Studying at this large university with over 24,000 undergraduates is a rewarding and challenging experience. To personalize your learning through smaller groups of students and one-on-one assistance, the faculty are assisted by teaching assistants (known as TAs). TAs provide an effective link between you and a faculty member. This guide is designed to introduce you to the role of TAs and to identify ways you can work with them to enhance your classroom learning.

TAs are graduate students who, while pursuing an advanced degree, are employed part-time by the UW to carry out various teaching responsibilities. You may be instructed by a TA when you are enrolled in a discussion or quiz section, a laboratory, a review session, or a large lecture course with office hours. In some departments TAs have full responsibility for a course. Departments award TA positions on the basis of outstanding academic abilities and potential for success in teaching.

The UW is committed to helping TAs prepare for their teaching responsibilities. The training begins with a University-wide orientation and continues with ongoing department-based programs. In addition, the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) offers consultation services to individual TAs throughout the year and assists them in their efforts to be effective classroom instructors.

TAs work hard to be effective instructors, and many of them plan to become the professors of tomorrow. They look forward to assisting you in your studies. Each year, the University honors two TAs who have shown evidence of exceptional teaching ability with the Excellence in Teaching Award. You can nominate a TA for this award. For announcements, look in The Daily in January.

The UW is widely recognized for its role as a leading center of international teaching, learning, and research. Located halfway between Tokyo and London, Seattle lies at vital crossroads in international affairs. The UW attracts talented individuals from around the world, and thus offers students the unique opportunity to interact with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. About 220 of the University's 1420 TAs are international students. These international TAs represent 35 countries and provinces from around the globe (e.g., Australia, Germany, India, Japan, and the People's Republic of China), and they have distinguished themselves as the most talented students in their countries.

The experience of interacting with someone from another culture can be both stimulating and challenging. Differences in language, in educational and cultural background, may present challenges in the classroom for students and TAs. To respond to such challenges, both you and the TA can share responsibility for learning by working together in the classroom.

Communication is central to human activity and essential to teaching and learning. Classroom communication strategies are ways to use communication to facilitate your learning process.

Students who say they have benefited most from their TAs emphasize that they attend class regularly, ask questions during class and in office hours, keep up with the readings, and discuss the course content with their classmates. They also have found the following strategies helpful in enhancing their learning and in establishing successful classroom communication with TAs and professors.

Think of your TA as a resource. Go to her/him throughout the quarter to hear her/his perspectives on the subject and to develop your own through dialogue. Stop by during your TA's office hours to clarify questions or difficulties early in the quarter.

Ask your TA to share something about her/his academic background with the students. You might say, "Could you tell us why you chose to study at the UW?" "What's it like to really work in a radio station?" Such questions create an opportunity for you to learn more about a specific subject area and the University of Washington.

Utilize your TA's knowledge of the subject area. Find out more about other courses in a certain discipline that you might want to take.

Be specific in your questions to help the TA identify your difficulties. For instance, instead of asking, "What did you say?" try, "Could you please repeat the elements of classical conditioning?" Or you might say, "I'm still not sure I understand how the computer languages COBAL and FORTRAN differ? Could you remind me of the difference again?"

Restate what you heard your TA say and rephrase what you thought it meant. You might say, "As I understand it, you're saying that plants produce oxygen and carbohydrates. Is that right?"

Rephrase your question or comment rather than simply repeating it. For example, "How'd you do that problem?" might be rephrased as, "I was with you till you started working on step 4 of the problem. How did you move from step 3 to step 4?"

hours are an extension of the classroom and one of the places where you will receive personal, one-on-one instruction. You might feel you need to have a specific problem to justify going to office hours, but office hours give you an opportunity to discuss and explore a subject in more detail.

• Ask your TA for another appointment time if you have a schedule conflict with the TA's scheduled office hour.
• Make a list of the ideas/concepts that you would like to discuss or find challenging. Bring it with you when you meet with your TA so both of you have something to begin with and refer to.
• Inform your TA about the purpose for your office hour visit. You might say, "I stopped by to get some ideas for my essay. What topics would work?" Or, "I have a hard time solving equations. Could you explain to me how . . . ?"
• Show your TA how you have tried to solve a problem, or answer an essay question, or conduct an experiment so that she/he can follow your thoughts and identify where you had difficulties.
• Ask your TA questions while she/he is giving explanations. This will help you reveal the TA's thinking, and the TA's approach toward solving a problem, understanding a concept, or conducting an experiment. You might say, "What do you keep in mind when you're trying to determine the equilibrium price?"

If you experience difficulties in the course, your TA wants to know about them and wants to work them out with you. Talk to your TA right away. Explain your difficulties in a manner comfortable for both of you and stay on a professional, objective level. Most difficulties can be easily resolved in speaking with your TA.

If you cannot resolve your difficulties by first talking to the TA, several individuals in the department are there to help you: the lead TA, the supervising faculty member, the departmental academic advisor, the department chair.

Should you continue to have difficulties and feel the need to communicate your concerns, please call 543-5900. The Graduate School will treat your call confidentially and will work with you to help you resolve your concerns.

The Graduate School sets policy with respect to the training of TAs as well as the English language competence of international TAs and approves variations from the policy.