About GTA’s
The Department of Writing & Rhetoric awards a limited number of students in our program Graduate Teaching Assistantships each year; the number of new assistantships we can award in a given year depends on several factors, including 1) how many assistantships we are given by Graduate Studies/College of Arts and Humanities; 2) how many current assistantship students graduated that year; 3) department budget and staffing needs.
Generally, new assistantships are awarded to incoming students, who undergo a separate assistantship application process involving an interview. Depending on department needs, assistantships can also be awarded to students who have performed well in ENC 5705 and who have 18 hours of graduate credit.
Graduate students who enroll in the MA program on a full-time basis may be eligible for assistantship funding, which includes tuition and a modest stipend in exchange for 20 hours of work per week during the academic year. Prospective students should indicate their interest in an assistantship when they apply for the program. Funding is limited. Occasionally, students already in the program may have the opportunity to apply for funding based on program needs and funding availability. Assistantships require students to be enrolled full time. Students who wish to be considered for assistantships must apply by the January 15 priority deadline for Fall admission.
Required Training for Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs)
All students employed as GTAs must complete GTA training.
Completing the optional 12-week Preparing Tomorrow’s Faculty Program offered by the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will satisfy the requirement for GTA Grader, Assistant, and Associate Trainings, but will only meet the GTA Training requirement if completed prior to beginning employment as a GTA. It is not sufficient to attend the Certificate course concurrently with your first teaching experience if you have not taken the GTA Grader, Assistant, and Associate Trainings.
Only those graduate students who have satisfactorily completed and passed more than eighteen credit hours of graduate course work in the major may be classroom Instructors of Record (Graduate Teaching Associate-9183). Departments must verify the 18 hours for these students on the Teaching Qualifications form before a student may be employed as instructor of record.
Expectations for Graduate Assistants
Assistants must work their scheduled number of hours per week (standard: 20).
Assistants are expected to communicate with their supervisor consistently, as discussed at the beginning of the assistantship. It is the responsibility of the assistant to be proactive in starting the conversation with their supervisor. If an assistant is having trouble communicating with their supervisor, they should contact the Graduate Director for help. In some cases, the Graduate Director may also involve the Department Chair.
Graduate Assistants working in the University Writing Center must enroll in ENC 5276 during the first semester of their assistantship and complete it successfully (with a grade of B or higher) to continue working in the center in the subsequent semester. They must follow basic professional standards, including being present and prompt for all assigned shifts and scheduled meetings, calling out only in cases of emergency, and alerting the center team at the earliest possible moment in such cases, receiving feedback with a professional attitude, and behaving appropriately in all situations, whether working with other consultants and UWC team members or with student clients.
In order to advance to teaching their own classes, Graduate Assistants must successfully complete ENC 5705 and an interview process that takes place at the end of the course. If selected to serve as instructors of record, they must hold class as scheduled, grade student work in a timely fashion, respond to student emails, hold regular office hours in accordance with the policy of the department, and submit final grades by the deadline each semester. Further, they must be mindful of the power relationship between themselves and the students in their classes and maintain a professional relationship with students, without social interactions, for the duration of the course.
Research Assistants must perform the tasks specified in their assignment description in a timely fashion. They must be mindful of research ethics and work to minimize any potential harm to human or nonhuman participants or communities in such research. Moreover, they should be fully cognizant of the purpose or purposes for which their work is intended and recognize that research-based decisions and actions may have long-term consequences for communities and individuals being studied.
Assistantship Review Procedure
A faculty member supervising an Assistant who is not meeting the expectations of their assistantship will first inform the student in writing, reminding them of the expectations and clearly indicating which expectations are not being met and when the failures to meet expectations have taken place.
If, after the faculty member has communicated with the student, the expectations continue not to be met, the faculty member will notify the Program Director in writing. This should include specifically which expectations are not being met, when the failures to meet expectations have taken place, and any other pertinent information needed to allow the Program Director to understand the situation and counsel the student appropriately.
The student will be provided with a Letter of Counseling/Instruction from the Program Director about the expectations of their assistantship, in addition to having a face-to-face or videoconference meeting with the Program Director to discuss the expectations.
Any further failure to meet the expectations of the assistantship after an Assistant has been counseled should be documented as above and provided to the Program Director in writing.
Students who establish a pattern of failure to meet the expectations of their assistantship will not be offered a continuing assistantship in subsequent terms and may be removed from their roles during the semester in extreme cases.
Typical Terms of Graduate Teaching Assistantships
Students who remain in “good standing” with the College of Graduate Studies, meet all assistantship requirements, and perform well in ENC 5276: Theory and Practice of Tutoring Writing and/or 5705: Teaching College Composition are eligible for support in the Fall/Spring terms only, which includes a tuition waiver and stipend of $5K each term. Students are required to:
- Be full-time students (9 regular hours per term or 3 thesis hours in final term)
- Work 20 hours per week on UCF’s main campus as a peer consultant in the University Writing Center (UWC), as a first-year composition instructor, or some combination
Types of Teaching Involved
In the first year of their assistantship, students typically work as consultants in the University Writing Center, which requires them to take ENC 5276 and participate in all other required training. In addition to working one-on-one with writers (or groups of writers) on an appointment or walk-in basis, consultants may also give presentations about the UWC, lead special topic workshops, work with small group projects, develop pedagogical or publicity materials, and consult with writers via telephone or the Internet. All consultants are also expected to perform office duties. Because the UWC collaborates with the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program, writing consultants might also work with students and faculty as part of the WAC program.
Starting in the second year, after successful completion of ENC 5705 and interview for the position, students may teach two sections of first-year composition each term as part of the First-Year Writing Program. GTAs teaching first-year writing also complete additional training from the program (e.g., teaching circles and workshops), Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, and Graduate Studies.