The lived experiences of teacher formation among 1st-year graduate teaching assistants in a composition program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of 1st-year graduate teaching assistants (TAs) engaged in their first semester of college teaching and a rigorous teacher training program. TAs were interviewed about their educational life stories at the beginning and at the end of the first semester of teaching. They also maintained a daily teaching log and wrote one or more critical event narratives, recounting teaching experiences that changed their teaching practice or their thinking about teaching. TAs were also interviewed about their analyses of critical events. At the end of the first semester of teaching the study group TAs gathered together to share teaching stories in a Story Swap. Subsequent to the first phase of the study, two focus groups were formed—one representing 2nd-year TAs and the other representing faculty/supervisors in the composition program. These focus groups were queried for confirming and disconfirming data regarding the experiences and observations of the 1st-year TA group. They were also encouraged to discuss their own teaching experiences, educational histories, and current teaching concerns. The results of this study suggest a grounded theory for understanding teacher formation among graduate teaching assistants. TA teacher formation can be understood to be a constellation of complex forces, including an evolution from novice to expert practice, adult development issues, psycho-social influences from individual educational and life histories, sex-class linked discourse practices and gender influences more generally, the individual's narrative reconstruction of teaching experience and identity, and the natural rhythms of the teaching semester and year. Finally, this study demonstrates that the TA experience is a uniquely human experience, filled with both the pain and joy of new learning.