Graduate Teaching Assistantship
Advanced preparation
program Assistantships
Ilus davis doctoral teaching fellowships
Graduate Teaching
Assistantships
The department offers graduate teaching assistantships to those M.A. or Ph.D. candidates whose application materials and prior experience suggest the ability to create and teach first- and second-year composition courses. Through an orientation and active support systems, the assistantship invites students to engage with the range of options available to teachers of college-level reading and writing. Specifically, we encourage GTAs to develop individual teaching strategies that take full advantage of relationships between and among personal, professional, and ideological ways of reading and writing.
Graduate teaching assistantships can be offered to qualified students in Language and Literature, Composition and Rhetoric, Creative Writing, and to those pursuing interdisciplinary Ph.D.s. The graduate committee evaluates applications for the fall semester in February. Please consult graduate application materials for specific deadlines. The average assistantship is offered for two years, or four semesters, but may be offered and accepted for a lesser term at the discretion of the committee. Under special circumstances, assistantships may be offered for research duties.
First-year graduate teachers must undergo a rigorous pre-semester orientation and attend mentoring meetings twice monthly with the GTA mentor and fellow graduate teachers. GTAs are also required to enroll in English 519: Problems in Teaching English. During their first year, graduate teachers are responsible for preparing and teaching English 110 in the fall semester and English 225 in the spring semester. During their second year, graduate teachers continue to teach first- and second-year courses and are also responsible for an additional service assignment to be chosen by the chair of graduate studies. Graduate teaching assistants are remunerated at $4,000 per semester and the remission of six hours of tuition. Students holding an assistantship are expected to take at least six hours per semester. Teaching and research assistants are evaluated by the Director of Composition and/or the GTA mentor during the spring semester of each year.
Advanced preparation program
Assistantships
In collaboration with the Advanced Preparation Program (APP), The English Department offers a limited number of Graduate Teaching (GT)assistantships to qualified M.A. and I. Ph.D. candidates interested in working with writers of diverse abilities in a tutorial setting adjacent to the classroom environment.
APP appointments provide unique teaching and tutoring opportunities for graduate students interested in composition studies. APP GTs are responsible for planning individual, small group, and in-class tutorial sessions in addition to assigning grades for the Writing Center portion of students’ work in the English 100/110/225 courses for which they tutor.
With support from the Writing Center staff and APP instructors, APP GTs develop instructional strategies that incorporate theories and practices from the fields of composition and writing center studies. These GTs collaborate regularly with instructors, academic advisors, and program administrators.
Participation in rigorous Writing Center tutor training, including training retreats, meetings, and self-improvement projects, provides APP GTs additional opportunities to refine their personal pedagogy and to pursue tutor certification through the College Reading and Learning Association. As Writing Center associates, APP GTs also receive memberships to the International Writing Center Association and the Midwest Writing Center Association and may apply to receive funding from the Writing Center to present at these associations' conferences.
Applicants must be accepted in the Graduate Program in English at UMKC as regular degree-seeking students. APP GTs are expected to maintain a consistent work schedule designed with input from the Writing Center Director to be fulfilled between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. The ideal applicants for APP appointments are those who work well with diverse student populations and who are reliable in an environment that demands excellent organizational skills. An ability to work independently as well as within small group and classroom settings is essential. Previous teaching and/or tutoring experience is preferred, but not required.
The APP GT appointment is for one semester but is renewable. After completion of the first year with the program and assuming that they receive positive evaluations, APP GTs may choose to continue tutoring at the Writing Center or request a classroom assignment.
APP GTs are remunerated at $4,000.00 per semester and the remission of six hours of tuition. Students holding an assistantship are expected to take at least six hours per semester. APP GTs are evaluated by the Director of the Writing Center, and/or the Director of Composition during the spring semester of each year.
Ilus davis doctoral teaching fellowships
Every year the department of English will select one or two I-PhD students who do not currently hold GT positions as Ilus Davis Doctoral Teaching Fellows. The Davis Fellows will receive a stipend of $8,000 for teaching one course per semester during the year of the fellowship.
Davis Fellows will also choose a teaching mentor. The Mentor and Fellow will meet two-three times each semester to help plan the courses and discuss pedagogical issues. The mentor will observe the Fellow’s class at least once during the year and write a teaching observation letter to be kept in the Fellow’s file.
Ilus Davis Doctoral Teaching Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis once a year. Students may reapply for the awards, but applicants who have not previously held the fellowship will receive priority consideration. Students without other university funding will also be privileged. The deadline for applications is February 15.
Applications should include:
· A 250-500-word statement explaining what role the Ilus Davis Doctoral Teaching Fellowship will play in the applicant’s development as a teacher and scholar.
· A sample course syllabus and rationale.
· A teaching observation letter (or general recommendation letter if a teaching letter is unavailable).
