Teaching Assistants' Training Program
The Teaching Assistants' Training Program (TATP) is a peer-training program for currently registered students who will be working as teaching assistants for University of Toronto courses. Students need not necessarily hold a teaching appointment in order to participate in TATP programming.
The TATP offers many services including a fall, winter and spring workshop series, a certificate program, awards in recognition of outstanding teaching by TAs, a resource library (print, dvd and web) and individual consultations.
The office seeks to prepare graduate students and those undergraduate students working as TAs for the realities and demands of teaching, as well as provide a peer-based support network. As such, it can be seen as an essential step in the professional development of graduate students intending to pursue careers in academe. Look for new seminars and workshops - for new and returning TAs who already have teaching experience - throughout the year.
Certificate Programs
The online journal Inside Higher Ed has an article about the importance of certificate programs for graduate students. "Preparing Professors to Teach"
discusses programs in the States, rather than Canada, but we think UofT graduate students will find the article interesting.
Microteaching
In-class Observation
Teaching Dossier Review
A NOTE ABOUT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Please note that any written work submitted to the TATP office in pursuit of the AUTP Certificate is subject to the same rigorous standards as written work submitted in academic programs. Even though the TATP is not officially an academic program, any work associated with the office is governed by the University of Toronto’s code of conduct, and as University of Toronto students, you are bound by the rules and regulations surrounding the submission of individual written work at this institution.
PLAGIARISM OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY STATEMENTS, WRITTEN REFLECTIONS, OR ANY PUBLISHED WORK CONSTITUTES ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT. The following documents will be checked to ensure that no content has been downloaded off the Internet or copied from other print or online resources:
- teaching dossiers, including teaching philosophy statements
- written reflections
- scholarly papers
If a student copies any portion of a teaching philosophy statement or teaching dossier, or copies any text from any source without proper citation when preparing a written reflection or a scholarly paper, the student will be considered to be misrepresenting herself or himself. The student will not receive a TATP Certificate, and further action may be taken, meaning the incident may be brought to the attention of the student’s home department. This can have serious consequences as the department may choose to include a citation in the student’s file.
Even if you are not participating in the Advanced University Teaching
Preparation certificate program, you can submit your dossier for review
with a TATP staff member. Please complete the
ON-LINE FORM (for question #1 you can indicate N/A if you are not in a certificate program) then send your dossier to the TATP via email at
services.ta@utoronto.ca or drop off a hard copy at the CTSI office.