Lessons from graduate school: Being a TA

In graduate school, a lot of journalism students hold teaching assistantship positions (commonly called TAs) for experience, pay and tuition reductions. Assistantships range from grading papers for a lecture course, planning events for a university department (ex: the study abroad office), create agendas and even as intense as creating the lesson plans and class presentations.

My assistantship is serving as the Career Fair & PR Manager for Mojo, the in-house advertising agency I worked for through the university last year. It’s giving me a varied experience by allowing me to plan the Strategic Communication Career Fair, oversee three public relations account executive positions, plan a trip to Minneapolis and other agency events and watch the strategy of three campaigns and assist teams on their way. 

While in this position, I'm really learning the intersection between academia and organizational hierarchy. It's a tough line to determine where a TA falls and how much responsibility or control they have on certain matters. Here are some lessons I've taken away from one semester, that will definitely enhance my 2nd semester experience:

• Stay out of drama. Any group of people working together will have conflict or some miscommunications, but the more you dwell on it, the more it escalates. It's important to position yourself out of petty little fights, speak clearly and not create "he said, she said" situations. 

• Keep your personal life to yourself. There are plenty of days where I am not in the mood to be somewhere or am frustrated about something else going on academically, but when class or TA responsibilities are presented, you must put everything else aside and worry about the rest later. It sometimes feels like wearing a separate hat, but you don't want the people you work with to see your other attributes first. They won't respect someone who complains, and people need to know that you care about the work in front of you and not just everything else you are juggling. While it's definitely a challenge to not talk about yourself, it's for the better and keeps you a better listener. 

• Articulate well and speak with a purpose. When you're in any position of power, people don't want to read through the lines of what you are saying. They take your words and interpret them literally, so being clear is to your greatest advantage. When giving feedback, make sure your message is presented clearly, answers the "why it matters" question and is something actionable and not abstract. 

• Present yourself professionally. It seems simple, but professionalism is such an important attribute. This not only means dressing a step up to how you usually would in most situations, but also having good email and communication etiquette. Emails should be direct and well-written, and texts and phone calls should be purposeful and need-based, rather than a norm of texting students back and forth with their every question. That just feeds into stereotypes about our Millennial generation wanting constant communication. Therefore, look at your daily duties and infuse professionalism into them by evaluating your language, conversations and presence in social situations.