Information on Additional Adults Working in Your Class 1

Information on additional adults working in your class

Name:
Professor:
Course:
Date:

Information on additional adults

working in your class/group
 Information on Additional Adults Working in Your Class 2

The teaching assistant in the class I am based in 2G- Helen is trained in supporting children
via Maths Factor, she takes out children from our classroom and year 1 and supports children
who find Maths a bit trickier. Maths Factors is an intervention to help children whose maths
age is lower than their chronological age. It is normally a six-week block of three sessions a
week (4-6 children). Activities Cover areas they do not understand in, so children are taken
out and are given activities to do this then leads to Maths Factor assessment where the teacher
observes and goes through the assessment with them and getting them to count backwards
etc.
Children who are struggling are tested using a diagnostic test to work out maths age and those
scoring below their chronological age are assessed using MF intervention – this links to the
numeracy part of the Foundation Phase Curriculum and children are retested using diagnostic
test to see if maths age has gone up. The teacher goes through an assessment sheet daily
which is filled in as she goes along. I have observed and been part of numerous Maths
Factors Intervention when I’m in on Thursday this shows me that most of the children were
below this age. Therefore, these children should be allowed to reach the required age so that
they don’t struggle in maths. The children who are above this age and they are still struggling
in mathematics are given the still given some activities which thy cannot do so that it can be
determined whether they have improved. (write something here)
However, there are numerous issues with this initiative for everyone as fitting maths factors
into timetable to release the TA for the intervention and there is a waiting list.
The positive success of the initiative is children can go back to class and leave intervention as
not needed anymore once chronological age is passed. This gives everyone a chance to go to
Maths Factor if they feel they are not doing so well (Xu et al.,2017, p.89).

Lucy who is the other teaching assistant in 2W, she has several interventions which she gets
taken out. I have observed a bit of her intervention.
 ELSA
Information on Additional Adults Working in Your Class 3

Talking partner is one intervention she does which is to help children develop their skills
orally who are lacking confidence or in speaking and listening. It is normally a 25 minutes
session delivered to small groups. Lucy has 2 groups and in one group she has 5 children and
in the other she has 4 children. Normally it is a ten-week block of session of three session a
week.
On a Thursday Morning I cover her so she can be taken out in the morning to do her
intervention, there has been days where I’ve joined her and observed that children enjoy
talking about their feelings and what they did yesterday etc. Children are in pairs or three
where they communicate with their partners.
Children who are struggling are mainly focused on this, parents can ask if their child can be
part of this initiative and so can the teacher.
This is a Literacy communication part of the Curriculum where children are assessed through
different measures this gives us a chance to see if they are progressing. Children are observed
and a daily assessment sheet is filled out so that the teacher may review it and know exactly
the number of the children who are struggling. Then more attention should be given to these
children and if they don’t show any sign of improvement then their parents should be actively
being involved. This will finally lead to the improvement of the children (Leighton et
al.,2015, p.78).
Main positive about this is that children will leave talking partners feeling a lot happier and
confident in what they have achieved. Maslow’s hierarchy needs have five-tier model of the
different human needs. These needs are the: the physiological needs, safety needs, love
needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. The self-actualization needs directly relate
to these children because it aims at enabling the children to realize their personal potential
and how they can perform in a certain test. This will also encourage the children to seek
personal growth and gain experiences and this will help to develop their language (Maslow et
al.,1987, p. 64).

Lucy also takes some children away for Handwriting Motorway this is where children who
have handwriting difficulties and are referred to specialist service such as Occupational
therapists who tend to receive high numbers of referrals (Byerly-Lamm et al.,2017, p.453).

There are more staff that work alongside our class this is the Emotional Literacy Support
Assistant (ELSA) which is to work with children who are struggling emotionally- reflected in
behaviour, anger, self-esteem, resilience, bereavements and social skills emotions. Children
are referred by teacher or parents, ELSA referral forms identify what area needs support.
 Information on Additional Adults Working in Your Class 4

Referral based on use of emotions, extreme

emotions. Regular upsets such as friendship issues.
The teaching assistant had explained to me that they use
a scaling chart to mark out how Children are doing.
The Foundation Phase Curriculum it leads to the PSHE-
wellbeing aspect. Pupil get feedback at beginning
and end of intervention, and teachers/parents can
observe as well from class/home. There are many
issues with ELSA as more children need support than
there is currently time to see. At times in my setting it is based on prioritising children and
there is a waiting list. ELSA is usually one-to-one where children go and talk about how they
are feeling and do activities. When I went with a little boy from my classroom the teaching
assistant asked if it would be okay if I could come along he said “yes, of course”. As you can
see below with these images it gives children a place to feel safe. We played a game ‘learning
from mistakes’ Child A does not like to get things wrong and is full of energy, we explained
to him that it is okay to get things wrong, the game helped him learn from his mistake, we
focused on how we were going to keep working at this in class and the teaching assistant had
mentioned to me to keep helping Child A to understand it’s okay to get a question wrong
because it helps us learn. The esteem needs according to the Maslow’s hierarchy needs
enables one to have more self esteem to oneself. This will in turn encourage the children to
achieve their goals more easily. The children will also have respect towards each other and
this will help them to relate well with each other and this will help to reduce anger. The third
tier in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the love and the belongingness. This will help to
bring about the friendship among the children and will bring acceptance the children which
will encourage acceptance.
 Information on Additional Adults Working in Your Class 5

References
Xu, X.W., 2018. Conviviality as a Principle in Natural and Social Realms. World Academy of
Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Architectural and
Environmental Engineering, 5(8).

Byerly-Lamm, K.R., 2017. The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on

Stress and Affect in a Community Wellness Group Sample (Doctoral dissertation, Union
Institute and University).

Leighton, M.K., 2015. ELSA: Accounts from Emotional Literacy Support Assistants
(Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield).

Network, E.L.S.A.,2016 ELSAs are Emotional Literacy Support Assistants. They are
teaching assistants who have received specific additional training from educational
psychologists from whom they receive on going supervision following training. Their role is
to support children and young people in school to understand and regulate their own emotions
whilst also respecting the feelings of those around them. The ELSA Network supports and
assists ELSAs in their valuable work, as well as helping area co-ordinators to publicise ELSA
....