About the UTA Program

What UTAs Learn in ENGL388V

ENGL388V is a 4-credit Scholarship in Practice internship in which Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs) are mentored as scholar-practitioners. The seminar is the “Scholarship” part of the course; in it, UTAs learn foundations of composition pedagogy and teaching and learning in higher education. UTAs engage with new topics each week through readings, online and in-class discussions, and hands-on activities, all of which enable UTAs to make connections between the scholarship and their classroom experiences. The weekly seminar offers UTAs an opportunity to connect with and learn from each other while practicing lesson plans and experimenting with different teaching and mentoring strategies. This portion of the course accounts for approximately 3-4 hours/ week (1 credit).

The time UTAs spend as UTAs in their classes with their supervising instructor and students is the “Practice” part of the course. UTA duties are determined by UTAs and their instructors and account for approximately 7-8 hours/ week (3 credits).

Learning Outcomes

By the conclusion of ENGL388V, students will be able to do the following:

• Select, critically evaluate, and apply relevant areas of composition scholarship and the scholarship of teaching and learning to the teaching of writing;
• Articulate the processes required to bring about a successful outcome in the classroom;
• Demonstrate an ability to collaborate in order to bring about a successful outcome in a composition course;
• Analyze how classroom applications of scholarship can or should account for differences in the gender, class, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and sexual orientation of class members and instructors;
• Produce and deliver lesson plans and teaching artifacts that reflect research relevant to composition and pedagogy

How ENGL388V Works

Sections

ENGL388V has different sections for first-semester and returning UTAs:

• First-semester UTAs register for one of the sections that meets weekly for 90 minutes.
• Returning UTAs register for one of the asynchronous online sections.

Credit Hour Breakdown
ENGL388V is structured as a variable credit course for which UTAs can register for anywhere between 1 to 6 credits. First-semester UTAs register for 4 credits, and returning UTAs register for 3 credits. The credit differential accounts for the fact that returning UTAs do not attend the in-person weekly seminar; instead, they attend informal monthly meetups and complete their ENGL388V coursework asynchronously online.

In both versions, UTAs are with their instructor and students for 8-10 hours per week. This translates to the following credit breakdown between their work as students in ENGL388V and as UTAs in their assigned course: