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Teaching Assistantships

A teaching assistantship (TA) can be an ideal way to earn teaching experience as you pay for your graduate or doctoral degree.

Schools often use TAs as a way to attract potential graduate or doctoral students, offering benefits such as an annual stipend, tuition remission, and other benefits. If you have a choice of different schools that offer different assistantship packages, compare your offers carefully. In addition to stipend and tuition benefits, look at the following key details to help you make your decision.

Instructional/Teaching Assistantships
Many schools require students to first work as an instructional assistant (IA) before they teach their own classes. If you have previous postsecondary teaching experience, you may want to see if you can bypass the IA process and make sure the school is willing to bring you on as a TA. Conversely, if you have little teaching experience, working with a faculty member as an IA will give you an opportunity to grade papers, hold office hours, and get experience as a teacher before you receive full responsibility for a class.

Teaching Load
Teaching load refers to the number of classes a TA teaches per semester. A 2/1 teaching load, for example, would mean you teach two courses in the fall semester and only one in the spring. Balance your teaching load with your need for funding and completing your own studies and research. You may not feel so overwhelmed if you have a lighter teaching load.

Variety of Assistantships
Look at career Web sites that advertise for the career you'll eventually want after graduate or doctoral school. If you want to teach, you may find that a variety of teaching assistantships can make you more attractive to hiring managers in the future. For example, English majors looking for entry-level postsecondary teaching positions may find that classes in Developmental and Professional Writing are just as valuable as the typical First-Year Composition assistantships. Become a flexible job candidate by gaining teaching experience while you're in school.