Training Workshops and Certificates

International Graduate Support

All international TA/RA training workshops are free of charge. Participation is optional, but highly recommended by the Office of Graduate Education, in particular if you are new to UW and the American classroom environment. You can also earn the UW ITA Training Certificate if you complete the series of five workshops within two semesters!        

These 5 x 2-hour workshops are a great opportunity for all international GAs to gain more knowledge about cultural differences in the American classroom and other important international GA-related topics. The workshops about presentation skills and pronunciation/intonation have proved to be very beneficial for research assistants too. Workshops are also a great way to get to know fellow GAs and to exchange experiences and best practices with them. The International Teaching Assistant Training Certificate is also a great resume asset.

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Workshop Descriptions

Workshop 1:

"Giving lectures and presentations your students can understand."

Strategies and tools that make your teaching and your students’ learning easier.

• The importance of building rapport with your students and how you can do it.
• Get to know teaching strategies that actually help your students learn.
• Did you know that you can practice how to better understand and correctly answer
  student questions?

A few participants’ comments on this workshop: "I learned how to teach in a better way;" "Petra covered a lot of useful strategies that will make my and my students’ lives easier;" "I most benefitted from the model of how to answer student questions. I was afraid of what to do when I don’t understand a student question. Now, I know." 

Workshop 2:

"Strategies for an effective classroom management."

Best practices to deal with student expectations and behavior.

• What does classroom management mean at American institutions of Higher Education?
• Insight into the five most common classroom challenges International Teaching Assistants
  encounter and how to best deal with them.
• Overview of experts’ opinions (McKeachie, Curzan) and their tips for effective
  classroom management.

A participating student’s answer to the feedback question "Would you recommend this workshop
to other Teaching Assistants?" was: "Absolutely! This workshop is really effective for new TAs." 

Workshop 3:

"Pronunciation/Intonation."

Improve your intonation to enhance your comprehensibility.

• What’s so special about English vowel sounds?
• Intricacies of the English word and sentence stress: English listeners need emphasis to
  understand what is said! Learn which word to stress in a sentence.
• Helpful practice tips about how to become a more intelligible speaker.

Students stated the following regarding this workshop: "The vowel practice was enlightening.
Also, the stress /pitch that must be emphasized when speaking" and "I know much better now
what I can do to speak in a more comprehensible way." 

Workshop 4:

"How to hold a presentation that will be remembered"

Become a structured and confident speaker.

• Audience; organization; delivery; body language; question & answer session: In
  which way is presenting in the US different from your home country.
• Answers for non-native speakers on how to be an effective presenter despite English
  language flaws.
• Do's and Don't's of PowerPoint design.

A former GA in this workshop said, "This workshop is not just for Teaching Assistants. I will
recommend this workshop to fellow RAs. It is very effective in improving presentation skills." 

Workshop 5:

"How to be approachable, fair, and professional at the same time"

Hold effective office hours, know about FERPA regulations, grade fairly, minimize complaints, and optimize and use your syllabus to enhance your professionalism.

• Overview and resources of important UW rules and regulations.
• How can they affect or back up your performance as a teaching assistant?
• Case studies and useful strategies: You are not alone!
• Holding efficient office hours & conversational tools for office hour visits.

To cite a student’s feedback comment from this workshop: "I highly recommend the workshop to other TAs because they will gain important information about grading, students’ rights, and TAs’ responsibilities. I learned many things I didn’t know before, but I have to know as a TA." 

Practice Mini-Lecture:

This is your opportunity to apply and practice what you learned during the ITA Workshop series. Here is how it works:

1. Let your audience know the setting of your teaching (lab, classroom, or other; the approx. class size; whether you are expected to teach in-person or online)
2. Present your mini-lecture to your fellow workshop participants. Use a PPT, the board and any other materials you need. (10 minutes)
3. Discuss with your audience the following points: What teaching and learning strategies did you incorporate in your mini-lecture? Tell us why you chose them; find out if they were they effective. For example:
   • What did you do to create student rapport?
   • Was it easy to follow the organization of the content? What could you do differently and why?
   • What strategies you learned about in the training workshops did you use that helped us better understand you and the content you presented? Find out how they affected our learning.
   • Which classroom activity(s) did you use? Why did you choose them?
   • What kind of student input or feedback did you expect when using certain strategies? Did you get it?
   • Anything else you would like to explore about your teaching practice? (10 minutes)
4. Your audience will also use a rubric that helps them evaluate your teaching practice.

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