Assess The Importance Of Literacy In School
Literacy
Literacy is recommended to be taught for between 5 - 7.5 hours per week so makes up between 24 to 36% of the teaching week, however we have a heavy emphasis on Literacy and complete more than this during the week. It is split up into reading, writing, phonics and spelling. At my school Literacy is taught approx. 1 hour per day with an additional half an hour per day for guided reading. We ensure that our Literacy work is cross linked with the topic so that additional literacy can be completed in the afternoon sessions too. Comprehension is a main focus too and in addition to the guided reading a class taught comprehension lesson is taught. Each class has spelling focuses and spelling lessons are taught each week in addition to literacy …show more content…
lessons.
Numeracy
Numeracy has a recommended teaching time per week of 3.75 hours. It makes up around 18% of the teaching week; however we complete at least 5hrs of Numeracy per week. There is a heavy emphasis on calculations and we have recently developed a new calculations policy in school to ensure that there is consistency across the school in the ways methods and strategies are taught. Children are taught mental strategies and these are practised with weekly mental maths tests. After lunch children have rapid recall practise to develop their mental skills and times tables. It is very important that maths is practical and hands on and children understand application of knowledge.
Science
Science, at key stage 2, is recommended to be taught for about 1.5 hours per week so it makes up about 7% of the teaching week. Each year group follows the QCA topic headings so cover 6 topics per academic year. Over the past 2 years, Science has had a much higher priority in our school. The children experience Science through hands on, practical experiences, teaching them the full process of investigations, ranging from predictions, through observations, monitoring, measuring, fair testing and drawing conclusions.
In year 6, for example, the children will be learning about dissolving and separating materials, forces, light and sound, electricity, chains and webs and drugs and bugs.
ICT
ICT is recommended to be taught for 1 hour per week making up around 4% of the teaching week. In our school we try to make our ICT teaching as integrated and cross curricular as possible. During Numeracy, we use Mathletics, an internet based programme, which a group uses each day to consolidate the theme of that week. In Literacy the children are encouraged to use word processing programme to publish finished pieces of writing. In reading, children use the i pads and laptops to develop phonic skills. There are laptop trollies which the children use in class to research topic work through search engines. In addition the children use digital cameras to capture images and make video recordings, there are recording cards to capture speech for speaking and listening activities.
History and Geography
History and Geography are recommended to be taught for about 1 hour per teaching week each and so makes up around 8% of the teaching week. In our school the Geography and History skills are taught through the main topic for the term. Each topic tends to have a History or a Geography bias, so over a key stage the children will have experiences all the skills in Geography and History. For example in year 4 the children have a heavy History emphasis, focusing on the Tudors, the Romans, and local History of the Medlock Basin, with some geography skills interwoven. Whereas in year 5 it is a heavy emphasis on Geography with local
studies, London study, Life in India, with History skills interwoven. Trips in school are linked to the History and Geography topics to provide hands on experiences for the children, with visits to places such as Chester for the Romans and Ordsall Hall for the Tudors. In Year % the children go on a residential trip to London.
Art and Design Technology (DT)
Art and Design Technology are recommended to be taught for about 1 hour per teaching week each and so makes up around 8% of the teaching week. In our school, these are also taught through the main topic for the term. The emphasis is on teaching the children the skills they need for each subject. There is clear progression of expectations for each year group building on the previous skills acquired. Each child (from year 3 upwards) has a sketch book to practise and develop skills with 2d artwork before completing final pieces. Throughout the year the children all complete a mixture of 2d and 3d artwork, using paint, collage, clay, pencil work and sculpture.
DT tends to be project work, such as building a Tudor House, or making moving books, building on design, making and evaluation skills.
Throughout the year, the Art co-ordinator runs Art week projects, which involve the whole school. This year she made three large collages depicting three bible stories, where all children were involved in. These are displayed in the main entrance hall. Next term a clay tile project is planned, and will be displayed in the dining hall.
Religious Education
Religious Education is taught for approximately 1 hour per week so this makes up around 4% of the teaching week. In our school we follow the Manchester RE scheme. The teachers adapt this to tailor it to their class and make it more practical and hands on. The children learn about a variety of different religions throughout the year, including Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism. All year groups have a unit about Christianity every year. Trips are often linked to the RE topic in school, with regular visits to our local church. This term Years 5 and 6 and visiting the local Judaism Museum to experience the Holocaust and sacred items.
Music
Music is taught for around 1 hour a week so makes up 4%of the teaching week. Some of this is made up with singing practice in whole school assembly time. We follow the Manchester music scheme which teaches rhythm, beat and notation. The children are able to use a range of musical instruments and use these accompany songs and made up compositions.
In Year 4, the children have samba lessons.
Physical Education
Each class has 2 PE lessons per week. One of the lessons per week is an outdoor games lesson, building on team skills and ball skills, using feet and hands. The children get the opportunity to be leaders and to make up their own rules and games. We also have Sports coaches who come in throughout the year, linked with Manchester United and Manchester City, who play team sport games and build confidence and self-esteem with the children. The other lesson is an indoor PE lesson and alternates between Gym and Dance. The dance is usually linked to the topic lessons, for example 1940s dancing with the WW2 topic and Tudor dancing with the Tudor topic. In gym, the children are taught to move and set out the equipment safely as well as travelling, balancing, jumping and rolling techniques.
In year 4, the children go to the local high school for swimming lessons, once a week.
Science – In detail
Science is one of the core subjects taught in school. Here is a detailed study of Science across Key Stage 2. As previously stated, our school has recently looked at the way Science has been taught and has a clear vision across the school about how it should be delivered and taught.
There is a heavy emphasis on practical hands on learning, with investigations in every single term, in every year group, to ensure that investigative skills are strong and secure.
The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:
develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
And these are the key principles that we follow at our school.
The Science co-ordinator has developed a whole school coverage sheet to ensure that all of the areas of the National curriculum are covered throughout years 1 -6. Each teacher highlights the National curriculum programme of study, when they cover it and dates it. This is then handed to the next teacher to continue with highlighting. The idea is that by the time the children reach year 6, all areas of the Science curriculum should be highlighted, and some areas more than once. The whole school coverage uses the QCA headings as topic headings and teachers are allowed to use the QCA scheme as a skeleton outline for ideas, however teachers tend to add their own ideas and expand ideas to ensure that the science teaching is exciting and investigation heavy. The use of Hamilton plans is also used widely throughout
schools.
At present, the Science curriculum is under change, due to the new curriculum being introduced, and the Science co-ordinator is booked on a training course to learn more about this. She will then feed this information into the whole school coverage and make changes if needed.
The Science co-ordinator plays an active role in the planning and delivery of the Science curriculum in Key stage 2. She provides differentiated plans and resources, adapted from the Hamilton scheme, for years 3,4,5 and 6, and teaches the year 5 and 6 Science lessons (of which they have 2 hours per week, every week).
Below shows the whole school coverage for science that my school uses.
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Spring 1
Spring 2
Summer 1
Summer 2
Y 1
1A How the body works 1D Light and dark
1F Sound and hearing
Butterfly watch/ life cycles/ minibeasts
[1B growing plants?]
1E Push /pulls
1C Materials [sortin g and using]
The above topics are covered over spring and summer terms but are alternated according to the topic.
Y2
2A Health and growth
2F Using electricity
2D Materials
[grouping and changing]
2E Forces
2B Plants and animals in the local environment
2C Variation
Y3
3A
Healthy Eating
3C
Characteristics of materials
3D
Rocks and Solids
3B
How Plants Grow
3E
Magnets and Springs
3F
Light and Shadows
Y4
4A moving and growing
4C keeping warm
4D Solids, liquids, and how they can be separated
4B Habitats
4E Friction
4F circuits and conductors
Y5
5A
Keeping Healthy
5E
Space and Beyond
5D
Change of State
5B
Life Cycles
5C
Dissolving Gases around us
5F
How we see/Hear things
Y6
Interdependence and adaptation
Micro organisms
More about dissolving
Reversible and irreversible change
Forces in Action
Changing Circuits
SATS
AT1 activities – consolidation of all AT areas.
Here is an example of one of the plans provided at our school for a Key stage 2 Science lesson.
Topic: Friction Year: four Term: Summer 1 Week 1
SCIENCE 18/4/13
Skills/ P.O.S/Learning Objective
Activities
Evaluation
Objectives: To revise previous learning - What is a force? How can we measure forces? Looking at forces in action.
Sc4 2e Understand how to measure forces and identify the direction in which they act.
2a Understand the forces of attraction & repulsion between magnets.
2d Understand that when objects are pulled or pushed an opposing pull or push can be felt.
Breadth of study: 1a Look at a range of domestic & environmental contexts that are familiar and of interest to them.
2a Use appropriate scientific language.
Sc1 1a Understand that Science is about thinking creatively to try to explain how non-living things work, and to establish links between causes and effects.
2e Use simple equipment and materials appropriately and take action to control risks.
LA: I can investigate different forces.
A; I can measure forces using a forcemeter.
HA I can draw accurate diagrams of forces in action, adding arrows to show in which direction the forces are acting.
Whole class teaching:
Without saying anything pull and push a spring to change its shape, lengthen an elastic band by pulling, pick up a paperclip with a magnet. Ask the children to describe what is happening in each case? Tell the children that there are forces at work here. What is a force? A force can change the shape of an object, change the direction it’s moving in, slow it down, speed it up or make it move or stop; forces act in a particular direction. Take another look at each of the force demonstrations you started the lesson with. Model how simple diagrams can be created to show what happened. Discuss with the chn the forces in action (can they name them?) and also the direction they were acting in. Tell the children that they can show these forces by adding arrows to their diagrams.
Tell the chn that they are going to take a close look at forces in action during the next five sessions, but that in this first session they will have the opportunity to have fun with forces to show you what they already understand.
Group activities: Have the children in mixed ability groups
Allow the children the opportunity to revise and extend their understanding by working through the following five activities in groups. The teacher or another adult should work at activity one while at the other stops on the carousel the children should first get some hands on experience before drawing a diagram clearly showing the direction in which forces are moving.
HA: In addition to the arrows on the diagrams, more able children should name the force if they can and add a short sentence to describe what is happening.
Activity 1: Show the chn a forcemeter allowing them to look closely at it. Point out how the spring lengthens when pulled. The greater the pulling force the longer the spring becomes. Measure the pulling of a selection of classroom objects across the same table with the children recording their results on the sheet. Measures should be taken in Newtons – a unit of measure equal to the pull of gravity on a mass of 1kg.
Activity 2: Repel and attract. Provide the children with bar magnets and ask them to investigate what happens when they are put together. They should draw diagrams showing what happens & show the forces in action using arrows.
Activity 3: What does it show? Provide the children with a completed table of results from an imaginary Car Slope experiment ask the children to use the questions to respond and interpret.
Activity 4: Car on the slope. Ask the chn to briefly investigate what happens when the angle of the slope is changed for the same car running down it.
Activity 5: Elastic Bands. Set up a simple experiment to test up what happens as the weight suspended from an elastic band increases, use sheet. Discuss how to carry this experiment out safely.
Plenary: Discuss the each of the activities in turn. What did they find out/remind themselves of at each activity? In which directions have the chn drawn the arrows? Make a list of any questions that children would like answered about forces on the f/c. You can return to these as the block progresses. Tell the children that in the next session they will be investigating forces with footwear so they need to bring one trainer/sports shoe each!
Children to make a concept make of what they already know and what they would like to find out over the next few weeks
Science can often be a stand-alone lesson due to the skills and knowledge that the children need to learn, however in the school I work in, we try as far as possible to link with the current topic so it can be as cross-curricular as possible. For example in year 5, during the Space topic, the children learn the Science skills and knowledge stated in the National Curriculum. Numeracy links itself well and during and after investigations children can develop their numeracy skills with measures and data handling. Speaking and listening also plays a vital role in the Science curriculum, developing questioning skills and through investigative skills.
Within a class, children are split into three differentiated ability groups according to their scientific knowledge. There are differentiated learning intentions to allow all children to be able to achieve in this subject. Science is taught to enable children with low level literacy skills to still be able to achieve in Science, to ensure inclusion of all. The emphasis is very much on the Science and we, as a school, have moved away from endless recording and written work, favouring frameworks to enable this to happen.
Mixed ability grouping is used frequently in Key Stage 2 Science, to support and extend children and support staff used accordingly.
Typically a topic will last 6 weeks and will start off by developing the children’s knowledge and understanding of key processes and conceptual understanding. Key vocabulary for the topic is explored and added to a graffiti wall on the science display, which is added to throughout the term. Children complete concept maps showing current knowledge and asking questions that they would like answered during the topic. This is constantly added to throughout the topic as children’s ideas develop or change and as questions are answered.
Once key knowledge and understanding is secured, children are involved in investigations to secure and develop scientific understanding. Depending on the age and ability of the children, they plan and design own investigations, focusing on the key aspects of a fair investigation.
Children’s progress and attainment is monitored and assessed by the class teacher and the Science co-ordinator. AT1 (Scientific investigation skills) sheets are filled in for each child to show progress and this is passed on to the next teacher.
The children are assessed against the key concepts for each area of the National curriculum for Science (AT2, AT3 and AT4) the physics, biology and chemistry stands, and this information is passed onto the next teacher to be able to build upon.
Raising Standards in the Curriculum:
The most recent strategy that the government has introduced to raise standards in the curriculum is by introducing a new National Curriculum. The draft National Curriculum is out at present and many schools, including ours, have started to use this. It will be made compulsory by September 2014. The reason the government decided to change it, was to ensure children are more equipped to complete advanced skills at secondary schools. It provided a more demanding curriculum to change children.
Below outlines the changes that the government are making in Numeracy, Literacy and Science.
Higher standards in Maths
Pupils will be expected to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions in primary school so they can progress to more advanced topics like algebra when they go to secondary school. These four operations are not in the current primary curriculum. The proposed change is consistent with expectations in the high-performing education jurisdictions of Singapore and Hong Kong.
By age 9, pupils should know their times tables up to 12x12. This is in line with expectations in the high-performing jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Currently pupils only need to know up to 10x10 by the end of primary school.
By age seven, pupils should know “number bonds” up to 20. These are simple addition and subtraction facts that pupils should be able to recognise and use instantly (e.g. 9+9=18 or 16-7=9).
Higher standards in English
Pupils will be taught to read fluently through systematic phonics. There will be a much stronger emphasis on reading for pleasure.
There will be a focus on spelling - for instance, there will be a list of words that all children should be able to spell by the end of primary school. There is currently no such list in the national curriculum.
There will be a focus on grammar - for instance, children will be expected to understand how to use the subjunctive and correct use of the apostrophe - for example, not using it to indicate plurals such as “I went to buy some apple’s” or using “it’s” as a possessive.
There will be an expectation that pupils master formal English through poetry recitation, debate and presentation.
Higher standards in Science:
There will be a greater focus on the acquisition of scientific knowledge with new content on the solar system, speed and evolution.
There will be an increased focus on practical scientific experiments and demonstrations, similar to the approach taken in Alberta and Massachusetts.
Other strategies that the government have introduced to raise standards in the curriculum include WAVE 3 and Springboard. These are both Numeracy interventions used in primary schools to fill gaps with Numeracy. Children are assessed using tests, supplied in the scheme, to find out where there are gaps in their Numeracy knowledge and understanding. Once assessed the children can then be taught (in addition to their usual Numeracy lessons) by a teacher or teaching assistant, to gap fill. This is designed to be a catch up scheme. We use both of these in our school and they are a very successful way of accelerating the attainment and progress of children in Numeracy.
In 2003 the government launched a strategy for primary schools call Excellence and Enjoyment. The initiative aimed to provide an exciting and varied curriculum to help children develop in a wide variety of ways so they can achieve an excellent education. The primary aim of the strategy gives schools the control over how the curriculum is delivered that plays to the schools strengths. It allows schools to be innovative in how they teach and how they run the school. The schools are able to measure the student’s performance by using tests, charts and tables which help the students develop to their full potential. This strategy also allows schools to develop their existing strengths.
There are a number of ways that you can find out up to date information about curriculum development. The main way is to contact the department for education, by accessing their website: www.dfes.gov.uk or calling on 0870 000 2288.
Other useful websites include; www.standards.dfes..gov.uk www.teachernet.gov.uk www.qca.org.uk
The Ofsted website also has current information about curriculum changes and initiatives.
Extra-Curricular Activities:
Extra-curricular activities in schools provide an excellent opportunity for some children to shine, especially if they are non-academic. In a typical school you will find a range of ‘after-school’ or ‘lunchtime’ clubs, usually falling into three categories; sporting, music and general.
In our school, we have a wide range of activities for children to choose from, and these are being added to all the time. At present we have a Football club, Judo, Cheerleading, KS1 ball sports, Glee club (singing), Drama club, Archery, Homework club and Computer programming.
Drama club is a new club that was started up this year. The club is offered to year 5 and 6 children only, as there was a great interest in it (with 37 children coming each week)
It is a free club, run by a teacher and 2 teaching assistants and is for an hour after school once a week, with some lunchtime practise as well. The idea was to allow gifted and talented actors within the school to be able to excel as well as building confidence within children who wanted to develop their acting skills. It provides time for the children to let their hair down and really have fun with their friends.
Within the club, there are opportunities for lots of different skills to be developed. At present, the Drama club are putting on the pantomime Aladdin. The children have been split into different groups, doing the activity they chose to do. Some children are working on the costume designs and making, some on the staging and lighting, others are dancers and singers and some are actors. With such a range of activities available in one club, it has appealed to a lot of children and has proved to be a popular and successful club.
There are many factors that influence teaching and learning in schools.
Teaching factors include; context variables, process variables and product variables.
Context variables deal with the personality of the teacher and the nature of the pupils.
Process variables deals with the behaviour of the teacher and pupils and the teacher/ learning tasks that take place.
Product variables deal with the expected learning outcomes the teacher has and the programme of study they have planned, including how a teacher monitors pupils progress.
Learning factors are more wide and varied and include many, many factors.
These include; family backgrounds such as culture and religion, gender, teaching styles and learning skills, impact of peers in class, the subject content, past experience of learning and their own recognition of the need to learn, rewards and punishment, range of opportunities offered, methods of learning.
All of the above factors have an impact in the quality and quantity of learning within a pupil and a direct example of this is when a pupil has a negative home life and parents place learning and schooling low down in importance. A child may not value the importance of knowledge and learning due to their parent/carers views. The lack of support at home can be detrimental to their learning in school. Other factors such as teaching style can really affect a child. If a child is with a teacher who present a teaching approach that the child does not favour, this will have a negative effect on their learning.
The most important role of a teaching assistant is to work alongside the class teacher and support and promote the ethos and culture of the school, following all policies and procedures. They are responsible for the development and learning of all children whom they work with.
A teaching assistant will be expected to be able to perform a wide variety of tasks within the classroom and around the school. Teaching assistants should be able to work with the entire class, small groups of pupils and also one to one sessions. A teaching assistant should be able to work with and support pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and show equality to all. They may also have to support pupils with English as an additional language (EAL), who will need support to access the curriculum. Often teaching assistants are expected to carry out interventions with specific groups of identified children and it is important they have clear expectations of what is expected of them and the pupils.
A key role of the teaching assistant is in the preparation of the classroom lessons and this may involve a wide variety of activities, including photocopying worksheets, getting equipment ready, preparing computers, rearranging the furniture and even weighing out ingredients for cooking. The teaching assistant is responsible for organising items that are essential to the smooth running of the lesson.
Another key role of the teaching assistant is to keep the classroom in order and the stock cupboard full of consumables. It is of vital importance that the classroom remains a place where pupils can learn and the teacher can teach without distraction.
Another role can include keeping displays up to date and neat and tidy, a job which I am very active with in my classroom.
In addition to the everyday tasks a teaching assistant must perform they are often asked to help support pupils beyond the classroom. They may often be asked to help out on school trips and also at school events like school plays. In addition to this teaching assistant may also be asked to undertake extra training and qualifications for example a first aid course as part of their job.
It is important to plan and prepare learning activities for many different reasons. The first reason for planning learning activities is to ensure that the whole curriculum is being met as stated in the National Curriculum, ensuring pupils are being taught the correct knowledge, understanding and skills for particular learning activities. In the planned learning activities, you will have a good
understanding of resources and knowledge etc. that are needed and this ensures you can prepare learning activities correctly, thus giving the children the best learning experiences.
The teaching assistant may also need to familiarise themselves with what is being taught to the students beforehand. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and it may be what is in the learning activity is a weaker area, or one that may need some research to be done in order to deliver effectively. With this in mind the teaching assistant may have to do extra research and learning to familiarise themselves with the learning activity.
Another reason for planning and preparing learning activities is to ensure that all different learning styles are covered frequently. The way children learn will affect the way a teacher or teaching assistant will deliver a lesson or the types of materials they provide and this needs to be taken into consideration. A mix of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles should be taken into consideration when planning and preparing lessons.
Within planning for learning activities barriers and issues can be addressed within the classroom. If there are pupils who cannot access this part of the curriculum then the planning and preparation for the learning activity will have to be differentiated accordingly. Within the planning other things should be taken into consideration like what materials or apparatus are required. Also things like what is required from the learning environment or even if there is enough time for the learning activity. Other things that also should be considered are the health and safety implications.
The experience and qualifications of a teaching assistant will greatly affect the support they are able to give to pupils. They are able to offer their own unique perspective and knowledge within the classroom and a class teacher should embrace this and use specialist knowledge that they may have, such as dancing or sowing skills or maybe experience of working with autistic children. The teacher and the teaching assistants may be able to use this experience to help plan the learning activities more effectively. If experience and qualifications low within the teaching assistant, they need to ensure that they understand what is required of them and may have to carry out their own research to ensure they can carry out their role effectively. The amount of responsibility the teacher gives the teaching assistant will depend of how confident and experienced the TA is within a specific area of the curriculum.
A teaching assistant will be required to provide a range of feedback to a range of different people and forms an important part of their job role.
Teachers are continuously monitoring and assessing children’s progress and learning to enable them to move the children onto the next steps, and a teaching assistant will need to be able to do this and feed it back to the teacher effectively when they are working with a group or in 1:1 situations.
At the school I work in, Teaching assistants have assessment sheets they fill in for group and individual work, where they can record details about a child’s learning and progress in a lesson. The teaching assistant will comment on children who have achieved the learning objective, not achieved or exceeded and if exceeded make comments on how they have moved the child forward within the lesson. This is passed to the teacher and then used in the planning for the next lesson. The teaching assistant would also provide verbal feedback to the teacher of anything that is particularly important from the lesson. The teaching assistant is mainly required to provide formative feedback during lessons, however when working closely with their class teacher will have some input in the summative assessment at the end of a unit of work, especially if they have worked closely with one particular group of children, therefore their verbal and written feedback will be vital.
It is important that any feedback that is given, is realistic, fair and comments on the success of the activity that took place. It should also show strengths and weaknesses.
Teaching assistants will continuously give feedback to the pupils they are working with and we do this in a variety of ways in the school I work in. During a lesson, when working with a group or individual we give verbal feedback. This is timely, constructive feedback, given to the child at the time of working. It is to correct an error or to move a child on within the lesson. At the end of the lesson teaching assistant are expected to mark the group of children’s work, they have been working with and I give constructive, meaningful feedback in the form of two ticks and a wish. This consists of telling the child (in written form) 2 things they have done really well, or commenting on the learning objective or target that they have achieved in that specific piece of work, and then giving a constructive comment on what they could do even better and often given them a practice piece to illustrate the improvement feedback.
With certain pieces of work, we also do 1:1 intensive marking with a child, which really focuses on the piece of work in depth and provided extensive feedback for the child, which they can also contribute to, so it become like a 2 way feedback process, which can accelerate progress in children.
When assisting in the delivery of learning activities, a teaching assistant might be expected to assist in many ways.
1. Assist pupils and keep them on track
Teaching assistants will have to use a range of skills when helping children to follow instructions and they may include explaining words, questioning, active listening, assistance, praise and rewards. It is important the teaching assistant uses these effectively to keep children’s interest in the learning activity. The teaching assistant may have to keep groups of specific children on track and keeping a child interest throughout the lesson is the key. A teaching assistant can do this by the use of questioning and further explanations and providing different opportunities for the child to learn through their preferred style.
2. Encourage pupils to work independently
Teaching assistants can help children to become independent learners by setting challenging yet realistic targets for the children to achieve. They need to help the children to understand why they are doing the learning activity and what they will achieve from it. The teaching assistant should also encourage the children to check on their own progress and evaluate and reflect what they have achieved in the lesson. Self-assessment can also develop independent learners and teaching assistants can model good practise of this.
It is important for the teaching assistant to give the children chances to act independently and to be able to select their own resources and materials, for example in a Literacy lesson get the child to realise for themselves that they would benefit from using a dictionary or a thesaurus, by having seen the teaching assistant model this behaviour previously and then using effective questioning.
3. Use learning materials appropriately
It is important for teaching assistants to use learning materials appropriately and use age appropriate materials to teach. It is important to communicate with the main teacher about the learning materials and what the teacher has in mind. The learning resource should be
relevant and useful. The materials should challenge the students and be thought provoking. They need to be useful to all concerned and motivate the students.
4. Monitor responses
It is important that teaching assistants can monitor children’s responses to learning activities so that they can change or adapt activities accordingly to enable children to achieve the desired learning intention. The teaching assistant can best do this through formative assessment, in the form of questioning and oral feedback. This is a more oral way to assess students. It involves the teaching assistant, teacher or the students themselves questioning and answering to monitor responses. There is also summative assessment which involves practical exercises and tests in order to monitor students. Another way to monitor students and learning is by marking students work and giving feedback around this work.
The teaching assistant need to concentrate on the needs of individual children and how they are reacting to the activity and the lesson.
A teaching assistant needs to be able to recognise problems that might occur whilst supporting individuals in order to support them effectively. The problems that might occur could relate to the learning activity, such as the activity being unclear or unsuitable to the children involved. The learning environment could be causing a hindrance to the child for example the noise too loud or a high level of disruption, and the teaching assistance should be able to recognise that this could cause a problem. If a pupil has low self-esteem or poor behaviour or lack of concentration, a teaching assistance should also be able to recognise this and act accordingly.
If a problem does occur whilst the teaching assistant is supporting a child or children during learning activities, they need to make sure they seek assistance if needed. The teaching
assistant should have agreed strategies with the teacher that they can use with pupils who have learning difficulties or cognition issues. It is important to use praise and assistance to encourage the pupils to stay on task. The teaching assistant can get materials and resources to assist the children to achieve the learning objective if they are having difficulties. If a child is finding it difficult, the teaching assistant can give individual attention, reassurance and help as needed to ensure individual children understand and are on task.
An effective teaching assistant will monitor pupils responses and, when it is needed, adapts the activities to achieve progress with individuals (as agreed with the teacher). Useful tools can also help with issues, such as the use of visual, auditory and tactile resources can also aid a teaching assistant in managing problems that might occur.
Literacy is recommended to be taught for between 5 - 7.5 hours per week so makes up between 24 to 36% of the teaching week, however we have a heavy emphasis on Literacy and complete more than this during the week. It is split up into reading, writing, phonics and spelling. At my school Literacy is taught approx. 1 hour per day with an additional half an hour per day for guided reading. We ensure that our Literacy work is cross linked with the topic so that additional literacy can be completed in the afternoon sessions too. Comprehension is a main focus too and in addition to the guided reading a class taught comprehension lesson is taught. Each class has spelling focuses and spelling lessons are taught each week in addition to literacy …show more content…
lessons.
Numeracy
Numeracy has a recommended teaching time per week of 3.75 hours. It makes up around 18% of the teaching week; however we complete at least 5hrs of Numeracy per week. There is a heavy emphasis on calculations and we have recently developed a new calculations policy in school to ensure that there is consistency across the school in the ways methods and strategies are taught. Children are taught mental strategies and these are practised with weekly mental maths tests. After lunch children have rapid recall practise to develop their mental skills and times tables. It is very important that maths is practical and hands on and children understand application of knowledge.
Science
Science, at key stage 2, is recommended to be taught for about 1.5 hours per week so it makes up about 7% of the teaching week. Each year group follows the QCA topic headings so cover 6 topics per academic year. Over the past 2 years, Science has had a much higher priority in our school. The children experience Science through hands on, practical experiences, teaching them the full process of investigations, ranging from predictions, through observations, monitoring, measuring, fair testing and drawing conclusions.
In year 6, for example, the children will be learning about dissolving and separating materials, forces, light and sound, electricity, chains and webs and drugs and bugs.
ICT
ICT is recommended to be taught for 1 hour per week making up around 4% of the teaching week. In our school we try to make our ICT teaching as integrated and cross curricular as possible. During Numeracy, we use Mathletics, an internet based programme, which a group uses each day to consolidate the theme of that week. In Literacy the children are encouraged to use word processing programme to publish finished pieces of writing. In reading, children use the i pads and laptops to develop phonic skills. There are laptop trollies which the children use in class to research topic work through search engines. In addition the children use digital cameras to capture images and make video recordings, there are recording cards to capture speech for speaking and listening activities.
History and Geography
History and Geography are recommended to be taught for about 1 hour per teaching week each and so makes up around 8% of the teaching week. In our school the Geography and History skills are taught through the main topic for the term. Each topic tends to have a History or a Geography bias, so over a key stage the children will have experiences all the skills in Geography and History. For example in year 4 the children have a heavy History emphasis, focusing on the Tudors, the Romans, and local History of the Medlock Basin, with some geography skills interwoven. Whereas in year 5 it is a heavy emphasis on Geography with local
studies, London study, Life in India, with History skills interwoven. Trips in school are linked to the History and Geography topics to provide hands on experiences for the children, with visits to places such as Chester for the Romans and Ordsall Hall for the Tudors. In Year % the children go on a residential trip to London.
Art and Design Technology (DT)
Art and Design Technology are recommended to be taught for about 1 hour per teaching week each and so makes up around 8% of the teaching week. In our school, these are also taught through the main topic for the term. The emphasis is on teaching the children the skills they need for each subject. There is clear progression of expectations for each year group building on the previous skills acquired. Each child (from year 3 upwards) has a sketch book to practise and develop skills with 2d artwork before completing final pieces. Throughout the year the children all complete a mixture of 2d and 3d artwork, using paint, collage, clay, pencil work and sculpture.
DT tends to be project work, such as building a Tudor House, or making moving books, building on design, making and evaluation skills.
Throughout the year, the Art co-ordinator runs Art week projects, which involve the whole school. This year she made three large collages depicting three bible stories, where all children were involved in. These are displayed in the main entrance hall. Next term a clay tile project is planned, and will be displayed in the dining hall.
Religious Education
Religious Education is taught for approximately 1 hour per week so this makes up around 4% of the teaching week. In our school we follow the Manchester RE scheme. The teachers adapt this to tailor it to their class and make it more practical and hands on. The children learn about a variety of different religions throughout the year, including Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism. All year groups have a unit about Christianity every year. Trips are often linked to the RE topic in school, with regular visits to our local church. This term Years 5 and 6 and visiting the local Judaism Museum to experience the Holocaust and sacred items.
Music
Music is taught for around 1 hour a week so makes up 4%of the teaching week. Some of this is made up with singing practice in whole school assembly time. We follow the Manchester music scheme which teaches rhythm, beat and notation. The children are able to use a range of musical instruments and use these accompany songs and made up compositions.
In Year 4, the children have samba lessons.
Physical Education
Each class has 2 PE lessons per week. One of the lessons per week is an outdoor games lesson, building on team skills and ball skills, using feet and hands. The children get the opportunity to be leaders and to make up their own rules and games. We also have Sports coaches who come in throughout the year, linked with Manchester United and Manchester City, who play team sport games and build confidence and self-esteem with the children. The other lesson is an indoor PE lesson and alternates between Gym and Dance. The dance is usually linked to the topic lessons, for example 1940s dancing with the WW2 topic and Tudor dancing with the Tudor topic. In gym, the children are taught to move and set out the equipment safely as well as travelling, balancing, jumping and rolling techniques.
In year 4, the children go to the local high school for swimming lessons, once a week.
Science – In detail
Science is one of the core subjects taught in school. Here is a detailed study of Science across Key Stage 2. As previously stated, our school has recently looked at the way Science has been taught and has a clear vision across the school about how it should be delivered and taught.
There is a heavy emphasis on practical hands on learning, with investigations in every single term, in every year group, to ensure that investigative skills are strong and secure.
The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:
develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
And these are the key principles that we follow at our school.
The Science co-ordinator has developed a whole school coverage sheet to ensure that all of the areas of the National curriculum are covered throughout years 1 -6. Each teacher highlights the National curriculum programme of study, when they cover it and dates it. This is then handed to the next teacher to continue with highlighting. The idea is that by the time the children reach year 6, all areas of the Science curriculum should be highlighted, and some areas more than once. The whole school coverage uses the QCA headings as topic headings and teachers are allowed to use the QCA scheme as a skeleton outline for ideas, however teachers tend to add their own ideas and expand ideas to ensure that the science teaching is exciting and investigation heavy. The use of Hamilton plans is also used widely throughout
schools.
At present, the Science curriculum is under change, due to the new curriculum being introduced, and the Science co-ordinator is booked on a training course to learn more about this. She will then feed this information into the whole school coverage and make changes if needed.
The Science co-ordinator plays an active role in the planning and delivery of the Science curriculum in Key stage 2. She provides differentiated plans and resources, adapted from the Hamilton scheme, for years 3,4,5 and 6, and teaches the year 5 and 6 Science lessons (of which they have 2 hours per week, every week).
Below shows the whole school coverage for science that my school uses.
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Spring 1
Spring 2
Summer 1
Summer 2
Y 1
1A How the body works 1D Light and dark
1F Sound and hearing
Butterfly watch/ life cycles/ minibeasts
[1B growing plants?]
1E Push /pulls
1C Materials [sortin g and using]
The above topics are covered over spring and summer terms but are alternated according to the topic.
Y2
2A Health and growth
2F Using electricity
2D Materials
[grouping and changing]
2E Forces
2B Plants and animals in the local environment
2C Variation
Y3
3A
Healthy Eating
3C
Characteristics of materials
3D
Rocks and Solids
3B
How Plants Grow
3E
Magnets and Springs
3F
Light and Shadows
Y4
4A moving and growing
4C keeping warm
4D Solids, liquids, and how they can be separated
4B Habitats
4E Friction
4F circuits and conductors
Y5
5A
Keeping Healthy
5E
Space and Beyond
5D
Change of State
5B
Life Cycles
5C
Dissolving Gases around us
5F
How we see/Hear things
Y6
Interdependence and adaptation
Micro organisms
More about dissolving
Reversible and irreversible change
Forces in Action
Changing Circuits
SATS
AT1 activities – consolidation of all AT areas.
Here is an example of one of the plans provided at our school for a Key stage 2 Science lesson.
Topic: Friction Year: four Term: Summer 1 Week 1
SCIENCE 18/4/13
Skills/ P.O.S/Learning Objective
Activities
Evaluation
Objectives: To revise previous learning - What is a force? How can we measure forces? Looking at forces in action.
Sc4 2e Understand how to measure forces and identify the direction in which they act.
2a Understand the forces of attraction & repulsion between magnets.
2d Understand that when objects are pulled or pushed an opposing pull or push can be felt.
Breadth of study: 1a Look at a range of domestic & environmental contexts that are familiar and of interest to them.
2a Use appropriate scientific language.
Sc1 1a Understand that Science is about thinking creatively to try to explain how non-living things work, and to establish links between causes and effects.
2e Use simple equipment and materials appropriately and take action to control risks.
LA: I can investigate different forces.
A; I can measure forces using a forcemeter.
HA I can draw accurate diagrams of forces in action, adding arrows to show in which direction the forces are acting.
Whole class teaching:
Without saying anything pull and push a spring to change its shape, lengthen an elastic band by pulling, pick up a paperclip with a magnet. Ask the children to describe what is happening in each case? Tell the children that there are forces at work here. What is a force? A force can change the shape of an object, change the direction it’s moving in, slow it down, speed it up or make it move or stop; forces act in a particular direction. Take another look at each of the force demonstrations you started the lesson with. Model how simple diagrams can be created to show what happened. Discuss with the chn the forces in action (can they name them?) and also the direction they were acting in. Tell the children that they can show these forces by adding arrows to their diagrams.
Tell the chn that they are going to take a close look at forces in action during the next five sessions, but that in this first session they will have the opportunity to have fun with forces to show you what they already understand.
Group activities: Have the children in mixed ability groups
Allow the children the opportunity to revise and extend their understanding by working through the following five activities in groups. The teacher or another adult should work at activity one while at the other stops on the carousel the children should first get some hands on experience before drawing a diagram clearly showing the direction in which forces are moving.
HA: In addition to the arrows on the diagrams, more able children should name the force if they can and add a short sentence to describe what is happening.
Activity 1: Show the chn a forcemeter allowing them to look closely at it. Point out how the spring lengthens when pulled. The greater the pulling force the longer the spring becomes. Measure the pulling of a selection of classroom objects across the same table with the children recording their results on the sheet. Measures should be taken in Newtons – a unit of measure equal to the pull of gravity on a mass of 1kg.
Activity 2: Repel and attract. Provide the children with bar magnets and ask them to investigate what happens when they are put together. They should draw diagrams showing what happens & show the forces in action using arrows.
Activity 3: What does it show? Provide the children with a completed table of results from an imaginary Car Slope experiment ask the children to use the questions to respond and interpret.
Activity 4: Car on the slope. Ask the chn to briefly investigate what happens when the angle of the slope is changed for the same car running down it.
Activity 5: Elastic Bands. Set up a simple experiment to test up what happens as the weight suspended from an elastic band increases, use sheet. Discuss how to carry this experiment out safely.
Plenary: Discuss the each of the activities in turn. What did they find out/remind themselves of at each activity? In which directions have the chn drawn the arrows? Make a list of any questions that children would like answered about forces on the f/c. You can return to these as the block progresses. Tell the children that in the next session they will be investigating forces with footwear so they need to bring one trainer/sports shoe each!
Children to make a concept make of what they already know and what they would like to find out over the next few weeks
Science can often be a stand-alone lesson due to the skills and knowledge that the children need to learn, however in the school I work in, we try as far as possible to link with the current topic so it can be as cross-curricular as possible. For example in year 5, during the Space topic, the children learn the Science skills and knowledge stated in the National Curriculum. Numeracy links itself well and during and after investigations children can develop their numeracy skills with measures and data handling. Speaking and listening also plays a vital role in the Science curriculum, developing questioning skills and through investigative skills.
Within a class, children are split into three differentiated ability groups according to their scientific knowledge. There are differentiated learning intentions to allow all children to be able to achieve in this subject. Science is taught to enable children with low level literacy skills to still be able to achieve in Science, to ensure inclusion of all. The emphasis is very much on the Science and we, as a school, have moved away from endless recording and written work, favouring frameworks to enable this to happen.
Mixed ability grouping is used frequently in Key Stage 2 Science, to support and extend children and support staff used accordingly.
Typically a topic will last 6 weeks and will start off by developing the children’s knowledge and understanding of key processes and conceptual understanding. Key vocabulary for the topic is explored and added to a graffiti wall on the science display, which is added to throughout the term. Children complete concept maps showing current knowledge and asking questions that they would like answered during the topic. This is constantly added to throughout the topic as children’s ideas develop or change and as questions are answered.
Once key knowledge and understanding is secured, children are involved in investigations to secure and develop scientific understanding. Depending on the age and ability of the children, they plan and design own investigations, focusing on the key aspects of a fair investigation.
Children’s progress and attainment is monitored and assessed by the class teacher and the Science co-ordinator. AT1 (Scientific investigation skills) sheets are filled in for each child to show progress and this is passed on to the next teacher.
The children are assessed against the key concepts for each area of the National curriculum for Science (AT2, AT3 and AT4) the physics, biology and chemistry stands, and this information is passed onto the next teacher to be able to build upon.
Raising Standards in the Curriculum:
The most recent strategy that the government has introduced to raise standards in the curriculum is by introducing a new National Curriculum. The draft National Curriculum is out at present and many schools, including ours, have started to use this. It will be made compulsory by September 2014. The reason the government decided to change it, was to ensure children are more equipped to complete advanced skills at secondary schools. It provided a more demanding curriculum to change children.
Below outlines the changes that the government are making in Numeracy, Literacy and Science.
Higher standards in Maths
Pupils will be expected to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions in primary school so they can progress to more advanced topics like algebra when they go to secondary school. These four operations are not in the current primary curriculum. The proposed change is consistent with expectations in the high-performing education jurisdictions of Singapore and Hong Kong.
By age 9, pupils should know their times tables up to 12x12. This is in line with expectations in the high-performing jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Currently pupils only need to know up to 10x10 by the end of primary school.
By age seven, pupils should know “number bonds” up to 20. These are simple addition and subtraction facts that pupils should be able to recognise and use instantly (e.g. 9+9=18 or 16-7=9).
Higher standards in English
Pupils will be taught to read fluently through systematic phonics. There will be a much stronger emphasis on reading for pleasure.
There will be a focus on spelling - for instance, there will be a list of words that all children should be able to spell by the end of primary school. There is currently no such list in the national curriculum.
There will be a focus on grammar - for instance, children will be expected to understand how to use the subjunctive and correct use of the apostrophe - for example, not using it to indicate plurals such as “I went to buy some apple’s” or using “it’s” as a possessive.
There will be an expectation that pupils master formal English through poetry recitation, debate and presentation.
Higher standards in Science:
There will be a greater focus on the acquisition of scientific knowledge with new content on the solar system, speed and evolution.
There will be an increased focus on practical scientific experiments and demonstrations, similar to the approach taken in Alberta and Massachusetts.
Other strategies that the government have introduced to raise standards in the curriculum include WAVE 3 and Springboard. These are both Numeracy interventions used in primary schools to fill gaps with Numeracy. Children are assessed using tests, supplied in the scheme, to find out where there are gaps in their Numeracy knowledge and understanding. Once assessed the children can then be taught (in addition to their usual Numeracy lessons) by a teacher or teaching assistant, to gap fill. This is designed to be a catch up scheme. We use both of these in our school and they are a very successful way of accelerating the attainment and progress of children in Numeracy.
In 2003 the government launched a strategy for primary schools call Excellence and Enjoyment. The initiative aimed to provide an exciting and varied curriculum to help children develop in a wide variety of ways so they can achieve an excellent education. The primary aim of the strategy gives schools the control over how the curriculum is delivered that plays to the schools strengths. It allows schools to be innovative in how they teach and how they run the school. The schools are able to measure the student’s performance by using tests, charts and tables which help the students develop to their full potential. This strategy also allows schools to develop their existing strengths.
There are a number of ways that you can find out up to date information about curriculum development. The main way is to contact the department for education, by accessing their website: www.dfes.gov.uk or calling on 0870 000 2288.
Other useful websites include; www.standards.dfes..gov.uk www.teachernet.gov.uk www.qca.org.uk
The Ofsted website also has current information about curriculum changes and initiatives.
Extra-Curricular Activities:
Extra-curricular activities in schools provide an excellent opportunity for some children to shine, especially if they are non-academic. In a typical school you will find a range of ‘after-school’ or ‘lunchtime’ clubs, usually falling into three categories; sporting, music and general.
In our school, we have a wide range of activities for children to choose from, and these are being added to all the time. At present we have a Football club, Judo, Cheerleading, KS1 ball sports, Glee club (singing), Drama club, Archery, Homework club and Computer programming.
Drama club is a new club that was started up this year. The club is offered to year 5 and 6 children only, as there was a great interest in it (with 37 children coming each week)
It is a free club, run by a teacher and 2 teaching assistants and is for an hour after school once a week, with some lunchtime practise as well. The idea was to allow gifted and talented actors within the school to be able to excel as well as building confidence within children who wanted to develop their acting skills. It provides time for the children to let their hair down and really have fun with their friends.
Within the club, there are opportunities for lots of different skills to be developed. At present, the Drama club are putting on the pantomime Aladdin. The children have been split into different groups, doing the activity they chose to do. Some children are working on the costume designs and making, some on the staging and lighting, others are dancers and singers and some are actors. With such a range of activities available in one club, it has appealed to a lot of children and has proved to be a popular and successful club.
There are many factors that influence teaching and learning in schools.
Teaching factors include; context variables, process variables and product variables.
Context variables deal with the personality of the teacher and the nature of the pupils.
Process variables deals with the behaviour of the teacher and pupils and the teacher/ learning tasks that take place.
Product variables deal with the expected learning outcomes the teacher has and the programme of study they have planned, including how a teacher monitors pupils progress.
Learning factors are more wide and varied and include many, many factors.
These include; family backgrounds such as culture and religion, gender, teaching styles and learning skills, impact of peers in class, the subject content, past experience of learning and their own recognition of the need to learn, rewards and punishment, range of opportunities offered, methods of learning.
All of the above factors have an impact in the quality and quantity of learning within a pupil and a direct example of this is when a pupil has a negative home life and parents place learning and schooling low down in importance. A child may not value the importance of knowledge and learning due to their parent/carers views. The lack of support at home can be detrimental to their learning in school. Other factors such as teaching style can really affect a child. If a child is with a teacher who present a teaching approach that the child does not favour, this will have a negative effect on their learning.
The most important role of a teaching assistant is to work alongside the class teacher and support and promote the ethos and culture of the school, following all policies and procedures. They are responsible for the development and learning of all children whom they work with.
A teaching assistant will be expected to be able to perform a wide variety of tasks within the classroom and around the school. Teaching assistants should be able to work with the entire class, small groups of pupils and also one to one sessions. A teaching assistant should be able to work with and support pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and show equality to all. They may also have to support pupils with English as an additional language (EAL), who will need support to access the curriculum. Often teaching assistants are expected to carry out interventions with specific groups of identified children and it is important they have clear expectations of what is expected of them and the pupils.
A key role of the teaching assistant is in the preparation of the classroom lessons and this may involve a wide variety of activities, including photocopying worksheets, getting equipment ready, preparing computers, rearranging the furniture and even weighing out ingredients for cooking. The teaching assistant is responsible for organising items that are essential to the smooth running of the lesson.
Another key role of the teaching assistant is to keep the classroom in order and the stock cupboard full of consumables. It is of vital importance that the classroom remains a place where pupils can learn and the teacher can teach without distraction.
Another role can include keeping displays up to date and neat and tidy, a job which I am very active with in my classroom.
In addition to the everyday tasks a teaching assistant must perform they are often asked to help support pupils beyond the classroom. They may often be asked to help out on school trips and also at school events like school plays. In addition to this teaching assistant may also be asked to undertake extra training and qualifications for example a first aid course as part of their job.
It is important to plan and prepare learning activities for many different reasons. The first reason for planning learning activities is to ensure that the whole curriculum is being met as stated in the National Curriculum, ensuring pupils are being taught the correct knowledge, understanding and skills for particular learning activities. In the planned learning activities, you will have a good
understanding of resources and knowledge etc. that are needed and this ensures you can prepare learning activities correctly, thus giving the children the best learning experiences.
The teaching assistant may also need to familiarise themselves with what is being taught to the students beforehand. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and it may be what is in the learning activity is a weaker area, or one that may need some research to be done in order to deliver effectively. With this in mind the teaching assistant may have to do extra research and learning to familiarise themselves with the learning activity.
Another reason for planning and preparing learning activities is to ensure that all different learning styles are covered frequently. The way children learn will affect the way a teacher or teaching assistant will deliver a lesson or the types of materials they provide and this needs to be taken into consideration. A mix of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles should be taken into consideration when planning and preparing lessons.
Within planning for learning activities barriers and issues can be addressed within the classroom. If there are pupils who cannot access this part of the curriculum then the planning and preparation for the learning activity will have to be differentiated accordingly. Within the planning other things should be taken into consideration like what materials or apparatus are required. Also things like what is required from the learning environment or even if there is enough time for the learning activity. Other things that also should be considered are the health and safety implications.
The experience and qualifications of a teaching assistant will greatly affect the support they are able to give to pupils. They are able to offer their own unique perspective and knowledge within the classroom and a class teacher should embrace this and use specialist knowledge that they may have, such as dancing or sowing skills or maybe experience of working with autistic children. The teacher and the teaching assistants may be able to use this experience to help plan the learning activities more effectively. If experience and qualifications low within the teaching assistant, they need to ensure that they understand what is required of them and may have to carry out their own research to ensure they can carry out their role effectively. The amount of responsibility the teacher gives the teaching assistant will depend of how confident and experienced the TA is within a specific area of the curriculum.
A teaching assistant will be required to provide a range of feedback to a range of different people and forms an important part of their job role.
Teachers are continuously monitoring and assessing children’s progress and learning to enable them to move the children onto the next steps, and a teaching assistant will need to be able to do this and feed it back to the teacher effectively when they are working with a group or in 1:1 situations.
At the school I work in, Teaching assistants have assessment sheets they fill in for group and individual work, where they can record details about a child’s learning and progress in a lesson. The teaching assistant will comment on children who have achieved the learning objective, not achieved or exceeded and if exceeded make comments on how they have moved the child forward within the lesson. This is passed to the teacher and then used in the planning for the next lesson. The teaching assistant would also provide verbal feedback to the teacher of anything that is particularly important from the lesson. The teaching assistant is mainly required to provide formative feedback during lessons, however when working closely with their class teacher will have some input in the summative assessment at the end of a unit of work, especially if they have worked closely with one particular group of children, therefore their verbal and written feedback will be vital.
It is important that any feedback that is given, is realistic, fair and comments on the success of the activity that took place. It should also show strengths and weaknesses.
Teaching assistants will continuously give feedback to the pupils they are working with and we do this in a variety of ways in the school I work in. During a lesson, when working with a group or individual we give verbal feedback. This is timely, constructive feedback, given to the child at the time of working. It is to correct an error or to move a child on within the lesson. At the end of the lesson teaching assistant are expected to mark the group of children’s work, they have been working with and I give constructive, meaningful feedback in the form of two ticks and a wish. This consists of telling the child (in written form) 2 things they have done really well, or commenting on the learning objective or target that they have achieved in that specific piece of work, and then giving a constructive comment on what they could do even better and often given them a practice piece to illustrate the improvement feedback.
With certain pieces of work, we also do 1:1 intensive marking with a child, which really focuses on the piece of work in depth and provided extensive feedback for the child, which they can also contribute to, so it become like a 2 way feedback process, which can accelerate progress in children.
When assisting in the delivery of learning activities, a teaching assistant might be expected to assist in many ways.
1. Assist pupils and keep them on track
Teaching assistants will have to use a range of skills when helping children to follow instructions and they may include explaining words, questioning, active listening, assistance, praise and rewards. It is important the teaching assistant uses these effectively to keep children’s interest in the learning activity. The teaching assistant may have to keep groups of specific children on track and keeping a child interest throughout the lesson is the key. A teaching assistant can do this by the use of questioning and further explanations and providing different opportunities for the child to learn through their preferred style.
2. Encourage pupils to work independently
Teaching assistants can help children to become independent learners by setting challenging yet realistic targets for the children to achieve. They need to help the children to understand why they are doing the learning activity and what they will achieve from it. The teaching assistant should also encourage the children to check on their own progress and evaluate and reflect what they have achieved in the lesson. Self-assessment can also develop independent learners and teaching assistants can model good practise of this.
It is important for the teaching assistant to give the children chances to act independently and to be able to select their own resources and materials, for example in a Literacy lesson get the child to realise for themselves that they would benefit from using a dictionary or a thesaurus, by having seen the teaching assistant model this behaviour previously and then using effective questioning.
3. Use learning materials appropriately
It is important for teaching assistants to use learning materials appropriately and use age appropriate materials to teach. It is important to communicate with the main teacher about the learning materials and what the teacher has in mind. The learning resource should be
relevant and useful. The materials should challenge the students and be thought provoking. They need to be useful to all concerned and motivate the students.
4. Monitor responses
It is important that teaching assistants can monitor children’s responses to learning activities so that they can change or adapt activities accordingly to enable children to achieve the desired learning intention. The teaching assistant can best do this through formative assessment, in the form of questioning and oral feedback. This is a more oral way to assess students. It involves the teaching assistant, teacher or the students themselves questioning and answering to monitor responses. There is also summative assessment which involves practical exercises and tests in order to monitor students. Another way to monitor students and learning is by marking students work and giving feedback around this work.
The teaching assistant need to concentrate on the needs of individual children and how they are reacting to the activity and the lesson.
A teaching assistant needs to be able to recognise problems that might occur whilst supporting individuals in order to support them effectively. The problems that might occur could relate to the learning activity, such as the activity being unclear or unsuitable to the children involved. The learning environment could be causing a hindrance to the child for example the noise too loud or a high level of disruption, and the teaching assistance should be able to recognise that this could cause a problem. If a pupil has low self-esteem or poor behaviour or lack of concentration, a teaching assistance should also be able to recognise this and act accordingly.
If a problem does occur whilst the teaching assistant is supporting a child or children during learning activities, they need to make sure they seek assistance if needed. The teaching
assistant should have agreed strategies with the teacher that they can use with pupils who have learning difficulties or cognition issues. It is important to use praise and assistance to encourage the pupils to stay on task. The teaching assistant can get materials and resources to assist the children to achieve the learning objective if they are having difficulties. If a child is finding it difficult, the teaching assistant can give individual attention, reassurance and help as needed to ensure individual children understand and are on task.
An effective teaching assistant will monitor pupils responses and, when it is needed, adapts the activities to achieve progress with individuals (as agreed with the teacher). Useful tools can also help with issues, such as the use of visual, auditory and tactile resources can also aid a teaching assistant in managing problems that might occur.