[senco-forum] How do your T.A.s support ?

Hi Janice

  Not sure I know either!  Mostly it depends on the subject.

  I think one of the essential points is to make the pupil engage with the lesson.  Sometimes my TAs do write the work in parallel.  (We also cook in parallel.)  However, this works best, I find, in subjects with a high factual content to be learned.  It means we have a good set of notes for the pupil to work from.
  In some lessons, pupils dictate to TAs.  We try to never write things down for them unless they dictate - good practice for exams too.  This works when pupils are doing coursework or being creative.  It also works on the few occasions when something has to be copied from the board - a whole group's experiment results, for instance.
  In other lessons, I get the TA to sit on the other side of the room and observe the pupil.  If the task is group discussion (as in English), then the adult can get in the way of the group dynamic.

  As the class teacher, I expect to tell the TA what to do.  In my Year 7 bottom set English lesson, the TA and I supply all spellings on demand when we are doing creative writing.  In Year 10 top set English the pupil with ASD is asked to explain to the TA what he is to do.  If he can't, she repeats the instructions until he can tell her.  He then works without support with checks every ten minutes or so.  In Year 11 Set 4, I often asked the TA to copy my mind map from the board so I had a copy of what we had devised in the lesson.  Pupils had copied this themselves but I had a copy without having to write it down myself and I had a copy (much neater than I could do!) for photocopying.

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

  WrayJanice Wray <jwwray14 at hotmail.com> wrote:
  When I worked as a T.A. I used to have an exercise book for each subject and 
work alongside the chil/children I was supporting, doing the same lesson as 
they were. I modelled how to set out the page, underline the heading etc and 
when I was stuck - modelled how to find the answer - look up in the index, 
glossary, ask the teacher etc. It was just what I did.
I had this way of working reaffirmed today by an outside adviser - the best 
way to do it.
How do you T.A.s support in secondary classes ? Do you know ? (I'm not sure 
I do).

Janice Wray
Secondary SENCO, Herts

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Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall