TA Training Workshops & Events – UCLA Center for the Advancement of Teaching

TLC’s TA Training Program provides teaching support to graduate students and post-docs through a variety of workshop opportunities throughout the year. In addition, we also host an annual TA Conference each fall to prepare incoming and continue TAs get ready for the new new school year. Navigate through the tabs below to see our current workshop offerings, see recordings of past workshops, and read more about our other offerings.

Workshop schedule & registration Workshop Descriptions Webinars and Workshop Recordings Annual TA Conference

Each quarter, the TA Training Program offers teaching workshops useful to both North and South Campus graduate students and post-docs. All of our workshops are held in small-group settings, with hands-on activities and lots of time for questions and discussion. Whether you are a current TA or would like to TA in the future, please join us to learn new strategies and skills for the classroom.

The quarterly workshops will feature the 5 Foundations of Teaching workshops. This Spring Quarter, all workshops will be held virtually via Zoom. Be sure to add all desired workshops to your schedule and check-in on our registration website prior to your workshop. Your attendance will be recorded for your department’s records. Please note that if you arrive late or depart early (20 minutes or more), we ask that you reschedule and attend a different session.

?During Spring 2024, the TLC is piloting a flipped format for our How Students Learn workshop. Consult your TAC or graduate SAO or email tatp@teaching.ucla.edu with questions regarding How Students Learn.?

The registration for our Spring Quarter workshops is now open! Please go to our Sched Registration site or click the button below for the list and schedule, and register for the upcoming workshops.

? Check out this animated gif on how to add Sched events to your calendar app! ?

The Foundations of Teaching Workshop Series

This series of five 90-minute workshops is designed with the novice Teaching Assistant in mind. Each workshop provides an introduction into key concepts and strategies for developing an evidence-based teaching practice for UCLA Teaching Assistants. All new TAs are required to attend the Foundation of Teaching workshop series beginning in Fall 2022, unless exempted by their department.

The five workshops that comprise the series are:

How Students Learn

E-learning Module Description: This e-learning module provides an overview of how students learn and shares teaching techniques that will help your students achieve their goals. You will examine why material you’ve learned has stuck with you and the best ways to help your students retain the content you teach. Through activities and discussion, you will learn how to build on students’ prior knowledge, help students organize new knowledge, tap into students’ motivation to learn, and how to use practice and feedback to support student learning. Our focus will be on the practical application of student-centered instruction.

E-learning Module Objectives:

By the end of this e-learning module, participants will be able to:

describe the four key principles of learning: activating prior knowledge; organization of knowledge; motivation; and goals, practice and feedback.
identify key characteristics of student-centered learning.
apply the principles of student-centered learning to teaching activities.

How to access the How Students Learn e-learning module

Click on the How Students Learn e-learning module in Bruin Learn
Log in with your UCLA logon
Click on the “Enroll in Course” button
Complete the module and summative quiz

Creating Inclusive Classrooms

Workshop Description: In this workshop, you will learn strategies to proactively set norms supportive of an inclusive classroom. Through self-reflection, you will develop an understanding of your own identities and how these identities appear in the classroom. This workshop focuses on proactive strategies rather than on confronting bias. You will identify and practice inclusive strategies to apply in your own classrooms.

Workshop Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Self-reflect and develop an understanding of their identities and how they play out in the classroom
Recognize varying power dynamics within the classroom
Identify and apply strategies for creating an inclusive classroom environment

The Nuts and Bolts of Lesson Planning

Workshop Description: This workshop will serve as a model for effective lesson planning, focusing on formulating measurable learning objectives and aligning teaching strategies to them. With guidance, you will break down the process of creating effective lesson plans into manageable steps and tailor these steps to the needs of your discipline. You will practice creating a sample lesson plan and receive constructive feedback on it from your peers.

Workshop Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

describe the role of intentionality and reflection in lesson-planning, and apply these concepts to their own planning.
develop a lesson plan that accommodates different methods of learning and reflects a diversity of experiences.
set effective, inclusive, student-centered learning objectives to drive structured lesson design.
develop a lesson plan where learning objectives are aligned with teaching techniques and methods of assessment.

Active Learning Strategies

Choose from three options, depending on your discipline/department needs:

for Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (focuses on text-based discussion strategies)
- Description: Discussion sections are often the most rewarding part of class. Yet, as moderators of these discussions, TAs are frequently concerned that they will be staring at blank faces for an hour. This workshop will go over the principles of active learning and how to implement active learning strategies in your classrooms. You will take home strategies for designing good discussion questions, promoting active reading, and eliciting participation from reluctant students.
- Objectives: Identify the benefits of active learning in humanities-based learning; Establish an environment that fosters active learning; Apply and practice active learning strategies in the classroom; Troubleshoot obstacles to active learning

for Labs (focuses on strategies specific to the laboratory setting)
- Description: Lab sections are often daunting for first-time TAs due to the responsibilities required to keep students safe while also teaching important conceptual and technical information. In this workshop, you will learn strategies to engage students in different lab experiments and the importance of student-centered learning techniques. Through discussion and practice, you will learn to implement diverse teaching strategies and to encourage students to collaborate and explore the course materials on their own; keep students on track to ensure they finish their experiments within the allocated time; and troubleshoot what to do when experiments go awry.
- Objectives: Describe the basic principles of active learning and teaching in lab settings; Build the necessary conditions for active learning before teaching begins; Identify strategies for active learning that can be used in your lab sections; Incorporate a few active learning strategies into your own lab sections; Troubleshoot common challenges and scenarios in the lab setting.

for STEM discussion sections (focuses on problem-based discussion strategies)
- Description: As facilitators of discussion sections, STEM TAs are frequently concerned that they will spend sections solving problems at the board for passive students. This workshop will go over the principles of active learning and how to implement active learning strategies in STEM classrooms. You will learn strategies for asking effective questions, engaging students in problem solving, encouraging deductive reasoning, and eliciting participation from reluctant students.
- Objectives: establish specific conditions for active learning before sections begin; identify the basic principles of active learning; implement at least three different activities that encourage active learning (think-pair-share, providing demonstrations, polling, paired think aloud, wait time, stretch it) into their lesson plans; predict and plan for at least one common student participation scenario before encountering hesitant or disinterested students in the classroom.

Assessment and Grading

Workshop Description: How is assessment different from grading? Do you know when students have learned the knowledge and skills required to introduce new material? How can you best assess and grade students when teaching remotely and/or in-person? In this workshop, you will discuss the difference between assessment and grading, the importance of incorporating assessment into your approach to instruction, and various assessment techniques to equitably gauge student learning. You will learn to identify appropriate ways to evaluate student growth, develop a system for measuring your effectiveness in the classroom, and learn ways to more fairly grade your students.

Workshop Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

differentiate between assessment and grading, as well as understand the importance of assessment towards furthering student learning and teaching practice
explain the difference between formative and summative assessment and identify examples of each
recognize the importance of equity and inclusivity in assessment practice and select and design appropriately aligned assessment(s) to evaluate measurable student learning outcomes
develop solutions to potential problems that can arise during grade norming with other instructors and identify ways to prevent these problems in the future

While each workshop is a self-contained unit and it is not necessary to attend the workshops in any particular order, the order above is suggested in order to provide the most support to new TAs’ pedagogical practice.

Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Series

Our series of three, 90-minute workshops is designed to help you become a more actively inclusive educator. Participants will learn how to create inclusive classroom environments, how to call out and interrupt bias in your classroom, and how to proactively prepare to teach “hot topics.”

The three workshops that comprise this series are:

Creating Inclusive Classrooms

In this workshop, you will learn strategies to proactively set norms supportive of an inclusive classroom. Through self-reflection, you will develop an understanding of your own identities and how these identities appear in the classroom. This workshop focuses on proactive strategies rather than on confronting bias. You will identify and practice inclusive strategies to apply in your own classrooms.

Interrupting Bias to Cultivate Inclusivity

This workshop builds on concepts and strategies learned in Creating Inclusive Classrooms to help instructors develop knowledge and skills for interrupting bias and managing hot moments in the classroom. Participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of how bias impacts them from both the students’ and instructor’s perspectives and concrete tools for troubleshooting friction in the classroom. Note: We highly encourage you to take Creating Inclusive Classrooms before participating in this workshop.

Teaching Hot Topics

This workshop builds on concepts and strategies from Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Interrupting Bias to Cultivate Inclusivity to help instructors learn how to prepare and manage their classrooms when teaching hot topics. Participants will learn about healthy classroom expectations and strategies to reinforce them in the classroom. Participants will evaluate how their identities and position as a TA impact how they teach, understand and negotiate course materials, and address student needs. Instructors will also practice troubleshooting incidents in the classroom when challenging moments arise. Note: We highly encourage you to take Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Interrupting Bias before participating in this workshop.

It is highly recommended that you take the workshops in the order listed above for this series as each references materials and builds on concepts from previous workshops.

Other Workshops

In addition to the Foundations Series, we also offer other workshops throughout the year so you can continue to build your skills for the classrooms. Keep an eye on the schedule and sign up for our newsletter to be notified of new workshop offerings.

Getting Midquarter Feedback on Your Teaching

Mid-quarter feedback is a quick way for instructors to gain important insights into how students are feeling about their progress and to learn what is and isn’t working in a class so that you can make adjustments. In this one-hour workshop, you will learn why you should ask your students for mid-quarter feedback, review some best practices for collecting information, and discuss what to do with feedback once you get it. You will leave the workshop with a toolkit for implementing mid-quarter feedback, including some templates for CCLE and Google Forms.

Click here to access workshop recording and materials.

Giving Feedback and Assessing Student Writing

Students are often asked to communicate what they have learned in writing, but strengths and weaknesses in their writing can boost or hinder their ability to communicate what they know. During this workshop, you will learn how to identify which writing issues to address and ignore; how to preempt plagiarism and grade complaints; how to empower your students to effectively edit their own work; and how to better manage their writing time.

Making the Most of your First Day

Learn strategies to build community and rapport on the first day of class. This workshop is designed to support TAs in strengthening their knowledge of pedagogical frameworks and establishing classroom goals and policies on the first day that create a culture of collaborative learning and academic integrity.

Teaching Humanities and Social Science Writing

This workshop will address how to efficiently and effectively help students with their writing in your specific course. Through writing activities and discussions of best practices, you will learn to incorporate writing activities into your sections without losing time for addressing content.

Teaching Scientific Writing

Writing is a critical part of the scientific process, and you rely on students’ writing to show you what they have learned. Yet, in an already packed syllabus, it can be difficult to find time to help students improve their writing. This workshop will introduce you to strategies for integrating writing pedagogy into science and lab courses, tips for teaching students to write within accepted scientific writing structures, activities to teach students to revise their writing, and best practices for giving effective writing feedback.

Time Management: Meeting Multiple Goals as a Graduate Student, TA, and Human

Being a TA can be challenging. You juggle research, teaching schedules, important meetings, and your personal life. There is no universal roadmap for how to keep all of these priorities balanced and sequenced properly, but this workshop will help you organize your quarterly schedule and prioritize tasks according to importance and urgency. You will learn strategies to achieve balance and identify online and campus resources to support your time-management goals.

Click here to access the workshop materials.

Effective Instructor-TA Communication: Working Together as a Remote Teaching Team

TLC (formerly CAT) and CEILS collaborated to create a workshop for faculty and TAs centered around what TAs wish faculty knew about their experience teaching during this extraordinary time. The session is centered around questions of disruptions and difficulties that TAs are experiencing, how faculty and TAs can best communicate with each other, how to manage work expectations in this time of disruption, and how to function as a team in order to meet students’ needs.

Workshop materials

Getting Mid-Quarter Feedback on your Teaching

Click here to access workshop materials

2020 TA Conference Plenary

The 2020 TA Conference Plenary Session features talks from Drs. Howard and Casey, distinguished UCLA instructors who represent the strength and skill of our teaching community. In this 1-hour session, attendees will learn more about who our students are at UCLA, understand why teaching is an important part of one’s role as an academic, and hear more about recommended teaching strategies and techniques. As instructors with extensive teaching expertise, Drs. Howard and Casey will also offer best practices for being a more inclusive and engaging remote instructor and meeting the diverse needs of the students in your classroom, no matter what else 2020 may bring.

About the speakers

Tyrone C. Howard, Ph.D.

Tyrone C. Howard is professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies’ at UCLA. Dr. Howard is also the inaugural director of the new UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, which is a campus wide consortium examining academic, mental health, and social emotional experiences and challenges for the California’s most vulnerable youth populations. He is also the former Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Professor Howard’s research examines equity, culture, race, teaching and learning. Professor Howard has published over 75 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has published several bestselling books, among them, Why Race & Culture Matters in Schools and Black Male(d): Peril and promise in the education of African American males. His two most recent books, All Students Must Thrive, focuses on equity, race, trauma, and learning has become a must read for all educators. And “No More Teaching Without Positive Relationships ” examines the importance of relational trust between teachers and students to enhance students’ learning. Dr. Howard is considered one of the premiere experts on educational equity and access in the country. Dr. Howard is also the Director and Founder of the Black Male Institute at UCLA, which is an interdisciplinary cadre of scholars, practitioners, community members, and policy makers dedicated to examining the nexus of race, class, and gender of school age youth. A native and former classroom teacher of Compton, California, Dr. Howard named the recipient of the 2015 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the highest honor provided to teaching excellence at the university. In 2019, Dr. Howard was listed by Education Week as one of the 50 most influential scholars in the nation informing educational policy, practice and reform.

Jennifer Casey, Ph.D.

A California native, Dr. Casey attended California State University of Long Beach (CSULB) where she majored in chemistry and minored in mathematics as a Presidential Scholar. She performed research in organic chemistry with Dr. Kensaku Nakayama and in physical chemistry with Dr. Brian McClain. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from CSULB in 2007. After graduation, Jennifer joined the group of Dr. Benjamin Schwartz at UCLA as a physical chemistry graduate student where she investigated the structural properties of the hydrated electron using mixed quantum/classical molecular dynamics simulations. While at UCLA she also acted as a teaching assistant for many quarters, eventually earning the Hanson-Dow Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009. She participated in the NSF GK-12 program where she acted as a resident scientist for local high schools from 2010-2011. She completed her dissertation in 2014. After obtaining her Ph.D., Dr. Casey worked as a visiting-assistant professor at Sonoma State University from 2014-2015. There she worked on developing a Foundational Level General Science Waiver. In 2015 she lectured at Loyola Marymount University and participated in the Center for Teaching Excellence Credential Program. Dr. Casey is currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, where she primarily teaches general chemistry for life-science majors. She has recently won the prestigious Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Senate Faculty in 2019, as well as the 2020 Hanson-Dow Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Casey’s work at UCLA also includes chemical education research conducted under the advisement of Dr. Arlene Russell.

Registration is now open for the Teaching and Learning Center’s 51st Annual TA Conference: Fostering Wellness in the TA Experience

Build your network and teaching skills at the 51st Annual TA Conference:

Tuesday, September 17

Virtual, Zoom link provided upon registration; 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Wednesday, September 18

In-person, Royce Hall; 8:30 am – 4:30 pm; Networking mixer, 4:30-6 pm

A complete schedule of the conference sessions can be found below.

The conference will focus on opportunities to build skills and share strategies to help you foster balance and resilience for yourselves as teachers and your students. Sessions include tools for saving time, managing stress, promoting well-being and wellness, and caring for your mental health to help you thrive in your TA role.

Join the TLC and other campus partners to connect with the resources available to support your teaching as a graduate student, build community with your fellow TAs, and develop a teaching toolkit to help you start the fall quarter with confidence.

When you visit the registration page and complete your initial sign-up, you will be directed to another page to register for individual conference sessions. Please be sure to complete both parts of the registration process.

If you have any questions, contact tatp@teaching.ucla.edu.

2024 TA Conference Schedule
	Tuesday, 09/17/24 Zoom	Wednesday, 09/18/24 In person
8:30 – 8:55am PT	Meet and Greet with the Teaching and Learning Center (Zoom)	Breakfast Social with the Teaching and Learning Center (Royce Hall 306 Balcony)
	9:00 – 10:30 am PT	Disability Inclusion for Instruction (Zoom)	Breaking Down Self Care (Royce 148)
		Cheating, Grade Complaints, and Disruptive Behavior (Zoom)	Using Your Mental Health Story in the Classroom (Royce Hall 150)
Intro to Bruin Learn and TA Sites (Zoom)
12:30 – 1:00 pm PT		Movement Break (Royce Hall 306 Balcony)
11:00 am – 12:30 pm PT	Assisting Distressed and Distressing Students (Zoom)	Navigating Identity in the Classroom (Royce Hall 150)
	Saving Time with Tech (Zoom)	Transferable Teaching Skills (Royce Hall 148)
	Designing a Research Assignment (Zoom)	Fostering Resilience as a TA: A Student Forum (Royce Hall 306)
12:30 – 1:00 pm PT	Lunch Break	Lunch (Royce Hall 306 Balcony)
1:00 – 2:30 pm PT	Together We Thrive: A Roundtable on Wellness and Mental Health in Graduate Education (Plenary, Zoom)	Developing a Teaching Portfolio (Royce Hall 164)
		Time Management: Meeting Multiple Goals as a Graduate Student, TA, and Human (Royce Hall 150)
		Teaching as Growth (Royce Hall 148)
12:30 – 1:00 pm PT		Meditation / Mindful Arts & Crafts (Royce Hall 154)
3:00 – 4:30 pm PT	From Equity to Belonging (Zoom)	Redefining the Role of Teaching in Graduate Career Development (Royce Hall 306)
	Difficult Conversations in Office Hours (Zoom)
	Mindfulness as a Support for Learning, Writing, and Wellness (Zoom)

Recordings from Previous TA Conferences

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Graduate Student and Post Doc Drop In Hours

Educational Development Fellow Office Hours for Graduate Students

Meet 1:1 with TLC’s Educational Development Fellows’ in their office hours. Our fellows specialize in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Inclusive Teaching, Graduate Professional Development, STEM, and Writing Pedagogy and are eager to connect with you.
Click here to see their office hours and contact information.

TLC’s virtual Learn @ Lunch series: 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 12:00 – 1:00pm PT | Open to all instructors and TAs | Zoom Link

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The Foundations of Teaching Workshop Series

Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Series

Other Workshops

In case you missed it…

Effective Instructor-TA Communication: Working Together as a Remote Teaching Team

Getting Mid-Quarter Feedback on your Teaching

2020 TA Conference Plenary

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Graduate Student and Post Doc Drop In Hours

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