Empowering Yourself and the Children in oyur Role as a TA:
For ALL TAs
This module has been designed to support all Teaching Assistants, whether you are new to the role or more experienced.
The module contains a range of activities for you to engage with over the course of Terms 2 to 5, focussing on the following themes:
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Behaviour for Learning
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Developing Resilience in Ourselves and Our Pupils
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Active Listening for Active Learning
All the materials can be accessed here. Work through the activities at your own pace, but follow the chronological order presented. Take note, new TAs, of the live sessions and book these in your calendars.
The materials are the property of, and copyrighted by, Bowden Education and must not be reproduced.
Term 2: Managing Behaviour
In terms 2 and 3, we will explore behaviour management and resilience and introduce key approaches to apply to your own practice.
WEEK 1 - w/c 20 Nov 2023
Reflecting on your role in terms of behaviour and resilience
Take a few moments to reflect on your role and the challenges this presents to you as well as your areas of strength within it.
Note down your reflections and bring these to the face to face session.
Questions to frame your reflection:
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What areas of my role do I find most fulfilling, and why?
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What areas of my role do I find most challenging, and why?
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How do I manage behaviour? What are my strengths? What areas do I need to/want to develop?
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Do I consider myself resilient? What does resilience mean to me?
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How could I become more resilient?
WEEK 2 - w/c 27 Nov 2023
Managing Behaviour and TA Resilience
We will join together for a Group Coaching Session.
During this session, we will consider your reflections from activity 1 and discuss both approaches to behaviour, sharing ideas and practice and also consider what is meant by resilience and how you can develop yours.
We will use the CLEAR model to support our mentoring:
Your Group Coaching Session will take place on 27th November 2023 at 14.00-15.00
Please bring along your reflection notes (activity 1).
Also, take a look at the session plan here.
WEEK 3 - w/c 4th Dec 2023
Establishing a positive learning environment
Read the chapter, What is Teaching? by Carden, C. and Bower, V. (2022) P20-23 Building Effective Learning Environments.
Watch the short video below that looks at the relationship between learning environments, behaviour and pupils' learning.
Take a few moments to think about what was introduced in the video.
What elements of the learning environments within which you work will you change or adapt?
WEEK 4 - w/c 11th Dec 2023
Establishing a positive learning environment
A key element that supports behaviour for learning and behaviour management is knowing your pupils.
Knowing your pupils informs your planning and approaches to learning and teaching as well as support.
The diagram below, highlights the benefits of knowing your pupils well:
There are various ways that you can get to know your pupils.
These can be used at any stage of the year.
Take a look at the 4 suggestions, by clicking on the image and then access the templates/examples that you can adapt for your own use.
Templates/examples
Postcard
Video
Bingo
Courtesy of Newingate School
Social Story
Courtesy of Newingate School
Choose one of the 4 suggestions, and have a go with a group of children.
Term 3: Managing Behaviour (contd) and Developing Resilience
WEEK 1- w/c 2nd Jan 2024
Establishing Rituals and Routines
Creatures of habit...
We are creatures of habit and with that comes a comfort in routine. We all have routines in our lives, and often when those routines are broken or interrupted we become a little lost and 'out of sorts'; sometimes it even causes us anxiety or stress.
What our routines do is bring us predictability and security. They make us feel confident, safe and in control.
The same applies to our classrooms.
When we create routines that happen on a regular, even daily basis, our pupils feel that same sense of security, predictability and confidence we do. As you will be fully aware, establishing routines for pupils with autism and other diverse needs is vital and can make a considerable difference to classroom life for all children.
Watch this short video that explores teaching routines and procedures.
Establishing routines
Routines can be used for most common classroom activities, such as:
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entering the classroom
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starts and ends of lessons
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starting and finishing work
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transitions between activities or places in the learning environment
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taking out and putting away resources
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whole-class teaching and discussion
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handing out equipment
Making your pupils feel safe and secure is an important part of teaching and also improves pupil wellbeing.
Classrooms should be predictable environments with clear rules, routines and expectations about behaviour as well as learning, which offer all pupils opportunities for success (Kern & Clemens, 2007; Rosenshine, 2012).
Teachers should set high standards for behaviour as well as for learning and believe that their pupils can meet these standards (Willingham, 2009).
When you establish a calm, purposeful learning environment, pupils will:
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Be more likely to behave well
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Be able to concentrate and therefore learn
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Be motivated to learn
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Have increased wellbeing
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Feel secure enough to take risks and show you their thinking.
Routines, by definition, need to happen in the same way every time, making your classroom a predictable and safe place; pupils will know where they stand and what you expect from them.
Think about the following...
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What routines do you have established with the groups/children with whom you work?
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Are there any routines that you think will be useful to introduce?
With a colleague, discuss one of your routines and invite them to share one of their routines with you.
If you have time, you may want to go and observe this in practice.
WEEK 2- w/c 8th Jan 2024
Setting and Maintaining High Expectations for Behaviour
Part of creating an effective learning environment entails managing pupil behaviour.
Effective behaviour management happens best when teachers anticipate challenging pupil behaviours and modify the classroom environment to prevent or mitigate them (IES, 2008).
Behaviour management strategies typically fall into one of three categories:
· Proactive: Approaches for pre-empting and preventing problem behaviours before they occur. For example, using seating plans.
· Reactive: Strategies to deal effectively with classroom behaviours as they arise. For example, using rewards or sanctions.
· Escalation: Where proactive and reactive strategies are failing to work after a time, or where behaviour is extremely disruptive or dangerous, teachers should follow the school behaviour policy and/or discuss with their mentor what further support can be put in place. For example, calling parents, setting detentions or sending pupils out of the class after a certain number of sanctions.
Part of effective behaviour management involves setting clear rules and consistently reinforcing them (Coe et al., 2014; IES, 2008).
The goal of these rules should be to create an environment where pupils are routinely successful (Coe et al., 2014). (Ambition Institute, no date)
There are three stages to setting and establishing expectations for behaviour:
Establishing, explaining and teaching behaviour expectations.
When establishing, explaining and teaching pupils about the behaviour expectations in your classroom, the following approaches are useful:
Develop the expectations alongside your pupils - involving your pupils in establishing the expectations around behaviour gives them a sense of ownership over the process and as a result leads to greater motivation to maintain and adhere to the expectations (DeFlitch, n.d).
Do not identify too many expectations - listing too many expectations may result in pupils failing to consistently meet the expectations. Instead limit the expectations to no more than 5, but revisit these throughout the year as you may wish to amend them. You may decide to have specific expectations established for particular activities e.g. practical activities.
Use positive language - When developing the expectations consider the language that is used. Avoid negative language such as "Do not..." but instead re-frame the language to be positive informing pupils what they should do rather than what they should not do.
Keep the expectations simple and specific - do not over-complicate the expectations, keep these as simple as possible and avoid combining several expectations into one by using "and". Ensure the expectations are very specific and avoid generic statements such as 'maintain a respectful environment'.
Remember that these expectations apply to everyone - these are not solely expectations for your pupils but also for all adults. Therefore be careful to use "we" and "our" instead of "you" and "my". For example always talk about 'our classroom' and 'we need to...'.
Provide mechanisms and space to allow pupils (and staff) to be successful in achieving and maintaining these expectations - by taking the time to explain them clearly to all members of the class community (including staff) giving examples as you do so.
You then need to ensure you lead by example and model these expectations. It is important to allow the pupils opportunity to practice their behaviour, appreciating that, just as with academic learning, mistakes will be made and this is part of the learning process. When this happens it is important to work with the pupil in order to support their learning just as you would do when teaching them an academic subject.
Once the expectations are set, ensure that you offer pupils behaviour-specific praise when you catch them meeting these expectations!
Reflect upon the reading above.
What key messages will you take into your practice?
How will you amend your practice as a result of this reading?
There is no such thing as naughty!
Watch the video below:
Discuss this video with a colleague/colleagues.
Share what you have taken from this and how this has changed or developed your thinking.
WEEK 3- w/c 15th Jan 2024
Defining and Assessing Resilience
Resilience is a term that is mentioned regularly in relation to wellbeing and mental health, but what is resilience?
The American Psychological Association define resilience as:
Some refer to resilience as the ability to 'bounce back', after diversity.
Rather than seeing resilience as the ability to bounce back akin to a bouncing ball, think of it more like a 'slinky spring'!
Resilience is developed not through the ability to bounce back but the ability to learn from the challenge and to move forwards with this new learning. Such periods of diversity or challenge and learning supports the development of resilience.
Now, let's take a moment to reflect on a time when you showed resilience and a time when you did not show resilience.
Click on the image below to open the document entitled 'Resilient; me?'
Think of a time when you showed resilience and a time when you did not show resilience. Note these on the sheet.
As you do, think of the potential reasons why you were able to show resilience in one situation (enabler) and not in the other (barrier).
You may want to save this on your GoogleDrive.
Share your experiences with a colleague.
Are there any similarities with regards to the enablers of resilience and the barriers to demonstrating resilience?
Now, let's take a moment to reflect on how you are are feeling at the moment.
Click on the 'Blob Tree' below and download/print this off.
The Blob Tree has a number of different 'blobs' on it - each representing differing emotions and states of wellbeing.
Take some time to look at each of these.
Colour in the one that you feel best represents your resilience at the moment.
At the foot of the sheet explain why you feel this best represents your resilience at the moment.
We will re-visit this at the end of the term. You may want to save this in your GoogleDrive.
Compare your Blob Tree with a colleague's.
Talk to them about your choice and reason for this.
If you have time/wish to, this blog by David Gumbrell is an interesting perspective on what resilience is and the importance of developing resilience.
WEEK 4- w/c 22nd Jan 2024
Developing Resilience
Within the workplace there are various factors that support our resilience and others that make our resilience vulnerable. Again, you could see these as resilience enablers (supportive factors) and barriers to the development of resilience (vulnerable factors).
The table below, adapted from the NHS Leadership Academy highlights some key enables and barriers to developing and building resilience at work.
Take a moment to read through these factors.
As you do consider which you experience.
We will now undertake a more precise assessment of workplace resilience, using a set of 13 specific questions devised by Carole Pemberton (2015).
Firstly, download and print the blank chart below:
Start from the left.
Plot a response for each of the following questions for the relevant statement (X axis)
Question 1 corresponds to the first statement - optimism and question 2 to flexibility and so on.
The Y axis represents whether this is true or untrue. E.g. if question 1 is very true place an X high on the optimism column.
Here are the questions:
Once you have completed your 'Resilience Profile' consider which aspects you need to develop further in order to enhance your resilience at work.
Consider the support or resources you might need in order to develop this area/s.
You may want to discuss this with your line manager as part of a 1:1 discussion.
Resilience has 4 key dimensions:
In order to develop your own resilience, it can be helpful to explore each of these dimensions alongside your resilience profile to develop a plan of action for resilience development.
Take a moment to think about these dimensions, where you feel you are strong and where you feel you need to develop.
Finally, watch this short 5-4-5 (5 ideas in 5 minutes) on how to develop resilience by David Gumbrell.
WEEK 5- w/c 29th Jan 2024
Narrated Observations
This week you will engage in a half an hour narrated observation with Catherine Carden.
A narrated observation offers the opportunity to observe classroom practice alongside an expert who will narrate key elements of practice to you in real time.
These narrated observations will focus on approaches to behaviour and signs of teacher/TA resilience.
You may wish to bring a notebook and pen with you.
The observations will take place on 29th January between 09.30-13.00
The narrated observation schedule is below:
Having completed your narrated observation, you may benefit from discussing what you saw and what you have learnt with your colleagues.
Perhaps think about what elements of your observation you wish to focus on in terms of developing your own practice. This is something you may find useful discussing with your line manager.
WEEK 6- w/c 5th Feb 2024
Catch Up
Use this week to catch up on any learning that you have fallen behind with.
If you are up to date with all the learning activities, you might want to use this time to revisit some areas of learning to consider your progress or to refresh your memory.
Before doing this - take a moment to complete another Blob Tree.
How are you feeling now?
How does this compare with your Blob Tree from a few weeks ago?
Why are they different or why might they not be?
How might you want to change things? How will you do this?
Term 4: Developing Resilience in Children & Active Listening for Active Learning
Developing Children's Resilience
There are 2 activities focusing on this theme and they explore:
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Developing a tribal mentality and a sense of belonging
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Building a resilient classroom
WEEK 1- w/c 19th Feb 2024
Developing a Tribal Mentality and a Sense of Belonging
Adrian Bethune is an award-winning expert in the area of wellbeing and happiness. He is also a primary school teacher and practises what he preaches! Although his areas of interest are wellbeing and happiness, we feel that these link significantly to resilience and therefore we are using some of his ideas in this section of your activities.
In a webinar Adrian led for Bowden Education in 2022, he talked about some of these ideas and we invite you to watch all/sections of the recording as part of this term’s activities.
In the introduction to his webinar, where Adrian talks a little about his own background and work, he mentions 3 key ideas which form the foundation for his approaches in the classroom:
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Small things, consistently done
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A happy life is an emotionally rich life
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Happier children learn better
Note these down and, as you watch the recording, add to these notes in terms of ideas you might adopt with the children you work with, to support them with developing resilience.
Now, if you wish, do watch the whole recording (link below), which is 58 minutes. It is extremely uplifting listening to Adrian, and it might be something you could watch in bed before going to sleep! However, you may not have time to watch it all and if this is the case, we would like you to focus, for this activity, on the section entitled Creating Tribal Classrooms (17:58-37:17 minutes).
Look out for the following and think about how they might help to build resilience:
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Class values e.g. hard work, perseverance
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Class flag - symbol of unity and a positive reinforcement
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Values as a work in progress
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Sense of belonging - continually refreshed and reinforced
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Safe, connected, share a future
We have put these points into a document which you can access here. You will see that we have added ideas for the first point - class values - relating to how this aspect of classroom life might support the building of resilience. We have left space for you to add ideas for each of the other examples.
Now consider how you might foster a sense of tribe and belonging among the children you work with.
Make a note of 3 possibilities and try them out in the classroom.
Record the results and bring your 3 ideas and the results to the group coaching session on the 15th April.
WEEK 2- w/c 26th Feb 2024
Building a Resilient Classroom
Creating a tribal classroom is just one way to build resilience and positivity.
We would like you now to return to Adrian Bethune’s talk on wellbeing and happiness which was the focus of last week’s activity.
In the final section of this talk, Adrian discusses ‘negativity bias’ - a fascinating idea, rooted in ideas relating to the hardwiring of human brains since time began.
We would consider negativity bias to be a considerable threat to resilience - for us and the children we teach - and something that needs to be tackled in positive ways.
Watch Adrian’s talk from 49:33 to 56:24 and pause to make notes when you hear the following discussed:
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Positive moments disappear: negative moments stay with us
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Velcro for the bad: Teflon for the good
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Notice good things, savour them in the moment
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Retrospective positivity - what went well:
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Reflect on successes and things we’ve enjoyed
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Share and celebrate
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End on a positive note - peak-end theory
Your notes can be brief - just reminders so that you remember what each aspect means.
Now design an activity which allows time for children to reflect on successes, share and celebrate, and end the session/day/week on a positive note.
Share this with a colleague, take a look at their ideas and bring your thoughts to our session on 15th April.
Active Listening for Active Learning
In this world of many distractions, it is challenging for all of us to listen in a focused way that allows us to build on what we have heard to move our learning forward. Distractions include the television, mobile phones, advertisements, the sounds of everyday life, attending to family life and so on. If we get distracted, it is understandable that children do too!
In the activities over the next 4 weeks, we would like you to think about what is involved with active listening, and the challenges with this for the children we work with. We will put forward some strategies you might like to try, to promote active listening for active learning.
The following themes will be covered
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What is active listening?
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How can we promote active listening and what are the barriers?
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What is active learning?
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How can active listening lead to active learning?
WEEK 3- w/c 4th Mar 2024
What is active listening?
We are going to use this definition of active listening, taken from a research paper published in 2021:
"Active listening is the ability to accurately and precisely perceive what the other person (interlocutor) is experiencing and to offer feedback on what one has noticed, perceived. Encouraging and developing a culture of active listening is especially important in school because it influences the creation of a positive and motivating classroom atmosphere, the development of social competencies, the building of quality relationships and the promotion of understanding".
(Maras, Pongračić & Marinac, 2021)
Let’s put this into a context to make it more accessible.
Imagine you are reading a story to a group of children and you want them to be able to discuss and write about the story setting after the reading.
Active listening will mean that the children are hearing and understanding the words spoken, absorbing the information, perhaps relating this to their own lives or other experiences they have had (TV, video games, cartoons etc.), and potentially waiting to respond to what they have heard. In other words, they are actively listening.
Now it would be your turn! You would need to actively listen to THEM - hear and respond to their ideas, as they respond to the story.
We’ll come back to this example next week, when we examine how to promote active listening and what might be the barriers.
Let’s think a little more about what we mean by active listening.
In a book I (Virginia) wrote which was published in 2022 - Poetry and the 3-11 Curriculum - I refer to ‘real’ listening and responding which relates very well to the idea of active listening.
Real listening to me, is where we absorb somebody’s response to a stimulus, and respond in a way that encourages them to expand on this and share their thinking. This is in contrast to listening and then responding in a way that merely reflects one’s own related experiences.
Let me give you an example to show my thinking.
Here is a fun poem you can share with children, called ‘I eat my peas with honey’:
I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
Anon
Now, imagine using this short text in a group work session, where children are discussing the poem.
One child might say, ‘I really do not like honey because I had a horrible experience when I was young’.
A typical response (from both children and adults) is to immediately respond with one’s own experience: ‘Me too! We had a pot of honey on the table outside in the summer and all the flies kept landing on it!’
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with this and indeed, this would be a useful anecdote to encourage discussion.
However, active listening (leading to active learning) calls for a different response, which would encourage Speaker 1 to divulge more information. For example:
‘Oh! What happened to you then, to make you feel like that?’
This is likely to lead to an authentic, detailed recount, possibly with gestures and some element of role play, leading to collaborative discussion with responses and anecdotes from other members of the group (active learning).
Speaker 1 feels that they have been listened to and they have brought about an interesting and socially rewarding discussion.
They are now happy to pass on the ‘baton’ of anecdote, because they have had the opportunity to expand and elaborate their own story and are now ready to listen to others.
It is through these small insights into life histories that we learn more about our fellow humans and ourselves.
Jerome Bruner (a famous theorist), wrote about the importance of giving children opportunities to ‘create meanings from school experience that they can relate to their lives’ and suggested that narratives (in the form of stories and poems) can help us develop our thinking and make meaning of our lives.
It is so important, therefore, that children learn how to listen and respond in such a way that others will share their narratives and then listen in turn to their peers.
Time taken to model this, is time well-invested.
When you next get a spare 10 minutes with a group of children, share ‘I eat my peas with honey’ with them and see what their reactions are.
Have a go at promoting and encouraging active listening and the sharing of ideas.
Add questions of your own to check if children are listening to you and each other.
WEEK 4- w/c 11th Mar 2024
How can we promote active listening and what are the barriers?
Active listening can be taught and we can use strategies to promote this.
However, it must be remembered that we can’t listen effectively all the time - we just don’t have the capacity and certainly should not expect children to!
Avoiding situations where children are having to sit passively and listen to us for long periods of time, ensures that, when you really need them to listen, they are ready and able.
Unfortunately, as adults, we do not necessarily model good listening.
For example, a parent may ask a child something - ‘How did your day go at school?’ - and then, whilst the child is answering, they might scroll through their phone/turn the TV on/start cooking the dinner.
Similarly, in the classroom, we might ask a child what they think about a story whilst, at the same time, start looking for papers and pens for the next activity. This is NOT good practice! We need to be role models for active listening and we need to actively listen!!
If we ask children something, they deserve to have our full attention when they form a response.
In the same way, in conversations with others or when listening to instructions, children need to focus their listening and be able to respond in meaningful and thoughtful ways.
They need to:
Let’s return to the scenario from last week - where you are reading the children a story and you want them to focus on story settings.
Whilst reading the story, how might you promote active listening?
List 3 ways that you might do this and then click on the boxes below to see our ideas.
Have images to support the story e.g. using a picture book or props e.g. puppets.
Use a range of voices when you ‘become’ the different characters in the story
Change the pitch, tone and volume of your voice to suit the story. If we read in a monotone, children will soon stop listening.
Ask questions - literal and rhetorical e.g. ‘What makes this setting so magical?’ Or, ‘I wonder what we are going to see on the next page?’
Check for and react to body language e.g. ‘Well done Joe, I can see that you are really studying the setting on this page’
Ask for volunteers to read some of the story or play parts of some of the characters
Using some of these strategies can help children to actively listen and overcome barriers to this.
Barriers we anticipate are:
When you next read a story or a poem, try out some of the ideas presented in the boxes and see if the children seem to be listening.
Do they help to overcome some barriers?
Access the document here, entitled ‘Active Listening’.
You may want to read the whole pamphlet (9 pages), but if you do not have time, just go to the final page and make a note of some of the ideas suggested.
Try them out over the next term.
WEEK 5- w/c 18th Mar 2024
What is active learning?
We can think of active learning in 2 different ways.
Firstly, learning might involve actual physical activity e.g. learning about rhymes by playing skipping games/understanding about respiration by running around and then taking your pulse.
This type of active learning relates very well to theories about embodied cognition - a complicated-sounding term but which is actually very straightforward and is summarised in the diagram below:
In my poetry book, I write:
So, keeping learning physically active, whenever possible, is a positive step and might help to mitigate some of the barriers to active listening, which we looked at last week.
There is however, a different way to think about active learning and here is a very useful description from the Centre of Teaching Innovation:
Now watch this very short video, discussing active learning.
The video is actually designed for those working in health, but it is very relevant to any learning.
Now watch it again and listen out for these words and phrases:
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Learner-centred
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Active participants
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Apply, analyse and synthesise prior knowledge
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Personal meaning
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Increased knowledge retention
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Deeper learning experience
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Improved outcomes
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Disseminator of information > facilitator of learning
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Questioning and discussion
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Listen, think, reflect, write, problem-solve, create
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Clarification and guidance
What is your role here, when planning for active learning?
What is the children’s role?
Choose a session that you are teaching this week or in the near future. How can you introduce at least 3 of the ideas above? For example:
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How can you become more of a facilitator than a disseminator?
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Can you plan for some problem-solving and extended discussion?
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What might children create in order for them to be active and reflective?
Implement your ideas in the teaching session and record the outcomes.
Bring these to your next face to face group session session with Catherine (15th April)
WEEK 6- w/c 25th Mar 2024
How can active listening lead to active learning?
Ok, so we have looked at what is meant by active listening and we have examined active learning. How can ensure that active listening leads to active learning?
Take a look at the website below:
Although this relates mainly to very young children, and is designed for parents, it has some useful ideas to promote active learning through active listening.
Here are some examples:
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Listening games
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Drawing from a description
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Following instructions for a recipe
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Predicting what might happen next in a story
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Base learning about aspects of life that are relevant and interesting for individuals
Try to use one of these in a teaching session soon and assess how well children are able to listen and act on what they have heard.
Now explore this page from the Centre for Teaching Innovation:
Although the ideas on this site are designed for university students and lecturers, they are equally relevant to all age learners and there are great things to try out.
Open some of the links to activities e.g. Think-Pair-Share/Write-Pair-Share.
Make a note of 3 activities that you think you could adapt for the children you work with; 3 activities that will enable both active listening and active learning.
Keep a log in your Google Drive Portfolio of the ideas that you try out and continue to add to these as the year progresses. These could be shared at your annual appraisal.
Good luck with active listening for active learning - we hope you notice some positive steps forward!
Term 5: Reflecting on your Progress and Identifying Next Steps
This term is an opportunity to reflect upon your learning around resilience and active listening for active learning, as well as considering the next steps for your professional development.
WEEK 1- w/c 15 April 2024
Group Coaching
We will have our group coaching session on Monday 15th April 14:00-15:00.
Ahead of this session please read and the session plan and undertake any preparations. Click on the image below to access the plan.
WEEK 2- w/c 22 April 2024
Training, Professional Development and Learning
Over the next three weeks, the final three weeks of this module, we will be exploring the importance of ongoing professional development and learning and how to be 'the architect of your own career'. We will look at developing a professional development action plan and explore how to prepare for your annual appraisal.
Defining professional learning, professional development and training is something we rarely stop to consider. However, the three are different and have important defining features.
Training - this is an exchange of skills and focuses on learning a particular, and often correct way of undertaking a process. E.g. reporting a safeguarding concern. Training is important for key aspects of your role where there is a clear process. It is vital that you engage in mandatory training.
Professional Development - this is an opportunity to engage with a range of opportunities that enable you to consider and develop your thinking, knowledge, understanding and practice linked to your professional role. Often people associate professional development with attending a course but it is far more than this. It can me engaging with online learning just like this! Or a broad as watching a Ted Talk, listening to a podcast, reading a blog, attending a conference or engaging with professional networks such as LinkedIn or on X.
Professional Learning - the over-arching process that brings development and training together over time to build our learning and understanding of the role we undertake and the broader context within which we work.
The diagram below, captures this.
Take a moment to reflect upon your ongoing professional learning.
What training and professional development activities have you undertaken?
How do you best learn and develop?
Are there activities that you wish to explore?
Now take a look at this 5-4-5 (5 ideas in 5 minutes) that explores why professional development is important.
Complete a SWOT in relation to your own professional development needs.
You may have come across a SWOT analysis before - they are often used in business.
S - strengths - capture your strengths here as a professional within your role and professional practice.
W - weaknesses - capture what you feel you need to develop further within your role and professional practice.
O - opportunities - what opportunities exist for you to develop?
T - threats - what might be barriers to achieving your goals or the challenges you need to overcome?
Access a template SWOT by clicking on the image below.
You may find it useful to discuss your SWOT with a colleague or your line manager.
WEEK 3- w/c 29 April 2024
Being the Architect of your own Career
Watch the video below that considers how to be the architect of your own career and why this is important.
Take some time to think about:
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Your vision for your career and development
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Your values (you may find the image below useful to help with this).
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Your aspirations
Now think note down some ideas for the following:
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Areas I would like to develop
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Types of professional development that appeal to me
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Possible PD I will engage with.
The following list may help you identify some professional development:
The log below can be used to keep a record of the professional development you have engaged with and can be used to update your CV, prepare for interviews or discuss in 1:1s and appraisals.
WEEK 4- w/c 6 May 2024
Preparing for Appraisal
This week will focus on establishing targets and developing and action plan for your professional development and learning as well as exploring how to prepare for your annual appraisal.
Target Setting
First let's explore the importance of target setting.
Establishing clear goals linked to your professional development and learning has several benefits including:
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keeping you up to date
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developing knowledge and understanding
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exploring a specific area of interest
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developing expertise within a given area
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increasing engagement and motivation
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improving job satisfaction
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ensuring you get what you want from your career
But, how often do we actually stop to draw up an action plan, let alone take time throughout the year to review and update it.
Take a moment to think of, and note down three key professional development targets. These may align with one or several of the items in the bulleted list above.
Now, let's turn these targets you have written down into SMART targets.
Ensuring your targets are SMART is an approach you can take to ensure targets are robust and effective.. When targets are robust and effective, they are more likely to be achieved.
So, what are SMART targets?
(TheCoachingToolsCompany.com)
Here is an example of how a target may be turned into a SMART target:
Target:
To learn more about difference special educational needs
SMART Target:
To develop knowledge and skills to support learning with autism in KS2 by completing an online Level 2 course in Supporting Learners with Autism by the end of September.
There are several issues with the first target - it is not specific enough and not realistic - there are far too many differing needs children have to learn more about them all. It is also not very actionable as what does it mean to learn more about? How will this be measured? There is also no target date for completion.
Have a go at turning one of the targets you have noted down into a SMART target.
You will want to return back to this when developing your action plan next week.
Appraisals are commonplace in many organisations and are an opportunity for you to share successes and discuss areas for development.
Watch this short video that explores the role and purpose of appraisals.
WEEK 5- w/c 13 May 2024
Preparing your action plan
Developing a professional and personal development and learning action plan helps to organise your thinking around not only your areas for development and how you will access mechanisms to address these but also it offers an opportunity to identify your strengths and successes.
This week, you will focus on developing your own action plan.
Firstly, let's explore the template that you will complete by watching the video below:
Now, take the time to complete your professional and personal development and learning action plan.
You can access this as a Word.doc by clicking on the image below.
WEEK 6- w/c 20 May 2024
Catch Up Week
Take this week's learning time as an opportunity to catch up with any missed learning or to go back and review any learning you wish to go back over.
Congratulations!
You have now completed this module.
We hope you have developed your knowledge and understanding of the topics covered and that you have taken this new knowledge and understanding into your own practice.
Term 6: Exploring Age-Related Expectations for Learners.
When supporting young learners and thinking about the best ways to ensure they can access the curriculum and fulfil their potential, it is important to have a strong knowledge and understanding of age-related expectations.
Although this is, of course, combined with a need to know each child as an individual and respond to them as such, essentially the process begins with getting to know the National Curriculum requirements and building from there.
This term therefore, we will be exploring 3 aspects of this:
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Knowledge and understanding of the National Curriculum age-related expectations
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Identifying ways to support children in reaching these expectations
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Assessing the learning, against the age-related expectations
Each week will have 1 hour of study attached, and the learning will be divided equally between the 3 aspects identified above. So, each of these will include 2 hours of learning.
When you complete the activities, we would recommend having in mind the year group you will be working with next academic year. This will then provide you with a strong starting point in September, with a clear awareness of what the children will be expected to learn.
We hope you enjoy these final tasks for this academic year!
WEEK 1- w/c 3 June 2024
Getting to know the National Curriculum (NC)
The NC requirements for each key stage, year group and subject are to be found in Programmes of Study.
These set out the requirements and objectives and can, at first glance, seem quite overwhelming!
However, once you start to explore each subject, you begin to realise that many of the requirements are covered over and over again, just through normal classroom practice.
Let me give you an example.
Here are the Y1 reading comprehension requirements from the NC Programme of Study:
Reading - comprehension
Pupils should be taught to:
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develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
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listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
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being encouraged to link what they read or hear to their own experiences
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becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics
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recognising and joining in with predictable phrases
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learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart
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discussing word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known
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understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to by:
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drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
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checking that the text makes sense to them as they read, and correcting inaccurate reading
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discussing the significance of the title and events
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making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
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predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
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participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say
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explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them
Looking at this list, I am sure you will recognise that these requirements are (I hope) being met day after day - in whole class work, reading groups, interventions, individual reading etc.
However, having more of an awareness of the requirements allows us to take every opportunity to reinforce the learning, and we will examine ideas for this in Activities 3 and 4.
For now, we would like you to just familiarise yourself with the NC Programmes of Study (PoS). Follow these steps:
1. Identify the year group you will be working with next year (if you work across year groups, just choose 1 - it doesn’t matter which, as this is just a familiarisation process).
2. Choose a subject - start with English or Maths or Science, as these may well be the subjects you are required to support more than others.
3. Go to the government website, which details the Programmes of Study (PoS) by subject.
4. Download the PoS for your chosen year group and subject and take time to browse through, noting any points which interest/surprise you.
5. If you have time, you might want to look at more than one core subject for your year group.
The idea of this initial activity is just to feel confident with finding the relevant information and start to understand the requirements for your year group. In the next activity, we will examine some of the requirements in more depth.
WEEK 2- w/c 10 June 2024
Exploring the National Curriculum requirements in more depth
Hopefully, having completed Activity 1, you feel confident with how to access the Programmes of Study, the way they are set out, some of the requirements for different age groups and subjects etc.
We would now like you to look at a year group and subject in more depth, using one of the non-core subjects and creating a mind map to help you summarise the information.
We have prepared an example, choosing Y3 Geography.
Now, what you will find with the non-core subjects is that there are far fewer requirements and that they are set out as KS1 and KS2, rather than by year groups.
They also start with a general purpose and aims, before moving to content. For the example, we summarised the purpose, aims and content, to fit onto a single mind map - for ease of access.
Mind maps are great ways to represent information in an accessible, visual way. Also, they do not allow for too many words, so you have to summarise the key points, making the information easier to remember. They are also good fun to create!
Click on the image below to access an example.
Take a look at the way it is presented and the content summarised.
Would this help you to, very quickly, gain an overview of what is expected for this key stage, in this subject?
We would now like you to choose a key stage and subject to focus on, and to produce your own mind map.
You can use PowerPoint as we have (it is a flexible tool and a good resource to gain confidence with), or you could sketch out your mind map by hand.
There is also a programme called Canva which you might like to try. It doesn’t matter how it is presented - the main aim is to gain a good understanding of age-related expectations for a particular curriculum subject.
Once you have completed your mind map, share with a colleague and upload to your Google portfolio.
You may want to produce mind maps for other curriculum areas so that, when you know you are going to be supporting a particular year group/subject, you can quickly access the requirements and expectations.
WEEK 3- w/c 17 June 2024
Identifying ways to support children in reaching these expectations.
There are obviously many strategies and resources which can be used to support children with achieving their full potential and enabling them to reach age-related expectations.
You will already be using many in your work with children and observing different approaches used by colleagues.
Different approaches work for different children, so it is important to have a vast range of ideas and possibilities to draw on.
We hope that the ideas presented here will just be the starting point of your quest for the best possible ways to ensure children learn and enjoy learning!
In this activity and the next, we are going to explore the key concept of Adaptive Practice/Teaching and, within this, the following 3 strategies which can be adapted for any year group and any subject:
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Scaffolding
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Modelling
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Promoting language
Watch the video below, focusing on what we mean by Adaptive Teaching:
It’s only 5 minutes, so if you get a chance to watch it twice this will give you the opportunity to make some notes.
Here are our ideas about adaptive teaching:
High expectations for all – no ceiling on learning
All striving towards the same goal, but achieving this at the level appropriate to the child
In the moment adaptations according to needs
Recognising distinct and individual needs
Avoiding labelling individuals and groups
Every child pushed to challenge themselves
Creative, inclusive, child-led pedagogies
Would you add anything to this list?
Download this 1-page document which provides more ideas about adaptive teaching. Highlight any key ideas you think might be useful.
One of the suggestions in terms of planning to overcome barriers to learning is to plan for scaffolding.
What does scaffolding mean to you?
Watch the short video below, produced by Catherine, which gives a useful overview of what we mean by scaffolding, when referring to supporting learning.
Now, let’s think about what this might look like in practice.
To do this, we are going to return to one of the Y1 reading comprehension requirements which we mentioned in Activity 1:
predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
How might we scaffold this learning; developing children’s ability to make relevant and useful predictions? Here are some ideas:
Use powerful questions e.g.
Why do you think the main character has ended up in this situation?
How important are the other characters and in what ways?
Do the illustrations give you any clues as to what might happen next?
Does the title give you any indication of what might happen to the main character?
Why do you think the author has used that piece of punctuation at that point?
Use ‘ideas in the box’ group activity
Use small pieces of coloured card and on each, write a possible ‘what might happen next’.
Children each pick a card and read out the prediction.
The group votes on which they think is the most plausible.
Each child explains why they chose that particular prediction.
Read the remainder of the story and compare the ‘what comes next’ with the other ideas.
Storytelling
Either as a group or whole class, read the story to the ‘hinge’ point. Then explain that you are all going to continue the story, by predicting what might come next. Continue the story around the room. You start by suggesting the next few lines of the story. Hand the story onto the next child who can choose to pass if they wish or continue the story. If children get stuck, take over the storytelling role. If possible, audio record the story, so that you can remind the children of their predictions, once they have heard the original ending to the story.
All of these activities involve the children in significant and meaningful ways, whilst giving you the chance to scaffold in ways that match the situation and stage of learning.
If you have time, think of another example to add to the 3 suggested and perhaps give them all a go at the start of next term!
WEEK 4- w/c 24 June 2024
Modelling to support learning and promoting language across the curriculum
Modelling is a vital strategy, as we support pupils towards and beyond the age-related expectations in all subjects.
Read this article entitled ‘Modelling: What it is and why it matters’ by R Burns. There are some excellent examples of how you might go about modelling and why this is so important.
There are many modelling strategies we have used - teaching children and adults - and below are some of these ideas, which you might take forward and use when supporting groups or individuals.
We wanted to ‘model’ the whole process (as this is all about modelling!), so we have started with a year group, subject, content and learning objective and related the strategies to this.
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Year 2
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Science
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Living things and their habitats
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Identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats
Examples of how you might model
Rally Robin or Ping Pong
This is a good way of modelling language, specific to the subject.
With a colleague or a pupil, decide on a topic e.g. habitats and you have 30 seconds to go back and forth - rallying with words.
For example, I might say ‘forest’ and my partner says ‘desert’ and then I say ‘hedgerow’ etc.
You can write these down as you go, or have a 3rd person who records the vocabulary.
In this way, you are modelling words that children can then discuss/explore/use.
Oral description of a habitat
Oral descriptions are useful, whereby you simply describe something to the class/a group - in this case, a habitat.
Again, we are modelling subject-specific vocabulary in a suitable context, alongside providing useful information that children can then use in their own work or as the starting point for their research.
Written description of a habitat
As above, but you would model this writing in front of the children, talking through your ideas as you go.
This is particularly useful when modelling sentence construction, but in this example, where we are thinking about science and habitats, it would be more about modelling the content you want them to learn.
Show range of examples and non-examples
This is a very useful strategy to use across the curriculum.
Here, you might have photographs of different habitats and then photographs of things that are not habitats (quite challenging, as often things are habitats, we just don’t know what lives there!).
This would make for a great discussion and investigation (see where modelling leads you…!!)
Creating a food chain
Food chains are linked with habitats and are wonderful things to model, showing different elements within the chain.
You could do this with drawings, diagrams, photos, online examples etc.
This could lead to powerful activities where children create their own food chains and identify the different organisms and how they are ordered and related.
You’ll notice that many of the examples given in this and the previous activity are linked with language and vocabulary.
It is so important that children have the appropriate language to talk about a subject or a topic, otherwise they will struggle to become fully involved with the learning and any activities.
It is important to promote language development across the curriculum at every opportunity.
In the following 5-4-5 (5 ideas in 5 minutes), you will hear some examples of how you might do this.
Jot down the ideas and have a go at implementing them when you are working with groups or individuals.
WEEK 5- w/c 1 July 2024
Assessing the learning, against the age-related expectations
Having a strong knowledge of the NC requirements for the age group you teach, will support you with planning engaging activities to ensure children make the very best of their time with you.
Hopefully the activities so far this term have given you this confidence with the NC Programmes of Study, and have given you some ideas for use with groups and individual pupils.
Our final 2 activities relate to the next stage of the cycle - assessment.
The diagram below shows these stages and the cyclical nature of this means that we are always striving to improve our knowledge and understanding of the NC PoS, and building a wide bank of ideas and resources to ensure that we can then translate this knowledge into powerful learning for the children.
In order to know whether children are meeting age-related expectations and to work out what comes next, ongoing, formative assessment is essential.
There are 5 key ways to assess, and these provide us with a picture of the child as a learner and the progress they are making. The 5 ways are:
Observation - observing children in different settings and contexts; how they interact with others; whether they participate willingly and fully; their reactions to challenging tasks etc.
This can offer excellent assessment evidence, providing not only information about subject knowledge, but a more holistic view of the child as a learner.
Questioning - using a range of questioning techniques to gauge understanding and the extent and depth of understanding.
The more open these questions can be, the better, giving children the opportunity to answer in full and really show their knowledge.
There is a very useful pamphlet here which you might want to download and read when you have time. It discusses different types of questions and has some great ideas for the classroom.
Discussion - building on from questioning, encouraging children to engage in extended discussion can help when assessing their understanding.
Talking with them about a subject, or initiating discussion between pupils (allowing you to sit back, observe and note learning), provides an insight into conceptual understanding, use of subject-specific vocabulary and their ability to listen to and respond to the ideas of others.
Marking - marking is of course a very useful assessment tool, particularly when used in conjunction with the other methods of assessment.
Marking alongside the child, or giving them answers and then allowing them to mark their own work, are powerful techniques which engage children more actively in the assessment process.
Self-assessment - encouraging children to self-assess can be useful (up to a point), particularly if you do this with them, and promote discussion and explanations relating to their work.
This needs to be monitored carefully, as sometimes children will say they have a very strong understanding but are not able to explain their ideas.
At other times, children express a lack of confidence and yet their work shows good understanding.
As with all assessment, it is about knowing the children you work with and what will help them the most.
Think about an activity you have supported recently.
Were there opportunities where you might have made use of any of these methods of assessment?
Are there particular lessons where you think different methods will work well?
As you move into the new academic year, you will hopefully be able to put some of these in place with the individuals and groups you work with.
In the final activity for this term, we will examine ways you might record this evidence, to help build up a picture for you and your class teacher, so that you can track progress towards age-related expectations and beyond.
WEEK 6- w/c 8 July 2024
Recording Assessment Evidence
We collect a huge amount of information about children every day and it is impossible to record all of this!
However, teachers, teaching assistants, senior leadership and any other adults working with the children are responsible for ensuring their progress and keeping a record of this.
This evidence can then be used to help plan next steps and can be shared with parents or others who want to check progress against age-related expectations.
We are sure you have your own ways of recording evidence and we all tend to adapt according to year group/subject etc.
We wanted to share some templates that we have used over the years, which you might find useful.
They are on Word documents, so you can change/edit/add in any way you wish, to suit your preferences.
Download the templates by clicking on each below:
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How might you use these?
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How would you adapt any of them to suit the year group you work with?
Choose 1 of the templates and personalise it to suit your needs.
Think about the year group you will be working with, a specific subject and a particular context e.g. group reading/1:1 support/observing the whole class when the teacher is introducing a topic.
Which headings will be most useful?
What would be the most important information to capture?
We hope you can adapt and use these in your support of children next year, enabling you to collect a bank of assessment evidence which will help you track progress against age-related expectations.
Good luck with this!
WEEK 7 w/c 15 July 2024
Catch Up Week
Use this week to catch up with your learning or to revisit any elements of your learning you want to refresh.
We hope these final activities have been useful and wish you a wonderful, relaxing summer.
See you next academic year!
