Graduate and professional students who aspire to academic careers often tell mentors that they are eager to teach but unsure how to gain experience or show it on a CV or dossier. Because TA opportunities vary across programs and budget cycles, departments and teaching centers can create equitable on-ramps by structuring small, credible experiences that convert directly into evidence. With a few coordinated practices, students can produce citable artifacts and gain developmental teaching experiences that translate cleanly into CV entries, teaching-statement lines, and portfolios or dossiers.
Start With TAships When Possible
When TA roles are available, they are the strongest scaffold for teaching readiness. Where a TA is the instructor of record, help the student document full-course responsibilities and align outcomes, activities, and assessments. In more limited TA roles, encourage assignments that include planning a discrete lesson, leading a discussion section, refining a grading rubric, and collecting a brief measure of learning. Ask students to secure at least one formal evaluation each term, whether that is a short student feedback form, a faculty observation, or a peer review, and to write a brief reflection on what they learned and what they will change next time. Even a single TA term can yield a syllabus example, lesson plan, a rubric, a summary of feedback, and a concise teaching-statement paragraph. At the same time, acknowledge that TA slots are finite. Students who cannot secure one in a given semester should not be left waiting. Parallel pathways such as guest lecturing, and micro-credentials from teaching centers for example, can allow them to build meaningful evidence while they continue to seek TA roles in a future term.
Guest Lecture With Intention
When TA options are limited, a focused guest lecture is a practical and credible alternative. Help advisees secure a 30 to 40-minute slot in a course that aligns with their expertise. Ask the student to prepare and deliver a simple lesson plan and presentation, and if time allows, an active learning exercise. At the end of the session, have them collect constructive feedback on an idea or concept from the lesson that went well, and what if anything could be improved. Those pieces become evidence: the plan and presentation show intentional design, and a short summary of student feedback demonstrates attention to student learning. Faculty mentors can make this routine by keeping a short list of upcoming guest-lecture opportunities and sharing a brief observation note focused on clarity and engagement. If part of their typical practices already, departments and teaching centers can maintain a shared list where instructors post upcoming guest-lecture needs and dates.
Micro-Credentials Through the Teaching Center
Teaching centers already run short, high-value workshops on topics like active learning, inclusive assessment, and AI-informed teaching. Encourage students to register for and complete a teaching center offering and to apply what they learned. Have them write a short reflection that names one practice they will try, where it would fit in a real course or lab context, and how they will check whether it worked. Badges or certificates paired with these reflections become credible evidence of readiness, as they show familiarity with current pedagogy and the ability to translate ideas into implementation.
Departmental Teaching Groups and Material Redesign
When teaching centers are at capacity with their own programming, departments can create a standing teaching group that advances curriculum and pedagogy while giving students visible, dossier-worthy experiences. Led by one or two faculty members and composed primarily of graduate students, the group can refresh core course syllabi, prompts, rubrics, and LMS shells so they align with outcomes and reflect current policy language on attendance, late work, makeup exams, academic integrity, and responsible AI use. The group can pilot short instructional activities or modules, then demonstrate them at a department brown-bag, including how to make documents more accessible and consistent with UDL principles. Typical outputs can include a revised syllabus packet with transparent rubrics, an accessibility checklist applied to a set of course materials, and a one-page “implementation note” that explains the change, the rationale, and how to assess impact. These artifacts can be included in one’s dossier and can lead to invitations to guest lecture, co-teach a session, or step into a future TA role because faculty will have now seen the students design, align, and present improvements to the program’s materials. If a department is not yet able to convene such a group, individual faculty mentors can facilitate these activities with their advisees.
Online or Hybrid Teaching Assists
Invite a graduate or professional student to lead a part of an online or hybrid course, such as moderating a weekly discussion thread or contributing to part of a module that includes a short reading set, a short lecture video, or a quick check for understanding. Ask them to plan how they will facilitate authentic engagement with learners in the online environment, and how they would give timely, supportive feedback. After the week, have them write a brief summary of what participation looked like, and what they would adjust in the next cycle. These short assists generate a set of artifacts that demonstrate design, facilitation, and assessment in digital environments. As part of the same effort, departments can invite students to help refresh LMS shells by updating modules, assessments, and rubrics. Teaching centers can provide a starter kit with a captioning “how-to guide,” as well as examples of effective prompts. Taken together, these assists help students show readiness for the kinds of blended and online teaching responsibilities that are now becoming more commonplace across institutions.
Bringing it Together in the Teaching Statement
Teaching experiences that graduate and professional students can speak to are only part of what makes a statement persuasive. Strong statements also name the theories, philosophies, and evidence-based practices that guide decisions. For example, a student might reference Universal Design for Learning for accessibility, inclusive pedagogy to widen participation, or the Community of Inquiry model to foster presence online. Naming a few of these and then pairing them with a brief example from one’s own course or guest lecture, helps a statement read as scholarly and reflective while staying concrete about what students will experience.
Make it Routine, Not Ad Hoc
Set a simple timeline with advisees before the term begins. Identify dates/times for likely guest-lecture opportunities, TAships to consider and apply for, and teaching center offerings to register for (such as active learning or inclusive assessment). Schedule several check-ins with advisees (beginning, middle, and end-of-term) for reviewing/revising artifacts that could bolster one’s teaching portfolio, including updates and revisions to syllabi, lesson plans, rubrics, etc. Encourage one formal observation each term, whether from a faculty mentor, a peer, or a brief student feedback form, and help advisees translate results into one or two sentences for their teaching statement. Taken together, these practices create a clear and equitable path to teaching readiness.
Marcus L. Johnson, PhD, is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the School of Education at Virginia Tech and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 15). His research focuses on motivation in education, and he contributes to graduate and faculty development, interdisciplinary research, and supports initiatives that advance teaching readiness and educational outreach across disciplines. His work on approach and avoidance goals and conceptual change has been cited in APA’s “Top 20 Principles for Teaching and Learning.” He also serves in mentoring and leadership roles with APA and AERA programs that support early-career scholars and evidence-based teaching.
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