How I love my TA.

During my first placement I was blessed with a fantastic group of TAs. Not only were they a great group of people to talk with informally and professionally, but they had a sincere love for the job and a desire to make a difference to the pupils. I predominantly worked with two of the TAs in two of my classes where support for pupils with different needs was required. The first class where I received support was a year five class where levels were not above 2a. The class was quite small to cope with their demands and their lowered ability meant that progress was slow. However, when the TA became available (they were always in demand for things like cover or inclusion) they made teaching so much easier. The TA helped me because she was a familiar face in the classroom and with someone new taking over teaching they found it easier to adjust. Towards the end of the placement i began to do spellings with the class every week but all that I would do is sit with one half of the class, read their spellings (which were different to the other half of the class) and mark them. The TA worked exceptionally hard through the rest of the lesson as she took spelling books, HFW sheets and planners in to give the pupils personalised targets and write the next week's spellings in the pupil's planners so that they could be learnt. I was astounded at the work she did because there was actually no time for me to do this in the lesson. When my mentor began to give me more free reign with the class and properly take a back seat my TA was still in the class with me, offering support whenever and wherever I needed it. In the beginning I felt quite cheeky asking someone to go and do something or sit somewhere in particular to do something, but as I became more acquainted with the school and the system they used I understood that this is what they expected of me. After this the TA was always included in my planning, whether or not she would be in the classroom with me. I felt more comfortable to do this and the pupils showed progress by doing so.

The second TA was used in my year seven class for both targeting one pupil with behaviour difficulties and several pupils for intervention reading. In the year five class I enjoyed having the TA because she made my life and my work an absolute breeze, but this second TA was worth her weight in gold because a lot of the time her work meant that I could teach effectively and not just crowd control. She targeted one specific pupil and sat with him on many occasions, making sure that  he completed the work asked of him. She wasn't in every lesson but every lesson she was in helped me a great deal. I didn't get to see much of the intervention reading but I know that this engaged the pupils whom she targeted greatly. They progressed in their reading skills and began to attempt to use a more complex vocabulary as my placement progressed.

Several times I would sit and talk with the TAs in the staffroom and pick up ideas about how to target specific pupils, different techniques for teaching pupils with different needs and I fully believe that my teaching practice is better thanks to these members of staff. Watching the work they do and acting as a TA in lessons for other teachers was exhausting and I fully commend the work they do in the classrooms. I believe that a good TA is one of the best people to have in the classroom with you at any point because they don't just support the pupils, they support you too. That's why I love my TA.