To ensure all students make maximum progress in a lesson, teachers must deploy teaching assistants effectively. A good working relationship must be established and maintained. It is important to remember that the teacher is responsible for planning of lessons and directing learning, while the teaching assistant provides support to the teacher and the students throughout.
This table below, kindly shared by Emma Burge, gives some ideas for how teachers and teaching assistants can ensure all students achieve during the lesson.
Teacher Before the Lesson
Teaching Assistant
• Tell your Teaching Assistant what the lesson is about and what you expect them to do.
• Perhaps give them a lesson plan, A1 or try using the Teaching Assistant Guidance sheet so they know exactly what you expect.
• Have they got suitable resources?
During the lesson introduction
• Make sure you know what the lesson is going to be about.
• Be clear about what you will be expected to do during the lesson.
• Do you need any resources?
• Is there a group who don’ t need this • Reinforce the learning objective and success introduction – could the TA take a group criteria( what are they learning and what do straight away and get them going sooner? they need to do?)
• Check they know how to get on.
• Get them going quickly
During“ Whole Class” time
• Know where you want the Teaching Assistant to • Concentrate on the students, not the teacher. be.
You already know what the lesson is about.
• Place students who might need support so that • Sit next to the student / s who find it hard to the Teaching Assistant can get to them easily. listen or concentrate.
• Don’ t expect a TA to keep students focussed • Focus students, don’ t distract them. when the time is too long or the activity • Model the behaviour you expect from the inappropriate. students. Working with a Student or Small Group
• Make sure the TA knows where to work with the student or group and what resources they will need.
• Ensure that the TA knows why they are working with a student or group and what support to give.
Helping students with their work
• Know where you will be working with the student or group and what resources you will need.
• Know why you are working with the student or group – what support are you giving and why?
• Communicate the learning objective with the • Ask questions to check the student TA( this is not the same as completing the understands. task)
• Encourage students to answer rather than
• Communicate the success criteria with the TA – answering for them. what will show that the students have learned • Make sure the student does the work, rather something? than you.
• Make sure the TA knows that learning takes • Don’ t worry about the student finishing the precedence over completion of task. task – it is more important that they
• Have‘ next steps’ for learning available to the understand the bit they have done. TA – they might need them.
• Ask questions to move students on. Go onto next steps if learning is secure.
During plenaries or a summing up
• Is there a group whose needs are different – could the TA give a differentiated level of plenary to a group?
• Let the students tell you what they have learned or the problems they encountered.
• Use difficulties or misunderstandings as an opportunity to learn even more.
• Introduce next steps for learning.