Evaluate Learning Activities Essay

After any learning activity it is important to evaluate how the activity went. This is because it gives both the children and staff members a chance to reflect on the learning which has taken place and establish whether or not the learning objective was achieved. To evaluate effectively you should refer to the original learning objective to see what you set out to achieve and then reflect on the outcome and whether or not this outcome was satisfactory and that the targets you set have been met. In order to evaluate accurately you must be sure to make learning objectives very clear at the planning stage. This must be done in a way that ensures learners fully understand what the outcomes mean and the outcomes must be achievable for everyone in the group regardless of ability and within the time that you have available. The learning objective should be set out in a way which makes it easy for you to assess pupils against it. A good knowledge of the success criteria is also important when evaluating learning as children may not necessarily achieve the learning objective despite fully involving themselves in the lesson and showing real enthusiasm. Where this is the case you should record how hard the child worked and take a look at the reasons they did not meet the objective and see how you can help them the next time. The resources you have used also play an important part in how successful an activity is so you should evaluate the resources you used and whether or not they were used correctly and decide if there were other things you could have used that may have been more relevant and beneficial to that particular task. Continual assessment is important to monitor a Childs progress and while you should share the information with other teaching staff it is also important to share it with the child. This allows the child to share with you any concerns they have, things that they find difficult and things they enjoy which allows you to plan activities accordingly. It also gives you the chance to give them praise and encouragement by telling them which things they are doing really well at, how proud you are of what they have achieved and offer reassurance that they should not worry about things they find hard because you can do extra work on these areas and help them to understand. While it can sometimes be difficult to find time during the school day to give feedback to the teacher you must find a way to do this whether it is in a written report brief discussion or phone call. Not only do you need to report on the pupils progress and weaknesses you should also inform them of any difficulties you experience during an activity, such as disruptive pupils so that the problem can be addressed and resolved. It is important to be careful when giving feedback that while you are honest you are also tactful and do not lay blame for the activity on the teachers inadequate planning or the fact that the activity was not stimulating enough. The better the relationship you have with the teacher the easier it will be for you to put your point of view across and work well together to improve the learning environment and achieve better results. Always be positive when making your suggestions or giving feedback. Providing the teacher with feedback on the learner’s progress and participation can be done in various ways. If a child has not been participating you may just need to briefly mention it to the teacher and try and come up with strategies to help them get more involved in future activities. When a child is disruptive you can either discuss this with the teacher or make a written record of how the child was behaving, if you think there was anything that caused the behaviour, the effect it had on the rest of the group, how you tried to resolve the issue and manage the behaviour, whether you were successful in disciplining the child and what you think you could do to avoid the problem arising again. Hopefully the teacher will then respond and give you feedback on whether they have experienced similar problems with that child and how they dealt with it. Keeping records on how a child is progressing is also essential as it allows all staff involved to see which areas the child is ma king progress in and where they need to improve, it also lets everyone know the level that the child is at so that the appropriate level of work can be set. In order to support learning activities effectively it is important to reflect on what you have done and consider how you managed different activities. When an activity is finished you may feel disappointed with the outcome. Activities don’t always go to plan or achieve what you wanted them to and this can be for a variety of reasons When you feel that things didn’t work out the way you expected you have to reflect on the session and ask yourself how it went? Which aspects were you pleased with? What did not go as well as you planned? What would you change if you had to do the activity again? By doing this you can improve the way you plan activities which will benefit yourself and the children. To be able to effectively teach various areas of the curriculum you must ensure that your own knowledge of the subject is of a high standard and if you are out of practice and unsure of some subjects ask for help or update your qualifications. Many establishments provide refresher courses to bring Maths, English and ICT up to an acceptable level for working in a school setting. If you are unsure of a subject or a teaching method your uncertainty will be apparent to the children and your lack of knowledge will confuse them. You cannot possibly teach a child something you know nothing about so you should find out about the subject matter ahead of the lesson by doing some research. You should make sure you communicate with other members of staff to find out the strategies they use and information they pass on to the children so that they do not receive conflicting advice or information and become unsure of what they are supposed to be learning. While I feel that my basic English, Maths and ICT skills are at an acceptable level I realise that it has been quite some time since I studied them and intend to familiarise myself with the curriculum and strategies that schools at the present time use to educate the children so that I feel more confident in helping and advising the pupils that I work with. I intend to do this by accessing the resources the school uses and familiarising myself with them while also asking for advice from other teaching assistants.