TEACHING ASSISTANT

Teaching Assistant

Teaching Assistant

The Learning Environment

Organizing and maintaining the classroom environment

This unit is designed to help the Teaching Assistant think about important features of the classroom environment and ways that they can contribute to making a positive and effective classroom environment.

Goals of a quality learning environment

The learning environment can either support or detract from the efforts of the teacher, the teaching assistant and the pupils. When making decisions regarding the learning environment it may be helpful for the teaching assistant to keep in mind what it is that is being promoted. The goals of a quality learning environment should include to:

Maximize learning

Create a safe and positive environment

Minimize behavior problems

When teachers and teaching assistants consciously develop a plan for setting up the classroom and consistently apply that plan, classrooms become more effective. Effective classroom organization maximizes the time spent on teaching and learning experiences.

Effective classroom organization and maintenance

Teaching assistants working in any type of school setting, whether they are employed to support an individual pupil, a group of pupils a class, a subject or year group, should contribute to maintaining an effective learning environment. This may involve some or all of the following duties;

Keeping classroom resources in good order.

Assisting in preparation of resources before lessons and tidying afterwards.

Cleaning and ensuring the classroom is tidy.

Repairing and maintaining apparatus and resources.

Assisting in the presentation of work and display areas

Effective classroom organization and maintenance

Social and Emotional Development

Social Development - The child's identity, their relationship with others, and understanding their place within a social environment.

Emotional Development - A Child increasing awareness and control of their feelings and how they react to these feelings in a given situation.

Various terms are used to describe social and emotional aspects of learning including personal and social development, emotional literacy, emotional intelligence, and social and emotional competence and social, emotional and behavioral skills. There are five broad social and emotional areas of learning:

Self-awareness

Managing feelings

Motivation

Empathy

Social skills

Supporting Pupils with Special Educational Needs

Pupils with special educational needs are pupils whose outstanding talent, learning or behavioral difficulties, health problems, disabilities or long-term absence from studies creates the need to make changes or adaptations in the content of studies, the study processes or the learning environment (study aids, classrooms, language of communication, incl. alternative communications, specially trained teachers, support staff, etc.), or in the work plan prepared by the teacher for work with the relevant class.

Children with special needs have the right to learn in schools of their residence like all other children.

The task of schools is to involve pupils in the study process and adapt the learning environment in such a manner that every pupil would be able to learn according to their abilities and to develop their abilities to the maximum.

Disabled children or children who need special care have the right to study in the nearest school that complies with requirements if the school of their residence does not have the possibilities and conditions for accommodating children with special needs.

Pupils in Estonian schools can study on the basis of different ...