Help with ideas for 15 minute teaching assistant interview

[Bethstar2018]

Hi guys,

I have been offered an interview with a primary school but have been asked to do a 15 - 20 min activity.

They have asked for me to bring a story to read and then plan some oracy activities around the story I pick. I have been told it will be with 6 year 2 students who are above average ability.

I have no idea where to start or what to do everything I think of just doesn't seem right. I am really hoping to get this job as it fits perfect around my family life.

If anyone has any ideas at all it would be greatly appreciated, thank you for reading

Do you have a nice picture book already? Year Two are fine with either picture books or chapter books, a picture book might be better as you can read the whole thing. I would start by picking a book that YOU enjoy and then think of some nice questions you can do at the end.

For oracy you could briefly remind them what good talking looks like (look at your partner, listen to them, take it turns to speak) and then ask them some nice open-ended questions to discuss. Then you can pick a couple and ask them what their partner said to them.

Make sure that you ask questions throughout the story at increasing levels of depth (e.g. ‘What colour are the gruffalo’s eyes? —> ‘What do you think will happen next?’ —> ‘How do you think the mouse feels?’ —> ‘Did you like the story? Why?’, ‘Would you recommend it to another year 2 or a grown up? Why?’
Activity wise, if they just want an oral activity you could get the children to think of different words to describe a character, or make masks of a couple of characters and hotseat (have some prepared questions, if they get on well they could make up there own). Good luck.

Jack and the beanstalk

Read the story

Who’s the food guy
Who’s the bad guy

Talk about jack being a thief and how the giant felt when jack came into him home uninvited and how upset he felt when jack stole the egg etc

Why was it ok for jack to steal what should happen to jack?

Print a boarder lined paper and askt he children to write to the giant as Jack and apologise for him falling and getting hurt and how sorry he was for stealing etc etc etc

They’ll be mainly looking for how you relate to the children, so aim for lots of smiling, eye contact etc. They’ll give you well-behaved kids but you could reinforce that early on by commenting on how well they are sitting or saying something like “I can see I have some really sensible children here”. If they are mucking about, just say the same thing about the best behaved one out of the bunch! Don’t keep reading if they talk over you - stop reading, firm stare until they stop talking and then carry on.

Thank you so much everyone.

I was already thinking to do the grufflo or jack and the beanstalk so have some great ideas.

I think I may have been way over thinking this task lol

Bright Year 2s may consider those books a bit young so you might want to pre-empt it by explaining that in Year 2 they can explore those books in more detail than they did when they were younger. Bear in mind they will already know the story! Or you could do the opening to a chapter book and the questions could be around predicting what will happen next. You’d need to be confident they hadn’t already read it though!

Yeah I have thought about the books being to young for them maybe so having a look at books in their age range but are a bit long but your idea of doing the first chapter and asking questions is a great idea thank you

Just chipping in.. if you go for a chapter make sure it's short, they'll want to see your interactions with the children, how you engage and extend their learning rather than your reading skills

You've got through the worst of it already (getting the interview!)

Good luck

Fifteen minutes with a group of children is actually really short so focus on reading a bit, interacting well with the pupils and getting them to engage with your questions. There wouldn't really be time for much else. Good luck!

How about George’s Marvelous Medicne?

A chapter on what he put in the medicine - what would they put in?

Thank you all so much earlier I couldn't think of what my plan was going to be and now thanks to you all I have some fabulous ideas thank you all so much