The Teaching Assistants' Training Program (TATP) is a peer-training program for currently registered students who will be working as teaching assistants for University of Toronto courses. Students need not necessarily hold a teaching appointment in order to participate in TATP programming.
The office seeks to prepare graduate students and those undergraduate students working as TAs for the realities and demands of teaching, as well as provide a peer-based support network. As such, it can be seen as an essential step in the professional development of graduate students intending to pursue careers in academe. Look for new seminars and workshops - for new and returning TAs who already have teaching experience - throughout the year!
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TATP: Syllabus Clinic
Friday, March 30 from 10:00am-12:00pm
(Re)Designing Your Syllabus as a Learning Tool
Building on the overview of syllabus design provided in the TATP workshop, “Making Your Syllabus Work for You and Your Students,” this clinic will give participants to work in small groups to review and assess each other’s syllabi (see below for instructions). TATP facilitators will circulate to provide additional guidance and feedback. Time will be given in the session to make changes to your syllabus based on participant feedback. Again, this session targets experienced TAs who will be working as Course Instructors.
As a participant in this clinic, you are required to bring to the clinic one of the following documents:
* A proposed course syllabus for a new course you would like to teach one day;
OR
* A course syllabus for an existing U of T course (if you are bringing in a syllabus for an existing course in a University of Toronto department, you MUST have the Course Coordinator’s express permission to use this document in this clinic).
The aim of the clinic is to have each participant leave with a well-developed or revised syllabus, so participants without a document to work from will not be admitted to the clinic.
TATP: Teaching in the Field
Tuesday, April 3 from 10:00am-12:00pm
Field and community-based teaching experience is a growing dynamic of undergraduate instruction. This workshop is designed to explore questions and problems encountered in teaching courses with field and/or community-based components. These courses can take many forms from research methodologies to service/community-based learning to field schools found in almost every discipline. This workshop will introduce teaching assistants to some of the theory behind field and community-based learning, to strategies for ensuring effective instruction as well as to address logistical and ethical concerns that arise in these environments.