Ta interview activity ideas

[Mumsaysno]

I have an interview on Wednesday next week and as part of the interview I have to deliver an activity to six Year 3 children on mixed abilities. The activity must be no longer than 20 minutes. Was thinking of doing something like fruit kebabs and getting the children to prepare the fruit, talk about the fruit and perhaps do repeating patterns. But not sure how practical this would be. Any ideas please?

[PesoPenguin]

It sounds a lovely idea but you need to be able to justify it with learning objectives based on the year 3 curriculum.

Do you have to do any particular subject? I had to do mine on 3D shapes but my generic advice is:

Have a clear learning outcome and share this with the children ( I had a laminated WALT board).

Take a full lesson plan and provide one for the person who is observing you.

Ensure you have multi-sensory activities.

Have an assessment sheet that you can quickly add names to and be prepared to refer back to this in the actual interview.

Take any resources you will need and take some stickers or be prepared to give our team/ house points ( that my school, in the most recent round of TA interviews, a candidate ( who was an actual teacher) arrived nothing but a scrunched up worksheet which he expected me to photocopy for him).

Ensure the activity is differentiated but be prepared to quickly assess the level of the children and go with the most suitable task (eg I had 3 levels but only ended up using the top 2).

Ensure you have planned for longer than your allotted time to make sure you don't run out if the task takes less time than you thought it would.

In the actual lesson:

Provide stickers for the children to write their names in so you can address them by name.

Do a short introduction and short plenary at the end.

Give as much praise and reward as you can and thank them for their time and say how much you've enjoyed working with them at the end.

Make sure you do a quick assessment and record it in your sheet.

Hope this helps a bit, sorry if it sounds like a list of demands. It's not, it's just advice and you can feel free to ignore anything you don't think is right!

[PesoPenguin]

Oh and also, self assessment is popular so a thumbs up, middle or down type thing would be good.

[bloated1977]

as PesoPenguin says it's a 'nice' idea but not really related to anything on the curriculum. I'd say something maths/literacy related would go down much better. IMO practical tasks with food are a real no no. It'll end up messy. Also you've got allergies to consider. I've got 2 children in my year group with citrus fruit allergies

[Fairenuff]

Why do you have to plan an activity for a TA post?

Are you sure that you aren't just going to be asked to deliver an activity that has already been planned by teacher, as you would if you were an actual TA?

[Mumsaysno]

No it definitely says in my interview letter that I need to prepare an activity of my choice to share with a group of 6 mixed ability Year 3 children, lasting no longer than 20 minutes.

[Emochild]

As a TA you wouldn't (or shouldn't) be planning

Seems ott for a TA interview -I know they are competitive jobs but really?

[BoGrainger]

You'd be amazed at the level of education, training, behaviour management, planning and assessment abilities etc etc that are expected of TA applicants for jobs that don't even pay a living wage. Scandalous.

[KittyandTeal]

That sounds more like a teaching interview.

I wouldn't aim to teach a mini lesson as such but I would choose a nice activity related to the Y3 curriculum.

They will want to see how you interact with children and push on their learning. It shouldn't be a test in planning and preparation as that's not a TAs job, that's ours as teachers.

[Fairenuff]

How about something like sorting 2D or 3D shapes in a venn diagram? Possibly get them to record their findings but if not it's ok to make it just practical. You could talk them through an example then get them to do it themselves in pairs using a different criteria but have a selection of pre-prepared labels if they get stuck on chosing as that's really not the task.

Make sure you use the correct mathematical terms.

Ask them to explain their reasoning.

You would have to ask the school to have the resources available to you though.

I would stay away from fruit just because in that short space of time, it will be a fun activity but you probably won't see much learning taking place.

Is it tomorrow?

[Fairenuff]

Was the interview today OP? How did it go?

[Mumsaysno]

Yes the interview was today. Activity went well actual interview not so well. Another one for experience :(

[Fairenuff]

Sorry to hear that, did they give you feedback?

[Mumsaysno]

Yes gave feedback. So useful to keep in mind for the next interview. Just feeling a bit disheartened now

[Fairenuff]

Ah I know, it's tough when you've put the effort in and built yourself up. It's a funny job because the skills required are sometimes different depending on which children you might be working with.

Have you done it before, or is this a new start?