Explain How Your Personal Values, Belief Systems And Experiences May Affect Your Working Practice
Task 1 Outcome 2.3.
Describe in writing how your personal values, belief systems and experiences may affect your working practices.
Personal values and beliefs are an important part of personal growth and happiness. As human beings, we all have our own values, beliefs and attitudes that we have developed throughout the course of our lives. Our families, friends, community and the experiences we have had, all contribute to our sense of who we are and how we view the world. They affect our behaviour, our manners, our sense of pride and how we care for each other. Our experiences also affect how we value the importance of family and friendships. Religious beliefs affect how we feel about right and wrong. Significant or unexpected life events such as the death of loved ones impact on what we value as being important. Marriage and having children of our own affect how we feel about children.
Within school it is essential that we treat all children equally, regardless of differences to our own beliefs and values. A child’s personal circumstances, such as their religion or their parent’s marital or relationship status must never be met with disapproval from staff. We must always take great care to treat all children …show more content…
equally, and not to allow and personal bias to affect the way we interact with a child. All people are entitled to their own points of view, their own values and beliefs, but they must never force those values and beliefs onto others. It is essential to focus on the learning opportunities that are presented to the children, and not on personal likes or dislikes.
Our beliefs originate from our experiences throughout life, and it is important to remember that the original experience has passed, and what is happening in our lives now is different. Our values and beliefs affect the quality of our work and all our interpersonal relationships. They form an important part of our identity, reflecting who we are and how we live our lives. We must ensure that our own values and beliefs do not make us blind to other people’s values, opinions and needs. It is important to be fully aware of our own values and beliefs, and how they could impact on our work.
Some of our values and beliefs are important for all children to learn. These include values such as honesty, respect for others, helping people in need, being a good friend. These values have been established in our early years, through the influence of family, friends, teachers and our culture. These are important values for children to learn, and teachers and teaching assistants can provide good role models to encourage and praise such behaviour in children. These values are important to me and I believe that they should be taught to all children as opportunities arise. This may be within normal play activities within school, or during discussions in carpet or circle time. Assemblies are another good opportunity to talk about right and wrong behaviour and the expectations of behaviour within the school. The ethos of the school may also involve some religious beliefs, such as in Church of England schools. A religious basis may underlie the school ethos, but other religions are also discussed and considered, and accepted as the child’s right to hold their own beliefs.
It is important to accept and respect that other people may have different values and beliefs to our own. We do not have the right to expect that other people should change their values and beliefs just because they are different to our own.
Task 2 Outcome 1.1.
Describe the roles and responsibilities of your own work role. Support this with examples of what you might do in a typical school day.
My role and responsibilities in class are to support the teacher in a collaborative way. I help as and when needed, to ensure that the class activities run smoothly and are completed by all children to the best of their ability. I assist children with special needs and establish positive, supportive and constructive relationships with children and their carers. I contribute ideas and strategies to engage the children in their learning, and assist with differentiating work for the needs of specific children. I plan and carry out learning activities for individuals and for groups.
A typical day includes numeracy, literacy, art work, outdoor play and reading. I supervise small groups in many activities, and work with individual children in others. I ensure that resources are appropriately matched to the children’s needs, and produce resources as necessary.
An art work activity I carried out is shown within the attached Humpty Dumpty lesson. The children worked on developing their fine motor skills, by painting the wall, colouring Humpty Dumpty, cutting out the wall and sticking the pieces together to complete the picture. This develops their hand-eye coordination as well as their motor skills and their awareness of position and space.
Numeracy and literacy can often be combined into one activity (please see attached Humpty Dumpty lesson).
I work with the groups in turn to enable them all to complete the activity with different levels of support. I have differentiated the activity to allow all the children to access the work at their own level. I had to consider the abilities of all the children and what they would be able to do. This knowledge of the children allowed me to structure the activity appropriately, so that some children were undertaking independent writing, whereas others were choosing the words they needed from a selection and making them into a sentence. Still further differentiation allowed the less able children to look at the words and read them with
support.
My afternoons are frequently spent in reading with the children, and in completing their word books. These list some of the first 45 high frequency words, and I give the children a few words to try to learn how to spell each week. I check carefully whether they can spell them and only move on to the next words if they have learnt the previous ones. In this way I ensure that they all make the best progress they can, individually differentiating the work for each child. With less able children, I work on recognising and forming the letters.
Task 3 Outcomes 1.2 and 3.1.
Use the level 3 job description issued to you in class. Choose two bullet points from each of the four areas (support for the pupils etc.) and in writing explain and evaluate:
What the expectations of you are and
How you fulfil these requirements in terms of your knowledge, performance and understanding.
Support for Pupils
To work collaboratively with the teacher in the planning, development, delivery and evaluation of the effectiveness of the curriculum for pupils and to differentiate curriculum content according to the needs of pupils.
It is expected that I will work with the teacher in developing lessons for the pupils. I should discuss lesson plans with the teacher and put forward my suggestions when appropriate to help children make the most out of the learning opportunities. I should suggest help that I can give, such as differentiating the work for less able pupils. I could also suggest different ways of making the work more accessible for less able children.
I frequently discuss the work with the teacher and always try to think of ways that I could help to enable all the children to gain the most they can from the learning opportunities that are being provided. My Humpty Dumpty lesson plan (attached) shows how I developed the idea into a sequence of work for all the different groups of children, working at different levels. In this way, all the children were able to make the best individual progress that they could throughout this activity. I had to use my knowledge of the children and their ability to structure and differentiate the activity so that they could all access the work at their own level. I considered how all of the children 's needs would be met during this activity, including their personal, social, and emotional development, their physical development, communication and language skills, literacy and numeracy, their understanding of the world and expressive art and design. The children were presented with many learning opportunities during this activity, and due to the fact that I had differentiated the activity to meet their needs, they all achieved to the best of their ability.
To assist in the devising of pupil’s individual targets and their monitoring and review.
It is expected that I will gain a knowledge of the children’s abilities and levels of work, and set targets for them to progress. I am then expected to check their progress and inform the teacher. I should also review the progress being made, consider the next steps, and adjust the learning plan if necessary.
I work with the children on their word books. This is to allow them to learn the first 45 high-frequency words. I consider the children’s ability and choose a number of words for them to learn. I set them targets of words to learn and be able to recognise. Each week, I go over the words with them and if they cannot yet recognise the words, we do not move onto the next section of words. If they can recognise the words we move onto the next section and they learn some more words. Some children are not yet at the stage of being able to recognise words. With these children, I work on letter recognition. After that we move on to forming the letters. In this way I constantly assess the children’s level of work and their knowledge of the words they are learning. If they are struggling I moved back a stage with them. In this way I develop individual learning plans for the children and ensure that they are always working at a level which will engage them and help them to progress. Each week I review their progress and then adjust my plans accordingly, to either continue and make more progress, or to further reinforce the previous work. I inform the teacher of the progress that is being made, and of where children are struggling and need more help. I then tailor the help that is needed to meet the child’s individual needs.
Support for the teacher
Assist in the supervision of children on trips/visits.
It is expected that I will be able to help the teacher supervise children on trips, which generally involves taking responsibility for a small group to ensure that they are safe and also make the most of the learning opportunities provided by the trip.
I have assisted with the supervision of children on several trips, including Tropical World, where I was responsible for a group of 5 children. I escorted them around Tropical World, ensuring they took part in all the activities. The children loved seeing the butterflies and the fish, and behaved well throughout the day. I supervised them at lunchtime and ensured they all ate their lunch and cleared away afterwards. I got them to planned activities on time and all the children had a good day. We were back at the bus on time and returned to the school having had a fun and educational day.
To provide ideas, resources and learning strategies for lessons.
It is expected that I will have an input into lessons and give suggestions and ideas as to how I could help children to gain the most they can from the opportunities provided. This could involve making resources that will help some children access the lesson. It could also involve suggesting different learning strategies to help all the children make progress, or providing ideas for a lesson that may fit in with the topic that we are doing in class.
I have produced many resources for classes and during our theme of Nursery Rhymes, I contributed the idea of using Humpty Dumpty and making an activity for the children that would encompass numeracy, literacy, art, personal, social and emotional development, physical development and understanding the world. I came up with the idea of using Humpty Dumpty falling off his wall to make a jigsaw activity that the children could do. They first had to paint and colour the wall and Humpty Dumpty, then cut it out to make a jigsaw. This then had to be stuck back together in the correct order and the children could write a sentence about helping Humpty. The lesson planning for this is attached, and shows how the learning objectives were met, an how they matched the medium term plans. I also differentiated the work for all the different groups within the class and enabled them all to make good progress.
Support for the school
To assist in providing a purposeful, orderly and supportive environment for learning.
It is expected that I will help in general with ensuring that the children 's behaviour is appropriate and assist at the beginning of school in getting all the children into the classroom. I am also expected to ensure that the classroom is kept generally tidy, so that activities can be carried out without things getting in the way. I am also expected to help with displays to ensure the classroom and noticeboards throughout the school are inspiring for the children.
I always help with general classroom behaviour, and behaviour about the school in general, by encouraging children in positive behaviour, and addressing negative behaviour when it arises. I also tidy the classroom frequently throughout the day, and at the end of the day to ensure activities can be carried out and the children are safe from tripping hazards. I have helped the children to make several displays to show their work. These brighten up the classroom and school corridors, and also help the children to develop a sense of pride in their work. It is inspiring for children, parents and visitors to the school to see the wonderful work the children can produce. Making the displays involves a lot of work on my part, in providing appropriate materials for the children to work with, ensuring all the children get a chance to have an input into the display work, and to add some parts of the display myself to focus the children’s work. I also ensure that the display is educational and has a focus that is relevant to the work we are doing in class at the time. Displays are changed frequently to ensure they are kept up to date and don’t become boring for the children. (See attached Display Work).
To attend staff training/meetings as appropriate.
I am expected to attend appropriate training and meetings to ensure that I am up-to-date with all the strategies that are taking place in school. I need to know any changes that are occurring, or issues with children that I am working with. I am expected to be involved in training to allow me to carry out my role to the best of my ability.
I have attended staff meetings where we are informed of issues with children and how best to work with those children. In staff meetings we are also informed of targets that need to be met. This is important to allow me to target my support of pupils in the best way to allow these targets to be met. We are also able to discuss training needs during staff meetings. This allowed me, with others, to point out that we required ladder training in order to put up displays around the school. This training was later undertaken, allowing us to work safely and efficiently than putting up displays. We also discuss school strategies such as improving boys’ writing. We can all then work to ensure that the needs of the strategy are met. In year 1 I focus on providing opportunities for children to structure their own sentences, and always ensure that I work with the boys to make imaginative sentences.
Support for the curriculum
To be familiar with the content of the school curriculum.
It is expected that I know what the learning goals are for the children by the end of the year, in the classes I work with. I am also expected to know how the children are going to be supported in reaching those goals. I need to be aware of school priorities and how to support children in ensuring the priorities are met.
I am fully aware of the goals the children need to achieve by the end of reception and year 1, and I work to enable children to reach those goals. I discuss learning goals with the teacher on a regular basis and always ask about next steps if a learning goal is met. I also discuss how to meet the learning needs of children who have not yet reached the expected standards. I attend meetings to ensure that I am aware of the school priorities and strategies such as improving boys’ writing. In my Humpty Dumpty lesson plan I matched the learning objectives of the lesson to the medium term plans and objectives for the children’s learning goals (see attached lesson plan).
In making and assessing the children’s word books, I need to be aware of the high frequency words that the children need to learn, and what to do next once they have mastered the first 45 high frequency words.
To support the use of ICT in learning activities.
It is expected that I can use the ICT facilities and assist the children in using them to improve their learning opportunities.
At my Primary School the children use the Big Bus programme, as well as some online games, to help them learn ICT skills. They learn to control the mouse and play educational games to help with colours, sorting things into groups, literacy and numeracy. I regularly assist the children in these sessions and ensure that they understand what they are trying to achieve. I offer lots of praise and encouragement, as well as targeted support for less able children.
These learning games are fun for the children whilst allowing them to make progress in learning many different skills.
Task 4 Outcome 2.1.
a) Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided.
b) Consider the case study.
1) How does this case study demonstrate the importance of continual reflective practice?
2) How do you think that Jenny’s reflective practice will benefit the school?
a) It is essential to continually reflect on your practice to ensure that the quality of the service is always the best it can be. It is not always enough to simply continue to do things the same way, as circumstances, children and environments change. Continually improving and adapting approaches benefits both children and practitioners, as the service is improved. It also fosters personal and team development among the staff because a reflective practice involves everyone in constantly striving to improve the school. It is important to see how other staff work, or how other schools are run, as this can provide a valuable insight into some advantages provided by different ways of working. Positive experiences can be repeated, but negative experiences are equally important if they are reflected upon and lead to future improved practice. It is not best practice to simply continue doing things the way you always have, without reflecting on the efficacy of the practice. It is only too easy to become stuck in practices and habits that may be over used, bad practice, or practice that has not reached its full potential. Kolb supports this view within his experiential learning cycle. Kolb values the importance of concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concepts, and testing in new situations. Without reflection, the working link between each experience is lost and therefore left underdeveloped. In conclusion, a reflective practice ensures that staff members are continuously thinking about what worked well, and how things could be improved. This provides children with learning plans which are tailored to their needs, not just a repeat of last years lessons.
Figure 1 (Kolb, 1984) - Kolb 's experiential learning style theory is typically represented by a four stage learning cycle in which the learner 'touches all the bases ':
1. Concrete Experience - (a new experience of situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience). 2. Reflective Observation (of the new experience. Of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding). 3. Abstract Conceptualization (Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept). 4. Active Experimentation (the learner applies them to the world around them to see what results).
b) 1) The case study demonstrates the importance of continual reflective practice as it shows that even when you think everything is going well, there are often still improvements that can be made. Jenny had thought that their policies led to good practice in making the parents feel welcome in the school. However, when she saw the practice in another school, that experience allowed her to see that things in her own school had room for improvement. She used that experience and reflected upon it, seeing the benefits of the other school’s working practice. Jenny considered how she could build that practice into her own school, and made the necessary changes to push the new strategy forwards. She changed her own working practice to make the new strategy work effectively. Had she not worked reflectively, she would have just continued to think that she was doing a good job in making the parents feel welcome, whereas in fact she has now made substantial improvements.
2) Jenny’s reflective practice will benefit the school because she has made changes that will now make parents and carers feel much more welcome. She is getting to know them and they are able to get to know her. This will make parents feel that they have more importance in the school, and that they can easily have a chat with the head teacher if they need to. This will improve parent’s confidence in the school as they can quickly get answers to any questions they may have. It will also benefit the school in that parents who feel welcome and included are more likely to be supportive of the school and to work with the school to ensure the best outcomes for the children.
Task 5 Outcomes 2.2 and 3.2.
(3.2) Consider the scenario. Explain what Gerald’s next steps could be. Give an example from your own practice of where you have used feedback to evaluate your performance and inform your personal development.
Gerald’s next steps should be to first research maths strategies, and to work on developing his knowledge of how the class are supposed to attempt the work. He could ask to take part in the class as the children do, so that he is first learning to do the work himself and then he would feel more capable of supporting the children in doing it. He could also shadow another TA in a maths class, and see how they work to support the class. Asking the teacher to run through a couple of examples with him before the class would also benefit Gerald. The teacher may be able to spare an hour to go through the strategies that would be used that term, so that Gerald can practice them and improve his confidence before the lessons. There are also training courses available to improve maths skills, and Gerald could ask his line manager to access an appropriate course for him to go on.
In my own practice I have used feedback to improve my performance when I was working with a child I had not previously met. I had been unexpectedly asked to stand in for the usual TA who was absent. The child has special needs, and I was trying to encourage him to colour an Autumn picture in appropriate colours. I presented the child with a range of colours to choose from, but it quickly became obvious that he was losing interest. I put the activity to one side for a while and later had a quick chat about it with the class teacher. She said that the child was not yet able to hold even the dumpy crayons effectively, and was often unwilling to try, but had shown more interest in the paints when they had used them the previous day. I decided to get out the rag rolling and sponge painting equipment and a range of paints. The child enjoyed using these to choose appropriate colours to make a textured picture of Autumn leaves. Without the feedback from the teacher, this activity would not have been nearly so successful. This shows that strategies that work effectively for most children may have to be adjusted to work with others, especially when children have special needs.
(2.2) Consider an activity that you have supported recently. Reflect upon your practice and ask yourself the following questions:
What went well?
What did not go as well as anticipated? Why?
Did the pupils achieve the objectives of the lesson?
What would I change if I did the activity again?
In the Humpty Dumpty lesson, most of the activity went well. All the children made good progress and the lesson was differentiated effectively to allow this to happen. The groups all enjoyed all aspects of the activity, and painted and cut out the wall really effectively. They chose their own colours to colour in Humpty, and I cut him into pieces for the children to put back together again. I felt that my differentiation strategy for the writing a sentence about helping Humpty went really well. More able children did this as independent writing, whilst middle groups chose the words they needed from a tray, and put them in the correct order and stuck them on their sheet. Less able children stuck the completed sentence on, and I helped them to read “I can”.
Something that did not go as well as anticipated, is that the more able groups found the Humpty jigsaw very easy. It was excellent for the middle ability groups, and very challenging for the lower ability children. If I was doing this again I would cut Humpty up into more pieces for the more able children to make this more challenging for them.
All the children achieved the learning objectives of the lesson. They all completed the activity using the differentiated resources and learnt to improve their reasoning and understanding skills by rebuilding the wall and completing the jigsaw.
Task 6 Outcomes 5.1 and 5.2.
What is the most recent training that you have attended?
Did you get what you expected from this training?
Explain and evaluate how the training affected your practice.
Provide one example as to how the training improved your practice.
The most recent training I have attended is the British Red Cross Paediatric First Aid training. This first aid training course is recognised by Ofsted and includes the requirements of the appointed first aid person in the workplace. In line with the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, it can be used as evidence for an NVQ in childcare and education. I completed and passed this first aid training in June 2013.
I got what I expected from this training. It has equipped me to deal with:
Dealing with accidents
Unconscious and breathing baby and child
Unconscious and not breathing baby and child
Choking baby and child
Shock
First aid kits and hygiene techniques
Bleeding and wounds
Burns and scalds
Objects in eyes, ears and nose
Recording, reporting and administering medication
Extremes of hot and cold
Sickness and fever
Meningitis
Broken bones
Head neck and back injuries
Swallowed something harmful
Adult first aid.
This training has affected my practice by giving me confidence in dealing with any accidents of illnesses that occur during the school day. I know how to deal with minor accidents, but I am also trained to deal with more serious incidents and recognize serious illnesses.
When a child got a coin stuck in between her teeth in class, I took charge of dealing with the incident. I calmed her down, got her to lean forwards so that the coin could not go down her throat if dislodged, and gently manipulated the coin out of her mouth. This then allowed the lesson to continue without further upset. I would not have been able to handle the situation if I had not completed the first aid training.
Task 7 Outcomes 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 5.3 (Links to Units 5 (6.2) and 9 (4.2).
Use the Personal Development Plan proforma on the VLE to produce a meaningful tool that you can use to further your individual progress in the classroom.
See attached proforma.
References
Kolb, D. (1984) - http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Display Work.
Gunpowder Plot Display (Year 1) – I worked with the children to produce red, orange and yellow glittery handprints, which formed the basis of the sparklers. These were mounted on pipe cleaners around the bonfire and the edges of the board. I also worked with the children to sequence a storyboard describing the events of the gunpowder plot in a literacy lesson. This was added to the display. I worked with the more able children to allow them to choose a picture of a firework, and use key words to structure their own sentences to describe their picture.
Christmas Cards (Year R) – I worked with 30 reception class children to make Christmas cards to take home. The children combined sponge painting, choosing pieces of felt to make snow, other materials to form hats, scarves and buttons, their own choice of coloured pipe cleaners to make a walking stick, and snowflake stickers to produce beautiful Christmas cards. I was responsible for making sure that every child completed a card to take home.
Autumn Display in the Reading Corner (Year R) – I supported the class in going to collect leaves from the school field, which were dried out and used to edge the board. I then made lots of leaf templates and worked with the children to allow them to mix paint and make the colours they thought were best to paint their autumn leaves. The children also rolled crepe paper and stuck it onto the hedgehog to create a textured finish. I also worked with them to paint the other animals in the display. I helped the children to learn the poem, which they recited in assembly, giving them confidence and reinforcing their knowledge of colours.
Town Centre Christmas Display – (Years R to 6) – I spent time working with every year group throughout the school to produce a Christmas Display to represent the school in the Town Centre Christmas Display. Reception Class worked in groups to produce snowmen pictures, so every child was represented in the display. A selection of work from other classes formed the rest of the display, including Christmas baubles (Year 4), woven woollen snowflakes (Year 5), and Christmas pictures and winter poems which I supported the children writing in Year 1.
Describe in writing how your personal values, belief systems and experiences may affect your working practices.
Personal values and beliefs are an important part of personal growth and happiness. As human beings, we all have our own values, beliefs and attitudes that we have developed throughout the course of our lives. Our families, friends, community and the experiences we have had, all contribute to our sense of who we are and how we view the world. They affect our behaviour, our manners, our sense of pride and how we care for each other. Our experiences also affect how we value the importance of family and friendships. Religious beliefs affect how we feel about right and wrong. Significant or unexpected life events such as the death of loved ones impact on what we value as being important. Marriage and having children of our own affect how we feel about children.
Within school it is essential that we treat all children equally, regardless of differences to our own beliefs and values. A child’s personal circumstances, such as their religion or their parent’s marital or relationship status must never be met with disapproval from staff. We must always take great care to treat all children …show more content…
equally, and not to allow and personal bias to affect the way we interact with a child. All people are entitled to their own points of view, their own values and beliefs, but they must never force those values and beliefs onto others. It is essential to focus on the learning opportunities that are presented to the children, and not on personal likes or dislikes.
Our beliefs originate from our experiences throughout life, and it is important to remember that the original experience has passed, and what is happening in our lives now is different. Our values and beliefs affect the quality of our work and all our interpersonal relationships. They form an important part of our identity, reflecting who we are and how we live our lives. We must ensure that our own values and beliefs do not make us blind to other people’s values, opinions and needs. It is important to be fully aware of our own values and beliefs, and how they could impact on our work.
Some of our values and beliefs are important for all children to learn. These include values such as honesty, respect for others, helping people in need, being a good friend. These values have been established in our early years, through the influence of family, friends, teachers and our culture. These are important values for children to learn, and teachers and teaching assistants can provide good role models to encourage and praise such behaviour in children. These values are important to me and I believe that they should be taught to all children as opportunities arise. This may be within normal play activities within school, or during discussions in carpet or circle time. Assemblies are another good opportunity to talk about right and wrong behaviour and the expectations of behaviour within the school. The ethos of the school may also involve some religious beliefs, such as in Church of England schools. A religious basis may underlie the school ethos, but other religions are also discussed and considered, and accepted as the child’s right to hold their own beliefs.
It is important to accept and respect that other people may have different values and beliefs to our own. We do not have the right to expect that other people should change their values and beliefs just because they are different to our own.
Task 2 Outcome 1.1.
Describe the roles and responsibilities of your own work role. Support this with examples of what you might do in a typical school day.
My role and responsibilities in class are to support the teacher in a collaborative way. I help as and when needed, to ensure that the class activities run smoothly and are completed by all children to the best of their ability. I assist children with special needs and establish positive, supportive and constructive relationships with children and their carers. I contribute ideas and strategies to engage the children in their learning, and assist with differentiating work for the needs of specific children. I plan and carry out learning activities for individuals and for groups.
A typical day includes numeracy, literacy, art work, outdoor play and reading. I supervise small groups in many activities, and work with individual children in others. I ensure that resources are appropriately matched to the children’s needs, and produce resources as necessary.
An art work activity I carried out is shown within the attached Humpty Dumpty lesson. The children worked on developing their fine motor skills, by painting the wall, colouring Humpty Dumpty, cutting out the wall and sticking the pieces together to complete the picture. This develops their hand-eye coordination as well as their motor skills and their awareness of position and space.
Numeracy and literacy can often be combined into one activity (please see attached Humpty Dumpty lesson).
I work with the groups in turn to enable them all to complete the activity with different levels of support. I have differentiated the activity to allow all the children to access the work at their own level. I had to consider the abilities of all the children and what they would be able to do. This knowledge of the children allowed me to structure the activity appropriately, so that some children were undertaking independent writing, whereas others were choosing the words they needed from a selection and making them into a sentence. Still further differentiation allowed the less able children to look at the words and read them with
support.
My afternoons are frequently spent in reading with the children, and in completing their word books. These list some of the first 45 high frequency words, and I give the children a few words to try to learn how to spell each week. I check carefully whether they can spell them and only move on to the next words if they have learnt the previous ones. In this way I ensure that they all make the best progress they can, individually differentiating the work for each child. With less able children, I work on recognising and forming the letters.
Task 3 Outcomes 1.2 and 3.1.
Use the level 3 job description issued to you in class. Choose two bullet points from each of the four areas (support for the pupils etc.) and in writing explain and evaluate:
What the expectations of you are and
How you fulfil these requirements in terms of your knowledge, performance and understanding.
Support for Pupils
To work collaboratively with the teacher in the planning, development, delivery and evaluation of the effectiveness of the curriculum for pupils and to differentiate curriculum content according to the needs of pupils.
It is expected that I will work with the teacher in developing lessons for the pupils. I should discuss lesson plans with the teacher and put forward my suggestions when appropriate to help children make the most out of the learning opportunities. I should suggest help that I can give, such as differentiating the work for less able pupils. I could also suggest different ways of making the work more accessible for less able children.
I frequently discuss the work with the teacher and always try to think of ways that I could help to enable all the children to gain the most they can from the learning opportunities that are being provided. My Humpty Dumpty lesson plan (attached) shows how I developed the idea into a sequence of work for all the different groups of children, working at different levels. In this way, all the children were able to make the best individual progress that they could throughout this activity. I had to use my knowledge of the children and their ability to structure and differentiate the activity so that they could all access the work at their own level. I considered how all of the children 's needs would be met during this activity, including their personal, social, and emotional development, their physical development, communication and language skills, literacy and numeracy, their understanding of the world and expressive art and design. The children were presented with many learning opportunities during this activity, and due to the fact that I had differentiated the activity to meet their needs, they all achieved to the best of their ability.
To assist in the devising of pupil’s individual targets and their monitoring and review.
It is expected that I will gain a knowledge of the children’s abilities and levels of work, and set targets for them to progress. I am then expected to check their progress and inform the teacher. I should also review the progress being made, consider the next steps, and adjust the learning plan if necessary.
I work with the children on their word books. This is to allow them to learn the first 45 high-frequency words. I consider the children’s ability and choose a number of words for them to learn. I set them targets of words to learn and be able to recognise. Each week, I go over the words with them and if they cannot yet recognise the words, we do not move onto the next section of words. If they can recognise the words we move onto the next section and they learn some more words. Some children are not yet at the stage of being able to recognise words. With these children, I work on letter recognition. After that we move on to forming the letters. In this way I constantly assess the children’s level of work and their knowledge of the words they are learning. If they are struggling I moved back a stage with them. In this way I develop individual learning plans for the children and ensure that they are always working at a level which will engage them and help them to progress. Each week I review their progress and then adjust my plans accordingly, to either continue and make more progress, or to further reinforce the previous work. I inform the teacher of the progress that is being made, and of where children are struggling and need more help. I then tailor the help that is needed to meet the child’s individual needs.
Support for the teacher
Assist in the supervision of children on trips/visits.
It is expected that I will be able to help the teacher supervise children on trips, which generally involves taking responsibility for a small group to ensure that they are safe and also make the most of the learning opportunities provided by the trip.
I have assisted with the supervision of children on several trips, including Tropical World, where I was responsible for a group of 5 children. I escorted them around Tropical World, ensuring they took part in all the activities. The children loved seeing the butterflies and the fish, and behaved well throughout the day. I supervised them at lunchtime and ensured they all ate their lunch and cleared away afterwards. I got them to planned activities on time and all the children had a good day. We were back at the bus on time and returned to the school having had a fun and educational day.
To provide ideas, resources and learning strategies for lessons.
It is expected that I will have an input into lessons and give suggestions and ideas as to how I could help children to gain the most they can from the opportunities provided. This could involve making resources that will help some children access the lesson. It could also involve suggesting different learning strategies to help all the children make progress, or providing ideas for a lesson that may fit in with the topic that we are doing in class.
I have produced many resources for classes and during our theme of Nursery Rhymes, I contributed the idea of using Humpty Dumpty and making an activity for the children that would encompass numeracy, literacy, art, personal, social and emotional development, physical development and understanding the world. I came up with the idea of using Humpty Dumpty falling off his wall to make a jigsaw activity that the children could do. They first had to paint and colour the wall and Humpty Dumpty, then cut it out to make a jigsaw. This then had to be stuck back together in the correct order and the children could write a sentence about helping Humpty. The lesson planning for this is attached, and shows how the learning objectives were met, an how they matched the medium term plans. I also differentiated the work for all the different groups within the class and enabled them all to make good progress.
Support for the school
To assist in providing a purposeful, orderly and supportive environment for learning.
It is expected that I will help in general with ensuring that the children 's behaviour is appropriate and assist at the beginning of school in getting all the children into the classroom. I am also expected to ensure that the classroom is kept generally tidy, so that activities can be carried out without things getting in the way. I am also expected to help with displays to ensure the classroom and noticeboards throughout the school are inspiring for the children.
I always help with general classroom behaviour, and behaviour about the school in general, by encouraging children in positive behaviour, and addressing negative behaviour when it arises. I also tidy the classroom frequently throughout the day, and at the end of the day to ensure activities can be carried out and the children are safe from tripping hazards. I have helped the children to make several displays to show their work. These brighten up the classroom and school corridors, and also help the children to develop a sense of pride in their work. It is inspiring for children, parents and visitors to the school to see the wonderful work the children can produce. Making the displays involves a lot of work on my part, in providing appropriate materials for the children to work with, ensuring all the children get a chance to have an input into the display work, and to add some parts of the display myself to focus the children’s work. I also ensure that the display is educational and has a focus that is relevant to the work we are doing in class at the time. Displays are changed frequently to ensure they are kept up to date and don’t become boring for the children. (See attached Display Work).
To attend staff training/meetings as appropriate.
I am expected to attend appropriate training and meetings to ensure that I am up-to-date with all the strategies that are taking place in school. I need to know any changes that are occurring, or issues with children that I am working with. I am expected to be involved in training to allow me to carry out my role to the best of my ability.
I have attended staff meetings where we are informed of issues with children and how best to work with those children. In staff meetings we are also informed of targets that need to be met. This is important to allow me to target my support of pupils in the best way to allow these targets to be met. We are also able to discuss training needs during staff meetings. This allowed me, with others, to point out that we required ladder training in order to put up displays around the school. This training was later undertaken, allowing us to work safely and efficiently than putting up displays. We also discuss school strategies such as improving boys’ writing. We can all then work to ensure that the needs of the strategy are met. In year 1 I focus on providing opportunities for children to structure their own sentences, and always ensure that I work with the boys to make imaginative sentences.
Support for the curriculum
To be familiar with the content of the school curriculum.
It is expected that I know what the learning goals are for the children by the end of the year, in the classes I work with. I am also expected to know how the children are going to be supported in reaching those goals. I need to be aware of school priorities and how to support children in ensuring the priorities are met.
I am fully aware of the goals the children need to achieve by the end of reception and year 1, and I work to enable children to reach those goals. I discuss learning goals with the teacher on a regular basis and always ask about next steps if a learning goal is met. I also discuss how to meet the learning needs of children who have not yet reached the expected standards. I attend meetings to ensure that I am aware of the school priorities and strategies such as improving boys’ writing. In my Humpty Dumpty lesson plan I matched the learning objectives of the lesson to the medium term plans and objectives for the children’s learning goals (see attached lesson plan).
In making and assessing the children’s word books, I need to be aware of the high frequency words that the children need to learn, and what to do next once they have mastered the first 45 high frequency words.
To support the use of ICT in learning activities.
It is expected that I can use the ICT facilities and assist the children in using them to improve their learning opportunities.
At my Primary School the children use the Big Bus programme, as well as some online games, to help them learn ICT skills. They learn to control the mouse and play educational games to help with colours, sorting things into groups, literacy and numeracy. I regularly assist the children in these sessions and ensure that they understand what they are trying to achieve. I offer lots of praise and encouragement, as well as targeted support for less able children.
These learning games are fun for the children whilst allowing them to make progress in learning many different skills.
Task 4 Outcome 2.1.
a) Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided.
b) Consider the case study.
1) How does this case study demonstrate the importance of continual reflective practice?
2) How do you think that Jenny’s reflective practice will benefit the school?
a) It is essential to continually reflect on your practice to ensure that the quality of the service is always the best it can be. It is not always enough to simply continue to do things the same way, as circumstances, children and environments change. Continually improving and adapting approaches benefits both children and practitioners, as the service is improved. It also fosters personal and team development among the staff because a reflective practice involves everyone in constantly striving to improve the school. It is important to see how other staff work, or how other schools are run, as this can provide a valuable insight into some advantages provided by different ways of working. Positive experiences can be repeated, but negative experiences are equally important if they are reflected upon and lead to future improved practice. It is not best practice to simply continue doing things the way you always have, without reflecting on the efficacy of the practice. It is only too easy to become stuck in practices and habits that may be over used, bad practice, or practice that has not reached its full potential. Kolb supports this view within his experiential learning cycle. Kolb values the importance of concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concepts, and testing in new situations. Without reflection, the working link between each experience is lost and therefore left underdeveloped. In conclusion, a reflective practice ensures that staff members are continuously thinking about what worked well, and how things could be improved. This provides children with learning plans which are tailored to their needs, not just a repeat of last years lessons.
Figure 1 (Kolb, 1984) - Kolb 's experiential learning style theory is typically represented by a four stage learning cycle in which the learner 'touches all the bases ':
1. Concrete Experience - (a new experience of situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience). 2. Reflective Observation (of the new experience. Of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding). 3. Abstract Conceptualization (Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept). 4. Active Experimentation (the learner applies them to the world around them to see what results).
b) 1) The case study demonstrates the importance of continual reflective practice as it shows that even when you think everything is going well, there are often still improvements that can be made. Jenny had thought that their policies led to good practice in making the parents feel welcome in the school. However, when she saw the practice in another school, that experience allowed her to see that things in her own school had room for improvement. She used that experience and reflected upon it, seeing the benefits of the other school’s working practice. Jenny considered how she could build that practice into her own school, and made the necessary changes to push the new strategy forwards. She changed her own working practice to make the new strategy work effectively. Had she not worked reflectively, she would have just continued to think that she was doing a good job in making the parents feel welcome, whereas in fact she has now made substantial improvements.
2) Jenny’s reflective practice will benefit the school because she has made changes that will now make parents and carers feel much more welcome. She is getting to know them and they are able to get to know her. This will make parents feel that they have more importance in the school, and that they can easily have a chat with the head teacher if they need to. This will improve parent’s confidence in the school as they can quickly get answers to any questions they may have. It will also benefit the school in that parents who feel welcome and included are more likely to be supportive of the school and to work with the school to ensure the best outcomes for the children.
Task 5 Outcomes 2.2 and 3.2.
(3.2) Consider the scenario. Explain what Gerald’s next steps could be. Give an example from your own practice of where you have used feedback to evaluate your performance and inform your personal development.
Gerald’s next steps should be to first research maths strategies, and to work on developing his knowledge of how the class are supposed to attempt the work. He could ask to take part in the class as the children do, so that he is first learning to do the work himself and then he would feel more capable of supporting the children in doing it. He could also shadow another TA in a maths class, and see how they work to support the class. Asking the teacher to run through a couple of examples with him before the class would also benefit Gerald. The teacher may be able to spare an hour to go through the strategies that would be used that term, so that Gerald can practice them and improve his confidence before the lessons. There are also training courses available to improve maths skills, and Gerald could ask his line manager to access an appropriate course for him to go on.
In my own practice I have used feedback to improve my performance when I was working with a child I had not previously met. I had been unexpectedly asked to stand in for the usual TA who was absent. The child has special needs, and I was trying to encourage him to colour an Autumn picture in appropriate colours. I presented the child with a range of colours to choose from, but it quickly became obvious that he was losing interest. I put the activity to one side for a while and later had a quick chat about it with the class teacher. She said that the child was not yet able to hold even the dumpy crayons effectively, and was often unwilling to try, but had shown more interest in the paints when they had used them the previous day. I decided to get out the rag rolling and sponge painting equipment and a range of paints. The child enjoyed using these to choose appropriate colours to make a textured picture of Autumn leaves. Without the feedback from the teacher, this activity would not have been nearly so successful. This shows that strategies that work effectively for most children may have to be adjusted to work with others, especially when children have special needs.
(2.2) Consider an activity that you have supported recently. Reflect upon your practice and ask yourself the following questions:
What went well?
What did not go as well as anticipated? Why?
Did the pupils achieve the objectives of the lesson?
What would I change if I did the activity again?
In the Humpty Dumpty lesson, most of the activity went well. All the children made good progress and the lesson was differentiated effectively to allow this to happen. The groups all enjoyed all aspects of the activity, and painted and cut out the wall really effectively. They chose their own colours to colour in Humpty, and I cut him into pieces for the children to put back together again. I felt that my differentiation strategy for the writing a sentence about helping Humpty went really well. More able children did this as independent writing, whilst middle groups chose the words they needed from a tray, and put them in the correct order and stuck them on their sheet. Less able children stuck the completed sentence on, and I helped them to read “I can”.
Something that did not go as well as anticipated, is that the more able groups found the Humpty jigsaw very easy. It was excellent for the middle ability groups, and very challenging for the lower ability children. If I was doing this again I would cut Humpty up into more pieces for the more able children to make this more challenging for them.
All the children achieved the learning objectives of the lesson. They all completed the activity using the differentiated resources and learnt to improve their reasoning and understanding skills by rebuilding the wall and completing the jigsaw.
Task 6 Outcomes 5.1 and 5.2.
What is the most recent training that you have attended?
Did you get what you expected from this training?
Explain and evaluate how the training affected your practice.
Provide one example as to how the training improved your practice.
The most recent training I have attended is the British Red Cross Paediatric First Aid training. This first aid training course is recognised by Ofsted and includes the requirements of the appointed first aid person in the workplace. In line with the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, it can be used as evidence for an NVQ in childcare and education. I completed and passed this first aid training in June 2013.
I got what I expected from this training. It has equipped me to deal with:
Dealing with accidents
Unconscious and breathing baby and child
Unconscious and not breathing baby and child
Choking baby and child
Shock
First aid kits and hygiene techniques
Bleeding and wounds
Burns and scalds
Objects in eyes, ears and nose
Recording, reporting and administering medication
Extremes of hot and cold
Sickness and fever
Meningitis
Broken bones
Head neck and back injuries
Swallowed something harmful
Adult first aid.
This training has affected my practice by giving me confidence in dealing with any accidents of illnesses that occur during the school day. I know how to deal with minor accidents, but I am also trained to deal with more serious incidents and recognize serious illnesses.
When a child got a coin stuck in between her teeth in class, I took charge of dealing with the incident. I calmed her down, got her to lean forwards so that the coin could not go down her throat if dislodged, and gently manipulated the coin out of her mouth. This then allowed the lesson to continue without further upset. I would not have been able to handle the situation if I had not completed the first aid training.
Task 7 Outcomes 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 5.3 (Links to Units 5 (6.2) and 9 (4.2).
Use the Personal Development Plan proforma on the VLE to produce a meaningful tool that you can use to further your individual progress in the classroom.
See attached proforma.
References
Kolb, D. (1984) - http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Display Work.
Gunpowder Plot Display (Year 1) – I worked with the children to produce red, orange and yellow glittery handprints, which formed the basis of the sparklers. These were mounted on pipe cleaners around the bonfire and the edges of the board. I also worked with the children to sequence a storyboard describing the events of the gunpowder plot in a literacy lesson. This was added to the display. I worked with the more able children to allow them to choose a picture of a firework, and use key words to structure their own sentences to describe their picture.
Christmas Cards (Year R) – I worked with 30 reception class children to make Christmas cards to take home. The children combined sponge painting, choosing pieces of felt to make snow, other materials to form hats, scarves and buttons, their own choice of coloured pipe cleaners to make a walking stick, and snowflake stickers to produce beautiful Christmas cards. I was responsible for making sure that every child completed a card to take home.
Autumn Display in the Reading Corner (Year R) – I supported the class in going to collect leaves from the school field, which were dried out and used to edge the board. I then made lots of leaf templates and worked with the children to allow them to mix paint and make the colours they thought were best to paint their autumn leaves. The children also rolled crepe paper and stuck it onto the hedgehog to create a textured finish. I also worked with them to paint the other animals in the display. I helped the children to learn the poem, which they recited in assembly, giving them confidence and reinforcing their knowledge of colours.
Town Centre Christmas Display – (Years R to 6) – I spent time working with every year group throughout the school to produce a Christmas Display to represent the school in the Town Centre Christmas Display. Reception Class worked in groups to produce snowmen pictures, so every child was represented in the display. A selection of work from other classes formed the rest of the display, including Christmas baubles (Year 4), woven woollen snowflakes (Year 5), and Christmas pictures and winter poems which I supported the children writing in Year 1.