Graduate students who teach always officially work under the supervision of a faculty member. Most teach laboratory sessions, assist professors and grade papers.
Teaching activities performed by GAs include lecturing, instruction and grading.
Other duties include a variety of tasks such as maintaining and cataloguing slide and specimen collections, coaching student teams, preparing program accreditation documentation, assembling and mailing graduate application materials, counseling undergraduates, judging at fairs, providing technical support for teaching laboratories, assisting at the lab school, advising at the writing center, advising undergraduates, analyzing college statistical data, and acting as personal assistants to faculty researchers. Many GAs are funded from grants and contracts originating outside the University. These GAs usually have prescribed duties in research. Each GA works between 18-20 hours per week. A select group of master's and doctoral students are assigned full classroom instructional responsibilities, but still are supervised by faculty.