Primary Teaching Assistants: Curriculum in context

Teaching Assistants are uniquely placed to support children’s involvement with learning. The role of those who work alongside teachers in the classroom has changed dramatically in recent years and teaching assistants are increasingly involved in planning, teaching and assessing all aspects of the curriculum. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and includes new chapters on learning in gardens, children’s play in virtual environments, specialist approaches for children with communication difficulties, the nature of learning at home, the place of poetry, child abuse, learning in a breakfast club, children’s spelling, and the importance of playtime. Exploring the issues that are central to fostering children’s learning, the book examines: strategies for supporting learning and assessment in English, maths and science inclusive and imaginative practices in all areas of learning home and community contexts for learning working practices which support professional development. Written for teaching assistants and also teachers, the book aims to enrich the contribution that teaching assistants, as team members, can make to children’s learning.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Children and the curriculum Introduction to Section 1 1. Play, playtime and playgrounds 2. Learning from errors and misconceptions 3. Why use ICT 4. Poetry: and everyday activity 5. What can teacers learn from the language that children use? 6. Watching and learning: the tools of assessment 7. The sensory garden 8. Constructivism and primary science 9. The case for primary science 10. Learning science Section 2: Contexts for learning Introduction to Section 2 11. Tadpoles in the willow garden 12. ICT and bilingual children 13. What is a ‘good’ book? 14. The effect of light and noise on pupils with Aspergers syndrome 15. School buildings: ‘A safe haven, not a prison’ 16. Joining Gabriel’s play 17. Grandparents and children’s learning 18. Learning at home is not like learning in school Section 3: Working together Introduction to Section 3 19. Children’s play in online virtual worlds 20. Supporting and enhancing primary mathematics 21. Reflections on bilingual practice 22. Enabling children’s creativity 23. Successful home-school projects in the UK 24. It’s hard being expected to work all the time 25. Developing pupils’ self-assessment skills Section 4: Perspectives and voices Introduction to Section 4 26. ‘Whoops, I forgot David’ 27. Child voice and cue cards 28. From one professional to another 29. Bangladeshi women and their children’s reading 30. Breaking the taboo 31. Common sense has much to learn from moonshine 32. Children and spelling 33. Learning in a breakfast club 34. Enriched Curriculum to the Foundation Stage Curriculum