TA’s as expert Scaffolders SCAFFOLDING TA’s as expert Scaffolders 18th October 2017 TA Network Kirk Fenton

Activity

Importance of task setting “There is an assumption you should just know. You come into a classroom, you listen to the 20 minutes of teaching, and from that – if you didn’t know, you should know now. And then you’re to feed it to the children. It’s scary”. Maximising the Impact of TAs, p81

Activity Please put in order of importance when supporting a pupil. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5

The right amount of support at the right time High level of pupil independence. Low level of adult support Low level of pupil Independence. High level of adult support

Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do ‘What do you think you could do?’ ‘What is your plan?’ ‘I’m not sure – can you remember what the teacher said?’ ‘So, you’re not sure about that word. How could you work it out?’

Prompting: using silence TA What are icicles? Ginny They’re ice that… they’re ice that, um, like (moves hand down and up) (5 second pause) Hang down

Clueing Nicole (sighs) TA Come on, Nicole. You remember sh I remember, but Shhhop. What comes first? Two letters. S H Well done, sh

Modelling: recasting TA What did you do at the weekend? Sam I went Romford Oh, you went to Romford? That’s interesting. What did you do there?

Correcting Correcting is simply providing the right answer or completing the task for the child. This requires no independent thinking on the part of the child and is to be strenuously avoided.

Rethinking TAs’ interactions ‘What is the least help you need from me?’

TAs as expert scaffolders Scaffolding (Bruner, 1970s) Systematic support for learning for independence Reconceptualising a task as a series of smaller learning goals Carefully observe progress as pupil completes each mini-goal Asking questions to determine what pupil can do Intervening only if pupil is unable to overcome a difficulty independently (time to try each mini-goal by themselves) Giving specific feedback when pupil needs help with mini-goal Least amount of help per interaction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh7SRvQeCAI

The value of feedback Blank pro forma at www.maximisingtas.co.uk/resources.php (Apx 4 of The TA’s Guide…)

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