Dfa7130

ASSIGNMENT 2 DFA7130 ENABLING AND ASSESSING LEARNING CRITICAL DISCUSSION The course syllabus and scheme of work is provided for my courses by Central Y.M.C.A Qualifications which is our governing body (see appendix number 1). My scheme of work covers all the relevant content but is not in logical topic sequence. I find it does not take in to account the delivery of the course so therefore I have devised my lesson plans using the scheme but not directly following its sequence. Reece and Walker (2006: p244) describe a scheme of work as ...a series of planned learning experiences and go on to say that the topics should be in such an order that the aims are met effectively. I find that the order of the topics in my scheme of work do not echo their description so I have adapted my lesson plans to aid course delivery. This is evident in the two lesson plans I have provided for this assignment. The content for day 6 (see appendix number 2) is highly relevant and the learners need to be fully aware of client barriers and motivational skills before going on to design a progressive exercise programme. Day 7 (see appendix number 3) involves designing a programme but this is not the way they are set out in the scheme of work. It does not put these two parts together in sequence. In practice I have found the learners learn more effectively if I deliver these two topics together. I have planned day 6 using assessment methods advised on the scheme of work not only because I consider this way to be a very good tool for recognising learning but this aids with differentiation. The group activity enables learners to feed of each others strengths and helps integrate all learners. As discussed earlier in my learner profile, this is a good way of getting younger learners to gain knowledge from the more experienced learners in the group who present with more affective behaviour as highlighted by Petty (2009). Also on this plan I have added role play in pairs and select the 2 learners that are to work together carefully. I find this learning activity helps the less confident learners become more vocal when teamed with a more experienced learner. This was effective with my two learners I have written about. I have used an individual learning activity, in the form of list writing, for session 32 as this helps me to recognise the level of experience of the learners. I find this useful for this particular topic as it is directly linked to their summative assessment. The assessment requires them to write a progressive exercise programme for a chosen client, so I can establish by their list of benefits, who is more advanced in this area and who will need extra tutorials/ help. Embedding of literacy skills are very apparently in this session particularly as learners are asked to read sections of the manual and feed back to me their understanding of it. All sessions use literacy skills as power point slides are used throughout. The content on the power point is worded differently to the manual but explains the same topic. This is a good way of supporting all learners as some will grasp the topic more if it is told to them in a slightly different way and others will understand if they have had time to read it before the session. This is evident in my leaner 2 profile as this learner sways towards a reflective learning style as discussed by Petty (2009) ICT skills are used as the course requires the learner to produce a programme using a word document or such like and is comprehensive as they have to indicate all variables of the exercises used. Numeracy skills are used throughout most learning session as fitness testing is one element of formative assessment and involves using height and weight measurements. Also learners have to calculate their clients’ heart rate percentages and calorie intake and timings and repetitions are used for training methods. For the learners who are less familiar with these skills, calculation methods are shown in the manuals and I encourage them to revise and practice this regularly throughout the course. Communication and language skills will be very useful for the learners for when they qualify as personal trainers. They will have to communicate effectively with clients and due to the financial element, learners will have to consider the vocabulary used. Also motivation is key to retention so the choice of vocabulary and the manor in which it is spoken is important. Less experienced learners will need extra tuition in this area. Behaviourism applies to the above as discussed by Petty (2009) so the embedding of functional skills is important for the success of the learner. Their client will be rewarded for the hard work they have put in by losing weight or gaining muscle tone and this is made apparent by weighing them and/or measuring them. Also their client is more likely to get to that stage if the learner, once qualified, is to motivate them using language skills and keep in regular contact using literacy skills via email, text etc. For the lesson plans I have produced for this assignment, I have discussed above why I have chosen to put the topics in such order and why I have selected certain learning activities. I have chosen the content based on the scheme of work but feel that day 7 is not covered enough in the scheme. Barriers and motivation are very important for the learners to be successful and the indicative content is not a large part of the scheme. I feel that in practice this requires a lot of lesson time yet other parts of the scheme that are greatly covered do not. I have devised the learning outcomes for these 2 lessons in direct association with the summative assessment. The aims and outcomes will lead the learners along the correct path and give them the tools and knowledge they need to produce an adequate programme. My courses are attended by members of the public from age 16 plus so I always have a range of learners and have to plan for this. As seen with my learner 1 profile, this learner was uneasy around the more experienced, older learners so I incorporated group and pair work setting the same task for all learners to create an inclusive environment. I am aware that work ethic may differ due to the learners’ ages so again my plans reflect that. When group work is being performed I am careful to check that the work has been done by all learners and not left to the more proactive. I do this by checking the learning and asking the more work shy learners to explain the content to me. This is a good assessment tool and I use it frequently. My course requires continuous, formative and summative assessment and the criteria is set for this. I plan a session which involves showing the learners the criteria check sheet so they know what is being asked of them and regularly over the course check their learning of this through question and answer. I plan the specific formative assessments, for example fitness testing, in the same day as we have covered to topic therefore if another session is needed on this I can incorporate it into another lesson. I ensure the learners know that I am available for tutorials should they require more guidance and I encourage this to all learners also so I can monitor their learning. I can fit this into my lesson plans on most days as I allow time at the end of each session for recapping or if a certain topic overruns. Also in this recapping time I can assess the learning through question and answer techniques and by looking at the work they have produced throughout the day.