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Drawing on feedback from Warwick GTAs, the initiative creates an accessible space to share frustrations, fears, and successes while supporting autonomy and peer co-creation. Supported by formal and funded planning, the event emphasizes trained facilitation, inclusive scheduling, and iterative learning from lower-than-expected attendance, culminating in next-year conversion into a law-discipline resource.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":53,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lifestyle/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/zine-making-for-zen-gtas-tips-and-tricks-handbook/155746/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/zine-making-for-zen-gtas-tips-and-tricks-handbook/155746.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Seraphina","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-20","2026-08-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why was the zine making workshop created for Zen GTAs?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It was created to address often overlooked needs of GTAs, including belonging concerns, emotional strain, and gaps in training, and to offer a supportive way to reflect and share teaching experiences.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What objectives guided the workshop design?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The workshop aimed to help GTAs reflect using creative techniques, share frustrations and successes with peers, and regain autonomy by co-creating a practical training resource for incoming GTAs.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What were the main learnings from running the workshop?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Key learnings included using trained expert facilitators, carefully considering timing to maximize accessibility, and adapting when attendance was lower than expected, which led to deeper interactive collaborative zine activities.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},155746,1787927811,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":52,"category_name":53,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":39},962075114101,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e000253a75eb197efd?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780044092746381165","Tips and tricks Blog  \n‘Zine Making for Zen GTAs’  \nby Cherisse Francis  \nAccording to a range of pedagogic literature and available data including Barr and Wright (2019) ‘Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) provide an invaluable contribution to higher education, yet their role is often overlooked and understudied.’ Some sources estimate that GTAs contribute up to 70% of the undergraduate seminar teaching at UK universities. Yet, their mental health and individual needs are constantly overlooked. As a GTA myself, this was my lived experience and so I began wondering if my colleagues felt similarly.  \nBased on formal and informal feedback, GTAs at the University of Warwick report feeling a sense of not belonging compounded by their varied teaching experiences as part of module teams and unmet training needs. This can be emotionally and administratively difficult, and even overwhelming, yet, it is a crucially important stage for development into full-time academics. Before starting this project, I enlisted specific perspectives from colleagues who shared the following thoughts:  \n- 'As an international student I'm always worried that students won't understand my accent...'  \n- 'We can only claim for 3 hours preparation but it takes so much longer and my research suffers. '  \n- 'Teaching is so much pressure and I barely make enough to live off...'  \nThese perspectives influenced and led to the creation of the zine making workshop for Zen GTAs. I first became exposed to the usefulness of zines at a workshop on insider-outsider identity hosted by another department at the University last year. The page that I created at this workshop shown below in Figure 1 was no great triumph in an artistic sense but after the session I felt a deep sense of satisfaction and reflexiveness and I wanted to afford my fellow Law School GTAs the same opportunity.  \nFigure 1: The author’s first ‘zine-making’ experience  \nWith this idea in mind, I approached the Law School GTA mentor, Dr.Laura Lammasniemi and shared the idea of using zines as a way to engage my peers. Dr. Lammasniemi was supportive of the idea from the beginning and became a co-creator on the project. Together, we began planning the project.  \nOur objectives were simple:  \n- To create a space for GTAs to reflect on their reaching practices using creative techniques which if you know anything about legally trained people does not come naturally  \n- To create a space for GTAs to share with their peers their frustrations, fears and successes  \n- To allow GTAs a chance to take back some autonomy and help to co-create a ‘training tool and help guide of sorts’ for incoming GTAs.  \nOne of the most common shortcomings in GTA projects is lack of funding so once we had a plan we approached IATL for funding which we thankfully received. With this plan we approached IATL and were thankfully granted funding.  \nOur initial plan was to host our zine making workshop in summer 2022 to allow participation from current GTAs and create a ‘training tool’ for those incoming. However, for various reasons we postponed twice and finally settled on a date of March 14th 2023 which we advertised as shown in Figure 2 below.  \nFigure 2: Poster for Zine-making workshop  \nOn the day, our participants were GTAs, staff members and ECRs from the Law School. Overall, the event was a success but there are a few key takeaways and learnings I wish to share from this experience:  \n1. Always used trained facilitators-Our facilitators were zine making experts, academics and artists from Coventry university who brought their knowledge and empathy into the room. Prior to the event we had several conversations with these facilitators to create the schedule and ensure that our objectives were met.  \n2. This expertise was particularly helpful in the context of our second key learning; think carefully about the timing and hosting of your event to ensure full accessibility for your target audience. Our attendance was lower than we expe","cbCaikKHTwN2j2ew","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikKHTwN2j2ew","pdf",519187,"English","# Zine making for Zen GTAs\n## Background and motivations\n## Objectives and funding\n## Workshop planning and date\n## Key takeaways and learnings","[{\"question\":\"Why was the zine making workshop created for Zen GTAs?\",\"answer\":\"It was created to address often overlooked needs of GTAs, including belonging concerns, emotional strain, and gaps in training, and to offer a supportive way to reflect and share teaching experiences.\"},{\"question\":\"What objectives guided the workshop design?\",\"answer\":\"The workshop aimed to help GTAs reflect using creative techniques, share frustrations and successes with peers, and regain autonomy by co-creating a practical training resource for incoming GTAs.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main learnings from running the workshop?\",\"answer\":\"Key learnings included using trained expert facilitators, carefully considering timing to maximize accessibility, and adapting when attendance was lower than expected, which led to deeper interactive collaborative zine activities.\"}]","Zine Making for Zen GTAs - Tips and Tricks handbook | PDF"]