Teaching Assistant Review

Supporting both students and teachers in and out of lessons (mainly maths.) Enabling all students to access the whole curriculum , by differentiating work before lessons, simplifying and explaining during lessons and taking small groups out of class for certain tasks. I also help with assessments and pastoral care of students.

I have learnt how to use Google Classroom to assign and mark work and to share lessons with a class or group of students. My IT skills have developed greatly, I use technology to create learning resources which I can instantly share with teachers and students and my confidence has improved greatly.

I enjoy my programme, it has given me a target for each term which I've strived to hit. I have enjoyed reading around the topic areas for each assignment and learning more deeply about the needs of some of our students and how best to support them. I have found some of the behaviour strategies very helpful.

The programme is well structured as I like to work methodically. I enjoy researching and working on the written assignments and covering many linked objectives at once. The knowledge and skills are often co-dependent and organised logically. I appreciated the order in which we were assigned the units, as the latter ones could build on the knowledge from earlier units.

My employer has been supportive from the beginning, allowing me time to attend meetings and deepen my learning. My immediate boss ( lead TA) has given me support and opportunities to expand my strengths and try different tasks. The teachers have been wonderful, allowing me to plan and teach the class and take lessons online, guiding me throughout. One gave me IT lessons online during lockdown.

My tutor has been amazing, she is always supportive and organised. She gives realistic deadlines and I feel like I'm achieving at every meeting. She has been very flexible with times of meetings to accomodate my late working hours and always replies to emails promptly and marks any work very quickly and thoroughly.

I have been a TA for many years and due to the course, I now believe I am very good at my job. My self confidence has improved greatly and I am happy to embrace new ways of working and new approaches to my job. My knowledge of different conditions has deepened through the coursework, which helps me to connect even more with some of the students.

We have an unofficial staff social club and usually there are many social events, these have been curtailed due to COVID restrictions. We have many sports clubs and teams for the students and I run our rope climbing club and after school fitness club, both have also been put on hold lately, but will hopefully soon be up and running.

Yes

Our secondary school is quite small and we are like a big family. The ethos of the school is caring and nurturing. The students and staff are friendly and welcoming and strive to do their best and encourage each other. Our staff also support each other and we celebrate all of the successes.

Look for the best in everyone and using kindness and empathy, encourage all positive behaviour and effort. Treat all of the students and staff with respect. Be honest and open, ask for help if you need it and share any good practice with other staff. Don't be too serious and have a laugh.