4 Plan for practice

It’s time to plan how you will put your learning into practice.

Try one of these suggestions in your work over the next few weeks.

Suggestions for practice

In Activity 1 you explored some lesson scenarios and discussed the changes that could be made to the way teacher aides currently work in the classroom at your school to support student learning in the whole class. Together, you identified an action that you could implement immediately – try it out and reflect on the impact this change has had on the interactions that teachers’ and teacher aides’ have with your students.

In Activity 2, you considered the pluses, minuses and interesting features of teacher modelling in order to build teacher aide knowledge. Activity 4 also explored teacher modelling. Arrange for an in-class session where teachers model effective teaching strategies for teacher aides. Afterwards, meet and discuss the effectiveness of in-class modelling for building teacher aide knowledge.

In Activity 3, you looked at specific ways for teacher aides to scan, rove, listen in and support attention. Together, agree on one or two practices for teacher aides to try in the classroom.

In Activity 5, you considered teacher aide practices that inhibit or encourage learning. Together, select a practice or strategy that encourages learning for teacher aides to try in the classroom.

In Activity 6, you shared the plan for an upcoming lesson, which included what the teacher aide should watch, listen for and do in the lesson. Use this to guide your scanning, roving, listening in and supporting attention during the lesson and note the impact on student engagement and learning.