Words of Advice

As a TA you learn a lot about yourself, your team, project management, and more. Below we have included some advice from past TAs and time distributions of how they spent their weeks.

TA Advice

This amazing advice comes directly from past TAs. It is extremely useful in practice and great to keep in mind throughout the semester. If you ever need any additional advice, The Data Mine staff is always willing to listen and help out.

  • Be the TA you wish you had!

  • Communication:

    • Don’t hesitate to reach out to a mentor or staff if you need clarification or help with anything.

    • Ask for help when you need it.

  • Take advantage of your mentors. Set up extra meetings.

  • Create connections. CRP helps open doors to opportunities.

  • Talk to the previous TA of your project, the conversations can be very helpful.

  • Trust your judgement. Be assertive, learn to say no.

  • You drive the project, define your objectives, and motivate yourself.

    • It is what you make of it. Be active, the more active you are the more you will learn.

  • Plan! Define goals, think practically.

  • Understand your team. Get to know their skill levels, work styles, personalities, and goals.

    • Check on your team regularly.

    • Be patient as students problem solve.

    • Make the students feel like they can ask questions.

  • Learn from other TAs. They have valuable experiences and opinions.

  • Finally, pick a project YOU are excited about.

TA Past Time Breakdown

This data was collected Spring 2022. It is based on data collected from 50 teaching assistants. Data was self entered based on individual projects. Different projects require more time spent in specific categories and some weeks may require more focus in some areas more than others.

You should use the table above as a guide for your time management and distribution.

Examples of the breakdowns above:

  • Meetings include labs and weekly meetings with mentors.

  • Administrative work includes attendance, planning, setting up documents for notes, and more.

  • Technical work can include coding, research into techniques, and more depending on the project’s requirements.

  • Many TAs host office hours once or twice a week to provide students a time to come and hangout, ask questions, and receive help.

Statistic

Total

Meetings

Administrative

Technical

Helping Students

Mode

10

3

1

2

1

Median

8

3

2

2

1

Minimum

4

1

1

0

0

Maximum

10

5

7

10

4
How TA Spent their Working Hours
Figure 1. How TA Spent their Working Hours