Download graduate teaching assistantship application for English composition.
Graduate teaching assistantships are available for several different programs. In general, 1st year MA-TESL and PhD students are eligible to teach English composition, although positions in the Program in Intensive English are sometimes available. More advanced students are eligible to continue in those positions or apply for other teaching or research opportunities.
Position Overview-English Composition
Graduate students who are awarded assistantships receive more than financial support; they also receive extensive training and experience in teaching English composition at the college level and in working and consulting in the writing center. In return, graduate assistants bring a variety of skills, backgrounds, and perspectives to the teaching of composition and to individual consulting sessions.
A graduate assistantship in English represents a 20-hour-per-week commitment. For first-year graduate assistants, this typically involves the following each week:
- Four classroom hours of teaching English 105, NAU’s freshman composition course. The curriculum follows a standard syllabus and is content-based. It incorporates a technological literary component for each section which is taught in a computer lab (once a week).
- Six hours of regularly scheduled writing center instruction, which involves individual tutoring (walk-in and English 100), the preparation and presentation of cross-curricular writing workshops or other projects.
- Preparation and grading time (approximately six hours).
- At least three hours of scheduled office hours.
- Participation in English 587, a one-hour writing center practicum, during every semester as a graduate assistant working in the writing center.
Additional weekly requirements during the first semester include:
- Participation in English 601, a three-credit-hour teaching practicum (this course should be part of, not in addition to, the nine-hour full-time enrollment required of all graduate assistants each semester).
Prior to teaching, graduate assistants must also participate in:
- A two week orientation prior to fall semester and a one week session before spring semester.
Graduate assistantships are reviewed on an annual basis, subject to acceptable and satisfactory performance of the duties listed above and to reasonable progress towards the degree.
Download graduate teaching assistantship application for English composition
