Over 200 UWindsor students and staff registered for this year’s GATAcademy, and from the looks of things, we had a good turnout. Not that we have to tell you, because you were there, right?
Good. And hopefully you learned lots of fantastic things and made lots of new connections that will propel you on the path to successful graduate and teaching assistantships.
But sometimes, after the glow of the first week of school wears off, we tend to lose all that ambition we had when we were talking about goals and development and “being all that we can be (as student teachers)”. Because development is part of an ongoing cycle, proper development should never really stop. That said, if you can’t attend a GATAcademy every week, how can you get your development in?
Cynthia Korpan, chair of the Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Advancement (TAGSA) group, has developed a framework that identifies four pillars/actions of a GA/TA’s development: reflection, knowledge, skills, and ability. As a good motivator, you might ask your self: “Where am I in the cycle today? Which pillar(s) do my actions represent?”
Framework for Teaching Assistant Competency Development
Now What?
Looking for more GA/TA development opportunities at UWindsor? This list from the Centre for Teaching and Learning is a good place to start:
