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Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]

Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.

191 votes
18 answers
56k views

What to do with a student coming to class in revealing clothing, to the degree that it disrupts the teaching environment?

Since semester started, a female student has been attending classes scantily clad or wearing clothes that are too revealing, like a sport bra without shirt on top, booty shorts, semitransparent silk ...
user avatar
191 votes
11 answers
32k views

How to deal with a student who most likely has a mental condition, and keeps arguing with me in class?

I am a TA for an introductory computer programming course at a university in the US. There is one student in particular who, during lecture, will argue with me about every point I make, which eats up ...
homersimpson's user avatar
  • 1,691
159 votes
9 answers
22k views

Prof's neurological health is declining rapidly. What can I (TA) do?

I'm a law student acting as a teaching assistant/fellow for a tenured and notable law professor. Between last year when I took the course myself and now when I am a TA/TF, his mental acuity and health ...
Anonymous's user avatar
  • 1,572
103 votes
20 answers
30k views

Professor does not care about cheating, what should TA do?

I am a PhD student, working as a Homework marking TA in a school where cheating is extremely blatant. The university has an extremely strict policy against cheating. Hundreds of students in math ...
Radiant Dawn's user avatar
96 votes
11 answers
40k views

"You are paid to answer my questions!" - how to handle silly questions?

How do I handle silly questions? By silly, I mean questions that are unrelated to the material of the course. First, I am a TA. Recently, a student asked me a very silly question at the end of a lab ...
AJed's user avatar
  • 3,488
91 votes
10 answers
38k views

Is it ethical to tell my teaching assistant that I like him?

I, a twenty-year-old female, have come to admire the graduate teaching assistant for my summer course quite strongly. I'm extremely interested in what he has to say, I always pay attention, never use ...
apollogie's user avatar
  • 971
90 votes
12 answers
19k views

Should I tell students that it's my first time teaching the course?

I'm a TA teaching a class this fall for the first time. I've taught before, but never this class, and never felt an obligation to tell my students it's my first time teaching a given class. But, ...
bcf's user avatar
  • 1,113
89 votes
17 answers
22k views

As a TA, how to react if I come across a Facebook group in which students insult me?

I am a PhD student in Europe and also TA for some bachelor's degree classes for my supervisor. Just by chance, I have found an open Facebook group (normally, the group aims to create an interaction ...
optimal control's user avatar
88 votes
4 answers
9k views

Strategies for teaching with facial aphasia (inability to recognize faces aka prosopagnosia, face-blindness)

I'm a math grad student in my first year, which means that I have not yet taught a class (in my program first years grade or provide one-on-one tutoring for students who struggle in calculus). I have ...
user141592's user avatar
  • 8,347
80 votes
7 answers
14k views

Can't prepare lesson material. Should I cancel class?

I'm a grad student teaching assistant for a freshmen undergrad non major multivariable calculus class. What they didn't tell me is that the second half of the semester is not calculus but "finite ...
user71118's user avatar
  • 681
79 votes
12 answers
23k views

My math students consider me a harsh grader. Is my teaching attitude wrong?

I am a math major grad student at a big public school, and we need to do TA every semester. I got assigned to lower level classes last couple semesters, and it's been quite difficult for me. Even ...
initial_D's user avatar
  • 1,620
75 votes
11 answers
17k views

Should I reward points for an incorrect answer if it is the result of misinformation presented in a TA's office hours?

So a TA came to me asking for advice. He gave wrong information in office hours leading a student to a wrong answer. The TA showed the student how to solve the problem via the wrong statistical test ...
WetlabStudent's user avatar
73 votes
7 answers
12k views

How to care less about teaching?

Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total. I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have ...
dedekindpoetssociety's user avatar
71 votes
7 answers
35k views

What negative consequences could there be from dating a former student (as a young academic)?

Here's the situation: She was an undergrad, I was a grad TA. At that point, our interactions were totally professional and limited to the classroom. However, she and I both since graduated and left ...
user99632's user avatar
  • 665
70 votes
14 answers
20k views

How to deal with students staying hours past the end of office hours?

Background: I am a fourth year math graduate student working as a TA for an introduction to proofs course with a focus on analysis. I really enjoy the teaching component of my position as a graduate ...
AegisCruiser's user avatar
  • 4,527

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