You have been recommended to be a Teaching Assistant for the Fall CALS 001 and CALS 183 classes.  We are seeking 36 upper-class students in CALS who are interested in co-teaching a lab section that includes oral and written communication skills, and public speaking.  The students will be first-year CALS students (CALS 001), and students who have transferred into CALS (sophomores through Seniors for CALS 183).

This is a sample of what previous Teaching Assistants have said about their students and their experience as TAs:

• Looking back I can honestly say that I had the best group possible.  They care for each other.  They have made friends inside the group...Each and every single one of them has the desire, the drive, and the ability to succeed.  
• I have to admit I have had a great time with them and this class in particular...I feel that I certainly have benefited from the experience and I am grateful for the opportunity... I believe the benefit of Foundations is not in the computer work, paper writing, or listening to the speakers, but is in the personal confidence which students gain that allows them to be comfortable at UVM and hopefully not just to stay but also to succeed.  That is what I gained from being both a student and a TA in Foundations.
• My best experience as a TA was being able to read my students' online discussion journals.  To think that they would let me read such personal things was amazing.  It showed me that I was in a position where I could really affect these students positively.
• I learned how to find a balance between being an authority figure and a friend to my students.
• My best experiences have been in seeing how the students relate to me in different situations.  They confide in me like a friend and respect me as a teacher.  This has taught me that interaction with students can be rewarding.
• This role has taught me how to be patient with others, yet firm and responsible.
• I made friends with my group members.  They are insightful, caring people who I believe I can count on and trust.  To lead is sometimes to follow!
• This experience has taught me that even that person who you have just about given up on can somehow always turn around!  It has also taught me to have faith in the students coming in--they are a good group with a lot of motivation when they get in the groove of things.

TA's are responsible for co-teaching a 20-student lab section of CALS students that meets once a week.  Each lab section will have two co-TA's.  Lab sections are listed here.  In addition, TA's are required to enroll in CALS 125, a 3-credit TA Leadership Development seminar that meets in two sections on Thursdays from 5:30-7:00pm.  It is in these Thursday night classes that we will go over what needs to be accomplished in lab the following week.

TA Expectations:

TA's are given a lot of responsibility.  Helping First-year students adjust to college life, and teaching, are not easy jobs.  TA's help to facilitate the intellectual and social growth of their First-Year students as well as teach the oral and written communication skills, and information technology skills, that will help them succeed at UVM and beyond.  This is done by creating a safe and open environment for discussion of intellectual and (sometimes) personal and sensitive issues as well leading students through examples of assignments that they must complete.  Perhaps, most importantly, you, as a Foundations TA, will be viewed as a mentor and role model by your First-Year students.

Our responsibility is to prepare you for this challenge.  We do this through meeting every week on Thursday evening to go over the following week's lab material, and to resolve problems and issues in each group.

TA Qualities:

These are the qualities that we expect a TA to possess:

• Leadership and Maturity--the ability to facilitate, listen to and guide group members
• Commitment--to the Foundations class goals and objectives (see as an example, the Fall 2010 syllabus: Fall 2010 Foundations: Communication Methods )
• Mentorship--serving as a role model for First-Year students
• Instructor in Public Speaking and Information Technology --teaching students the skills they need to know in each lab
• Enthusiasm and Energy--for the TA role
• Team Player--as part of your lab section and the TA class
• Respectful--of diversity and others' opinions