You did what?! graduate teaching assistant misbehaviors in multi-section introductory communication courses

The study explores graduate teaching assistants’ (GTAs) perceptions of misbehaviors of other GTAs across multi-section introductory communication courses. Utilizing the teacher misbehaviors’ typology, this study examines novice teachers’ perceptions of teacher misbehaviors. A convenience sample of current introductory course graduate teaching assistants (N = 55) responded to open-ended questions about what constituted teachers’ misbehaviors, why these communicative acts were perceived as misbehaviors, and how these misbehaviors were managed. Employing a thematic analysis, participants indicated the most frequent misbehavior related to indolence, followed by offensiveness and incompetence. Three new subcategories emerged as misbehaviors for this sample: inappropriate use of social media, coolness/peer affirmation, and dress/attire. Five categories for why behaviors and actions were perceived misbehaviors and six categories emerged as responses for managing the teacher misbehavior. The findings offer practical solutions and pedagogical suggestions for GTAs and course directors.