TA interview - does this sound right?

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I have an interview for a TA role next week (no previous TA experience) and would really appreciate any advice.

I need to prepare a 10 min times table activity for a group of 6 students (Y6)

I was thinking:
Quick intro (everyone say their name and their favourite animal)
2 min warm up - count up in 2s, 5s, 10s, 4s in a round
4 min - times table bingo (Twinkl Resource)
Any time left over - Times table fortune teller game in pairs.

How does this sound?

Thanks soo much.

10 minutes isn't long, I would probably skip the favourite animal part, as based on my experiences some children will turn that into a saga and derail the whole thing, and it's not really relevant to the lesson anyway. The rest sounds fine to me.

Thank you!! Such a good point about the favourite animal.

I don't think you'll have much time left over. They will be looking at how you engage with interact with the children - be playful, clear with your instructions and make sure everyone in the group is engaged with the task.

I would probably skip the counting as you don't know whether they are secure in this and that could cause difficulty. You could possibly use a number track or similar to aid counting and have children mark on the numbers. I would focus on just one times table for this and then play bingo afterwards, again using number from that times table.

It does depend a bit on the ability level of your group so you could ask this in advance. Good luck!

I agree completely. Get straight onto the task. I’d maybe skip the 2,5,10s as well. Go up and down in 4s, say a multiple, next one says the next one up/down etc. They always like bingo but make sure everything is ready to go, 10mins is nothing.

Hi!
congratulations and good luck!!

sounds like you’ve thought about the timings well and made it sharp and snappy which is fabulous

Thoughts which I mean to be constructive hopefully -

I think your time tables in a round sound quite easy for Year 6, 2s, 5s, 10s most Year 2s could do- I’d look at maybe adapting this or being ready to depending on their or ability

Some schools can be funny about Twinkl- if you’ve got these ready to go, don’t overthink it, but maybe glancing at their resources on their website etc might give you an indication of it they’re happy to use

Get them moving , maybe for your short intro- or incorporate an action when they’re recalling the times tables?

good luck!

I’d just go with the bingo. You don’t want to put a child on the spot who doesn’t know the answer and gets upset. Make it as easy as possible for yourself. They aren’t really judging your activity, as they know you have no experience, but more how you talk to the children.

It’s common for children to be given name stickers to wear when meeting people from outside the school so you may not need the introduction stage.

I agree with other points made, you'd probably be better practising counting in say, 8s using the number track then moving onto bingo. Favourite animal very likely to derail unless you want to spend 10 mins listening to a story about someone's next door neighbour's dog etc!

Year 6 should know more than 2s, 5s, 10s. It is expected that children should know all of them up to 12s by the end of year 4 so unless you have specifically been told to focus on the ones you mention with a specific group of children I would include more for Year 6. Or check with the school which ones the children know in the group you have so you don’t aim it too high/low. Good luck!

The pitch is wrong unless they have said SEND
Children need to know all tables by the end of year 4.
2s 5s and 10s in KS1

By year 6 ours (70% FSM) will do 7x 7 minus the rule of the week- so for example divide by 10 . the answer would be 4.9- given instantly

model an example, then do 1 together, then they do alone
1 do, we do, you do (Rosenshine -all the rage )

I agree with others, the pitch is wrong, these are 10 year olds.

Have you been asked to focus on maths? Is this your strength? Could you choose another subject?

Have a read of the national curriculum, to see what Y6 pupils will be aiming for?

Great to introduce yourself and if they have not got name tags, find out their names. You could get them to write them down, collected gives you an easy ‘pick out a name’ to ask for a response. K

Set the rules for something an listening ( hands up or conversation style)

Could your first question be more open? I'm going to tell you an interesting fact about me, can you tell me one about you?

A key focus at the minute is reading - favourite author and why? Favourite book and why?

Remember to give them thinking time, remember to give them chance to talk in pairs before responding to you. ( gives much more interaction than child to adult, ‘ping pong’. ) also saves on the whole ten minutes of just answering the the initial question as you can go back to the name labels they have written and pull one or two out.

Be careful not to give them an activity where all they do is complete it - with you left with no input. Really difficult for the observer to see how you interact.

Good luck, we have a huge shortage of TA’s currently.

Thank you everyone! I think I will concentrate on the 'Bingo Game'. I've got one which contains a mix of all the times tables so should be the right level for Year 6 children who are 'working towards'. This gives me a chance to be involved too, rather than other activities.

I really appreciate all the advice, it's all very helpful. I've also got an interview and a written test (which I'm hoping will be straight forward!). I've looked at the school website for policies and researched safeguarding in primary schools.

Thanks again.