Teaching Across Borders: Navigating Teaching as an International TA in the US
Content
Will my students understand my accent? Will they take me seriously? How do I build confidence while navigating a new educational culture? Join international TA Scholastika Massawe for a conversation on credibility, belonging, language, and identity in the classroom. Drawing on research and lived experience, this workshop helps international TAs recognize their multilingual and transnational backgrounds as strengths for teaching and learning.
Part of the Teaching Academy, a series of pedagogical workshops for ALL UMass grad students and postdocs!
Scholastika Massawe (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research examines language policy and planning in education, multilingualism, language-in-education policy, and issues of equity and belonging in educational contexts. As an international scholar from Tanzania, she is particularly interested in how language, culture, and identity shape teaching and learning experiences across diverse settings.
At UMass Amherst, Scholastika has served as a Teaching Assistant and instructor in the Writing Program for four years, where she currently teaches First-Year Writing and provides writing support as a graduate writing tutor. She has also worked as a Teaching Assistant in the College of Education and previously served as a Graduate Assistant Director, mentoring and supporting new instructors as they navigated teaching, course design, classroom management, and professional development. Her work as a teacher, mentor, and researcher informs her commitment to creating inclusive learning environments that recognize multilingual and multicultural experiences as strengths.
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