Articles on: Literacy

How to best use TA / EA Support During PLD/SSP Lessons?

In some of our classes around Australia, we are lucky enough to have the support of a Teacher Assistant (TA) or Educational Assistant (EA) during our SSP lesson. If this is the case we can take advantage of the extra adult assistance in the following ways:

During Whole Class Teaching:

If the Tier 3 Students have dramatically deviated from the classroom levels, have the TA/EA remove them from the mat session / whole class teaching and deliver targeted teaching at a lower level.

**Tier 1: **Students keeping up with the Teaching Sequence manuals outline, or operating above what is expected.
Tier 2: Mildly behind. Requiring intensity (small group work) and frequency (extra repetition).
Tier 3: Significantly falling behind the Teaching Sequence Manuals (and their peers) and requiring highly personalised intervention.

Tier 3 are difficult to accommodate within the whole class sessions, as the bulk of the class will have progressed further on with their learning.
Tier 3 should be delivered individually or in a pair, (which is difficult to fund this intense teaching).
Tier 2 also requires added repetition and small group work, or else over time, they risk slipping into Tier 3.

Tip: Always use TA's/EA's for the phonic dictation repeated reading & dictation aspects of the weekly routine.

Be specific on what will be targeted: Reading, Spelling, or Writing?
Increase the frequency and intensity of the weekly routine:

For Spelling: Blend and segment the word lists 3 times.
For Reading: Repeated Reading using the dictation passages (1st with decoding of the key phonic concepts) and 2nd for fluency then 10 minutes dictation.
For Writing: After the repeated reading practice, then conclude wit 10 minutes dictation.

Updated on: 30/03/2023

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