Describe how a learning support practitioner may contribute to the planning, delivery and review of learning activities
Helping in activities would be delivery, if you pass on ideas, observations or suggestions that would be contributing to planning. Informal discussion with the teacher about what weekly and daily activities that will be taking place. This form of planning is known as short term and would be the most likely that a teaching assistant would be involved in.
The teacher may put some time aside to discuss each week’s activities with the teaching assistant, this would normally allow for any suggestions to be made. Delivering may be by setting up the room with the correct resources before the lesson takes place and laying out the tables and chairs etc. One to one support may be needed for some pupils; this should have been discussed before the lesson. It may be that the T.A is put to work with one specific table/group of children or just float around the classroom and be available if any of the children ask for help.
Describe the sorts of problems that might occur when supporting learning activities and how to deal with these
Insufficient resources: A learning task usually requires resources such as pencils, paper, worksheets,, paint pots, paint brushes etc. If there are not enough resources for each pupil then the learning activity could be disrupted because someone would have to leave the room to collect more resources, which wastes valuable learning time. One way to prevent this from happening is by collecting enough resources for the day to go around. It is also important to check that equipment is safe and working and that nothing is broken in any way and that I am aware of how to use it safely.
Environment : A lot of noise will be a distraction whether it is from other children in the room, from some kind of outside disturbance such as grass cutting, or from a different area of the school such as the corridor or small hall. To deal with these situations T.A must remind the children to work as quietly as possible, and by shutting windows and doors to minimize the disruption.
Temperature : If the room is too hot or too cold you will need to adapt the environment in a way that it is right or move somewhere else because pupils concentration breaks with distractions such as change in temperature.
Overcrowded : over crowding can cause a lot of noise and especially lack of concentration therefore it is important to ensure that a sufficient amount of pupils are in a classroom at one time.If You are able to control the numbers you will know where every pupil is,you will know that you can take control and you are able to ensure there is full concentration. Behaviour : positive behaviour ,consequence
Concentration : Pupils have a very short attention span and lose their concentration and this can be caused by disturbances from other pupils.The reason for this is that some pupils find only certain activities interesting therefore the time that they are not interested they will be distracting others.To avoid this problem Teaching Assistant can pay a bit more attention and find a mode of communication to keep the pupil engaged with the activity like everyone else.If this is not possible then pupil should be dealt with and provided its conseqeunces.
Describe the importance of evaluating learning activities
It’s important to evaluate your work with pupils so that you can get feedback to the teacher it also means reflecting on how the activity has gone and why things may have gone a certain way .You may ask yourself the following questions :
- What went well? How do you know it went well? (pupils reaction to the task and how much time available)
- What did not go so well? How do you know?
- Did you need to change any aspect of the activity as you were working ?How ?
- How would you change the approach if you carried out the activity again ? How?
Describe with examples the importance of recognising and responding to concerns about children and young people’s development. It is very important to recognise and respond to concerns in children’s development including the environment ,learning resources and their activities as here are the areas where main problems occur. If these problems are solved and dealt with it ensures that pupils are able to continue learning and developing their skills appropriately.
Learning resources: During certain activities learning support assistant will be required to set up the classroom in need of pencils ,paper, text books, paints etc. It is important to make sure that there is a sufficient number of resources for everyone and that everyone knows how to use it.This will ensure every pupil can benefit well from the activity in all areas of their development and the health and safety is also considered .If a teacher has asked to set up it is important you check that you have everything you need in order to avoid problems before they arise.
