Developmental psychology, free essay sample

It is important to keep evaluating learning activities as the child’s needs may change or your planning may not work and may need changing. Planning, teaching and evaluation is a cycle which gives structure to the learning process. Whilst in the planning process I need to know the learning objectives so that you are clear about that the pupils are expected to achieve. When evaluating you will need to look at whether the children were able to meet the leaning objectives in their task. If a child was to complete a task quickly this should be recorded. 1. 2 Weakness 1.   When planning a work activity I always take into account the children’s learning needs and levels, for example you could have a child in your group which lacks concentration and needs a more practical approach in order to show interest and for the task to be successful. For example: Child A – Lacks concentration Child B – Does not enjoy Literacy Child C – Find tasks difficult 1. 4 – All lesson plans should be made available to the LSA’s before the class starts, even if you do not have time to look at the plan you should discuss with the teacher what you are to do. Learning objectives – You must always be clear on the learning objectives of the lesson or what pupils are expected to be able to do. Leaning recourses required – The lesson plan should detail any materials which are different from those which are normally found in the classroom. Own role in supporting learning activities – It should be made clear what you are required to do whether it’s supporting a group or an individual. Specific information – you should have access to school reports about pupils learning and be able to refer to them if required whether its paper or electronic based. Sometimes changes need to be made to plan and this may happen last minute so you will need to be flexible. Any changes made to the children’s routine may affect their behaviour so you need to take this into consideration. 1. 5 2. 3 We should always be made aware of the health and safety issues especially when working with children; it is the main duty of all school employees to keep the children safe. Young children or children with additional needs may not be aware of certain hazards. Schools also have security measures in place such as gates and a signing in policy for all visitors. If you ever come across a unfamiliar face within the school grounds you should always approach them in a polite manor by saying. ‘Can I help you? ’ All storage areas should be kept tidy so they do not cause a hazard they should also be locked, spaces like cleaning cupboard especially as they store a lot of hazardous materials and can sometimes be left untidy as staff may not have enough time to tidy up or may not be sure where certain items should be. You must always make sure that no fire exits in the classrooms are blocked by chairs / tables, they should always be accessible. Describe the sorts of problems that might occur when supporting learning activities, and how to deal with these: Noise Sometimes during classes children can become distracted by noise from within the classroom and from outside (such as another classroom, or people on the hallway). I help to combat this problem by closing the doors and any windows open to the noise, and also by reminding children to work as quietly as possible and raise their hand to speak rather than shout out. Insufficient resources Many of the activities set by the teacher involve the use of multiple resources e. g. books, pencils crayons, scissors, glue, rulers etc. Unfortunately there are not always enough resources for every student, resulting in there being a delay in the commencement of work (due to trying to locate extra supplies). This problem is managed by preparing for the lesson before it begins, ensuring there are sufficient resources for the class, and also by encouraging children to help to and share with each other whenever possible. Having an inclusive class with a wide spectrum of abilities another problem which can occur when supporting learning activities, is ensuring that the all children are engaged, involved and fully understanding the task that has been set when there is such a wide spectrum of abilities. This can be dealt with in several ways, such as splitting the class into ability based groups, encouraging high ability children to help those who are struggling to keep pace (this also helps to keep the class working on a similar level), and also by setting achievable targets for work. Shy students Children may suffer from shyness which can affect their ability to work individually (such as being worried about being wrong), and get involved with the class as a whole or participate in group work. Weather – The weather can always be a distraction to the children, if it’s hot and sunny out the children can get hot and agitated. 5. 1 The reasons why it is important to evaluate learning activities are: †¢ To see what is working and what needs removing or changing †¢ To assess how the activities are being delivered and how they could be improved †¢ To see how the activities are being received by the participants Evaluation is important as it helps out when planning and helps you to think about the learning that has taken place. Spending time going through the learning activities and seeing how students have responded to a certain task or question, can really help re-shape it for future classes. It is also important to look back at the learning objects so you can measure what the children have learned. If you do not think carefully about learning objectives at the planning stage, it will not always be possible to evaluate whether pupils have achieved them. Learning objectives need to be clear for this to be possible. Learners must understand what the outcomes mean. †¢ They must be achievable. †¢ We must be able to assess pupils against them. Evaluating helps you to see if something is succeeding or may need changing. If students whizzed through the activity and then looked rather bored then it would be obvious that the task was a bit too easy and not really suitable or beneficial for that group. Therefore you would need to try and make it more engaging and stimulating, perhaps by making it more difficult or time-consuming so the students really have to work to complete it. If the activities are taking longer than expected and you can see that the students are really struggling, things again would need to be addressed. Students may not meet the learning objective, but they could have a real enthusiasm for the subject and have participated fully in all aspects of the lesson. You will need to record this somewhere. 5. 2 5. 2 and 5. 4 Upon completion of the task, I then provided constructive feedback to the class teacher, and feedback on her participation and progress. I explained that the child was:  · Very pleased to be given individual support and was positively responsive to the support (smiled, listened intently, and produced the work expected through understanding)  · After a couple of examples was able to achieve the objective of drawing on the hands onto the clock face on the task sheet given  · Succeeded in progressing in the learning activity  · Went back into the classroom with a big proud smile as she had enjoyed the task and benefited from the support. I informed the teacher that she responded well to reassurance and lots of positive praise and was very happy to receive a sticker after the task. I explained that she had completed the given learning activity objective. I gave constructive feedback that she 5. 3 Difficulties which I came across As I have not worked with this particular group before I found it hard to see what stage each child was at and what support each child needed and as the task was outside we faced a lot of distractions. Spring Work Aims / Objectives Children to identify features of spring Looking for signs of spring using senses I can see / smell / touch Share ideas With the whiteboards – Create senses poem I can see the blue sky Recourses White Boards White board pens Ipad – take pictures Evaluation The children found it a little hard to concentrate as they were taken outside and they were easily distracted ie. Wanted to run around and touch things.