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Originally Posted by ratbastid
She apologized and promised it'd be different, right? So give her a second chance and hope she turns it around. If she doesn't, I'm sure there are procedures to deal with non-performing TAs. Talk to the head of your department to find out about that, maybe?
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Yep, she's getting another chance. I'll be asking Dr. KGB tomorrow, or at least I hope I will. It's embarassing to admit I can't handle my TA, even if it's true.
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Originally Posted by cyrne
What Mal said.
For new people I like to talk about expectations & duties. Make sure we're on the same page. Find their strengths, weaknesses, preferences. Make sure the first week or two haven't left big questions. If performance issues arise, revisit the early talks and discover what might have changed. Duties can shift, but it must be by agreement. I paraphrase official sit-down meetings in casual but specific language and copy the employee and their file.
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Yeah, I wish someone had done that with me so I'd understand exactly how this is supposed to work and what the procedures are for non-performing TA's.
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Originally Posted by cyrnel
Sounds like you've crept beyond that stage. Things can become messy if you aren't careful. I'm completely unfamiliar with school/TA employment law. Speak with your supervisor and/or whatever administration holds the TA contract about corrective action plans (or whatever they call them). What do they expect of you in the case of problems?
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I don't know. It isn't something that was discussed when I was hired and there's no formal orientation for those who start in the Spring semester. I think, like someone said before, they just expected me to know this stuff somehow, though I'm not quite sure how.
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A consistent chain of documentation and expectations makes it easy for everyone to move forward without dispute. Hopefully this is just an inexperienced person's wake-up call. Good luck! Like I said, not my favorite way to burn daylight.
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Yeah, I know, my inexperience is showing. I need to learn how to deal with this in case in happens again, it just would have been nice if it hadn't happened right off the bat.
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Originally Posted by JinnKai
If she's anything like me (and Albert Einstein, for that matter) -- he was absentminded -- she needs it on paper. There's something about written instructions that effects me much stronger than verbal instructions. When I'm at work (like now), when I'm TAing (in 4 hours) and even when I'm doing homework -- if I don't have it written, I prioritize it into "it will get done when it gets done." If it's on paper, I go .. ok.. I do #1, #2, #3, #4, and I'm done. I know it may be a pain in the ass, but write out a daily or weekly schedule, PRINT IT, and give it to her? Even include each class day and time, for redundancy's sake. Then she has a checklist in hand that tells her exactly what is expected. The next time her accountability comes up, point to exactly what didn't happen per the plan. If she uses the "scheduling issues" excuse after this, give her a chance to back out. "Can you still manage these tasks? If not, perhaps we should both go talk to your department chair about lowering the amount of hours you work." It's simultaneously a reminder that she IS accountable to her advisor/chair/whatever and a considerate question.
My teacher has no fixed schedule on when I get things done, but I've made a habit of having a 1, or at the maximum, 2 day turn around. The only way I can do this is by clearly documenting (somewhere, somehow) what I need to get done and by when.
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It hadn't occurred to me that I'd need to write down instructions for a graduate English student. She should be an expert at taking notes and managing her schedule by this time--this is a 24-year-old adult. This'll probably go well with the idea of documenting things, but it does suck to have to do more work as a result of her not doing what I've asked her many times to do.
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Originally Posted by guthmund
Excellent point. How well she does her job is very much dependent on how well you supervise her. As a teacher, I'm sure this must've come up a time or two over your years in school, yes?
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Nope. I've never directly supervised another employee before. We had a secretary at the middle school, but about all she did for teachers was make copies, and I always did that myself anyway.
I've had three different student teachers before, but that's different, as they're not there to help me; instead it was my job to help them.
This is a brand new situation for me.
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How you approach the relationship is also a fairly important contributing factor. Your perception of what the relationship is between you and your TA is going to color how you interact with her for better or for worse. Is it just a matter of you not being assertive enough, clear enough in what you expect or is there some other underlying problem?
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I don't know. I ask her to do X, she says she'll do her best, then it doesn't get done. It's not like she's being insubordinate, refusing to do work, it just isnt' getting done.
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Ultimately, she's a subordinate little worker bee who is being paid--in a round about way--for services rendered. She's benefitting just as much, if not more from being your TA as you are for having a TA.
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Right now, she's getting quite a bit more out of it than I am.
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Your distaste for getting this girl into trouble is cause for leniency on your part and certainly a bit of understanding, but it doesn't give your TA carte blanche to schluff her responsibilities as a member of your support staff.
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Heh. She
is my support staff. I know I'm not giving her reason to think she can just do what she wants, as I've been very clear about what I want her to do. I'll be doing it in writing [sigh, more work] from now on.
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Personally, I'd try to figure out what the problem was, find a way to correct it and then give her a week or two to get her act together. After that I'd put her on notice and start asking around about getting rid of, or at least reassigning your TA.
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I know what the problem is. It's that I ask her to do X, she says she'll do it, then doesn't do it and offers excuses after the fact. Not all the time, but a significant amount of it.
Gilda