Unit_2_Plannng_and_Enablin_Learning

Unit 2 Planning and enabling learning When teaching there are many factors which can need to be considered to gain the best results from your students. The 4 main areas I have researched are: * Negotiating with learners * Inclusive learning * Integrating functional skills * Communication The above all contribute to effective learning as I will outline below. Negotiating with learners As a teacher it is your job to gain the best from your students, this is done by: 1. Initial assessments The first stage in the process, this will help to create an interesting and relevant programme of study for the learner. From the assessment we will find out the learners personality, character and behaviour, we can measure attainment and identify potentials and skills gaps. Taking into account their abilities, attitudes and needs. An initial assessment should aid direction to the right course, help to remove any barriers, help learners to belong, inform others of their progress. They involve the students, parents, school teachers, careers advisors and employees. We can then devise a scheme of work and all the resources necessary. 2. Methods of assessment We can assess our learners by the use of written tools: Paper exercises (exams), questionnaires Application forms, References, Screening tests Ect Electronic tools Diagnostic screeners Learning styles questionnaires Psychometric tests Spoken tools Interviews Professional discussions Informal discussions Visual tools Observation Skills tests 3. When negotiating goals with your students you need to consider what the learner plans to achieve within the the course or period learning, we can set small targets to help them achieve their end goal. Most people arrive with the vision to: Gain qualifications to prepare for work or further education, Gain qualifications to accredit existing skills, To enhance or update skills Personal development or enrichment Inclusive learning In the 1970’s equal opportunities legislation come about and since then several revisions have taken place to reform the act. Inclution is designed to: * Motivate by celebrating success and inspiring learners, * Develop and maintain positive attitudes * Foster interest * Encourage reflection * Create positive relationships between learners and teachers * Use ILPs to plan and record progress. Amongst other things If inclusion is not effective it will: * Provide poor use of modern technologies to enhance learning * Offer a narrow range of teaching approaches * With hold development of functional skills * Lack adequate methods to collect data or feedback to develop learners or provision. Inclusion is about creating interesting, varied and inspiring learning opportunities for all learners; ensuring all learners contribute and are never disadvantaged by methods language or resources. When devising schemes to meet learner needs the teacher needs to consider the outcome of the initial assessment, this is usually done before the course has started and all requirements are implemented in the session and lesson plans. When devising a lesson plan you need to take into account learning styles and teaching styles which will bring the best out in your learners. We do this by adapting plans and modifying teaching and learning activities to meet the needs of of those in the group. Benjamin bloom (1913-1999) Blooms Taxonomy States that there are 3 domains of learning Cognitive (intellectual), Affective (attitudes and beliefs) and psychomotor ( physical skills) These skills are kept in the * Low order Skills kept in the short term or shallow memory, unable to transfere to every day life. Shallow learning. * High order The learner understands the skill and can apply it to different contexts in their day to day life, also known as deep learning. As a teacher we need to ensure every lesson includes methods which appeal to visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners, lessons follow beginning middle and end. The use of resources, appropriate accommodation and support will all increase the effectiveness of your teaching. Also when thinking of inclusive practice we must remember the Disability Discriminations Act (1995) making reasonable adaptations for the disabled in the community. We can measure the effectiveness of our practices by the use of feedback. Integrating functional skills Functional skills are the minimum core to learning they incorporate language literacy, numeracy and information communication technologies, into everyday learning. Literacy involves the knowledge and understanding, the importance of English language and literacy in enabling learners to participate in public life, society and the modern economy. English is the main learning disability and difficulty relating to language learning and skill development There are many minimum core standards the outcomes should ensure : * The learner makes appropriate choices in oral communication and can use spoken English effectively * Listen effectively – respond sensitively to contributions made by others * Interpret written texts- find and select from a range of reference material and source of information including the internet. * Communicate in the writing process- write fluently, legibly and accurately on a range of topics * Develop spelling and punctuation skills – use spelling and punctuation accurately to make meaning clear. Mathematics The learner must * Represent Make sense of the situation and represent it mathematically * Analyse Use maths to find results and solutions * Interpret Understand the results and choose appropriate ways to present the information * The learner is required to use Process skills, which means that you must be able to use maths in work and life situations. Maths such as: Multiplication, division, subtraction, fractions, logic , probability, calculus amongst others Information Communication Technology We integrate this skill into our lessons encourages the learner to * Explore information from various sources, showing they know that information exists in different forms, use ICT to work with text, images and sound to help them share their ideas. They recognise that many everyday devices respond to signals and instructions. The learner makes choices when using such devices to produce different outcomes. They talk about their use of ICT. * At a level 2 the learner will use ICT to organise and classify information and to present their findings. They enter, save and retrieve work. learners use ICT to help them generate, amend and record their work and share their ideas in different forms, including text, tables, images and sound. They plan and give instructions to make things happen and describe the effects. They use ICT to explore what happens in real and imaginary situations. They talk about their experiences of ICT both inside and outside school Communication As a teacher we need to communicate with our learners the more effective we can communicate the more our students will learn. There is a well known theory The Shanon and Weaver Model (1949) this basic model outlines all communicational needs: * An encoder – means of sending a message (speaking/ writing) * A message – some thing to say * A channel – a way of sending it * A decoder – a means or receiving (listening / reading) * A receiver –(the person the message is to) This is an effective model but not take into account other external variables. We need communication in everyday life for example * The work place * Teaching * Socially As a teacher we need to improve communication and check that our communication is effective we do this by: Watching peoples facial expressions, loss of attention, noise level rises and leaning back on seats. We can check our message is communicated by asking open questions, gathering feedback, recap asking for explanations and listening to conversations in group activities. (Pettty 2004) explains communication as a chain a of events What I mean- what I say – What they hear- what they understand, remembering this theory will help you to communicate effectively with your learners. Speaking and writing are not the only means of communication the other types of communication can be body language, uniform, email, colour coding and many other methods.