Ground_Rules

PTTLS 7303 Level 4 Theory Assignment Task 4 Analyse different ways in which you would establish ground rules with your learners, which underpin behaviour and respect for others. In a classroom environment good ground rules will benefit both the learners and the tutor and should be established during the first day of the group meeting. You should also consider the age of the group as adults prefer to take ownership of the task but younger learners may need more organising. Ground rules are best set when there is “some sort of relationship between the tutor and the learners-this will make setting them a lot easier”, stated reonatron CyberEssays (reference 1). Icebreakers can be used to do this as this is proven to “help retain attention, keep motivation high and help the group to work together.” Gravells (reference 2). Icebreakers come in many different forms and an experienced tutor will judge which type to use for different groups an example of this is “Find Who”. You ask the team to find who plays a musical instrument, who smokes, who went on holiday to Greece etc; this provides a platform for the group to interact and get to know each other. Ground rules that occur quite often and stated by Gravells (reference 3) are timekeeping switch off mobile phones and be polite and courteous. You have different types of ground rules, some are legal, some are laid down by the venue and others can be set by the learners. Legal boundaries are usually set by the tutor at the start of the day as fire precautions, evacuation etc need to be communicated in case of an emergency. Teaching venues may have specific ground rules for that particular centre as in the case of language schools who teach English as a foreign language. Most of the schools say that only English should be spoken in the classroom. “Non sensitive ground rules such as mobile phones, civility and others opinions” stated by simplesy CyberEssays (reference 4) can be set in different ways through brain storming and the tutor writing the ideas onto a board or by the learners working in pair or small groups and then presenting them back to the group. Brain storming is a good way to create interest and get the whole group involved this in turn will “create a happy medium environment within the group: it can also help break the ice in a new group. It can assist in helping to understand and remember the ground rules discussed and then put them in place” stated simplesy CyberEssays (reference 5). Once discussed the ground rules should be written down so that all the learner and tutor are aware at each meeting of the group what was set by the whole group. It would normally be the tutor that would have to enforce rules but when done in this way it can quite often be other learners that enforce the rules with a learner that may not have stuck to them. REFERENCES 1. reonatron, CyberEssay. 2. Gravells A, Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector, Learning Matters Ltd, (2008) ISBN 9781844451463, page 41 3. Gravells A, Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector, Learning Matters Ltd, (2008) ISBN 9781844451463, page 7 4. simplesy, CyberEssay. 5. simplesy, CyberEssay. Word Count: 472