Teaching assistants crucial to performance of MSU
(Last updated: 10/14/09 8:31pm)The recent articles about “untracked” teaching assistants, or TAs, on campus missed the larger picture. Heather Guenther and the State News editorial board emphasize the lack of centrally-tracked data about TAs on campus but ignore both the localized relationships between TAs and their faculty of record (or “mentors” as Guenther calls them) as well as the unique advantages offered by TA-taught courses.
TAs do one-third of the teaching on this campus and two-thirds of the grading. The Graduate Employees Union, or GEU, agrees that advanced training opportunities are essential for TAs and are in the best interests of graduate students and undergraduates alike.
To this end, we fought extensively for — and won — increased professional development for our members during our last bargaining cycle. This means every single teaching assistant on campus must be offered training for the particular course they teach, both at the start of and throughout the semester.
Our contract also requires each teaching assistant be observed by a faculty supervisor each semester and given a formal written evaluation, to be placed in each TA’s employment file.
That the university was hesitant to commit itself to continuous professional development at the level of the department was as surprising to us as it will be to most undergraduates reading this, but we understand it is in the interests of all students at MSU that we be trained properly for our jobs.
Finally, it is important to recognize that graduate students are qualified to teach in their field. These are individuals who have had to complete a degree (often multiple degrees), apply and be accepted to a highly competitive institution and then apply each semester for a limited number of teaching positions in their department.
Believe it or not, the university continuously employs undergraduate teaching assistants in order to undercut the already low salaries paid to graduate assistants.
Who would you rather have leading you in the classroom: your dorm mate or an instructor with qualifications, passion for the field and direct departmental supervision? Which would you rather have for your next IAH course: a 300-person lecture hall led by a full professor but with outsourced grading and instruction by iClicker, or a 30-person section in which a TA leads debate and discussion and provides personal and extensive feedback on writing and critical thinking skills?
As we like to say at the GEU, our working conditions are your learning conditions. Just as we are beginning to learn that living conditions, including physical and social necessities, have a direct effect on early education, we believe that those who teach undergraduates, whether tenured faculty, nontenured faculty or graduate students, must have guaranteed basic rights (including adequate health care, proper training and access to resources necessary to do our jobs) in order to perform most effectively.
In order for MSU to remain a top institution, it is essential that administrators work to ensure undergraduates and graduate students have the best training and resources possible as they complete their degrees.
Elizabeth M. Pellerito
graduate student and president of the Graduate Employees Union
Originally Published: 10/14/09 8:31pm
Robert Hoard
10/15/09 10:59am“Finally, it is important to recognize that graduate students…”
EXACTLY CORRECT! It is important to recognize you are still a student! Operative word there…student. You are given the privilege to act as a teaching assistant and all you do is complain. Get over yourself and realize you are still a student, that is providing a service, that in most cases can be provided by another student with lesser qualifications.
"just a student"
10/15/09 6:36pmGraduate students are more than students but less than professors. Medical doctors are considered REAL doctors even while they are still in school—Elizabeth points out that our relationship to our work is likewise worthy of professional definition. Grad students are often treated as “just students” but the reality is that we do work as well. We are both employees AND students. This is not due to some benevolent wish-granting university, but an employer/employee contract. We deserve fair compensation and rights under that contract—even though we happen to be students at the same time.
Elizabeth M. Pellerito is a idiot
10/16/09 11:28amThis is why I hate TAs, they are convinced they are great teachers, but most I have had are awful. They mean well but can’t sub a TA for a professor with years of teaching experience and now they want more. YOU ARE STUDENTS, if you are not satisfied with pay and benefits not to mention many of you have tuition waivers, then go get a job off campus and see what you’ll get from them you greedy sorry excuses for instructors.
...View full comment »
MSU 2008
10/16/09 11:46amAgree with Elizabeth M. Pellerito is a “idiot”…
Having done my undergrad at MSU now a grad student at Purdue, I do notice MSU does over use TAs. TAs at Purdue (me being on of them) are usually limited to graders, lab instructors or recitations leaders. Rarely the primary instructor. Only about 3% of classes at Purdue are taught by non-faculty and those are always PhD candidates who have been teaching for years.
...View full comment »
Purdue?
10/16/09 2:46pmKate, I’m wondering how you got accepted to Purdue with such terrible spelling and grammar skills. “Us” grad students? “A amateur” teaching role? “Over use”?
Perhaps you should have paid more attention in your TA-taught English courses at MSU.
GradStudent
10/16/09 3:38pmWhat Kate, Robert, and “Idiot” don’t seem to understand is that pre-professionalization is a part of the graduate experience. A professor fresh out of school with no teaching experience is an ugly sight.
Furthermore, Grad students are eminently qualified to teach — we all have Bachelor’s degrees, and many of us also have our Master’s degrees. I have both, making me qualified to teach the lower-level courses for which graduate instructors are eligible, so the idea that graduate instructors are compromising the quality of education at MSU is completely absurd.
...View full comment »
Dave
10/18/09 2:04pmGradStudent,
Having a BS or MS in your field doesn’t make you qualified to teach it. Knowing the material and teaching it are 2 different things. Teaching is more of a art and it takes years to actually become a effective teacher.
Funny most high schools are more selective when it comes to instructors. My high school required of course a BS, 100 hours of student teaching, a license by the state of Illinois and the new hire would have to shadow a faculty member in their department for a entire school year then upon completing that, he or she would need a vote of confidence by the department faculty before he or she wasn’t given a full time teaching roll.
...View full comment »
Re: Purdue
10/18/09 2:22pmEnglish is my 4th language (that means I’m fluent in 4 languages, you?). German being my first. I would love to see you go to Germany, learn German, then enroll in a University earn a electrical engineering degree in which all courses are taught in German. Then graduate near the top of your class and then get admitted to and enroll in a top engineering school for grad school… When you can even come close to doing that, then you can tell me about my grammar.
Kate
Jake
10/18/09 7:17pmI would high five Kate if I could… Kate, as you may know there are many ignorant idiots at MSU so take those comments with a grain of salt.
This is a blog, who even cares about proper grammar, the idea is to allow people to share their thoughts and opinions. The english doesn’t have to be perfect, just has to be understandable.
Robert Hoard
10/19/09 10:17amGrad Student…utter immaturity? You sound like a child who didn’t get to pick out the toy they wanted from the store. You want better benefits, better salary? Get a real job. You are disposable and expendable. There are an overabundance of people like you with a B.A. and a M.S. You are not uniquely qualified. You are pretty darn average. Your attempt to make yourself sound more important than you really are is the real mark of immaturity.
...View full comment »
Rich
10/19/09 1:47pmLike we teachers say “if you can’t do it, teach it”
What a Joke
10/19/09 4:38pm“a 300-person lecture hall led by a full professor but with outsourced grading and instruction by iClicker, or a 30-person section in which a TA leads debate and discussion and provides personal and extensive feedback on writing and critical thinking skills?”…
what a joke, most of my class time with TAs is awkward silence or the TA saying “hmmm, not sure, will get back to you”… this elizabeth person lives in La La Land.
Post Doc
10/19/09 7:12pmRobert – I am sorry you could not get into grad school but that is no reason to rant against graduate students who are more than qualified to teach you IAH. Don’t let that chip on your shoulder weigh you down too much.
Whoopee
10/19/09 11:09pmClearly, Kate is very proud of herself.
Neal
10/20/09 2:06amI would be proud of myself if I could do what Kate did. English is my first language and barely get B’s and C’s in my engineering classes.
Lots of hate in this blog, everyone just needs to relax. TAs can be seen as a good thing and also can be seen as a bag thing. Its in the eye of the beholder.
Robert Hoard
10/20/09 12:06pmPost Doc…
There are a few letters that follow my Name. The last two are JD. I couldn’t get into gradschool…that’s funny. Call me when you get your next DUI.
Also, because I have a BA and a JD that must make me qualified teach anything I want.
Further, why don’t you use your name when you comment? If you have a valid point why are you afraid to say who you are? I at least credit the author of this article with having the guts to put their name on it. You can’t even do that on one comment. More than likely, it is because you aren’t a post doc at all, just a whiney grad student with no backbone.
Jason 2010
10/20/09 1:24pmGood thing about having TAs they are a lot more lax on grades and more willing to change grades. I think most TAs know they are not exactly good instructors so they in a sense make up for it with the grading which is good for us students. Lets face it, this is MSU, most of us are here to get the grades and if learning happens along the way, great, but learning is not a priority to most undergrads.
...View full comment »
KJ
10/20/09 1:37pm“These are individuals who have had to complete a degree (often multiple degrees), apply and be accepted to a highly competitive institution and then apply each semester for a limited number of teaching positions in their department.”
funny, didn’t know MSU was considered highly competitive given over 75% of applicants are admitted. The least selective school in the Big Ten.
Pellerito’s definition of highly competitive is very skewed.
Andrew
10/20/09 6:49pmKJ- I’m guessing your figure of 75% is for undergraduate admissions, or an aggregate of undergrad and grad. I’m fairly certain that MSU has a number of graduate programs (physics, education, to name a few off the top of my head) which are more ‘competitive’ than that, if admissions rates are what you are using as your metric…
Post Doc
10/21/09 1:15amJD huh? Well done Robert, but law school is not grad school – it is less competitive and far easier to get into – don’t congratulate yourself too much.
I have never had a DUI nor will I ever get one – but thanks for the offer.
Like a lot of law students I am guessing grad schools turned you down so you took the easy option – but once again I will reiterate that that is no reason to rally against grad students who are simply trying to make a living and learn their trade.
Take it easy!
RD3000
10/21/09 10:13amIn my opinion, often times TAs are better than some professors. A large number profs are least interested in teaching and more towards research (if someone is a mediocre teacher but brings in loads of grant money, then that person is more likely to get tenure than somene who is primarily focused on teaching alone). If someone wants profs teaching then I think a 4-year college is best suited. Also, I think TAs can relate to an undergrad student more than a professor because they are one themselves not too long ago. Of course there are language barriers and other possible negativities but belittling grad students isn’t fair, I think.
Kailey
10/21/09 12:29pmLike Jason said, TAs are good when you want the better grades since they are more lenient on grades and tend to change them more often.
TAs are not good if you actually want to learn the material since most TAs have no real world experience where they can demonstrate or discuss where the material is used in the real world. All they can do is repeat what text books and lecture slides say.
...View full comment »