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Contents
My First Major Mistake as a Writing Instructor
My Recommendations
- In a graduate teaching practicum, it is important for the writing director to understand that many of the IGTAs have little experience with the US educational system and are shy of speaking about their hesitation when they begin studying at their chosen graduate program. Many of them do not feel comfortable with their own standard of English. They look upon their course instructors as more like teachers and less like colleagues, whereas for American graduate students, their course instructors are more like their colleagues/friends. If first-year writing directors develop friendships with international graduate students, the rhetorical tension between them will dissipate. IGTAs do not mind talking about their home cultures and answering personal questions. The trainer of IGTAs could conduct individual conferences and sit with each of their international graduate students to forge a rapport. When IGTAs and their course instructor/program director develop a healthy academic relationship, it reduces both parties’ pedagogical concerns and reduces chances of glaring errors in writing studies. Whether it is Germany or the USA, we like to praise our teachers :) It is our culture. Please do not misunderstand us.
- It will be better if future first-year writing directors discuss the learning outcomes of first-year courses and clarify the confusion of each assigned task with their international graduate students first. I request the future first-year writing directors not to assume that we are supposed to have a clear understanding of the primary text without our director’s guidance. For that reason, it is important to discuss the assigned text before IGTAs begin their teaching journeys as first-year writing instructors.
- At least one month before their entry into the program, IGTAs should be told what they would have to teach in their first-year teaching course. That is why the first-year writing director should ensure that IGTAs teaching entry-level English courses know the nuances of that text before beginning their training program. If the first-year writing director creates some discussion prompts about that primary text, IGTAs will be confident going forward about their teaching responsibilities. For IGTAs, the learning situation gets tougher because they struggle to adjust. Almost immediately upon hiring, they are expected to perform well. It becomes mentally draining for IGTAs to start performing well from scratch. To bridge the gap between expectations and reality, I suggest the first-year writing directors stay in constant dialogue with their IGTAs to understand each other’s needs, expectations, rhetorical needs, and concerns.