Website: Instructional Settings
Build Relationships With Your TAs and Teaching Team
Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Our
Recommendation
Building a relationship-rich course doesn't mean the instructor is filling their calendar 1:1 meetings. As an instructor of a large course, your classroom climate can foster relationships amongst all roles in the course, including especially TAs, who can be key connectors to both students and you.
Foster Collaboration and Communication
- Spend time at the beginning of the semester discussing common goals and learning outcomes for the course. Ask the team for input on course design, learning activities, or policies.
- Establish regular meeting times and communication channels with the teaching team throughout the semester. Ask team members to block off time on their calendars for meetings, exam proctoring, and for grading. Let people know about grading deadlines at the beginning of the semester.
- Spend time during the first week of class introducing the teaching team to your students and highlighting the strengths that they bring to the course (e.g., research specializations or experiences). Consider providing photos and short bios, which can be posted on Canvas or included in the syllabus.
- Let students know the appropriate contact person for different types of questions. For large courses, consider setting up a course email account.
- Ask for frequent feedback from team members, or set up a system for them to let you know what is going well in the course, what students are confused about, or concerns about specific students; often they may be aware of issues with students that need to come to the attention of the team.
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