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For TAs new to teaching at Penn, CETLI offers a three-day program. This program introduces Penn practices and expectations, offers graduate students the chance to start, or continue, their development as teachers, and prepares TAs to better help their students learn. Experienced TAs facilitate the program’s small-group workshops.

TA Training for New TAs

Tuesday through Thursday before classes start in August, new TAs in Arts and Sciences, Design, Nursing, Annenberg, Wharton and Engineering will participate in a three-day set of workshops on teaching and learning. (Please note: it will be Tuesday through Thursday in 2024.) The program includes:

  • A welcoming plenary, including an introduction to your role as a TA, resources to support your students, and relevant Penn policies
  • Workshops on leading classes and grading in your field
  • Practice teaching demonstrations
  • Workshops on inclusive and equitable teaching practices
  • Discussions of challenges facing TAs

Learn About the Workshops

Apply to be a TA Trainer

Do you enjoy teaching? Would you like to help prepare your peers to enter the classroom next fall?

Every year the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Innovation asks experienced TAs to apply to help train new TAs. CETLI needs doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and engineering to lead new TAs in workshops and facilitate teaching demonstrations and small-group discussions of scenarios.

Trainers will prepare to train other TAs by participating in several day-long workshops. Applicants should expect to be available for three full days in May (dates to be determined by trainer schedules) and must be available 8:30am-5pm, Monday-Friday, Aug. 19- Aug. 23, 2024. They will receive a $1,700 stipend.

Any questions can be directed to Ian Petrie. Applications are now closed.