Recent Course Offerings

New Worlds: The Literature of Overseas Expansion
Donne, Jonson, and Their Generation
Spenser, Sidney, et al.
Domestic Drama of the Renaissance

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The Role of the TA
Good TA's - TA's who care about their students and care about their subject
and have the knack of getting the two together - are vital to the success
of any large lecture course. Leading discussion sections, grading papers
and exams, and meeting students in office hours, TA's have far more
individual contact with the undergrads than I possibly can and have at
least as great a part as I do in determining the quality of the students'
educational experience. I may do the lecturing and have the biggest share
in designing the course, but the TA's are the ones who really make it happen.


Discussion Sections
Discussion sections provide a unique opportunity for the students to
express their own responses to the texts we are reading and to hear what
other students in the class think. The main job of the TA is to animate
that discussion and make sure that it has a productive focus and
direction. TA's are certainly welcome to bring supplementary materials into
section meetings, but they should not turn sections into lectures and
should not do anything to distract the students from the primary materials
they are reading for the course. Since I normally require a weekly journal
on the assigned reading, TA's go into their section meetings already knowing
something of their students' responses to the text: the problems they are
having and the issues that have caught their attention. Taking off from
those journal entries is often a good way to engage the students' interest
and get them talking. Brief quizzes and writing exercises can also help
direct students' attention to specific questions or passages, but such
activities shouldn't be allowed to take too much time from discussion. And
TA's should normally not give students homework assignments in addition to
those assigned to the whole class. The lecture course is one class and all
the students in it should be treated in the same way with regard both to
homework and grading. Within those limits, TA's are, however, free to give
their section meetings whatever emphases they think most appropriate and
most valuable, and they are encouraged to share what they are doing with
the other TA's at our weekly TA meetings and to borrow freely the good ideas
of their colleagues.


Other Responsibilities
Fair, helpful, and timely marking of papers and exams is an important part
of a TA's work. Students should be given a clear idea of why they received
the grade they did, and TA's should be ready to meet with them in office
hours to give them the kind of one-on-one advice about their work that a
fair number of them need and want. And when students' needs are greater
than office hours can accommodate, TA's should be prepared to tell them
about the Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) where they can get
additional tutoring.

And, of course, TA's must attend every lecture, take an active part in our
weekly TA meetings, and be ready give me whatever feedback seems useful
about the lectures and the overall design of the course. Teaching a large
lecture course is a shared responsibility, and we all - lecturer and TA's
alike - need to do whatever we can to make the course work.