This TA Issue of CORE is a forum for Teaching Assistants (TAs) to explore and discuss issues that have become important to them during their stay at York. As TAs, we are called upon to perform a great variety of teaching tasks. Along the way, we encounter important ideas, issues, attitudes and situations that demand attention and reflection, as well as discussion. The TA Issue of CORE provides a unique opportunity to discuss and debate these topics in a timely way.

This year's TA Issue, entitled Reality and the Borders of the Classroom, is no exception. The events of September 11^th, 2001 left their mark on York TAs. Concerns and debates over violence, security, racism and civil liberties continue to affect us in profound ways – as educators, as graduate students, and as individuals. In those early days of the Fall 2001 semester, we struggled and argued about whether and how to address the dangers of the world around us in our classrooms. In some tutorials, many York TAs facilitated discussions about the attacks on the United States and their aftermath, and struggled to stay on track with the course material, which quickly took a back seat to the news. In other cases, TAs were met with silence and a room full of students all too eager to "escape" the "reality" of the news, by talking about more tangible (or perhaps more mundane) things. In many cases, the issues and wounds of September 11th and the days that followed were simply too raw and too powerful to be discussed away from homes, families and more comfortable or more private surroundings.

One year later, four members of the York TA community share their thoughts on how September 11th in particular, and the "real world" in general, did or did not affect their teaching. Their contributions to this year's TA Issue of CORE reveal the lasting impact of September 11^th and other national and international events. Whether they have chosen to leave "reality" at the borders of the classroom, or to place it centre-stage, or to reject the very distinction between the "real world" and the "academic world," these four authors challenge us to reflect critically on the relationships between our disciplines, our students, our jobs and our selves, and the world(s) in which these relations are played out. They help us address the links between our teaching, whether in style or content, and our lives, as well as the ways in which we accept, reject or transform these links.

In her piece entitled When Should We Close the Classroom Door on Current Events, Maryanne Fisher uses a comparative analysis of September 11^th, 2001 and New Year's Eve 1999 (i.e., the Y2K computer scare) to frame a discussion of the role of the TA in a highly focused and structured academic environment. Fisher challenges some of the more dominant and conventional paradigms of current critical theory by suggesting that the TA's true role in times of social upheaval, especially when students are already overloaded with the "real world," is simply to get through the material. She does not, however, advocate turning a blind eye to events outside one's classroom and one's discipline. Rather, in eschewing such a "disciplined" approach, Fisher's stance cautiously incorporates the world around the TA while acknowledging the very "real" borders of academia, including course content, structure and time pressures.

Laila Haidarali's article provides a different perspective. In Every Day is a Drive Thru History, Haidarali takes us through the emotional nightmare many TAs faced on September 11^th, 2001, struggling to deal with the "real world" themselves while wondering and worrying about how their students would react. She uses these observations to demonstrate the limitations of teaching methods (especially in History) that decontextualize and deconstruct real-life events, treating them only as "events" instead of sites of power and meaning, and opportunities for growth and learning. Instead, argues Haidarali, we must not forget that the classroom in which we teach is part of the very reality that we teach to our students. She relates a number of examples that demonstrate how an attempt to draw on students' realities (needs, wants, histories, experiences, and observations) increases student interaction and participation in the classroom, and helps bridge some of the gaps between teacher and learner. Positionality, says Haidarali, is key; we must acknowledge our role as TA, both within the classroom and as part of a larger structure of higher learning and education, in order to become more effective teachers and attribute meaning to the material. This role comes with tremendous opportunities for discussion and sharing, as well as a great deal of authority and power, both of which must be acknowledged in order to make classroom interactions reflect the reality of their structure. Acknowledging the "reality" of the classroom itself (and the reality of our role as TAs, and as individuals), instead of simply dragging the events of the "real world" into the classroom, gives us a way of transcending the traditional borders of education to foster social change.

In the final piece in this TA Issue of Core, Harvey Briggs brings a unique and challenging perspective to this debate. His thesis is that Nothing is Outside, Nothing is Inside – that is, the distinction between the classroom and the real world is artificial, unhelpful, and even damaging. Briggs essentially argues that TAs would do well to stop thinking about the classroom as an environment in which discussions about reality are played out. Instead, the classroom is the real world: reality is enacted, reproduced, created and transformed in every class. By sharing two anecdotes about how his students demonstrated this principle to him, Briggs also sheds light on his own philosophy of teaching. Good teaching, he argues, becomes most evident when the instructor is part of the classroom (and thereby of reality), not just in front of it. Sharing reality, acknowledging the reality of learning, and experiencing it together not only enhances the teacher-student relationship, it also creates important opportunities for students to engage with course materials and ideas in ways they never expected. When students become teachers, not just to their peers, but also to their TAs, a magical moment of recognition, shared understanding, and collective problem-solving occurs. Such moments ultimately facilitate the free exchange of ideas, and even provide solid ground for progressive social change and social justice.

These three perspectives on Reality and the Borders of the Classroom provide important direction and guidance for the kind of thinking and teaching in which we must engage in order for university teaching to remain relevant and effective in a "post-9/11" world. More specifically, these discussions demonstrate the importance of thoughtful research and reflection on the role of the TA in higher learning, on the development of teaching philosophies, and the internal and external conflicts or tensions that underlie our every moment in the classroom, both as teachers and students. Just as the hallmark of York's student body is its diversity, the community of York TAs' is also striking in its expression of difference. The freedom of thought so central to the very idea of university teaching is indeed reflected in the variety of ways TAs address the important question of the "real world" and where they stand in relation to it.

Before we proceed with these three articles, however, this issue of CORE will begin on a slightly less conventional note. Kelly Young's piece of prose/poetry, Jubilation Thrives, provides a personal and emotional way for readers to engage in these debates. Written shortly after September 11^th, 2001, in New York City, Young's piece sets the tone for this issue and introduces all of its major themes: the struggle between professional duty and personal emotion; the borders between reality and pedagogy and their collapse or merger; the transformative power of education and expression; and the need to develop new words and new ways to express the fundamental tension at the heart of the educator's role in society – how do we teach others about something in which we are firmly entrenched, involved and participating every day? Through her words and images, Young provides an answer: creativity, expression, language and knowledge – these are the tools we use to express, construct, confront and teach reality. It is an answer that ultimately produces more questions than it answers – as it should. As all good teaching should.

I hope you enjoy this Special TA Issue of CORE, and that you find meaning in the debates and discussions it will undoubtedly bring to your teaching and learning. I certainly have found such meaning – I am very grateful for having had the chance to work with these four talented authors, and the opportunity to pursue these ideas in depth and at length.