Enquiry Assignment

Currently, I am a Personal Care Instructional Aide for a nonverbal Down Syndrome student at West Hempfield Elementary. I work hand and hand with the special education teacher to devise lesson plans to suit the needs of my student. I am responsible for implementing the lesson plans one-on-one with my student in Language Arts, Mathematics, and social skills interactions daily. On a daily basis, I am also responsible for molding and shaping my student's behaviors and prompt when necessary. Working in the learning support room has taught me a variety of ways to incorporate differentiated instruction to suit the needs of all students. It has also shown me the type of teacher I should be, a teacher who adapts content to meet the needs of all learners and the importance of inclusion.

Schools employ and have teaching assistants, to again, create the best possible learning environment for the pupils. As a teaching assistant I will work as part of a team working to make the pupils learning journey, a successful one. I will attend staff meetings and continue to develop my skills through in-house training and other relevant courses. I will maintain and contribute to school policies and procedures, and work in partnership with parents and carers on behalf of the school.

Teaching Assistants or Learning Support Assistants – They complement the role of the Class Teacher and support learning for all pupils

Significant reforms have been made to the education system due to the demands of a fast changing and increasingly competitive global economy. The need to provide quality education that maximizes the potential of every child and raise standards of pupil performance has increased the demand for education assistants and broadened the range of responsibilities they perform. In the past, an education assistant’s role involved preparing materials for the classroom, childcare and pastoral care. However in today’s teaching environment, an education assistant is also required to support students with special needs, implement lesson plans, assess pupil progress, manage challenging behaviours and much more. It is important to note that many of these

As a teacher when delivering any lessons planned we have to make sure that each students individual needs are met, so they will feel included in the lesson. “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” Wilson (2008).

My role as a teaching assistant is to take on tasks such as preparing the classroom for lessons and clearing up afterwards, which allow the teacher to concentrate on teaching. To support pupils with particular individual needs, sometimes my role is to work one to one, while others work in small groups or work with one of these groups. The teacher is not able to give every pupil individual attention, assistants provide essential support to the pupils and the lead teacher. My responsibilities also include:

Teaching Assistant’s goal is to work with classroom teachers and support them and their responsibilities for the development and education of pupils, including pupils with special needs (physical, emotional, educational). Teaching assistant should be involved in the planning cycle and might contribute to it by providing ideas, materials and learning strategies for lessons, organising and managing learning experiences, recording the achievements and more. Teaching assistant should always make sure that she/he understands what the learning objectives of activities are and how the success of the activities is going to be measured. If teaching assistant has any concerns regarding the planning, he/she should share it with the teacher by giving constructive

For this assignment, I interview a service provider for special education services. The service provider I interviewed, takes part in the educational team, and provide services. The service provider is developmental therapist. I was able to develop a better sense of the importance of inclusion. After interviewing the service provider, and learning her philosophy of inclusion I have was able to better understand the accommodations and modifications for special needs students.

In the role of a teaching assistant, you will be contributing to planning, delivery and reviewing of learning activities alongside teachers. When planning takes place there should be some opportunity to discuss and review pupils’ work with teachers. Panning, teaching and reviewing follow a cycle which gives structure to the learning process.

The notion of inclusion is progressively being accepted as a vital method of learning in our growing school systems. I believe that every student, those with and without exceptionalities, have the right to be included in a general education classroom. Students with learning, social and behavioral exceptionalities or varied abilities deserve the right to be provided with the same opportunities as any other students in the regular general education classroom. The information that I have acquired through my own experiences (in my observations and my classes) have molded my goals as a future teacher. I believe that teaching and education are fundamental in getting students to grow, learn, and flourish;

Any organization or institution, including Local Authorities, health service providers, educational establishments, the police service, voluntary organizations and workplaces, that supports and promotes inclusion demonstrates that it values everything about the people involved within it. Inclusion nurtures a sense of well-being and of confidence in ones own identity and abilities. And it ensures that everyone can achieve their potential and take their rightful place in society. Research has shown that certain factors reduce the likelihood of developing a sense of belonging and living a happy and productive life. 1.1d Explain what is meant by Discrimination Discrimination is treating an individual unfairly because of their race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexuality or culture.

As a qualified level 3 practitioner I am responsible to fulfil my duties and work role to the best of my ability. In other words I always like to try to give my position my full attention and give it 100% of my time and dedication. I believe that this helps me to support the children in my reception class. I am always aware of the children within my setting that have SEN (Special Educational Needs) and try where I can to give them extra support although remembering the inclusive

This unit is an introduction to a key area of your course and will help you in maintaining an environment where all learners are included. The tasks provide some of the key information on current policy, theory and practice that you will be required to engage with through your course of study and professional practice.  Take a critical and evaluative attitude as you engage with each of these self-study tasks, annotating and keeping relevant notes which will later contribute towards your professional development profile. Bear in mind that the issues and strategies of inclusion are an

I believe the teachers group fit in the stage called belonging. The main goal of the need for inclusion is the inner drive to establish and maintain a satisfactory relationship with people with respect to interaction and association. For example, Lola who's a new teacher has a strong need to feel included in the group when she's sitting in the teachers room with her colleagues. She's anxious about being excluded and ignored as the teachers engage in conversation which she doesn't know how to join in. I think this is where she needs to feel important within the

While it is important to consider the attitudes of current teachers, it is also important to be informed of future teacher’s perception of inclusion because they will be the driving force of a school or classroom. Forlin and Chambers (2011) wanted to see the attitudes of pre-service teachers and their