Teaching Assistantships

Funding for IGG students can vary quarterly and comes from two primary sources - Graduate Student Researcher position (GSR) or an Academic Student Employment position (ASE). ASE positions are focused around teaching and academic support, such as Teaching Assistants, Associates In _, and Reader or Tutor positions. Find general forms for contracts here.

The amount of time you will have to devote to your research and dissertation progress will vary greatly between these two - as an ASE you are being employed by the university to teach and complete your research on the side, while under a GSR position you are paid to focus on your research. For this reason, you should consider the amount of teaching that would most benefit your choice of post-graduate career.

While IGG requires PhD students to complete at least one quarter of teaching before you take your qualifying exam, some students may find themselves teaching additional quarters due to funding agreements in their labs or to gain additional experience. Before you begin teaching, you should know what to expect from a TAship.

KNOW THE EXPECTATIONS

Balancing your research and teaching expectations can be a challenge. Faculty will require lots of support to teach classes while your PI will expect you to be protective of your time so you can continue to progress in your research. Its important to clearly discuss what your tasks and expectations will be with your supervisor at the start of the quarter.

Under the employment agreement between the University and the UC-Student Workers Union (UAW 2865), Teaching Assistants with 50% appointment cannot exceed the quarterly maximum of 220 hours (Article 31 of the Academic Student Employment Contract)

The quarterly maximum number of hours scales with the % appointment (e.g. the quarterly max is 110 hours for a 25% appointment).

Regardless of the % appointment, TA’s

• Cannot work more than 40 hours/week

• Cannot work more than 8 hours/day

• Cannot work in excess of 20 hours/week for more than 50 hours/quarter.

Readers and tutors are compensated on an hourly basis.

• They cannot be assigned a workload of more than 40 hours in any one week

• They cannot be assigned to work more than eight (8) hours in any one day.

TAs should initiate discussions with their supervisor as soon as they anticipate any workload related issues that would result in a violation of the above. But supervisors should proactively communicate with their TAs their expectations (within the maxima listed above) for the rest of the quarter and confirm those in writing.

The Teaching Assistant is also not responsible for the instructional content of a course, for selection of student assignments, for planning of examinations, or for determining the term grade for students. The Teaching Assistant is responsible for the conduct of recitation, laboratory, or quiz sections under the active direction and supervision of a regular member of the faculty to whom final responsibility for the course's entire instruction, including the performance of Teaching Assistants, has been assigned.

EFFECTIVE TEACHING

Before you can TA, you are required to take the universities' TA Orientation, which occurs at the beginning of the school year in the fall. This orientation has uses exercises focused on improving class participation, fielding questions appropriately and offers strategies to make your classroom a more welcoming and inclusive environment.

The university has also created a TA's Guide to Effective Teaching, which aims to clarify your role and responsibilities as a TA at UC Davis, offer you concrete strategies to support diverse student populations and guide your lesson planning and course structure, demonstrate the benefits of on-going, consistent, and meaningful feedback and introduce you to campus resources available for TAs and students.

Visit the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) for resources, workshops, consultations, program assessments and more! The TA Consulting Program (https://tinyurl.com/ucd-tac) offers drop-in consultation hours for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. You can also to talk with a TA Consulting (TAC) Program Fellow directly, no appointment necessary. Together they offer assistance on topics as wide ranging from grading efficiently and equitably to supporting transfer students to creating a digital classroom! Find the CEE calendar here.

Partnering with the Student Health and Counseling Services, the CEE established the TA Well-Being Program which provides TAs with a network for support, resources for the well-being of TAs and their students, learn tools for creating conditions for well-being within labs and classrooms, and more. The program is flexible and TAs can participate as much, or as little, as their schedule permits. To join the TA Well-Being Program, click here.