The Student Room Group

SCITT Interview - Help!

Hello, I am a zoology graduate and have been working as a TA for 8 weeks and I am looking to start a PGCE next September. I have been invited to attend an interview for SCITT (secondary) and the activity (15 minutes) states I will be presenting to a mixed ability group to review teaching and learning within the school context, designed to engage students in a discussion about teaching and learning in a secondary school. I understand its asking for pupils views on teaching ect however, I wondered if anyone had any advice on how to make the activity fun and engaging? Any ideas will be greatly received :-) Thank you
Original post by dd0111
Hello, I am a zoology graduate and have been working as a TA for 8 weeks and I am looking to start a PGCE next September. I have been invited to attend an interview for SCITT (secondary) and the activity (15 minutes) states I will be presenting to a mixed ability group to review teaching and learning within the school context, designed to engage students in a discussion about teaching and learning in a secondary school. I understand its asking for pupils views on teaching ect however, I wondered if anyone had any advice on how to make the activity fun and engaging? Any ideas will be greatly received :-) Thank you

This sounds quite tricky, actually. It's something I'd find quite hard to present to students. Running a discussion task with students can also be really tricky when you don't know them and don't have lots of experience.

If you're going to run a discussion with the class, set very clear ground rules about who is allowed to talk when, how you will ask for silence and how you will pick who is going to talk. Have a plan in case none of them want to talk to you as well (some groups can go very shy when dealing with a "stranger").

I think I'd choose one area to focus on e.g. assessment. Start off with a quick discussion "think-pair-share" "What is assessment?". Maybe suggest some types of assessment and ask for hands up from students- are they aware of this type of assessment in school? Do they like this type of assessment? Do they see any problems with it? Allow them to share their views if they want to.

Then maybe have one side of the room as "too much assessment in school" and the other as "not enough assessment in school"- ask them to pick a side or stand in the middle. Give them a short amount of time (2-3 minutes) to discuss their view, and get each group to feed back through a spokesperson.

15 minutes will go really quickly, so that should be more than enough to fill it.

You could also use prompt cards and ask students to roleplay being different stakeholders in the school e.g. teachers, senior leadership, parents and students, or something.

I hope this helps and gives you something you can use!
Reply 2
Original post by SarcAndSpark
This sounds quite tricky, actually. It's something I'd find quite hard to present to students. Running a discussion task with students can also be really tricky when you don't know them and don't have lots of experience.

If you're going to run a discussion with the class, set very clear ground rules about who is allowed to talk when, how you will ask for silence and how you will pick who is going to talk. Have a plan in case none of them want to talk to you as well (some groups can go very shy when dealing with a "stranger").

I think I'd choose one area to focus on e.g. assessment. Start off with a quick discussion "think-pair-share" "What is assessment?". Maybe suggest some types of assessment and ask for hands up from students- are they aware of this type of assessment in school? Do they like this type of assessment? Do they see any problems with it? Allow them to share their views if they want to.

Then maybe have one side of the room as "too much assessment in school" and the other as "not enough assessment in school"- ask them to pick a side or stand in the middle. Give them a short amount of time (2-3 minutes) to discuss their view, and get each group to feed back through a spokesperson.

15 minutes will go really quickly, so that should be more than enough to fill it.

You could also use prompt cards and ask students to roleplay being different stakeholders in the school e.g. teachers, senior leadership, parents and students, or something.

I hope this helps and gives you something you can use!

Thank you so much this really does help! 😊
Would you incorporate a PowerPoint in the activity just for the visual learners?
Original post by dd0111
Thank you so much this really does help! 😊
Would you incorporate a PowerPoint in the activity just for the visual learners?

There's no such thing as visual/auditory/kinasthetic learners. This whole theory of "learning styles" doesn't have any supporting evidence and most teachers/academic staff are now aware of this.

You could incorporate where you think it would be useful- having instructions available for students to re-read and questions/prompts on the board can be really helpful as most students won't remember 100% of what they are told. Unless you've been 100% told you can use powerpoint, do be prepared to go without it too, though!
Reply 4
Original post by SarcAndSpark
There's no such thing as visual/auditory/kinasthetic learners. This whole theory of "learning styles" doesn't have any supporting evidence and most teachers/academic staff are now aware of this.

You could incorporate where you think it would be useful- having instructions available for students to re-read and questions/prompts on the board can be really helpful as most students won't remember 100% of what they are told. Unless you've been 100% told you can use powerpoint, do be prepared to go without it too, though!

Ok lovely - Thank you for your help and advice, really appreciated!
Reply 5
Original post by dd0111
Ok lovely - Thank you for your help and advice, really appreciated!

Hello again,
I wondered if you had any advice on how to start the discussion?
Reply 6
Hello

I was hoping for some advice - I have applied for a SCITT position and have been invited to interview next week.
I have only had 8 weeks experience as a TA since I graduated in Zoology.
I have applied for biology in a secondary school. The email states ‘You will be presenting to a mixed ability group of approximately 8 pupils to review teaching and learning within the school context. Your task is to plan an activity, to last no more than 15 minutes, which is designed to engage students in a discussion about teaching and learning in a secondary school.

You may use any activity which you feel will help the pupils to increase their understanding and skills in this area. We will be pleased to see your imaginative interpretation of this brief and will be happy to provide any equipment you need’

I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to make this engaging and fun for the students, I’m not even sure how to start! I feel completely blinded having only been in a school for such a short period 🙏
Reply 7
Hello

I was hoping for some advice - I have applied for a SCITT position to complete a PGCE in biology, and have been invited to interview next week at a secondary school.
I have only had 8 weeks experience as a TA since I graduated in animal science.

The email states ‘You will be presenting to a mixed ability group of approximately 8 pupils to review teaching and learning within the school context. Your task is to plan an activity, to last no more than 15 minutes, which is designed to engage students in a discussion about teaching and learning in a secondary school.

You may use any activity which you feel will help the pupils to increase their understanding and skills in this area. We will be pleased to see your imaginative interpretation of this brief and will be happy to provide any equipment you need’

I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to make this engaging and fun for the students, I’m not even sure how to start! I feel completely blinded having only been in a school for such a short period 🙏
Hi

Please don't start multiple threads on the same topic- if you want further ideas, just bump your original thread.

As to advice on how to start the discussion- have a clear focused question or two. Most teens, given an open ended question like "what do you think of assessment in school" will struggle, and you'll end up getting a lot of vague "I dunno" answers unless they are very bright. Give clear expectations (no off topic chat, you will feed back in x minutes). Have the question (s) available to refer back to.
Original post by SarcAndSpark
There's no such thing as visual/auditory/kinasthetic learners. This whole theory of "learning styles" doesn't have any supporting evidence and most teachers/academic staff are now aware of this.

You could incorporate where you think it would be useful- having instructions available for students to re-read and questions/prompts on the board can be really helpful as most students won't remember 100% of what they are told. Unless you've been 100% told you can use powerpoint, do be prepared to go without it too, though!

Oh god, the VARK thing...
Original post by Reality Check
Oh god, the VARK thing...

I went into a school last year where the head of ITT was still talking about auditory/visual/kinasthetic :zomg:
Original post by SarcAndSpark
I went into a school last year where the head of ITT was still talking about auditory/visual/kinasthetic :zomg:

Oh ffs... They'll be giving them all iPads again and doing marking in triplicate.
Original post by Reality Check
Oh ffs... They'll be giving them all iPads again and doing marking in triplicate.

I reckon that school would absolutely give all kids iPads if they could, but they don't have the money. But they were graded outstanding like 10 years ago, so they must be good :wink:

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