Key Information
The Teaching Assistant Training Handbook: How to Prepare TAs for Their Responsibilities, Edited by Loreto R. Prieto & Steven A. Meyers
2001 [ISBN: 1-58107-031-4; 216 pages soft cover; 8 x 10 inch] $23.95
This excellent work is designed for college faculty, staff, and administrators who train and supervise TAs in all disciplines. This edited book presents readers with a wealth of information that is essential for designing, implementing, or improving a TA training program in a department or university-wide office. The authors illustrate a wide range of strategies to prepare TAs for their teaching responsibilities, including orientation programs, workshops, courses, on-going supervision, and experiential activities. In addition, chapters address critical topics in college teaching, such as increasing TAs’ awareness of ethical issues in the classroom or enhancing TAs’ sensitivity to issues of gender and racial/ethnic issues when teaching.
Review
“When I was hired by the University of Michigan in 1948 to teach introductory psychology and train the graduate student teaching fellows, there were probably no more than a handful of faculty members in the United States whose job descriptions included teaching assistant training. Today there are many teaching assistant trainers. However, most, like me, have had little preparation for their role.”
“Fortunately, there are now a number of books dealing with aspects of college teaching. The Teaching Assistant Training Handbook, edited by Loreto Prieto and Steven Meyers, provides numerous methods of training teaching assistants and practical suggestions for carrying them out effectively. Had I had this book 50 years ago I would have done a better job, and I plan to use it in training my teaching assistants next term.”
Dr. W. J. McKeachie, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, author of the best-selling classic Teaching Tips, now in its 11th edition.
The Contents
SECTION I: The Training & Preparation of Graduate Teaching Assistants
- Conceptualizing and Promoting Effective TA Training Steven A. Meyers, Ph.D.
- Departmental Orientation Programs for Teaching Assistant Sandra Goss Lucas, Ph.D.
- Teaching in the University Setting: A Course for Teaching Assistants Louise Hainline, Ph.D.
- Making the First Time a Good Time: Microteaching for New Teaching Assistants Christina Maslach, Ph.D., Lauren Silver Ph.D., Nnamdi Pole, Ph.D., & Emily J. Ozer, Ph.D.
- The Use of Videotape Feedback in GTA Training Steven Prentice-Dunn, Ph.D. & G. Shane Pitts, Ph.D.
- The Supervision of Teaching Assistants: Theory, Evidence and Practice Loreto R. Prieto, Ph.D.
SECTION II: Professional Issues In Teaching Assistant Training
- Ethical Dilemmas Confronting Graduate Teaching Assistants Patricia Keith-Spiegel, Ph.D., Bernard E. Whitley, Jr., Ph.D., David V. Perkins, Ph.D., Deborah Ware Balogh, Ph.D., & Arno F. Wittig, Ph.D.
- Gender Conscious Teaching for Graduate Teaching Assistants Heidi S. Fencl, Ph.D.
- Preparing for Diversity in College Teaching Pamela Trotman Reid, Ph.D., Linwood J. Lewis, Ph.D., & Roseanne Flores, Ph.D.
- Annotated Readings and Bibliographic Outline of Resources on College Teachins Julie Feldman, Ph.D. & Richard Coughlan, M.S., MBA
The Editors
Loreto R. Prieto received his doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Iowa in 1996. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Akron. Dr. Prieto has supervised graduate teaching assistants, has written and published several articles concerning teaching assistant development, and during his graduate training taught as a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa for over two years. In addition to his interest in issues concerning teaching assistant development, Dr. Prieto’s clinical training focused upon psychological testing and assessment as well as multicultural psychology and diversity issues. Dr. Prieto is active in Division 2 of the American Psychological Association, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. He serves as the Chair of the Division 2 Task Force on Diversity, is a member of the Division 2 Long Range Planning Committee, has served as a Liaison to APA for Division 2 on projects concerning diversity issues, and has been an active reviewer for the Division 2 journal Teaching of Psychology. In addition, he serves as Chair of the Diversity Working Group for APA’s Psychology Partnerships Project (P3), an Education Directorate initiative involving scholars and educators from various specialty areas from across the nation who, in an effort to meet the demands of the new millennium, are seeking to update and enhance current teaching and training practices in the discipline of psychology.
Steven A. Meyers received his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Michigan State University in 1995. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Instructor Development Program in the School of Psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Dr. Meyers conducts orientation programs, workshops, and seminars to prepare psychology graduate students and faculty for their teaching responsibilities. He has written numerous articles that have documented the amount and kinds of training that graduate students receive for their teaching responsibilities, how training and supervision contribute to the success of teaching assistants, and ways to improve TA training. His other research interests include examining how family relationships develop within their social contexts. Dr. Meyers’ teaching skills have been nationally recognized. He was the 1994 recipient of the McKeachie Early Career Teaching Award that is given by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. He has also received the Excellence-in-Teaching Citation from Michigan State University. Dr. Meyers has actively participated in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and recently led an executive committee and a task force that have examined the preparation that graduate students in psychology receive for careers in academia.