TA TALK

Issue 47

September 2019

We hope that all the hard-working teacher aides in schools around Australia felt valued during
Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week. We heard about so many wonderful ways
schools celebrated and have shared what one school did in this edition.

As part of the Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week celebrations, we announced this year's Australian Teacher Aide of the Year. Once again, our panelists had a massive job on their hands, shortlisting the many applications and then deciding who would hold the 2019 crown!

 

Big congratulations to Jacque Mengel, from Maribyrnong Primary School in the ACT, who is the 2019 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year.

Both Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week, and the Awards are our way of highlighting
the valuable contribution of teacher aides to student learning and well-being. As we want
to share the amazing work teacher aides do, we will start recording a series of interviews
with our award winners, next term. We’ll be sure to let you know when they are published!

As you know, we hold a live web event for members each month, and upload the
recordings to our professional development library. We also publish a preview of each
event, and you can now get a sneak peak here at our complete literacy series from Semester one.

 

For those of you who are already on school holidays, and for those who are eagerly anticipating a well-deserved break after a very hectic Term III, we wish you a safe and relaxing
holiday. We are aware from speaking with many of our regional member schools that these
holidays will be tough for many as the drought continues. Please spare a thought for our
farmers.

Warm regards

Stella and Mandy

CONGRATULATIONS Jacque Mengel of Maribyrnong Primary School, ACT

Jacque has worked with students with disability at Maribyrnong Primary School for over 15 years, and seen more than 238 students graduate.

 

Jacque was both humbled and delighted to learn about her win, and it was clear from speaking with her that she strives to make every day special for the students she supports. She told us, “Every day is a fresh start. I believe in giving the students many moments of happiness each day to remember, to help them get through the tough times.”

 

Our thanks to Anna Thorpe, the Disability Education Coordinator, for nominating Jacque for the awards. 

How did your school celebrate?

We received lots of feedback from schools about how they celebrated Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week (2 - 6 September). Typically, it included lots of food (of course!), special presentations at assemblies, handwritten notes from students and colleagues, special mentions

in newsletters and on school Facebook pages, as well as a number of after-school meetings (aka  'drinks'). A big thank you to Mary McKillop Catholic Community Primary School for sending in these pics showing how they celebrated their teacher aides. Awesome work!

What is Computational Thinking?

In this tutorial we explore the skills students need to solve problems in a digital world.

You will learn about:

• Computational thinking
• 4 key concepts used to solve problems
• Unplugged activities that encourage computational thinking

MEMBER WEBINAR: What is Executive Functioning?

- Tuesday 8th October 2019 @ 4:15pm AEST

In this tutorial, we will explore the life skills students need in a digital world to think flexibly, and manage their thoughts, actions and emotions.

 

We hope you can join us!

Member Webinar Challenge

 

Congratulations to Shawn Adams who is the winner of September's Member Webinar Challenge. Shawn won a monogrammed ATA polo shirt for correctly matching a number of rather cryptic illustrations to the 4 computational thinking processes. Well done, Shawn!

Teacher aides ... the heartbeat of our school

38,583 views

2,894 reactions, comments and shares

 

During the month of August, we read LOTS of nominations for Australian Teacher Aide of the Year 2019! and it was incredibly insightful. Nominators boasted shamelessly about their teacher aides and the undeniably positive contribution they make to student learning and wellbeing. During Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week, we shared a phrase or quote from these applications, each day, that epitomise the value of paraprofessionals in schools. This was one of them ... and it was the most popular post for the month of September!

Teaching with love

23,794 views
1,294 reactions, comments and shares

 

"When a student throws something, hits a kid or yells at a teacher, I start with, 'I bet it felt pretty bad to lose control.' They always say it felt awful. Then I ask, 'Can we work together on ways to prevent that from happening again?' 100% of the time, their answer is 'YES.'"

 

Some agreed with this, some didn't and others sat quietly on the fence. What is your experience?

WELCOME TO ATA!  

 

Coombabah State High School, QLD
St Xavier's Primary School Gunnedah, NSW
Upper Coomera State College, QLD
Christian Brothers' High School Lewisham, NSW
Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School Wanguri, NT
Brisbane State High School, QLD
Gympie State High School, QLD
St John's Anglican College, QLD
St Joseph's Catholic PS Collingwood, QLD
Highview College, VIC
Bellarine Secondary College, VIC
Surfers Paradise State School, QLD
Macleay Island State School, QLD
Realtime Education and Training Services, VIC
North Regional TAFE, WA

Evandale Primary School, TAS
Westerway Primary School, TAS
Kin Kora State School, QLD
Giru State School, QLD
Hagley Farm School, TAS
Tullawong State School, QLD
Seven Hills High School, NSW
Back Plains State School, QLD
Clinton State School, QLD
Tagai State College, QLD
Ipswich State High School, QLD
Bowen State School, QLD
Knox Grammar Preparatory School, NSW

Bethania Lutheran School, QLD

Nothing planned? Need some help? 

 

We have resources across many topic areas including Additional Needs, Behaviour, Disability, Digital Technology, Effective Teacher Aide Practices in Schools (eTAPS), Inclusive Education, Learning and Wellbeing, Literacy, Numeracy and more.

 

Why use ATA professional development?

- It's online, so it's accessible no matter where you are in Australia

- It's designed specifically for the education support role

- You get access to interactive live web events every month, and 

- 24/7 access to over 80 comprehensive video tutorials for 12 months from date of joining

 

PLUS, you can link an unlimited number of staff to your school membership account.

 

Not sure if our professional development options are right for your team? Easy! If, within the first 30 days of school membership, you decide that our professional development does not meet your needs, send us your feedback and we will give you a full refund.