Calling all LSAs/TAs Urgent!

[Moomalicious]

I have just found out I have a job interview for a year 5/6 LSA post tomorrow morning!! I've been volunteering in KS1 at my sons school since feb and I didn't think I had a hope when I put in the app last week.

Any advice at all? I'll be given some notes and a learning objective then take a small guided reading group and after that an interview.

Is there anything I should be prioritising in my prep tonight? Any websites you can point me towards, or anyone know what LO's would be likely for the guided reading? I would absolutely adore the job so any help would be so gratefully received. Should I take some stickers for names for me and the children or just make sure I ask their names as I speak to them?

Thank you so much!

Have a look at SATs stuff to see what it expected.

Guided reading - I had to do this for me Y1 post. Chose a focus for the guided read - have a look at some egs online. Might be reading according to punctation, for example. I got children to take it in turns to read a age each - stopping them to take about the book, the content, the punctuation being used, etc. and then they continued. Introduce book fully at start - look at the title, author, blurb on back, etc. predict the book content fromt he title and cover...

Thank you very much. The teaching standards website is my new best friend, i'll be reading it all night at this rate though, it's quite wordy!

When I do guided reading with Y5 there are several LOs I tend to use:

Reading with emphasis on punctuation and how misreading/ ignoring it can change meaning of the text

Reading a text carefully chosen to reflect a particular letter pattern/sound, can the children recognise it outside of their spelling list?

Reading for meaning, can the children answer a variety of questions about the text? Questions range in difficulty from very literal answers to using inferential information

Another comprehension activity I use is to get the children to write two questions each about the text ( on their individual whiteboard) then get them to swap and answer each others questions.

Can they predict the outcome of the text/

Can they tell the difference between a fiction and a non fiction?

I sometimes choose a challenging text in order to give them practice using a dictionary.

If there is a particularly clear description of a character or setting, I might ask them to use the information to draw a picture.

In our guided reading sessions, there is not enough time to do it all, so we really concentrate on one LO during each session.

Good luck!

Thank you very much sayithowitis, that is really helpful for me, especially knowing that using a dictionary is encouraged. I'll make sure I know where they are before we start!

Thank you both very much, I got the job!

Well done you! What did they ask you to do?

Well done!

They gave me a book and a sheet with the planning for the guided reading and 20 mins to prepare and make notes and then I had to run the session with the interviewer sat observing in the corner. It was just 20 minutes and after I got over my initial nerves it went really well. After that the children left and I had some interview questions to answer. The fact that the guided reading session had gone so well really helped to calm my nerves, which was good as I had previously been terrified!!!