TA Resources

TA Mentors

TA Mentoring

The TA Mentors are here to help you improve your teaching skills and deal with teaching related issues.

You can email the mentors at any time throughout the quarter with teaching questions or concerns at physmentors [at] lists.stanford.edu (physmentors[at]lists[dot]stanford[dot]edu).

Who are the TA Mentors?

We are a group of graduate students with experience teaching, and we want to help our fellow graduate students enjoy their time TAing! That means helping you understand what you want to get out of TAing and how you can get it, helping you improve your teaching skills to make your sections fun and useful, and advocating to the department for fair treatment of TAs. The TA mentor program is always evolving, so if you have ideas about how we can help you, please email us! 

Resources for TAs

VPUE (Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education ) has a wonderful collection of resources for TAs: TA Training & Support.

 

Contact Us

Please email us with any teaching related questions or concerns, or if you want to set up a one-on-one meeting, at physmentors [at] lists.stanford.edu (physmentors[at]lists[dot]stanford[dot]edu)! Your email will only go to us.

Course Assistant

Course Assistant (CA):  CAs assist the faculty member who has primary responsibility for a course.  Duties vary, but may include the following:

  • Writing solutions to problem sets and exams, grading problem sets and exams; returning graded problem sets and exams in a timely manner -- no more than a week after the problem set or exam is completed.
  • Assisting in the preparation of lecture materials.
  • Holding office hours.

CAs are 25% appointments. Beginning Autumn term 2018/19 it will be possible to petition to receive teaching requirement credit (Physics PhD candidates ONLY) by working as a course assistant (CA) in our department for a maximum of two terms. Note that the petition must be completed and approved in the same term that you are working as a CA.  See detailed instructions here: https://physics.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/petition_to_receive_ta_credit.pdf

You must complete an Application by the due date for the quarter in which you wish you apply. Typically, the application period opens around the following dates and closes about two weeks after it opens:

  • Around the end of week 7 of summer quarter, typically between August 10 and 24 for Autumn quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 5 of fall quarter, typically between October 19 and November 2 for Winter quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 5 of winter quarter, typically between February 1 and 15 for Spring quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 7 of spring quarter, typically between May 13 and 17 for Summer quarter applications.
Graders

Graders:  Occasionally the department needs graders for courses. Grading positions provide an hourly wage, do not pay any tuition allowance, and cannot be used to fulfill the teaching requirement for graduate students in Physics.  Graders typically grade problem sets and/or exams and occasionally write solutions as well. Graders are sometimes hired for graduate courses, or for one-time assistance in grading exams for an undergraduate course. 

Graders may work a maximum of 8 hours per week.  International students may not work as a grader during the academic year if they have a 50% RA, TA or combined RA/TA appointment. Rules are slightly different for summer quarter.  See Nick Swan or Elva Carbajal if you have further questions about grading positions.

If you are interested in becoming a grader, you must complete an Application by the due date for the quarter in which you wish you apply. Typically, the application period opens around the following dates and closes about two weeks after it opens:

  • Around the end of week 7 of summer quarter, typically between August 10 and 24 for Autumn quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 5 of fall quarter, typically between October 19 and November 2 for Winter quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 5 of winter quarter, typically between February 1 and 15 for Spring quarter applications.
  • Around the end of week 7 of spring quarter, typically between May 13 and 17 for Summer quarter