Maybe you’re an undergraduate or graduate student who’s just been appointed a TA. Or maybe you’re a postdoctoral student or a new hire with limited teaching experience. In either case, you’ll be expected – with little to no training – to excel at teaching and to enhance the learning experience of your students. Kathy Nomme and Carol Pollock recognize this gap between expectations and preparation and draw on decades of experience in teaching and TA training to offer practical advice on: interacting with course instructors dealing with nerves and anxiety preparing for the first session supporting student learning developing learning exercises engaging students with diverse needs and backgrounds using technology in the classroom assessing student work and providing feedback. The lessons and scenarios in this short, accessible guide can be applied to any discipline or teaching venue – from large lecture halls to smaller labs, studios, seminars, and tutorials. It not only demystifies expectations for TAs, it sets the stage for developing a lifelong teaching practice.

Teaching assistants have become an integral part of classroom life, yet pioneering research by the authors has shown that school leaders and teachers are not making the most of this valued resource. Results from the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project showed that the more support pupils received from teaching assistants, the less academic progress they made. Yet it is not decisions made by the teaching assistants themselves, but decisions made by school leaders and teachers about how their support staff are used and prepared, which explains these provocative results. Prompted by the wake-up call the DISS project findings provided, this timely book of guidance will help school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary schools improve the way they use teaching assistants, and will add real value to what can be achieved in the classroom. Based on the authors' collaborative work with schools in the Effective Deployment of Teaching Assistants (EDTA) project, this book provides essential, practical tools and classroom-tested strategies that will allow schools to conduct a fundamental review of current practice and provides a framework for reforming teaching assistant deployment and preparation, and the way they interact with pupils. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistantsprovides much-needed and well-informed guidance on how to unleash the huge potential of teaching assistants working in schools and is essential reading for all school leaders.

This second edition of The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction, fully updated with examples from schools that have implemented techniques from the first edition. An invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them, this new edition answers the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant. This practical and accessible guide sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils’ independence and ownership of learning, with key learning points now summarised in each chapter. Based on a classroom-tested framework and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes a range of strategies and reflective activities to help improve the support provided to pupils in everyday settings. This book sets out successful strategies for: Responding to additional needs Understanding the principles behind effective classroom talk Carefully scaffolding pupils’ learning Delivering intervention programmes The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is an essential read for all teaching assistants and will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCOs and teachers in both primary and secondary schools who wish to improve their deployment of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils. Used in combination with Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools, The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is a comprehensive and unrivalled resource for supporting school workforce improvement.

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.

The first edition of The Color of Success was a groundbreaking, asset-based exploration of the educational trajectories of high-achieving, low-income students within urban schools. The author brings his now seminal book up to date with insights based on existing and new research, current policies, and innovative pedagogical approaches. Conchas utilizes a critical lens to examine the intersectional identities of racially minoritized students, the role of existing power hierarchies within schools, and offers specific structural approaches that create educational opportunity. The Color of Success 2.0 amplifies student voice; explores school, family, and community partnerships; promotes culturally relevant pedagogy and teacher preparation; includes a new chapter on Black male optimism after the historic election of President Barack Obama; and offers a thought-provoking additional chapter on the role of educational leaders in promoting successful school pathways; plus, a thoroughly revised quantitative chapter on social capital. With a sense of urgency, readers will gain vital insights for understanding what is needed to create, promote, and expand equitable school environments and transformative pathways for racially minoritized urban youth. “This updated edition of The Color of Success is a timely and practical resource for practitioners and researchers alike. . . . Conchas’s work, once again, confirms that positive reforms are possible. Anyone who shares a commitment to social justice in education will find compelling and valuable insights.” —From the Foreword by Cynthia Feliciano, professor, Washington University in St. Louis

This revised and greatly expanded edition of the 1988 handbook offers teachers at all levels how-to advise on classroom assessment, including: What classroom assessment entails and how it works. How to plan, implement, and analyze assessment projects. Twelve case studies that detail the real-life classroom experiences of teachers carrying out successful classroom assessment projects. Fifty classroom assessment techniques Step-by-step procedures for administering the techniques Practical advice on how to analyze your data Order your copy today.

Feel confident stepping into your role as a TA with help from this short, practical guide, which demystifies everything from how to interact with course instructors to giving students feedback on their work.

In recent years, growth mindset, resilience, and belonging have become popular topics for research and practice among college educators. The authors of this new volume deepen the conversation around these noncognitive factors that significantly impact student success. Along with offering support for the development of learning mindsets, this book contains strategies for faculty and staff to consider as they create initiatives, programs, and assessments for use in and outside the classroom. Informative features include: - Learning Mindset Stories, highlighting how students, faculty, and staff members dealt with issues related to belonging, growth mindset, and resilience; - Campus Conversations, providing questions for generating discussion among faculty, staff, and students on what institutions can do to incorporate learning mindsets with an eye toward student success; and - Next Steps, serving as a roadmap for implementing institutional change.

Over the last decade, teaching assistants (TAs) have become an established part of everyday classroom life. TAs are often used by schools to help low-attaining pupils and those with special educational needs. Yet despite the huge rise in the number of TAs working in UK classrooms, very little is known about their impact on pupils. This key and timely text examines the impact of TAs on pupils’ learning and behaviour, and on teachers and teaching. The authors present the provocative findings from the ground-breaking and seminal Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project. This was the largest, most in-depth study ever to be carried out in this field. It critically examined the effect of TA support on the academic progress of 8,200 pupils, made extensive observations of nearly 700 pupils and over 100 TAs, and collected data from over 17,800 questionnaire responses and interviews with over 470 school staff and pupils. This book reveals the extent to which the pupils in most need are let down by current classroom practice. The authors present a robust challenge to the current widespread practices concerning TA preparation, deployment and practice, structured around a conceptually and empirically strong explanatory framework. The authors go on to show how schools need to change if they are to realise the potential of TAs. With serious implications not just for classroom practice, but also whole-school, local authority and government policy, this will be an indispensable text for primary, secondary and special schools, senior management teams, those involved in teacher training and professional development, policy-makers and academics.