Teaching Resources · For TAs and TOs
Teaching Resources for TAs and TOs
Short, practical guides for graduate teaching assistants and teaching associates in computing: office hours, sections, grading, exams, assignments, and the job itself. Each page gives you defaults that work, scripts you can use, and the research behind them.
Written for TAs at the UMass Amherst Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences; the UMass-specific parts are marked, and the rest applies anywhere. New to TAing? Start with Your First Two Weeks as a TA. Last updated October 2026.
Getting started
- Your First Two Weeks as a TAA checklist for before classes, week one and week two, and a plan for your first section.
Office hours and questions
- Office Hours FAQEmpty rooms, long queues, debugging unfamiliar code, boundaries and setup problems.
- Answering Questions OnlineForums and email: response times, consistent staff answers, hints, code and privacy.
- When You Don't Know the AnswerWhat to say, how to follow up, and how to debug code you've never seen.
- AI Policy Questions from StudentsExplaining your course's AI policy, model answers, similarity reports and suspected misuse.
- Handle It or Hand It to the Instructor?Which situations are yours, which go to the instructor, and who to call at UMass.
Students and sections
- What to Say When a Student Doubts ThemselvesA short pattern for replying, lines for common statements, and reaching out first.
- Building Belonging in Your SectionNames, norms, who gets to talk, and what to do when someone pushes others out.
- Running a Discussion Section or LabPreparing, a one-page plan, pacing a lab, helping without taking over, covering for a TA.
- Getting a Quiet Section to TalkWrite before talk, wait time, warm calling, groups that work, and handling silence.
- Running Group ProjectsForming teams, charters, check-ins, uneven contribution, conflict and fair grading.
Lectures and materials
- Covering a LectureA timeline from a week before to after, active learning, live coding and nerves.
- Teaching Lectures RegularlyPlanning a run of lectures, a sustainable prep rhythm, a template, and falling behind.
- Accessible Teaching MaterialsChecklists for slides, documents, Canvas, video, code, math and diagrams.
Feedback, rubrics and grading
- Giving Feedback Students UseComments students act on, with weak and better examples for code, proofs and reports.
- Writing Learning OutcomesOutcomes you can see and assess, with examples and verbs that fit computing.
- Creating Rubrics and Grading to ThemRubric types, criteria two graders apply the same way, calibration, bias, and grading time.
- Using Generative AI to Draft a RubricSix prompts, including fitting a rubric to a grading-time budget.
- Grading Faster Without Cutting CornersGrading by question, Gradescope features, regrades, and what to raise with the instructor.
- Coordinating Graders and UCAsDividing work, calibrating a team, following up on late work, and message templates.
- Course Tools for TAs: Gradescope, Canvas and the ForumCommon tasks with links to official help, and habits that prevent mistakes.
Exams and assignments
- Exams: Accommodations, Makeups and ProctoringHow accommodations work at UMass, proctoring, suspected cheating, and makeups.
- Writing Exam Questions That Test What You MeanTechniques for clear questions, the key and rubric, and beta-testing an exam.
- Writing Homework and Problem Sets That WorkProgramming and theory assignments, with nine examples at three levels.
- Using Generative AI to Draft an AssignmentA fill-in prompt, follow-ups, and how to judge the draft.
Your job and career
- Working With Your InstructorDuties, the UMass contract on hours, a first-meeting list, and raising concerns.
- Keeping Your TA Hours in CheckLogging time, protecting research, sample weeks, and warning signs.
- Getting Feedback on Your TeachingMidsemester surveys, peer observation, recordings, and reading evaluations.
- Trying a Small Teaching ExperimentChange one thing and check it: a plan, examples, traps, and ethics.
- Teaching Statements and PortfoliosStructure, weak and better sentences, and building a portfolio while you TA.