Teaching assistant interview-20 minute book session

[GirloverBoard32]

Hey everyone!
So I've got a teaching assistant interview for a primary school, but I've got to "come prepared to complete a 20 minute book based session for a group of 8 year 3 or year 4 children". Would I be right to assume this is like a guided reading session/book talk? Does anyone have any recommendations for a suitable story that will be appropriate for the age group and the time I'm allocated (20 minutes)? Also any other hints and tips would be greatly appreciated as my usual base is early years 😂 🙏

Ask the school what they are expecting. Is it guided reading or are you reading the book to them or something else. Either way definitely choose a book that you enjoy reading and you can finish in 15minutes (then you can ask questions at the end). But if you enjoy the book then so will the kids. Try to get the kids involved making sounds or actions.

Dont worry too much. It will just be so the school can see how you interact with the kids.

Ask this in the Staffroom thread and lots of teachers on there. This area is for parents of primary children

Don’t pick a classic, pick something slightly different, something that captures a child’s interest.

Look at why you are choosing that book, is it a moral? Is it structure or poetry?

Write a list of questions, read part of it and ask questions, who is the character? what might happen next? If you could X say fly - where would you go? Don’t read and expect them to sit and listen make it a team effort! They need to be engaged in what you are doing - sit on the floor with them.

I would suggest reading a chapter or very short story with them for part of it then suggestions for questions above are good. The reciprocal reader programme is very popular at the moment, involving prediction (eg from title or first line), read, clarify (eg any tricky words), discuss and question, summarise.

I would either choose a book like Echo Mountain with a good interesting cover... ask the children to make predictions from the illustrations on the cover, the title, is it fiction/non fiction, talk about genre (...does it look like an adventure, funny etc), when is it set and where etc.
Or
Look at a page in a wordless book, like Flotsam...looking at the detail, can the children write a description of what they can see etc.

Choose a book you know well and are confident in reading, a book familiar to the children is also useful.

Begin by introducing yourself and discussing the behaviour you expect from them. (E.g. "When I want you all to stop talking I'll raise my hand, let's practice!" etc.)

Introduce the book, ask if they've read it before. Read them the book. Pick out any vocabulary that they might not know and discuss it. Then ask them some questions about the story. Use talk partners so, ask the question, allow time to discuss with the person next to them and choose a pair to feed back.

This will easily fill 20 minutes.

Good luck!

Ask them about the title. What do they think the book will be about? Then the cover. Can they tell anything about the characters or the story? Have they read other books by the same author? Prediction helps engagement. Then read the first page. What's happened so far?Is it what they expected?
This might not be what is expected of you, but it's helpful to engage young children.