Language Teaching Assistant Fatigue and Burnout

Thursday, March 25, 2021
3:30 – 4:00 pm
Register Online

Even during non-pandemic semesters, Teaching Assistants (TAs) juggle their own course work, research, and professional development activities while teaching one or more often highly enrolled classes a semester. For the past year, TAs have been expected to learn new technologies for teaching remotely, establish an effective social presence in their remote classes in order to foster interpersonal relationships with and among students, and be cognizant of their own students’ emotional and mental states and teach with compassion, all while helping students achieve demanding course goals. In today’s discussion we will hear from a panel of graduate students who will share their experiences as language TAs during the pandemic. What causes particular stress and anxiety, what strategies have they developed for managing stress, and what can their TA supervisors, program directors, faculty advisors, and peers do to support them?

Discussant: Jeanne Schueller, Faculty Associate, German Language Program Director, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, University of Wisconsin-Madison