TA & Grader Resources
An Unofficial Guide for TAs and Graders
This document provides general guidelines, tips for running a lab section, and advice from faculty, and past TAs, Graders, and students. These guidelines can vary by course and instructor, so be sure to check with your course instructor for any specific requirements or expectations. University’s official employment guidelines, visit WWU HR’s website.
TA & Grader FAQ
Subscribe to the TA/Grader jobs mailing list. On this mailing list, details are shared on how to apply for TA/Grader jobs when they open for next quarter.
Typically, applications for next quarter open up in week 8 of the current quarter and are due 1-2 weeks later. The exact dates are announced on the mailing list.
Requirements vary by course and instructor. In general, you need to have taken the course (or its equivalent) and earned a grade of B or higher. You should also have good communication skills, be responsible and ethical, and be committed to helping students learn.
The main difference is that a TA (Teaching Assistant) runs a lab section, whereas a grader does not. This means that the level of interaction with students is higher for TAs compared to graders.
A TA is assigned to a Lab section and is expected to run their section, grade assignments for students in their section, and hold office hours. A grader is assigned to a course (non-lab section) and is expected to grade assignments and exams for the course.That said, the expectations can vary by course and instructor, so be sure to ask the instructor for the specific expectations. For example, an instructor may ask their grader to hold office hours and another instructor may ask their TA not to hold office hours (instead use that time for grading).
Yes. In the department, we run an orientation at the start of each quarter. The College also runs workshops for Graduate TAs every quarter.
Minimum is 5 hrs/week. But it can be more – it depends on the needs of the course, the course instructor, and your availability. When you are assigned a course/section, you’ll be informed how much time you are expected to work, on average. Some weeks you may work less and some weeks you may work more, but on average, it should be around the stipulated time.
Students working hourly cannot exceed 19 hrs/week across all WWU jobs. Full GTAs (salaried TAs) should not work more than 20 hrs/week, on average (see Grad School TA webpage).
Yes. Any required training or orientation is considered “work” and you can include that time in your timesheet.
Grading Guidelines (for Graders and TAs)
Grading is a critical part of the learning process. It is important that grading is done fairly, consistently, and in a timely manner. Following are some general guidelines. Be sure to discuss with your course instructor for any specific requirements and guidelines.
- Proofread the assignment and attempt it yourself before grading it. If you discover any issues or errors in the assignment, inform the course instructor.
- Ask the course instructor for a reference solution and a rubric. If there isn't one, create one and share it with the instructor for approval.
- Grade the reference solution and make sure it would get full points by the rubric. Make sure there are no ambiguities or errors in the rubric or the reference solution. If there are, clarify them with the course instructor.
- Be consistent in grading. Always grade using a rubric. This helps in staying consistent and also helps students understand why they got the grade they did. It also makes it easier for you to justify the grade to the student or the instructor when a student challenges the grade.
- Grade a small number of submissions and have the course instructor review them before grading the rest. This early check helps ensure that you are grading as per the instructor's expectations.
- If you are unsure about how to grade a question, ask the course instructor.
- Try to reduce bias in grading.
- If there is a student that you know personally (e.g., a friend), let the instructor know. It is difficult to stay unbiased when grading friends.
- Do your best to ignore student names and other identifying info to avoid bias/favoritism. When grading in Canvas via SpeedGrader, see this guide to hide student names.
- Complete grading in a timely manner. You need to balance between grading quickly and grading accurately. If grading is taking too long, ask the course instructor for tips on how you can grade faster.
- Keep a list of students’ common mistakes and share it with the course instructor. They'll greatly appreciate it as it'll help them improve the assignment for future quarters.
It takes time to write good constructive feedback, but it is worth it. It certainly benefits the student, but it also benefits you as you get to hone your own skills in giving constructive feedback, which is a valuable skill in any profession. Following are some suggestions on how to write helpful feedback.
- Leave suggestions or hints on how students can do better next time. Don’t just say "this is wrong" or "this is confusing", which can be frustrating to students. Instead, explain why it is wrong (if it is not obvious) or confusing, and, more importantly, give them a hint on how to improve. Explanations or hints don't have to be detailed. They can also be counterexamples that break their work. For example, for code snippets, you can provide a counterexample input that breaks their code.
- Don't overwhelm students with too much feedback. It takes more of your time and students tend to ignore it completely when there is lots of it. Pick your battles. If there are many issues with a submission, focus on the most important ones.
- Don't be rude or sarcastic when giving feedback. While grading can get frustrating at times, especially if the work is of low quality, you must still remain professional at all times. If you need to vent, do it with your fellow TA/Graders or your course instructor. Also, think carefully before writing jokes - remember, text doesn't convey tone well.
- Try to leave at least one comment for each submission. If you see a perfect submission with nothing to improve, leave a comment saying "Good job!" or "Well done!" or something similar.
- Proofread your feedback. Students won't take your feedback seriously if it is full of typos and grammatical errors.
- Students make similar mistakes. So try to keep a collection of common comments that you can just copy-paste.
- Grade question-by-question, not student-by-student.
- When grading on Canvas, open submissions in multiple tabs. This way you can quickly switch between submissions.
- Take breaks frequently or spread out grading over multiple days/sights. Grading is mentally taxing. You are more likely to make mistakes or take longer to grade if you are tired.
Running a Lab Session (For TAs)
Following are some general guidelines for running lab sessions. These guidelines can vary by course and instructor. So, be sure to check with your instructor for any specific requirements or guidelines on running a lab for their course.
- Attempt the lab activity/assignment yourself. This will help you understand the assignment better and anticipate any issues students may have.
- Ask the instructor for a reference solution. If there isn’t one, create one and share it with the instructor for approval.
- Thoroughly understand the concepts that will be covered in the lab activity. This will help you answer questions more effectively.
- Keep slides or course materials related to the lab activity/assignment handy. When you need to refer students to review course material, you can quickly point them to the relevant slides or course material.
- Create a step-by-step plan for your lab session by discussing with the course instructor.
- Use a queuing system for questions so you are addressing questions in a fair order. A simple system is to have students write their name on the whiteboard when they have a question, and you cross out their name when you’ve answered their question.
- Follow the step-by-step plan that you prepared for the lab.
- Walk around the room periodically to check on students’ progress and answer questions.
- When addressing questions, try to promote critical thinking and problem-solving instead of just giving the answer. For example, ask leading questions to help students arrive at the answer themselves, or ask them to explain their thought process or what they’ve tried so far. This helps students learn better (since they arrive at the answer themselves) and also helps you manage your time better (since you don’t have to answer every question). You can give a hint to a student by posing them a question and ask them to think about it while you go and help another student.
- Keep a list of common questions or issues from the lab. After the lab, share these and your brief notes on how the lab went with the course instructor.
- (~5 min) Do introductions. Introduce yourself and ask students to introduce themselves.
- (~15 min) Do an icebreaker activity. An ice-breaker activity on the first day is important for a couple of reasons:
- It helps students feel more comfortable in the lab.
- It helps them get to know each other, which can lead to a more collaborative and supportive environment. Also, in lower class, students are still forming their social groups, so this can help them find friends in the class.
- It helps you learn more about the students, which can help you tailor your teaching to their needs.
- (~5 min) Go over the syllabus and lab policies and norms. Make sure students know what is expected of them and what they can expect from you in the lab and outside the lab. Talk to the course instructor about what you should cover.
- Use the rest of the time for the lab activity/assignment.
- Running labs can be stressful, especially if you are new to it. It is normal to feel nervous. The best thing you can do is be prepared.
- Be patient. Students learn at different paces. Be patient with students who are struggling.
- It’s okay not to know everything. If a student asks a question you don’t know the answer to, it’s okay to say “I’m not sure, but let me look into it and get back to you.” And then note down the question and student’s name, and get back to them later.
What to do when...?
This section offers some suggestions to navigate some difficult situations that you may encounter.
- Document the absences.
- Attempt to contact the student a couple of times (maybe 2-3)
- After multiple failed attempts, inform the course instructor
At the start of the quarter, discuss with the course instructor how regrade requests should be handled. Are you expected to handle them or should you redirect the requests to the course instructor. If it’s the latter, then politely, redirect students to the course instructor. For example, saying something along the lines, “For regrade requests, please talk to <course instructor name>.”
If you are expected to handle the regrade requests, here are some suggestions:
- Ask the student to explain why they deserve a different grade, and understand their point of view.
- Inform the student that you’ll review their grade and get back to them.
- Review the grading rubric and the student’s grade for any corrections.
- Be open to mistakes. We all make them! If you find an error in grading, admit it, and correct it promptly.
- Review a couple of other submissions to check if this error happened with others. If it did, regrade the question for all submissions and inform the faculty.
- If there is no error and you think the grade shouldn’t change, explain it to the student using the rubric.
- If the student is not convinced and still argues, point them to the course instructor.
- At any point, if you are unsure on how to proceed, reach out to the course instructor.
- Don’t accuse the student directly.
- Document evidence. If you have any material that supports your suspicion (e.g., suspicious git commit activity, similar submissions), collect that evidence and write your reasons for suspicion.
- Contact the instructor and share the evidence.
The best practice is to gently call out the behavior in the moment as inappropriate (“hey - that language isn’t appropriate in a lab space”). It’s important to call out inappropriate behavior in the moment, because if it is ignored other students could interpret that you (the TA) are condoning it.
If the student does not stop the inappropriate behavior, note down the student’s name and inform the course instructor.
The CS Department is here to support you. If you need any help or want to talk to someone, you can reach out the course instructor, TA coordinator (Shri Mare), Program Directors (Wesley Deneke for CS, Brian Hutchinson for DS, and Erik Fretheim for Cyber), Department Manager (Jamie Granger), or the Department Chair (Filip Jagodzinski).
Advice for TAs
- Patience is the most important thing. Classes such as CS101, 102, etc. are more likely to have freshmen, some of which may be their first quarter. They tend to have more feelings of anxiety than other students as they begin to navigate college life for the first time.
- Over communicating is better than under communicating. With every announcement, I always include reminders for quizzes, assignments, and other instructions I consider useful. This tends to lead to students performing better and turning assignments in on time, as well as being proactive with any questions they may have.
- Don’t be afraid to be honest. If you don’t know something, that is okay. It is much more productive to work through a problem with a student than misleading them.
- Be relatable. When communicating with students, incorporating your personal experience with a problem or a subject can help them feel more at ease, and challenge them to accomplish something that they know CAN be accomplished!
- Computer Science lab sections benefit greatly from demos that relate to the course content being taught. Taking the time to create small demos to demonstrate content will benefit you and your students in the long run. In my experience, I find most students tend to be visual learners.
- Encourage lots of questions. There are no stupid questions, and I make sure to always remind my students of this. It helps promote curiosity and a proactive learning environment.
- The number one thing for me was hosting the first lab session felt awkward, because it felt strange being the "authority" in the room, especially being younger than some of the students :) but it passed within two lab sessions and it helped build confidence. I think it's important to recognize that you do know what you are teaching and your input is valuable.
- Advertising office hours helps because it will cause more people to come.
- Especially for intro classes like 145 or 241, you are able to make a huge difference for your students and set them up effectively. There will be a lot of questions given to you and a lot of learning opportunities.
- Only join the Discord server for the class you are TAing if you will actively participate. Otherwise, leave it as a place for students to vent without feeling monitored by their teacher/TA. If you do join, it's very helpful, because questions can more easily be answered than email (speed of messages going through, ease of attaching images).
- That being said, make sure to set strong and clear boundaries from the very start that you expect questions to be asked at least 24 hours before the deadline of an assignment, or not to expect answers after 5pm, or whatever else you think is fair. Nobody will hold that against you and some TAs find that useful to maintain work life balance.
- As a TA, you are not expected to go over the time you are scheduled for. It's good to let your instructor know if you need additional support in some cases.
- Holding your office hours in the TA lab on the bottom floor is good if you want privacy and a quiet space to help your students, but it can also be a little boring. CF405 is where I usually hold mine because more of my classmates are around to talk to during downtime.