GA Handbook
Department of Political Science
Auburn University
Fall 2014
I. What is a GA? GTA/GRA Assignments and Roles
Graduate Teaching Assistants are essential people in the Political Science Department at Auburn University. You’re
essentially the link between a professor and the students. Most of the classes you will be assigned to are too large for a
professor to have sustained one-on-one time with every student. TAs are there to provide students with additional
assistance through regular office hours, supplement lecture material with discussion, and aid professors with the everyday
tasks associated with teaching. More advanced GTAs are assigned their own course to teach. Your job is important and
the faculty in the Political Science Department are entrusting you with part of the responsibility for helping all of our
undergraduates excel in their respective courses. Graduate Research Assistants are also essential. Some of you play this
role in the department. In many cases, you will assist a new, untenured faculty member as they begin teaching their own
courses and begin/sustain the research that will lead toward tenure and promotion. Having a trustworthy research
assistant helps these faculty members succeed. Other RAs work with faculty who may have administrative duties or
special research projects. We cannot fulfill our duties without you.
Your work as a Graduate Assistant is a real job for which you are being paid by the University, and you need to be
scrupulous about fulfilling your part of the employment bargain. This GA Handbook contains information and guidance
specific to the experience of working as a GA for the Department of Political Science. Although much of the information
herein is related to Teaching Assistants, RAs should also be familiar with this handbook as the broader guidelines apply to
you as well. You should also make it a point to familiarize yourself with the information generally applicable to GAs
throughout Auburn University contained in the Graduate Assistant Handbook, which is available on-line at
http://gradweb.duc.auburn.edu/students/grad_assist_guide.html.
Nearly all GAs in this department will normally be on .33 FTE appointments each semester, which means that you are
being paid for 1/3 of a 40-hour work-week, or about 13-15 hours per week, to assist a particular professor in research or
in the conduct of a specified undergraduate class. Note that it is "about" 15 hours. Flexibility is a requirement of being a
GA -- some weeks you may spend more hours on your GA assignment (such as the week of a test) and sometimes less.
Those of you who serve as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), should also be flexible, responsive to your faculty
supervisor, and be prepared to account for the time spent on your work. A GA's responsibilities begin when the GA goes
on the payroll for the semester (usually effective at month’s end or mid-month a few days before classes actually begin)
and end with the day of commencement at the end of the semester (usually one work day or so after the last day of
finals).
Most GTA-ships will involve assisting a full time faculty member who is the instructor of record for the course.
However, experienced GTAs who have an appropriate number of graduate credit hours in the relevant field (no less than
18 semester hours) may sometimes be allowed to assume full responsibility as instructors of record for their own class,
under the more general supervision of the Department Chair and the PhD Director. We regard such teaching experience
as an important aspect of professional training for PhD students who plan to pursue an academic career following
graduation, and we make every effort to see to it that students who are pursuing academic jobs have this opportunity at
least once before graduation, budgetary constraints permitting. However, the opportunity to teach your own course is not
an entitlement, even if you have taught your own course in the past. To give as many qualified graduate students as
possible the opportunity to teach independently, it is usually necessary to rotate even very experienced GAs through the
various kinds of positions. Students who handle a variety of assignments with grace and flexibility fare better than those
who do not.
The Department Chair awards GA-ships to individual graduate students based primarily on the recommendations of the
graduate directors for the MPA and PhD programs (each program has its own primarily merit-based mechanisms for
awarding assistantships). The Department Chair and Graduate Directors assign each GA to a particular professor and/or
course. Avoiding conflicts with the grad student’s own graduate classes is an important criterion for choosing the
undergrad class to which a particular GTA is assigned. Many other criteria related to department needs and individual
student skills are also considered in making these assignments. Graduate student preferences (and faculty preferences)
made known in advance to the Chair and GPOs may also be taken into account as a secondary consideration in making
assignments but should not be considered an entitlement. Few GTAs enjoy early morning or Friday afternoon sections,
but someone has to cover them.
Students are expected to report class conflicts that went unnoticed as soon as the initial assignments are distributed.
Reassignment of GAs early in the semester to correct scheduling conflicts frequently occurs and should be accepted with
a degree of grace. However, unless there is an extreme situation that would be detrimental to the graduate student,
reassignments will NOT occur based on personality conflicts with faculty.
All GAs must be registered for at least one credit hour to hold an assistantship. You must register for this credit hour
BEFORE you can be placed on the payroll as a GA. Failure to meet deadlines for registering or HR employment
paperwork to staff will result in a loss of your assistantship.
Finally, and this is very important, GAs are expected to be full-time students and should not hold other employment while
acting as a GTA or GRA. Your efforts should be focused on your graduate work and finishing your degree. Being a GA
gives you the time to become fully immersed in your work and as a part of an academic unit. You are expected to retain a
presence in the department to help create a vibrant academic environment. You are also to act as a leader and example to
other graduate students.
As of fall 2013, no GA will be allowed to work more than 20 hours for the university, even if you have two GA
assignments in different departments. All students who hold a second assistantship must facilitate communication
between staff in the other departments, and provide each department a memo detailing their assignments and recognizing
the 50% maximum time allocation.
Additionally, MPA students are limited to taking 3 courses a semester while on a Political Science assistantship. They
also may not hold another assistantship that offers a tuition remission at the same time.
II. Continuance of Assistantships
The fact that you have been selected by the Department for an assistantship once is no guarantee that you will continue to
be offered one in the future. Primarily, the number of available assistantships in the department is determined by the
needs (and available finances) of the department. If the needs and finances of the department stay fairly constant, then you
may be considered for reappointment based on the following:
1. All GAs must continue to make good progress toward the successful completion of your degree requirements. In the
past, we have been fairly lenient with this requirement. However, because we award GA spots on the basis of merit and
because we have more students seeking assistantships than spots, maintaining superior course work, passing
comprehensive exams, meeting program timelines and making adequate progress on your dissertation is essential. Failure
to do so will result in the forfeiture of your GA slot.
2. You must register for at least one hour to keep your GAship. It is not the responsibility of the program directors or staff
to make sure you are registered each semester, it is your responsibility.
3. You must have an acceptable performance as a GA to continue. Toward the end of each term, faculty supervisors will
conduct evaluations of graduate assistant performances and will also be called upon to evaluate students’ progress toward
their degrees. Student course evaluations may be conducted for both faculty and GTAs or for the GTAs only. All GTAs
teaching their own courses independently and all GTAs whose duties include leading discussion or recitation sessions
on a regular basis should always arrange with the office staff to administer student course evaluation forms if they
wish to be considered for future employment in the classroom.
4. All GTAs teaching their own course must have at least one scheduled classroom review and written evaluation by a
faculty member, usually your major professor, each semester. Additionally, all GTAs should be aware that they may be
observed at anytime by a faculty member. These visits are meant to provide feedback to you! Although nerve-wracking,
they also give GTA’s the opportunity to shine and provide insight to faculty submitting recommendations for future jobs
and University Teaching Awards. Failure to facilitate these reviews will result in denial of continuation.
5. All GTAs teaching lecture sections for faculty members should also be reviewed once a semester by the Professor of
record for the Course. This should include a visit to your lecture section and feedback to help improve your teaching.
6. All GTAs teaching their own section should also arrange for a review and feedback session with professionals from the
Biggio Center once a year. These sessions are for your benefit, but verification of the session should be sent to your
Program Director.
If you do not follow these guidelines, do not expect to be reconsidered for renewal of your assistantship. In general, an
MPA student may hold an assistantship no longer than 4 semesters. PhD students are limited to a maximum of 8
semesters of assistantship and tuition remission. On a rare basis, contingent on departmental needs and resources, a PhD
student may be able to continue teaching as an “adjunct instructor” after their assistantship is over. However, this is a rare
event. Further, summer teaching is usually not available for PhD students. Depending on needs and skills, however,
some students may have the opportunity to do so if no faculty member is available.
III. Professors and GAs
GAs and their professors have reciprocal professional obligations toward each other that should always be carefully
respected. GTAs need to remember that the professor has the ultimate responsibility for the content and conduct of the
course. Teach what the professor tells you to teach and follow the policy guidelines the professor prescribes. Bring in
additional alternate views where appropriate but do not blithely announce (or even imply by facial expression or gesture)
to the students that the professor is factually wrong or ethically benighted. Nor should the GTA ever do anything else that
would tend to undermine the professor’s professional authority. If a GTA seriously doubts the accuracy or
appropriateness of something the professor has said in class or disagrees with the professor’s views on some controversial
issue, the GTA should talk to the professor about it in private rather than attempt to explain, correct or apologize to the
students for anything the professor may have been understood or misunderstood to have said. Professors have usually
been taken the wrong way before, and they can usually explain in more detail why they said what they said or, if
necessary, correct themselves later after they have misspoken. They may even be willing to acknowledge that there are
other respectable views on the matter than their own! If a GTA believes that some of the students need additional
clarification of lecture material or have special sensitivities that may have been inadvertently offended, the GTA should
bring this situation to the attention of the professor and let him/her address the matter (or instruct the GTA on how to
address the matter).
Professors have an obligation to provide appropriate professional guidance and mentoring for their GTAs in all of
their teaching efforts. Professors have an obligation to ensure that the workload is fairly and equitably shared among
their GTAs and that GTAs are not called upon unfairly to provide more or different services than they are being paid to
render. GTAs who feel that they are being called upon for too much work or for the wrong kind of work or who feel that
their GTA partners are not doing their fair share of the work should first discuss the problem with the other person
concerned, then the GPO and/or the supervising professor. If the other GTA(s) prove uncooperative and the GTA
Coordinator and supervising professor prove unwilling or unable to provide an appropriate remedy to such a grievance,
the aggrieved GTA should bring the matter to the attention of his/her graduate program director and/or the department
Chair. Do not just wait passively until the end of the term before you complain about perceived unfairness or seek relief because by then it will probably be much too late to alleviate the situation.
The same relationship is expected between GRAs and faculty supervisors. GRAs are to make sure that they know exactly
what outputs are expected and how/when to deliver it. Do your research assignments as if they were YOUR OWN. If
you do an excellent job, there is a good chance they very well might become your own as professors may invite you to
coauthor with them.
Constant communication and coordination with your professor and with your fellow GA(s) is a vital part of doing this
job right. In many cases, graduate teaching assistants are grouped in pairs (or even larger groups) working for the same
professor in the same course. We try to pair experienced and new GTAs together so that the latter may learn the ropes
from the former. However, both GTAs in a pairing are equally responsible for the class work. Seniority confers no
exemption from the more tedious aspects of the job, such as copying, tallying the roll and the like. It is important that all
students in all sections of a particular professor’s course be dealt with on a fair and equal basis and in a manner consistent
with the Professor’s policies and guidelines. What gets covered in one section needs to be covered in all the sections if it
is to be part of the course content tested for on the exams. Attendance policies, excused absence policies and make-up
policies should be the same across all of a professor’s sections, regardless of which GTA is conducting them. If the
professor requires the GTAs to provide section participation grades or attendance counts that will go into the students
overall course average, these grades should be arrived at in a similar manner by all of that professor's GTAs (and normally
the overall distribution of section participation grades awarded should be pretty similar for all that professor's GTAs).
The professor should make clear to the GTAs his/her expectations about what they should be doing in discussion sections
and what the basic course policies will be for dealing with the students but if the initial guidance is insufficient in some
areas, the GTAs should ask for clarification and should always coordinate with each other their policies on questionable
or doubtful areas. This is one of the places where communication is crucial.
IV. Tasks of GAs
The exact assignment of a GTA/GRA's duties will vary according to the particular supervising professor's needs and
expectations. For GTAs this might fairly typically work out to about 3 hours per week attending class lectures, 3 hours
per week conducting discussion sections, 3 hours per week preparing for class (doing the readings, thinking up questions
for stimulating discussion, etc.) and the last 4 hours per week holding office hours, copying handouts or exams, grading
tests, meeting with the professor, proctoring make-up exams and performing other course-related services. Most of the
common responsibilities are listed below:
1. One of the GTA's frequent responsibilities is to assist the professor in using the presentation technology that is now
installed in all of the university's large lecture halls. If you are new to a particular TEC classroom, you should visit the
classroom before classes start to familiarize yourself with using the equipment, such as built-in-or wireless
microphones, VCRs, DVD players, podium PCs, overhead projection equipment, and others. You should also become
proficient on i-clickers if necessary and Canvas. If you need assistance, ask one of the more experienced GAs for help.
Also, note that help is available through phone numbers attached to the equipment.
2. One of the main responsibilities of a GTA is assisting with the making, copying, giving, and grading of exams. A
professor might ask you to proof-read an exam and to make an answer key. You will almost certainly be expected to copy
and collate exams, help proctor exams, and take the exams to be graded (if scantrons are used). On some occasions, you
may be asked to administer a quiz or exam while your professor is absent. This is acceptable -- just make sure you are
clear on all directions the Professor has for the exam.
Most professors in our Department use scantrons and you will be responsible for preparing and taking the scantrons for
grading. First, make sure you have a scantron of your own so you can fill in an answer key (which you will receive from
your professor). Next, carefully bubble in the answers to the exam on the answer key scantron. Remember: one wrong
bubble means everyone will get the answer wrong so double check! Now you need to fill in the name, class, etc section.
Put your professor’s name in this section, the appropriate class, etc. You are now going to fill out the bottom part of the
scantron. On the next page of the manual, you will find the codes you need to use. Be sure to do this carefully. Put the
answer key in a big manila envelope with your professors name, class (POLI 1090, etc.), date, telephone number (it can be
your cell), and your office number.
Once the students take the test, be sure to have all scantrons turned the same way. If you do not do this, they will not
grade your scantrons. Next, you will need to take the scantrons over to the IT building. You will see room that says Test
Scoring Services. When you give them the testing materials, they will usually take about five minutes to process.
Seems complicated but you will have the hang of it.
3. Auburn University (and thus this department) has an official policy that student's attendance at class meetings should
be systematically checked and recorded. Some professors are more conscientious about this than others where their
lecture meetings are concerned (ask how roll is to be taken if the information is not volunteered), but all GTAs are
responsible for taking and recording student attendance every week in their small-group discussion sections in some
accurate, contemporaneous and systematic fashion. For the first few meetings, calling the roll orally and ticking off the
names of those present on the class list may be helpful in learning the students' names. (Banner for employees on the Web
enables you to download the i.d. photos of your students, which also helps in identifying who is who). Some professors
use i-clickers for attendance and quizzes. In no case, however, should GTAs rely simply on their memories or vague
impressions of who tends to be there and who does not, but instead they should make and keep a careful contemporaneous
record of those in attendance for every class meeting.
4. Both of the copiers require a bit of instruction to use properly, so you should seek instructions from the office staff on
how to operate them correctly before using them for the first time. Remember the Office Staff is there to assist you, and
they would much rather you ask a question than tear up the copier! However, they are NOT there to make your copies or
do other GA tasks for you. DO NOT make them mad! Please, remember to be respectful, addressing them as Ms. Hodge
or Ms. Arnita, for example.
Rule of thumb: NEVER delay running off copies of an exam until the actual day of the exam's administration nor plan on
doing it outside normal business hours when the office staff are out of the office. Do the copying and collating at least
one day prior to when the material will be needed. As a corollary to the Malevolent Universe Theorem, violation of this
rule of thumb almost invariably causes the copying machine to break down in a way that requires extended professional
servicing to correct! And when you are running off copies of a test to be given, make sure that you make at least as many
copies as there are students registered in the course plus ten or fifteen extras for such contingencies as exam books with
missing or duplicate pages, illegible pages and the like.
GTA's are not to give students the codes for the copy machines and should not allow them to use the copy
machine. Also, if they are using 8 1/2 x 11 paper, the majority of the time you will not have to worry about
adding paper to the copier. The copier is designed to hold six reams of paper in one tray and when that paper is
gone it will automatically feed from another tray. One spring semester someone broke a part off of the copier
trying to add paper when there was paper in the other tray. The new copiers are delicate when it comes to loading
paper; that is why the work studies or staff check the paper tray daily.
Scantron Codes!!!!!!
Test Answer Key Quick Reference
All orange fields must be completed.
Key
Code
|
|
|
|
|
Output
Options
|
|
|
|
|
|
9999
|
1 in E =
Tear-Off
Sheets
1 in F =
Instructor
Summary
1 in G =
Question
Analysis
1 in H =
Test
Statistics
1 in I =
Question
Statistics
Version
of
This
Key
|
|
|
Number
of
Questions
|
|
|
|
Date
of
Test
|
|
|
|
|
NO = Month
PQ = Day
RS = Year
Maximum
Number of
Correct
Responses
for Any
Question*
|
Student
Print
Order
|
|
|
|
Question
Total
Number Deletion
Criteria
of
Versions* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0=
Alpha
by Name
1=
By ID
Number
Blank =
As
received
|
99 =
delete a
question
if all
students
miss it
* The total number of answer keys needed is the maximum number of correct responses (field T) times the total
number of versions (field V).
5. Check your official AU email account at least once (and preferably twice) per business day for urgent messages from
fellow GTAs, your professor or your students. If you are going to be out of town during part of a work week, let your
professor and your fellow GTA know about it in advance. Keep in touch. Checking email is especially important during
test time, when students who are ill will hopefully let you know!
6. If a GTA arrives in the lecture hall at the appointed time for class and the professor is unexpectedly late in arriving,
do not dismiss the class for the first ten minutes. Take charge and ask for questions from the students or review
something while you wait for the professor to show up. Take roll, if that is the professor’s normal practice in lecture.
7. GTAs in this department are responsible for giving make-up exams each Friday at 3. You will each be assigned one
Friday to do your part. The make-up exam schedule will be finalized next week, and if there is a specific Friday that you
already have a prearranged engagement please inform the staff now so they won't schedule you for that Friday. Make-up
exams are given every Friday at 3:00-4:15 p.m. beginning in September. If you are assigned to proctor a make-up exam
please note the date somewhere because this is your responsibility and not the office staff. If you know you can't do it and
there is a conflict, find another GTA to do it for you, and notify us in advance as to what arrangement you made. If you
can't find anybody, we will try to find someone for you.
8. Get along with your office mate or mates! The dept is short of office space for GTAs so we may have to assign at least
three people to an office space if we can't find any other solution. That is why we need office hours as to when you will be
in your office so we can coordinate what office to assign someone to. The GTAs that are in the little offices by themselves
may have to share with another GTA and not be in there at the same time. Do NOT make me "separate you two..."
9. Always plan to do work assigned to you and to do it yourself. (Do not enlist the aid of friends, roommates or
significant others to grade papers, cover your section meetings or run off tests.) In GAing, as in much of life, 75% of the
formula for success is simply being very, very consistent about just showing up on time and fully prepared to do your job.
It is especially important that you always show up clean, sober, sensibly attired and ready to work for all class meetings
and other scheduled work assignments and that you consistently do at least your fair share of the work. It is inappropriate
for a GTA unilaterally to give one or more of his/her discussion groups the day off (or to let a discussion group out early)
without coordinating this in advance with your professor (s). (If you cannot attend a section meeting because of illness or
for some other emergency reason and your partner GTA is unable to cover your class for you, let your professor know
about this as early as possible so that some alternate coverage arrangement can be worked out. Don't EVER just be an
unannounced no-show if there is any choice in the matter at all.)
For GTAs teaching your own sections, you should not, if at all possible, miss any teaching days. Dismissing classes for
conferences, taking comps, the flu, etc, is acceptable. However, if you will have to be absent more than 2-3 times, please
make arrangements with another student/faculty member to teach/cover your course.
As an employee of the University, you acquire certain ethical and legal obligations that you might not have ever
stopped to think about before. Among the most important of the legal obligations is your duty to observe all
relevant University policies protecting the confidentiality of “personally identifiable information” about your
students that you may acquire access to in the course of your duties. There is a federal law known as the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act that mandates some pretty stringent standards, which the University is required to
ensure be observed. For example, it should be pretty clear to you from common sense that you are not to reveal any
particular student’s social security number or grades (or other personal information about his/her academic
performance) to third parties (other than those other university employees clearly authorized to receive such
information in the course of their assigned duties) without the signed written consent of the student involved. But it
might not easily occur to you that the prohibition on unauthorized disclosure of a student’s grades also includes a
ban on disclosure to the student’s own parents – even if the student is still a minor, and even if the parents are paying
the tuition bills! Similarly, personal information about a student’s bodily or mental health issues that might come
your way (in a request for an excused absence, for example) is also to be regarded as highly confidential and not to be
passed outside your chain of command in the absence of written authorization from the student. If you should be
asked for any such personal information about your students by anyone other than your supervising professor or your
department chair, please check first with one or the other of these two people before you make any disclosures. The
rules and regs regarding disclosure are many and complicated. When in doubt, simply politely refer the inquirer to
your supervising professor.
V. GTAs and their students
As we said earlier, you are the connection between the Department of Political Science and the Professor to undergraduate
students. You represent the University, the Department, your Professors, and your Peers. You need to be conscious of
this at all times. At the same time, you are a student yourself, which can make it difficult to navigate your dual roles as
teachers and students. Remember that you are the teacher, the authority, in your role as a GTA. You are the instructor of
students, you are not their friend. This does not mean you have to be obnoxious, but you must remember that you are
there to provide students with appropriate information and to enforce the Professors' policies. You will have to be the
"bad guy" sometimes. For example, no University approved excuse = no make-up exam. "My alarm did not go off" or " I
overslept" = no make-up exam. Of course, use your common-sense about it. But also, remember, if you allow one
student to do it, you must allow all the others. So, don't be a pushover. If in doubt, ask your supervising professor.
On the other hand, you are also not obligated to take abuse from your students. The Tiger Cub has rules about classroom
comportment -- students must adhere to them. Don't allow your students to talk while you are lecturing, talk over you or
others, be rude in class, answer phone calls or text. This is not only rude, it is also disturbing to other students' learning.
Attempt to handle these issues politely but firmly. First, address the entire class if one or two people are talking.
However, if that doesn't work, ask a disruptive student to talk with you after class, telling him or her that their behavior is
unacceptable. If it continues, consult your major professor or the GPO. At the point where you become uncomfortable, it
is time to turn the problem over to someone else. As a last resort, you do have to right to make a very disruptive student
leave the classroom. See the Tiger Cub for examples and policies.
NOTE: the use of technology in the classroom is varied and challenging to control. Unless a student gives you a
legitimate reason in advance to have their cell phone on and/or out (a sick child, military personnel on call, etc), ask that
they be turned off and in their pocket or bag. Texting in class is also rude, disruptive, and inappropriate. If phones are put
away, this should not be a problem. The use of computers in class should be at your discretion. They have legitimate
features and are useful in note-taking. Note, however, that surfing the internet or facebook is rude, disruptive to the
student and others, and inappropriate. One suggestion is to allow the use of computers until someone is caught abusing
the privilege, then ban that student or all students from using computers in class.
Faculty and GTAs should always remember that Auburn University maintains strict policies regarding sexual
harassment and other abuses of official position by university employees at the expense of students and/or other
employees. These policies are detailed in the Tiger Cub, and you should familiarize yourself with them. The Tiger Cub
is viewable on-line through the AU website at http://www.auburn.edu/tigercub/. Also please remember that it is
important that we not only avoid actual abuses but also do our best to protect the name and reputation of the Department
and the University from even the appearance of impropriety. GTAs, like their professors, should avoid entering into any
sort of special relationships with their students outside the classroom that could give rise to even the appearance in the
eyes of third parties either of their taking unfair advantage of their authority or of their granting preferential treatment to a
favored few. Don't date your students. (If it is true love, it can wait until the semester is over and grades have been
finalized!). Don't accept money or expensive gifts from your students. Don't pick special favorites from among your
students or make special accommodations for some of your students that you (and your professor and your GTA partner)
will not stand willing to make for the rest of them under the same circumstances. Don't try to sell things to your students,
or solicit charitable contributions from your students, or request their help in lobbying efforts or election campaigns or
circulation of petitions regarding issues dear to your heart. Avoid the use of coarse, obscene, blasphemous, bigoted or
otherwise gratuitously offensive language in the classroom or while holding office hours, even (or especially!) in jest.
(Your job is to help your students learn, and almost nobody is capable of learning anything that is new or unfamiliar while
they are in an emotional state of intense indignation.) And finally, a note of caution: be very cautious about putting
yourself in potentially compromising or insecure situations that could leave you vulnerable to violence, harassment,
intimidation or blackmail by any of your students - and if any of these rare but real misfortunes occur or seem
imminent, inform appropriate University authorities (your professor, your program director, the department chair)
about the problem without delay. Better safe than sorry. Again, when you become uncomfortable, it is time to talk to
someone else about the issue.
If your professor wants you to hold drop-in office hours for the students, conduct them on campus in an appropriate
location for businesslike conversation (preferably in your office in Haley Center) and at a time of day consistent with
student security in traveling to and from the meeting (normally during AU’s regular business hours of 7:45 AM thru
4:45 PM, unless the course itself meets outside normal business hours). Unless the meeting involves very private
matters where maintaining absolute confidentiality is unusually important, it is normally the best policy to leave the door
of the office at least partially open while meeting with students of either sex. Under no circumstances should a GTA be
meeting with a student in a private residence (including the residence of the student).
The importance of uniform and impartial policies with regard to tests, test security and preparation of students for tests
is absolutely fundamental. GTAs commonly have advance knowledge of what will be on the tests by virtue of assisting
in their composition and in running them off. GTAs have a professional obligation to maintain the confidentiality of the
testing instruments in accordance with their professor's policies. If discussion section meetings are to be devoted to
reviewing or otherwise preparing the students for a test, professors and their GTAs should coordinate in advance just what
they are going to tell (and not tell) the students about the up-coming exam so that all students will be treated equally.
GTAs should seek clarification from their professors as to whether copies of old exams may or may not be shown or given
to the students as part of the test preparation process. If they are to be available to some, they should be made equally
available to all students in the course, regardless of which GTA they happen to have or which section meeting they
happen to attend. If there are to be any special study sessions or review sessions or tutoring sessions conducted by GTAs
outside of regular class meetings or if there are to be test preparation study sheets or handouts, they should be cleared with
the professor and should always be pre-announced so that they will be available to all students in the course, not just some
select group. The same principles apply to any class notes taken by the GTAs during the professor’s lectures: if such
notes are to be made available to students, they should be looked over and approved by the professor and should be made
equally available to all students in every section. If the same class is being taught by the same professor in two lecture
sections, all students in both classes should have similar opportunities for help in preparing for the tests. When GTAs are
conducting any sort of test review, they should make sure the review covers only the material the professor has stipulated.
They should bend over backwards to conduct the review in a manner that not only protects the actual integrity of the
examination but also the reputation of the department and its grading policies. Appearances count too.
In meeting with students during your office hours, you may become aware of situations in a student’s personal life or of
emotional ups and downs that you believe are affecting the student’s performance in the course and that may warrant extra
help and attention. Bring this matter to the attention of the professor or GPO and seek guidance on how to deal with this.
Try to be helpful, but be careful that you do not become too closely involved in a student’s personal life and problems in a
way that leads to ignoring the basic guidelines and requirements for the course. Remember that what may seem to you to
be normal helpfulness to a person in trouble may appear to other students as blatant favoritism. If a student seems to be
having particularly severe emotional or psychological problems, you might discuss with the professor the option of
advising the student to consult the Student Health Service to get a referral for professional counseling. Because it is
possible you may unexpectedly find yourself dealing with especially troubled students some day, it is important that you
be thoroughly familiar with Auburn University’s Emergency and Safety Guidelines from the very beginning of the
semester, which are available on the web at http://www.auburn.edu/emergency .
Also, in the course of your duties as a GTA, you may encounter apparent instances of academic dishonesty on the part of
one or more of your students. The proper handling of such situations on first response is very important. Therefore, you
should begin the semester by familiarizing yourself with University policies regarding academic dishonesty, which are
codified in the Tiger Cub. You may view the Tiger Cub on-line at http://www.auburn.edu/tigercub/ Some general
guidelines include: Discuss the rules about Academic Honesty clearly with your students at your first opportunity,
referring them to the Tiger Cub. Get your professor or another GTA to observe a student's behavior if you suspect
cheating during an exam -- two heads are better than one in this case. Always report the instance to your supervising
professor immediately. Do not confront a student without the supervising professor present. Remember, Dr. Bowling
was a member of the Academic Honesty Committee -- you can always seek her guidance on the process as well.
Generally speaking, the dress code for GTAs is casual business casual. At this point you should be somewhat familiar
with what business casual entails. You may also wear jeans and shorts, but please make sure they look presentable. Jeans
with holes and that are frayed are not appropriate for a professional setting. In addition please do not wear extremely short
shorts, dresses or skirts, t-shirts that may be offensive, midriff bearing shirts, or low cut shirts that might show a student
more than they should see. Generally, old, raggedy flip-flops should not be worn. A good rule of thumb is, "If you
wouldn't be allowed to wear it to high school, don't wear it to class". Although, most of this goes without saying, we have
had issues with some of this in the past. You should always be cognizant of the fact that you are a representative of
Auburn University.
WHEN IN DOUBT ABOUT ANYTHING, ASK!!! Talk to your supervising professor, one of the program chairs,
the Office staff, or more experienced GTAs.
VI. General Information
Office Supplies – The department of political science does have office supplies available. Please take what you need to
do your GTA assignment, and no more! Legal pads, pens, dry erase markers, etc. are all available. There is also a small
supply of scantrons available to make answer keys. If you need something, please ask.
Rolls/Textbooks – Your supervising Professor should either already have you a textbook, or should be able to tell you
how to get one. These should be desk copies (FREE!). You should not have to spend any money on texts for classes you
are teaching. Your supervising Professor or a more experienced GTA should be able to show you how to access the rolls
for class. You may also need to learn to use Blackboard for posting grades. There are typically IT sessions on how to use
Blackboard that you may take from the College if you need to, but it is fairly intuitive.
Students with Disabilities – Some students may bring you a notice from the office of Students with Disabilities.
Depending on your Professor, they may want you to handle these and to help ensure students receive the necessary
accommodations. If the Professor does, then you will want to maintain the privacy of the student, but talk with him or her
to determine the necessary steps you need to take. If a student does not bring a signed form from the Disabilities office,
you should NOT provide any accommodations for the student (some students will try to con you – “I’ll bring it
tomorrow”, etc.) Further, accommodations are not retroactive. If a student comes in halfway through the semester with
an accommodation letter, you do not excuse absences or work done until that point. Finally, remember that most of these
students are trying to learn and work past some disability – they need your attention and assistance.
Student Whining – Let’s get it out of the way – everybody whines! The Professors, you as a student, and definitely your
undergraduate students (many of whom are freshmen). It is going to happen, so be prepared. You must enforce the rules
your Professor or the department/University set. Remember, if you let one student be continually late to class, or turn in
papers late, you must let all the other ones! Again, use your common sense, but make sure that exceptions do not become
the rule! You are not doing your students any favors by allowing them to be rude, disrespectful, lazy, or irresponsible.
They have to learn sometime, and responsibility is an important life lesson.
Couple of tips
An Example of Your First Day of Class:
1. Introduce yourself. Include something interesting about yourself and your academic background. Explain why
you are excited about TAing this particular class.
2. Introduce the class. Explain its place in the curriculum and relate the subject to the real world; preview what the
course is about.
3. Introduce the students to each other. Take attendance and have the students tell something about themselves
(eg., where they are from, what they like to do, favorite movie, etc). Try to start using some of the student’s
names right away. Once you have been assigned a class and have access to Blackboard grade book, you can look
at a picture roll. Print it off and take it with you the first day. You could also have students make a student
information card for your records. Have them write their name, email address, class year, major, where they are
from, an interesting fact, etc.
4. Explain class policies and format. Make sure the students are aware of attendance policies, homework, testing,
quizzes, or anything else they should know about the class you are teaching. It’s always a good idea to have extra
copies of the syllabus on hand for students who added the class late or whatever the case may be.
5. Start into the material. Teach something the first day so that the students get a sense of the subject and your
style.
Effective Communication
How you go about explaining material to your students is among the most important aspects of being a GTA. Their
understanding of concepts will largely come down to how well you communicate with your students. It may be a struggle
initially but with practice you will learn what works best for you and the students. One thing you can do is think about
previous classes you have taken. What worked? What bored you into semi-consciousness?
Here are a few tips:
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Get to know your students. This is particularly true for those of you teaching labs or the actual class. This may not
be feasible if you have 100 or more students, but letting the students know that you want to work with them will
motivate them to work harder.
Make eye contact. This will encourage students to pay attention and is a way to assert authority. If you are
looking at them, they know you know what you are talking about. Along these lines, some of you may be in a
classroom without an overhead and will have to use a chalkboard. Don’t talk to the chalkboard. You will lose
your students’ focus and they may not be able to hear you.
Voice patterns. This is a little advanced for you guys just starting off but think about how painful it is to sit
through an hour of monotone droning. You don’t want to get up there and lecture like you are reading a children’s
book to them but being conscious of your vocal tone is important.
Use visual aids. Most of you will be in a classroom with some type of computer and projector. Use them. Besides
giving the students something to look at and keep their attention, it is a useful tool for you as well. Having a
slideshow or whatever you choose provides an outline of what needs to be discussed for the day. But, like the
chalkboard, don’t talk to the computer; the students should be the focus.
Get your students involved. There is nothing more boring than sitting through an hour long lecture where a
teacher drones on and on. Ask your students open-ended questions or have them bring in newspaper articles that
relate to what you are discussing in lecture. Don’t be afraid to get creative.
GOOD LUCK! And remember, if you have questions, ASK!