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GETTING STARTED
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For many first-time as well as seasoned GSIs, time management is a huge issue. GSIs often ask themselves, “How in the world will I ever find enough time to teach, study, write, and have a social life?” This section suggests practical strategies that you can employ to manage the amount of time you allot for GSI-related tasks. You will benefit by thinking about time management before you begin and throughout the semester.
GSI appointments are overseen by the Graduate Division and are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with the UAW. (See the Graduate Division handout "What You Need to Know about Being a GSI, GSR, Reader, or Tutor" See also the union contract. If you are hired to work half-time (most GSI appointments are half-time, though lower-percentage appointments do exist), you will be expected to work 16-20 hours per week during instructional and exam periods. Your letter of appointment or supplemental documentation should outline your duties. A rough example of how GSI time might be distributed follows:
Lecture attendance = 3 hrs.
Office hours = 2 hrs.
Meeting with instructor and GSIs = 1 hr.
Section or lab = 2-4 hrs.
Reading course material, preparing lesson plans, creating handouts and assignments, grading, and responding to student e-mails = 10-12 hrs.
Here are some practical strategies that you can use to manage your time effectively:
1. Set and Stick to Clear Policies. GSIs may develop policies, such as the following, that help save considerable time.
A. E-mail: Establish set times for responding to e-mails, so that you do not spend more time than allotted on responding to student queries. Respond to students in bunches if they have the same question; answer some questions in section rather than via e-mail; refer students to the course Web site or course syllabus if they have questions that can be answered by those materials. Let students know that you will only respond to e-mail once a day.
NOTE: Phone conversations often take less time than e-mail exchanges. Consider having students call you during office hours or at a set time when you'll be in your office. Again, we recommend that GSIs not provide students with home or cell numbers.
B. Late Assignments: Discourage late assignments by deducting points for unexcused late assignments and by not accepting late papers after specified dates. It is very time consuming to grade papers that continually trickle in throughout the semester.
C. Grading Rubrics: Use rubrics to facilitate effective and efficient grading. Set a timer to make sure that you do not spend more time than you have allocated for each paper. Develop and borrow from other GSIs' repertoires of responses to student work. GSIs tend to address similar issues when assessing students' papers, exams, lab reports, and homework. GSIs who have a set of responses for common errors (e.g., unclear thesis statements, poor organization of lab reports, and awkward sentence constructions) save valuable time when grading.
D. Grade Disputes: Grade disputes will be kept at a minimum if you use a grading rubric and outline grade dispute policies (you might also want to look at a sample disupte / regrade policy). Handling grading disputes in your office hours will enable you to put limits on the amount of time this entails.
E. Office Hours: Have office hours at different times on different days so that the maximum number of students can attend scheduled office hours. This policy helps reduce the number of appointments GSIs make to accommodate students who cannot attend regularly scheduled office hours. Some GSIs determine their office hours after asking students about their availability.
While your office hours should primarily be devoted to meeting with students, GSIs can save time by working on GSI-related tasks between student visits during office hours.
2. Make Weekly and Daily Schedules. Allot particular times of the day to complete GSI-related activities. Try to complete all of the activities during these allotted times. It is wise to start making these schedules before the start of the semester.
3. Keep a Teaching Log that Tracks How You Spend Your Time. As you prepare for the beginning of the semester, start writing down in a journal the amount of time you spend on GSI duties. You may find that you are spending too many hours per week answering student e-mails, meeting with students outside of class and office hours, grading, or writing elaborate homework assignments. The log will also help you reflect on which activities are the most and least effective. Once you identify the activities that eat up excessive amounts of time, you can figure out how to reduce the time you spend on these activities (for example, stop writing ten-page responses to each question students send you over e-mail, or make simple review sheets rather than elaborate sheets with beautiful pictures, three-dimensional diagrams, text boxes, and annotated bibliographies).
4. Cooperate and Collaborate. As noted above, GSIs are not lone rangers; you have numerous resources you can tap into for help. Many of the following resources can assist you in managing your time.
A. Experienced GSIs often have lesson plans, assignments, handouts, and copious tips that they would love to share with current GSIs. Take advantage of them!
B. If your department has files for courses, pull lesson plans and other documents to use or modify. Make a folder of course-related documents to use during the present and future semesters. (Remember that you may teach this course again.) Pass along a copy of the folder to other GSIs when you are through with it. Save your work for your teaching portfolio.
C. Meet regularly with the other GSIs for the class, and divvy up work on lesson plans, assignments, handouts, grading rubrics, review sheets, etc. Ask the other GSIs what they are doing to manage their time (if they are managing their time successfully).
D. Seek out advice about time-effective teaching strategies by making an appointment with a teaching consultant at the GSI Teaching and Resource Center.
5. Teaching Style. GSIs are facilitators of student learning rather than lecturers. Writing lectures can be very time consuming. While you must prepare short presentations or lectures periodically to provide background information and clarify issues, you need not feed information to students. Preparing group activities rather than lectures saves time and increases student participation in the learning process.
6. Keep accurrate and organized records. Think in advance about the system you will use (e.g., paper or electronic) to keep track of students' attendance, participation, and grades. These files will help you stay organized throughout the semester. In addition, you can refer to these files when students inquire about their progress in section. Though it does not happen often, you may very well become involved in a grade dispute at one time or another as a GSI. Maintaining good records will help you respond in a professional manner and will minimize the stress that such a situation can cause.
Final Comments on Time Management
Remember that professors and students do not expect you to be the absolute master of the material you teach, especially in the first semester. They expect you to be prepared, organized, relatively energetic, and helpful. You do not have to spend countless hours studying so that you know course and related material backwards and forwards. It is important to prepare thoroughly for section. However, over-preparation is counter-productive and extremely time consuming.
According to a 1991 study by Robert Boice entitled “Quick Starters: Faculty who Succeed,” spending time reflecting on and talking with other teachers about teaching decreases, rather than increases, the amount of time spent on teaching. So, try meeting regularly with other GSIs and professors to discuss and debate teaching issues, and participate in pedagogical workshops and other teaching-related forums. The minimal time you devote to these activities will help you become a more effective and efficient teacher, and free up time for other aspects of your academic and personal life.
For many GSIs, the first couple of semesters can be overwhelming and take up considerable time. Rest assured that teaching becomes much more manageable and enjoyable with experience.
Employing the strategies outlined above or a Time Management Tool will assist you in this process.
