Session_Planning

Reflective Journal 1: Presentation about legislation and codes of practice As part of the PTTLS course the whole class was asked to do a presentation about legislation and codes of practice relating to teaching in the lifelong learning sector, including how we meet equality and diversity. This was following a tutor lesson that covered relevant legislation. We were given a week to prepare this and were told by our tutor that we would be presenting this in front of the rest of the class. We were also told the presentations should last for only five minutes. Before planning a presentation or lesson, it is really important that you identify and understand your learners needs; this can be done at the application process through initial assessments, which is a formal way of ascertaining your learners prior skills and knowledge and whether they have any specific needs, so you can help them in meeting the requirements of the subject and course they are doing. This will also help you ensure you are meeting equality and diversity requirements. Initial assessment is something I do in my usual work role, in assessing childminders to become members of a quality first scheme and I must make certain I put this into my teaching practice. This allows me to differentiate and ensure individual needs are met. I can then ensure the learner knows what is expected of them, identify any specific additional support needs and identify their learning styles, so I can plan teaching methods appropriate to the whole class. You should then continue to review learners’ progress, for example through tutorials. Some learners will have barriers or challenges that may affect their learning, which you will need to address as soon as possible, if it has not been identified in the initial assessment. Some examples of these could be: their level of ability in literacy skills, access or fear of technology, dyslexia, behavioural difficulties, a disability they have not told you about, family commitments such as childcare which may prevent them from regular attendance and fear of learning due to previous school experiences. Hopefully, with the support of your line manager, you will be able to deal with your learners needs or challenges internally yourself, For example referring them to the college councillor, financial services staff, health and welfare officers, learning support staff and career advisors. However, sometimes there may be occasions when you will need to seek advice and refer your learner to an external organisation, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, Job Centre Plus, Housing, childcare agencies or charities such as the Samaritans.. I started planning my presentation by doing a lesson plan, as this is something I am already used to doing when I deliver training to childcare providers in my job. In my lesson plan I included information about the group composition and who would be my target audience, what the subject was about, date, time and where the presentation would take place. I also thought about what resources I would need. When planning for this I also thought about the content and how my presentation would engage the other class members- I wanted to ensure they went away after listening to me feeling motivated and inspired. I also thought about the aims and objectives of the presentation and what I wanted the class (learners) to gain from it- for example my intention outlined in my aims was to inform learners about roles and responsibilities of a teacher in the lifelong learning sector in relation to regulatory requirements and codes of practice and then my objective outlined how the learners were going to do this, by acquiring the information. On the evening of the presentation I felt slightly nervous about doing this in front of the rest of the class, although I am used to delivering training to classes of up to 25 on most occasions through work. However, nearly half the class were absent so there were only 8 other students to do the presentation to. I used a power point presentation to show to the class as I was speaking, which I had prepared earlier in the week. I made sure I tried to include everyone who was listening to me by looking at all the class at some point and giving them some eye contact. I found it very hard to keep my presentation down to five minutes and was not able to finish it before my allotted time was up. My presentation started off with generic information about legislation and codes of practice that relate to teaching. Such as Data protection, The Equality Act, Health and Safety at Work, Freedom of Information, Protection of Children, Code of Professional Conduct and the Education and Skills Act. I then planned to talk about some that are specific to my own work, but unfortunately ran out of time. I had prepared examples of these such as the Children’s Act, Safeguarding, Every Child/Learner Matters, and The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and some information about Ofsted. As I knew I only had five minutes, I did feel I rushed through it, probably talking too fast and this led to me missing out the information that I had planned to say. I also talked about how equality, diversity and inclusion are very important aspects to follow and promote. It is really essential that you do promote a positive culture of equality of opportunity within your lessons so all learners can attend and participate, feeling safe and valued. I ended my presentation by making a concluding point about - following the required legislation and codes of practice and carrying out your roles and responsibilities to the best of your ability will help ensure you become an effective and professional teacher. I feel this is an appropriate and useful point to remember. The teaching approach I adopted for this presentation was teacher-centred, which is known as ‘pedagogy’. This includes presentations, lectures and demonstrations. An informal teaching approach would include group work, discussions and practical activities, and is known as ‘andragogy’. This approach is what I am planning to do for my micro-teaching session. A theorist called Knowles brought about the concept of pedagogy and andragogy. The pedagogical approach places the responsibility on the teacher about the learning process and the andralogical approach places the emphasis on the learner. In my full time job, I follow and refer to many acts and codes of practice, but it has been a long time since I have updated my knowledge on these so I found taking time to research the legislations was a very worthwhile exercise for me. It is really important that I keep up to date with all relevant legislation and codes of practice to ensure I am remaining current with my knowledge and practice and know of any changes or updates that have taken place. I was please with how my powerpoint presentation turned out and during the break other students complimented me on this. I found having the powerpoint presentation very useful in backing up and providing prompts so I remember what I am talking about. It helps learners to keep focussed- this will help both auditory and visual learners as they can listen to and watch the presentation. Once I had started my presentation I felt it went okay, but I did feel it wasn’t as good quality as I would have liked it to be- I did feel rushed and found myself pausing during it, which led to me re-focussing my thought quickly; having some prompt notes which I had written for each slide/point enabled me to do this easily. In future I will keep informed and make sure I update myself regularly with all codes of practice and legislation relating to my own work and to teaching adults. I will make certain I am well prepared in advanced to ensure the lesson runs smoothly and always make my self a lesson plan, which I will include timings so I know roughly how long I have for each section I am covering. By doing the PTTLS course I am already starting to evaluate what I am presently doing when I deliver training in my job and am realising it is not about what I am teaching, but how learners or students will learn effectively. I think this is a very important point to consider when planning a presentation or training lesson and the way you actually approach the teaching with your learners.