School of Computer Science Wiki

It is important to remember that you are writing a document to show your expertise for a specific job, or set of jobs. Information that is not directly relevant to the job should go later in the document, or likely not be included at all.

Focus your application, and be clear. Much of being a good TA is about being a good communicator. If your application is not clearly written and focused on the task at hand, this reflects negatively on your ability to teach and mentor students.

The example application and this description is intended to help you produce an application that is clear, complete, and well suited to the task of applying for this sort of job.

The purpose of this section is to provide information specific to every course that you have applied to TA. The most important information to give is identified in the job advertisement description. Be sure to identify and carefully reflect upon each of the requirements listed in the job advertisement before writing anything, and then tailor your application to the requirements.

Below, you will find some hints on how to write a strong application. The hints are illustrated using the example course below, which is not part of the SoCS curriculum.

Here is a list of requirements, typical of what would be given in an actual job advertisement:

Demonstrated knowledge of the subject area.
Experience using the programming languages Java, Eiffel and R.
Must have excellent written skills and be able to effectively
communicate and edit written works.
Ability to independently lead laboratory sections.

In the example TA Appliation document, the applicant has noted that they demonstrably know the material as they have not only taken the course before (first bullet), but have previously been the teaching assistant before (second bullet).

Most importantly, notice that each one of the job description items has been responded to in some way by the applicant (third bullet). In the case of programming languages, the applicant has indicated that they are not an expert at Eiffel – possibly none of the applicants are. Being clear here will avoid miscommunications with the course instructor later, and will allow the instructorto better assign specific duties to the different TAs assigned to the course.

Regarding availability, it is clear that this course has multiple lecture sections and multiple lab sections. This applicant has indicated that they are not able to attend lecture section 01, nor lab section 02. In a large multi-section course, it is necessary to ensure that all of the necessary meeting times can be covered, so providing your availability allows this.

Again, the applicant has been clear regarding their experiences, and their availability. Again, clear responses are given that (presuably) directly refer to expertise listed in the job description.

Here the applicant does not have as much experience, and they have been clear about this. It may well be that they are still the most qualified applicant, so it is important to provide this information if you wish to apply to a course such as this.

An applicant who indicates some level of skill or experience will be strongly preferred over an applicant who does not provide any information.

*If no information is provided regarding a point on the job description, the assumption is that you are entirely unqualified in this area.*

Note also that the information presented is structured and presented *in relation to the job application desired qualifications*. Be sure to focus your application accordingly.

In this section you can highlight any other teaching, mentorship or other relevant leadership experience that you may have. Not all teaching happens at the University, and experience teaching in other ways is still valuable experience that can be brought to the classroom as a TA.

Use these areas to highlight anything else in your experience that you think is relevant to the TA job.