How to be an epic TA

[Vajazzler]

Hello Staffroom!

I am currently working in a primary school as 1-1 with a sen pupil. I've been in this role for the whole year but have been told I'll be a classroom TA next year. I'm very happy about this but it'll be my first time in the classroom, ive always done 1-1.
Please tell me all the little things your TA does that make them epic or, if you're a TA, please can you give me some hints and tips!

I'll be working with an NQT if that makes a difference!

Thanks

My daughters TA nags my daughter at the door about getting her jumpers so I don't have to. She is amazing! I suppose she literally treats the class as her own children, hugs included! They all adore her

Do:

• use your initiative. Don't just sit and watch the teacher teach. Quietly set things out for the task, change homework books, sharpen pencils etc.
• support the teacher's behaviour management. For example, carefully time the hugs. If you are working with a group, encourage quiet voices and tidying up after themselves.
• work with your teacher to establish a good routine. Let each other know exactly what they want done and what your timetable is.
• be kind to the NQT, it's bloody hard work. Be helpful and let them know about school expectations without judging them or making it sound as if they're doing it all wrong.

The usual things really. I'd be surprised if you didn't end up as a de-facto 1-1, the way things are.

Be prepared to do anything and everything, no two days are the same.
Try and spot things that need doing before you are asked.
Check things with the teacher when necessary but not all the time because that's annoying! I always try and remind myself that the teacher has 30 children to deal with, they don't need another one!!
If you're not sure what to do during a whole class input, try and sit near the SEN children and quietly support them.
Its a fine balance, if you build a good relationship with your teacher then you will be a huge support, probably emotionally as well as practically.

Forgot to say, good luck! Its a fab job in the right school

I had the best TA ever last year. She was a 1-2-1.

She was just very thoughtful and worked SO hard. She'd do all the things I wanted to have time for but didn't. Ensuring jumpers were found at the end of the day, book bags, lunchboxes etc.
She'd help me plan and mark and volunteer some fantastic ideas for lessons.
She did her own pupil tracking which was incredibly helpful.
She made me laugh, constantly.
She'd make the children laugh.
She'd run down to the staffroom on the days I was on duty while I was finishing up a lesson to make sure I had a hot drink and banana to take out to the yard.
She'd strip and back all my displays and spend time she wasn't being paid for laminating, cutting and photocopying.

Absolutely invaluable. I cannot praise her enough.

If you don't painstakingly pick your way through all the children assembled on the carpet in the middle of my maths input to show me photos of your tortoise... you're doing better than the last one I worked with! (She did accelerate me ending up with a nervous breakdown... but apparently her vet had told her her was a very very happy tortoise how the fuck you can tell the difference I do not know )

Basically just be consistent with the teacher - you don't want a scenario emerging (as did with Tortoise Woman) where the kids ask you to do something (I would say like go to the toilet but that'll flush out the bog troll) and you give them an answer they don't like so they go off to the TA and play you off against each other.

No matter what you are doing have one ear listening to what the teacher is saying, then when a child has asked the teacher if they can go to the toilet and come to you because they didn't like the answer you can quietly say "Why are you asking me because Mrs X has already said no?"

This also helps if you need to answer a question from a child in a different group to the one you are working with etc.

Wow! so many great tips! Thank you. I shall make sure I take them all on board (esp the tortoise one )

My TA is pure gold. They calm me down when I am stressed, refill my water bottle without being asked, have sore throat sweets in their bag for when I need them, notice when I need my inhaler, plan and run extra groups without being reminded, deal with first aid, clear up sick, remove swear words from chairs/desks/walls without a fuss, do marking, assess new children and let me know what they think, tell me when reading books are too easy and have tried children on the next level, push on the more able, extend the less able as needed, raise their self esteem, can silence children with a Hard Stare, make me laugh, dry up tears and help the children solve the problem, cover for me when things go wrong, provide a counselling service as required, reassure me when I'm nervous.
Every NQT needs my TA.

Use your initiative and don’t expect a thank you from the teacher for every blessed thing. Mine is a nightmare for this! Also, slinking off to the staff room for their coffee at break time and leaving the class teacher to clear and tidy the last lesson, arriving back when everything is ready for the next lesson - teachers can do 100 things at once but not 200. It’s the children’s break time not the adults. Keep busy and don’t sit watching the teacher...there are always jobs to be done. I often find myself sharpening pencils in the middle of lessons as it’s easier to do it than hear more excuses from the TA. Lessons are teaching/ learning times not job times! Also, don’t sit at a laptop on twinkl for some unnecessary lettering when children need help! Sorry....rant over, but little things can turn into bigger things.

Consistency with teacher essential. And (this one maybe controversial) - teachers classroom, teachers rules!!! I had one TA (secondary) that doesn't believe children should be lent equipment. I'm a very firm believer in if the child needs a pen, give the child a bloody pen (and let them keep it for the rest of the day so they don't get in trouble elsewhere!) we don't know how their day has started! If she sees a child doesn't have something she will make a big dong and dance of snitching on them, expecting me to give them a detention. I do no such thing and I know she judges me for that!! Don't be THAT TA!! Also don't talk to the kids while the teacher is explaining something to the whole class. Really annoying !!

Great tips! Thank you all, I know what not to do

I had a lovely TA once who was utterly awful to have in a classroom and was really detrimental to learning. That sounds horrible, but being a TA is a delicate skill and what might seem like a good idea on the face of it can actually be really damaging. In her case one thing that really annoyed me was that she would talk (loudly!) to her pupil(s) when I was asking the class for silence or trying to speak- which is really and truly so unhelpful (how can I ask for silence from children if the adult in the room ignores me and continues talking at full volume?!).

More concerning though was that she thought her role was to help pupils complete the task, and I think that's a trap lots of TAs fall into. It's really not. The role of a TA is to support learning, not to get stuff written in the book or to get answers written down or whatever. There is no point having a page of completed work from a child that the TA has dictated (or written themselves- I'm not sure why she thought this was helpful). Some teachers also get stuck in the habit of thinking that if a task has been completed, the pupil has done some learning, but it's really not the case.

What IS actually really helpful, and is now considered best practice, is for the TA to support the rest of the class whilst the teacher supports the weakest pupils. It is a fallacy that weak or struggling pupils are simple to teach- they are the hardest to teach and require the most technical expertise, and putting that responsibility on a TA is unfair. TAs are brilliant but they are not substitute teachers and most would hate to be thought of as such!

I'd strongly recommend having a look at this- there's a huge amount here but the summary of recommendations might be a good starting point. educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/making-best-use-of-teaching-assistants/guidance-report/

Good luck- I'm sure you'll be brilliant as you're taking the time now to find out how to thrive!

I’m curious as to why they’re putting an nqt and someone who has only worked as a 1:1 together as a team. What year are you in?

Thanks for everyone's input, I'm starting my TA training in September and am taking on board all the comments above. I can't wait to get started.

@hmmwhatatodo I’ll be in year three. I was told by the head that I was chosen because I have an upbeat attitude and am a positive role model and because I haven’t been there ‘forever and a day’ like some of the ta’s I’ll be easy to work with unlike those longstanding ta’s who are very set in their ways in how they believe some things should be done. We have had an nqt leave at the end of this year having spent much of the year complaining about how her ta makes her feel incompetent and didn’t want to continue working in the school because of her.

@Bazzlebear thanks for the insight. I shall read that link now x

Having had wonderful TAs and woeful ones my suggestions are;
Take your lead in discipline from the teacher..l had one who was so sharp and harsh with the children which is totally not my way..did my head in.
Do not talk when teacher is explaining and has asked for quietness..that includes you unless its an emergency.
My best one made me feel she wasn't there yet things got done. I turned around to do something eg clean paint trays and they were done but l hadn't noticed. She is a star.
Just be cooperative and friendly and don't add to teachers workload having to pacify you instead of getting on with the job in hand. Ye won't be best friends but a bit of banter lightens the day.
Not giving the student a pen if teacher wants that is annoying USER56...so yes consistency with teacher especially in areas of kindness. Trust the teacher.