For Prospective TAs

The Warren College Writing Program welcomes graduate student applications from all departments of the university, including the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Our appointments are for year-long (and usually renewable) teaching positions. Successful applicants learn how to teach students to write and read academic arguments. Our courses are conducted as writing workshops in which student texts provide the primary intellectual content.

Our goal at Warren Writing is to teach students about academic argumentation. Students summarize, analyze and respond to academic arguments. They also construct their own. In order to establish a common language with which we can discuss academic arguments, we use the concepts of practical reasoning and argumentation developed by the twentieth-century British philosopher Stephen Toulmin.

All students in Warren College must complete a two-course writing requirement. Warren Writing TAs work under the guidance of the program director and assistant director but are the sole instructors in the classroom. All new TAs teach the first course in the sequence from a common syllabus, which allows for productive discussions of pedagogical issues in our weekly staff meetings. Experienced TAs are given the opportunity to design topic-specific courses that fulfill the second course in the sequence.  Design and implementation of new courses is always done in groups. Our current 10A course focuses on the “Consciousness Debates.” Our spring 2008 10B course topics include “Garbage,” “Beauty,” “Biotechnology and Athletics,” and “Truth, Illusion and Deception.”

TAs in our program teach six sections per year (not more than 15 students per section). New instructors teach five sections during their first year: one in the fall quarter and two each in the winter and spring. In lieu of the second course, new instructors meet weekly during the fall to discuss scholarly work on writing pedagogy and its relevance to their teaching.

Just before the start of the academic year, instructors meet for a two-and-a-half-day orientation to prepare them to teach the first of the two writing courses offered by the program. During orientation, we discuss teaching academic argumentation, conducting writing workshops, responding to work-in-progress, teaching successful revision strategies and grading.

Responsibilities include implementing the course syllabus, teaching assigned sections, commenting on drafts of student papers, assigning grades, holding office hours, attending staff meetings, and working on course design. Teachers enjoy the collegial atmosphere and a fair amount of autonomy. We work to establish a supportive teaching environment where pedagogical ideas and materials are shared and where TAs feel comfortable asking questions and seeking help.

With questions, please contact Holly Bauer, Assistant Director at 858-534-1387 or Julie Lakatos, Program Coordinator at 858-534-3068.