Teaching Tips for Graduate School: How to Get Started
It is no secret that many colleges and universities rely on graduate students to (cheaply) teach undergraduate-level courses. Whether you are starting your teaching journey to make some money or to explore your identity as an instructor, teaching as a graduate student has many benefits but can be challenging to navigate. As a graduate student in Social Psychology and a coordinator of the TA Project at Rutgers University– a collaboration of graduate students and administrators that train graduate students on how to get oriented as a graduate student and as an instructor– I consistently come across graduate students from all fields asking: How do I get started with teaching?
First, it is important to acknowledge that teaching may look different depending on your institution, field, or even department. Most graduate students in my department enter with a teaching assistantship. Fellowships and graduate assistantships may also be options for funding but do not typically involve teaching (or assisting) duties, so graduate students in these roles may have more difficulty getting teaching experience. Responsibilities of teaching assistantships can also vary widely. In my program alone, there are generally 3 kinds of teaching assistant (TA) responsibilities:
The grader. This role commonly involves grading assignments, quizzes, tests, or papers for a professor that is instructing the course. The professor may also ask students to provide office hours. This role tends to involve the least amount of teaching; however, it can be a great way to “dip your toes into the teaching pool” (i.e., get started with teaching) by practicing instructing students during office hours or interacting with student questions via assignments or emails.
The recitation leader. In this role, graduate students are responsible for reviewing or extending upon material that was taught in lecture by a professor. Recitations tend to be led independently, but, at least in our department, the professor provides the material that needs to be covered during these sessions. To stick with my previous metaphor, this is more like “getting your feet wet” with instruction. Students may not be able to choose what is being taught or how to structure the course, but they may be able to design slides or other materials for instruction or simply instruct!
The laboratory leader. This is the most independent teaching role in our departments where graduate students teach an already established curriculum, often with resources provided (e.g., syllabus, slides, etc.). Some may think of this as constraining their freedoms in course design; however, I think of it as a good way to get started in teaching with the support of a pre-established course. In this way, graduate students can get some experience with various teaching skills and some flexibility of how and what they teach. While I enjoyed all of these roles, personally, this one tends to take the most time. And time, as we know, is a scarce resource for graduate students.
Since teaching assistantships come in many shapes and forms, they require different time commitments with varying levels of teaching duties and skills all while completing coursework, independent research, mentoring, lab management, etc. Because teaching seems in competition with these other roles graduate students juggle (and because our funding only compensates us 10 months out of the year), graduate students in our program sometimes opt to teach a course as the primary instructor over the summer. (Again, this is institution-specific– you may be able to teach a course during the year or teaching over the summer may not be an option for you. If you’re applying to grad school and interested in teaching, ask about your teaching options!)
When I think of being an instructor, I think of having the opportunity to build a course from scratch. In other words, as the instructor of a course, you have the autonomy and freedom to design the course as you see fit. With great freedom comes great responsibility, and students often start to panic about how to get started. I know trying to put together a course can be overwhelming– from choosing a textbook to developing the syllabus to learning and implementing all the evidence-based pedagogy. As luck may have it, I have a few ideas on how to make this process a little less daunting:
Get started early and slowly. If you have any inkling that you would like to teach a class, get started as early as possible with baby steps. Learning happens incrementally over time, and so does learning how to teach! What are some baby steps for teaching? If you are able to secure a teaching assistantship, taking a “grading TA” position can be a good first step. Then, I recommend working your way up to greater responsibilities in teaching, if available. If those options are not available to you, you can start by taking a closer look at syllabi or course materials from others. Some colleges and universities have a repository of syllabi you could look at in starting to think about what possibilities there are in teaching a course of interest.
From what I have seen, when students jump into a teaching role before taking “baby steps”, they tend to teach like they had been taught. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with that, in my opinion, two things can happen: 1) the format in which you were taught may not transfer well in a new setting, and 2) you may miss out on discovering your teaching philosophy and values.
When I started thinking about how I would teach Health Psychology, I immediately thought of how I was taught this subject that I fell in love with. However, I went to a small liberal arts college and took this class with perhaps a dozen other seniors majoring in Psychology. At Rutgers, undergraduates taking this course were not Psychology majors, were not all seniors, and were more diverse in every sense of the word. Moreover, I had to teach this course as an accelerated 6-week course, rather than the traditional 12-15 weeks. Even if I wanted to implement the same curriculum and assessments that I went through as an undergraduate student, it would not be appropriate or perhaps even possible for this audience and format.
Since I took some of those introductory steps for teaching, I was able to take a step back in the course creation process and ask myself: What do I want students to say about this course? What do I want students to say about my instruction? These questions guided me through the instructor I wanted to be and how I could develop the course to best benefit my students.
Know your resources. There may be an educational development center as part of the academic affairs office on your campus. These kinds of centers may offer one-on-one coaching, workshops, certificates in teaching, etc. for teaching faculty, often including graduate students. It may be less likely that you have graduate student-specific training for novice instructors. At Rutgers University, graduate student coordinators of the TA Project (like me) develop and lead TA orientation, 0-credit courses on college teaching, workshops, and certificates. We also pair with the teaching with technology center to offer workshops and certificates on technology in the classroom.
Don’t have access to those resources? Perhaps your education department or a nearby school does. It may be worthwhile to look into courses in other departments or nearby schools for an Introduction to College Teaching course. You may even be able to get course credit for these or secure professional development funding to take a useful course at a different school, which are more accolades for you and your dedication to teaching! If those are not viable options, feel free to look into books on teaching (See APA’s College Teaching book), check out EventBrite, UDemy, or other sites that feature workshops, classes, or collections that are free or otherwise more affordable than taking a course at a university.
Ask for help. There is something about the learn-it-yourself culture of academia that leads us to think asking for help is a weakness. I am here to tell you that it is a strength. You can ask your advisor or other graduate students in your department for guidance, resources, or even a peer observation of your teaching. It is not too forward to ask someone if they would mind sharing their teaching materials. You may be surprised at how many instructors, professors and graduate students alike, felt lost at the beginning of their teaching journey and wished someone would have volunteered their materials. They may be willing to share their resources or at least discuss teaching with you because they want to make things easier or more welcoming for incoming instructors. That said, some people can be protective of their materials because they take so long to create, so give them a way to say no if they are uncomfortable with doing so… but ask anyway.
Adopt a growth mindset for your instructor persona. Recognize that no one has an innate ability to teach– this is a skill that grows with time and effort. Developing your own course takes months of incremental progress, and there can be a lot of second-guessing yourself and your decisions in that process– that’s normal. There is no perfect formula for designing a course. You design a course based on who you are teaching, what you want them to learn, and who you are as an instructor. All of those factors can change over time. Even when you establish your course and teach it for the first time, you will notice things do not always go the way you planned– that’s normal, too. When you take the time to note those discrepancies and are attentive to student feedback, you can make your course and your teaching stronger with each iteration of the course. Moreover, adopting a growth mindset about your abilities and knowledge models a growth mindset for your students, which can foster belonging and engagement in your students!
All in all, there is no “right” way to get started teaching. However, if you start with “baby steps” and slow progression, it may help you to be more confident and less overwhelmed when you decide you are ready to teach a course as the primary instructor. Whatever path you choose, I encourage you to give yourself grace as you build your teaching philosophy and skills!
About the Author
Maggie Albright-Pierce (she/her) is a PhD student at Rutgers University. She is a teaching assistant, instructor, coordinator of the TA Project, Rutgers Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (RASTL) fellow, dedicated Social Area Diversity and Climate Committee member, and stress and self-regulation researcher. Maggie is an avid believer in work-life balance, and (even though she struggles to find that balance during grad school) in her spare time you can find her at the gym teaching dance-fitness-fusion classes or on the couch watching Netflix with her partner and corgi.
