To develop leadership skills in TCS, the Teacher Assistant (TA) program will become a new elective available to seniors starting next year. 

Originally the program was supposed to start in January, but due to problems integrating the program into the schedule, it will start next year as an elective exclusive to Seniors. It will be the first available leadership elective implemented at TCS.

“We wanted to start this semester with the seniors as a pilot program but that was not possible,” Sofia Urrea, Senior, said.

TA’s will have new responsibilities such as assisting teachers with day-to-day work, aiding those students who were absent, and even checking formative assignments.

“I think that the most important ones (responsibilities) are that they are going to be there to support teachers and students, but they’re not going to be responsible for students learning or for grading,” Juan David Lopez, High School Principal, said.

Programs like this have been successful in other schools. This program has worked in other schools showing growth in the skills of seniors and in the learning environment of the different classes.

“I’ve actually had teacher assistant programs in the past schools and I think that it’s a really good program for sure,” Alyssa Jodoin, English Teacher, said.

The program was delayed because of scheduling problems since it was supposed to take place during class time but it was going to be offered as an extracurricular activity.

“It will be available as an elective because it wouldn’t work as an extracurricular since you’re going to be in the classroom with the teacher during his class time,” Urrea said.

Currently there is no admission process for the TA program, as it has not been approved yet, contrary to initial plans of having it begin in January 2022.

“Once it is approved, we’re going to be defining the application process,” Juan David, High School principal, said.

Leadership is seen as a very important skill at TCS and a great way to incentivize students to participate in activities that involve such skills. This gives a larger number of students an opportunity to improve in these skills.

“The TA program has the purpose to embrace leadership skills, and organizational skills for all the students at TCS,” Sofia said.