities. Stanford's website, for instance, says that PhD students only teach four quarters during their entire time in the program. Must be nice!

[purpleperson]

I actually did a 4-4 when I was in my M.A. program (but that wasn't the school's fault.  I had a 2-2 with them and chose -- because I needed the money -- to teach two more classes, besides, each spring, fall, and summer semester at a community college.)  

 

4-4 while in grad school is horrible.  

 

But it has the effect, now, of making a 2-2 seem like child's play to me.  

 

Getting a 1-1 would be magical.  

[Metaellipses]

We have a 1-1 for years 2-4 and years 1, 5, 6 and 7 are fellowship years. Some students apply to teach over the summer though and I've heard of students on external fellowship picking up an instructorship (but it's not recommended).

[ComeBackZinc]

Year 7!  Nice to see that you get that funding. 

Edited February 20, 2014 by ComeBackZinc

[shortstack51]

UConn's seems like a pretty good deal to me. $21k to teach 1-1 (max 22 students) and you only take 2 full credit courses per semester. Considering I've been working 2 other jobs, grading 1-1, and taking 3 courses a semester, that seems like a dream to me.

 

WSU's is ~$14k for 0-2 the first year, then 2-1 or 1-2 the rest of the time. More coursework than UConn--10 courses in 2 years. (I checked the cost of living in Pullman, and it's very very low, which might explain the low stipend.)