3. We need a plan!

I have added some exatra thoughts regarding the plan to the list of resources on the front page of thi module folder.

Hi Folks, I'm starting to plan now and it feels much clearer now, hope you are finding things easier too. In our module guide it said we should answer some questions and share them with eachother (TASK 1B) so here goes this is where I've reached.

MORAG SCALLY

FOCUS/ TITLE - A critical evaluation of the impact PLLUSS has had on performing arts opportunities at Loddon School.

or if it needs to be more generic to be understood as a title :

A critical evaluation of the impact of a customised curriculum on performing arts.


This is evaluation of the curriculum as a research project. I will use Stake's Matrix as one of the basis for research.

TASK 1 B (from the module guide)

Questions:

What did the children do? -Before PLLUSS and now.

                                          - Look at physical attendance figures, attention and concentration, co-operation and my own checklist on the evaluation forms over the years.

How has learning changed / improved? - eg children can pick up concepts more easily, give examples and evidence

How has the teaching and expectations changed? - curriculum themed, SMART targets recorded, spider diagrams, prefered activities etc., teaching different target in one group, grouping similar preferences, learning from eachother, inclusive projects etc.

How have individual children developed? - case studies, eg Oliver, Mbulelo, Charlotte, Jason

What is the impact of this on performances at school? - end product, sharing achievements, tolerance, transferal of skills , whole school inclusion, involvement, a greater understanding of methods and achievements from outside as a result.

Why introduce personalised curriculum? - what was happening before PLLUSS, how it came about, what is the system?

What have teachers and support staff learnt? - interview / quesionaire teachers and support staff on changes.

How could this work develop in the future? developments and plans for the future.

Hunches / Hypothesis

PLLUSS has meant teachers need more time to plan activities,

Restrictive behaviours have decreased

Children attend more activities

It can appear that children do less than in a formal setting but participation is increased (need to pull out evidence)

The improvement can be shown through the cyclic loop of motivation and prefered activity with achievable targets

Support staff take more responsibility

The process of implementing PLLUSS has been similar to action enquiry / research

PLLUSS has had a positive impact on children's self esteem

We looked at why children can't do something found solutions and raised expectations of their achievements

Why are these questions and hypotheses important to me and the school?

Our personalised curriculum is dramatically different to anywhere else, we need to justify / prove it is effective to bodies such as LEA's, Ofsted, Social Services.

These questions help the whole school better understand the effects of what we are doing, it will consolidate our practice and help us to develop and improve our provision

Other schools can benefit from our learning and development through understanding it's effectiveness / how it works in practice.

What contextual information is important to bear in mind?

We are a residential school

Our children have autism and challenging behaviours


The RATIONALE for the research is to critically evaluate my own work and the effect PLLUSS has had on it.

It is also to consolidate knowledge I/we have to share with others.

LITERATURE REVIEW - School has information on personalised learning and behavioural support, please could you give any guidance on suitable further reading. Thanks

Thanks Morag

The focus will be at looking at what makes children want to write?
Am I able to give the children more skills in Reception by incorporating more structured writing activities than we have been currently doing? Looking at the impact of strategies we already incorporate. Incorporating different strategies and looking at the impact of those.
What exposure to children have with writing before they come to school? Do they see a need for writing?
As a result of discussion with the years 1 and 2 teachers who find it difficult to support children who are still in the early stages of writing, I want to see if I can put more in place early on, whether it makes a difference or not to help the children and teachers.
I am going to give the keystage 1 teachers a questionnaire to fill out to see what they are currently using to support children.
I am going to interview the children about writing to get their views.
I am going to focus on letter formation in particular with their names as this is the first stage.
I am going to use more hand written labels in the classroom as we use a lot of computer printed labels.
This is a snippet of what I will do.
The letters and sounds phonics programme we use supports letter formation but only as and when children can relate the sound to the grapheme and have the dexterity to form letters. I feel that this should be continued in year 1.
There are a range of different aspects included within these and I have already formalised my introduction, focus and overview plus my needs analysis which I am going to send to Sandra first.
I am emailing you my timeplan today.
Thanks Lorna

Questions might be:
Those that can be answered by research.
Those that can be answered by discussion and choice
These that can answered by literature and policy.
 

the research plan assumes that you are listing "those that can be answered by research.". Those that can be answered by discussion and choice and
These that can answered by literature and policy would be answered in the literature review, where you show your in dpeth knowledge.

Research:

There is an assumption on this programme that research is "field research" or "empirical research"
ie you are collecting data from the field

Hi Ian

Just to ask you whether you managed to open my plan which I sent you last week, as the first one couldn't be opened.

Thanks

No I dont think so

Well done for thsoe that have submitte a plan on the allotted day (2nd Nov)

The task is to carry on sharpening your ideas and focus. Some need to do a lot of work.


You have time to do the intro and context section, and to get some reading in

use google.

Use a list of "search words"

I am concerned about both focus of reading and writing the Literacy review as I am worried about focussing on the right authors or connecting with the right theorists. .I am researching Shirley Clarke. Ros Wilson, Pie Corbett and Roger Black. Do they sound Ok?
Thanks Lesley

Thanks for your feed back Ian. Here is my plan for everyone else...
1, What is the focus of your enquiry?
I am going to research the impact on the social behaviour of 3 children in my class after they have experienced the video modeling of social skills. I plan to show children pre-recorded examples of social behaviour and highlight positive behaviours. The children will then engage in role play and re-enact the social situations so they are able to learn positive behaviour strategies. Each child will have targets linked to social skills, and these will be the focus social skills for video modeling. Each child will be observed and summative assessments will be done before, during and after the three-month trial.

2, What questions are you trying to answer?
I want to find out how video modeling social skills effects the social behaviour of autistic children. Also, if combining both watching others promoting social skills on pre-recorded DVDs and then acting out these social skills on video for the children to watch teaches children to apply these to real situations. Most studies focus on one or the other so I want to see how combining the two effects the outcome.

3, What are your hypotheses or hunches?
I believe that video is a powerful medium for autistic children and will be a powerful teaching tool. I think that to engage children in multisensory learning, using visual, kinaesthetic and auditory approaches will engage the children on different levels. I am not completely sure if they will able to apply their knowlege and understanding to real life situations, so this will be the most revealing aspect to me.

4, Why are these questions and hypotheses important to you and your institution?
My school has an outreach service for autistic children and an already established social skills programme. However, there is nothing about the use of video modeling, so my research will hopefully enrich their current resources and mean that I can become actively involved with passing on my knowledge and understanding with collegues at my school and other schools.

5, What contextual information is important to bear in mind? (E.g. 'the school is single sex' or 'the children are year seven')
I teach in a Centre for Autism. All of the 35 children are fully statemented with a diagnosis of autism. There is only one female pupil. In my class of 8 boys, the children are a mixed Year 3/4 age range.

Thanks!

Hi Ian

I really do not know what to do about the plan. Did you manage to open the attachment that I've sent with the last e-mail ? Last year I did not have these sort of problems and I cannot understand what's wrong. I apologise with you for any inconvenience caused.

Thanks

hi Gemma

your plan sounds good. i did some work last year with video modelling as a way of including children with autism and challenging behaviours in opportunities they would otherwise not have been able to access.It was very successful in improving their understanding of expectation and giving them "rules" to follow. I'm happy to talk more with you about your project if you need to.

I'm looking at 2 case studies and evaluating the personalised curriculum - applied to performing arts with the same children.

Hi Morag

Big thanks for this and of course I would love to talk more about it. It will really help me to learn from your experience and adapt my plan to make sure that the outcomes are successful as possible. I am currently trying to focus in on a specific social skill as I don't want to be too broad. I need to assess my children first and identify an area of need which will help the most children.

Many thanks and kind regards

Gemma

Hi all

Does anyone know the parameters of the intro /focus/overview section? Instinct tells me to write in longhand the details in my research plan. But I might be well off target, please advise, fellow students if you know more.

Thanks Morag

Hi Morag,

I am a bit confused too mainly because I haven't received feedback about the plan yet, so I do not know how I should continue working on my focus. Despite this I am currently working on the needs section where I am looking at the school, local and national needs. In this section I am trying to focus on the question suggested to us on page 16 of the module guide "What is the school, local and national justification for this action enquiry ?"
As far as I have understood we have to submit this section by the 1st December, but I would be grateful if anyone could share ideas about this section.

Thanks
Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline

I've just started this bit and am going to look at writings on personalised learning and creativity at the heart of the curriculum

Good luck

Morag

Saturday was really useful both to focus and clarifing next steps. Thanks