Questionnaire, graphing and analysis updating

1 What would you consider are the tools of the Art of Teaching and Learning?

 

 

 

 

Question 2

update

3 In your opinion, how does coming off timetable affect the learning?

4 During a lesson how often should additional support or input be given to support the learning? Taking into account independent learning

Thinking of cross-curricular learning and teaching, how often would you try and implement it during a lesson to improve the quality of the learning? The question was applied to different subject’s areas.

5 Do you think extra-curricular activities raises the status of the pupil?

 100% said yes to extra-curricular activities raises the status of the pupil whether it was in or outside school.

 

6 How does extra-curricular or projects get recorded to show improvement/progress in the chain line of learning?

Survey Monkey as an online tool was very useful and convenient. There are many free examples questionnaires and questions to use, as well as being able to create your own. To begin with I used the free version which enabled me to create the questionnaire and send it via email. When it came to retrieving the data, graphing and converting to excel, I paid the monthly fee which was very easy to cancel to stop any reoccurring payments. In my opinion if a business was regularly creating questionnaire/surveys then it is a useful tool to have as it saves time, however for a personal use and as a one off, it would be good if they had smaller weekly fees.

observation Grid, coding and field journal

In my opinion there are many ways an Observation Grid could be used, including assessing reception children in a natural environment and not in a formal testing environment. This would give a school a starting level in order to monitor progression without causing any stress to the child.

We also use traffic light highlighters for assesses planning E.G Green = successful, amber = partially worked and red = didn’t work or need to repeat, so I decided to use the traffic highlighter system in my field journal to help reflect.  

Afterschool projects and plans

Product Design– creativity project – a board game within a certain size
Year Group	Year 3/4	Overview of Lesson Focus		1hr Lesson
Resources Register Example board games/ideas Paper and pencils, rulers Squared boards, numbered dice and blank dice Arrange of playing pieces glue, square plastic bags, computers		Week 1	Introduce what they will be doing, show examples and brainstorming ideas etc… Use thinking hats Children to brainstorm ideas and start designing game.	10/15 min input Children decide to work on their own or pair Give further guidance and support to younger/LA children give  on the spot next step
		Week 2	Talk briefly about instructions of a game, use white hat for information. Talk about any problems they might be having. Children continue designing their game and start to consider/write their instructions.	10 min input give further support and guidance to individual/pairs of children give on the spot next step
National Curriculum update Spoken Language Ask questions and justify ideas, participate in discussions. Writing instructions,  audience adjectives(for cards) Problem solving, measure patterns Creative, drawing, exploring and evaluate ideas, prototypes and computer aided design.		Week 3	Introduce Publisher as a design tool, set a grid to size of game board, teach  a couple of tools within Publisher to group/club, children to decide whether to use publisher to design their final board or use paper and colouring pencils etc..	15/20 input Children use/experiment with publisher to design board game. give further support and guidance to individual/pairs of children Observe computer skills for in-action planning
		Week 4	Introduce Publisher’s free hand tool to children that would like to be able to freely draw on computer. Assess computer skills give guidance to children on their next steps and problems they are having. Recommend using paper for design if needed.	Children start straight away, continuing with their design and instructions. Give further support and guidance to individual/pairs of children. Some children should naturally start to plan their next steps
Thinking Hats/Questioning Use all thinking hats naturally apply What, why, how etc.. Develop more specific questions too.		Week 5	Talk about front cover and back design, show examples use thinking hats. Children to write/type up instructions neatly inside the front and back cover	10/15 input Children start to design cover and start to finish board game and instructions. Ask children to write their next steps
		Week 6	Children to finish board game, if time end with a plenary, talking about their game using thinking hats	Children to start straight away Give further support and guidance to individual/pairs of children
Use observation Grid, field journal, Draw and sketch; take photos of work for examples.  Fine tune if needed, print off work and put board games together and give to children.

Digital Media – creativity project - 3 min silent movie with some sound effects
Year Group	Year 5/6	Overview of Lesson Focus		1hr Lesson
Resources Register Cameras, computers and software for editing, etc… paper, post-it notes and pencils etc… Props and sound effects.		Week 1	Introduce what they will be doing,  show examples/history, 3 min movies etc… use Thinking Hats to talk about examples – children create a story board/script/plan using post-it  notes /stick on paper allowing for flexibility to move	10/15 min input and group discussion Children pair/group up. Children develop ideas and plan movie give next step
		Week 2	Talk about/show different types of camera shots, how to create basic effects using camera.  Use Thinking Hats. Children shoot/film following their story board/script/plan	5/10 min input. Children shoot movie independently (Observe to help with in-action/short term planning) give next step
National Curriculum Spoken Language, ask questions and justify ideas participate in discussions expressing feelings Problem solving, breaking down a series(film) into simple steps and fine film editing using precision maths. Creative, exploring ideas, historical development, digital devices, evaluating ideas etc…		Week 3	Use Thinking Hats to critically reflect with class on what they had filmed the week before.  Briefly demonstrate basic cutting and editing, depending on needs of group. Children start importing, cutting and editing their film they had shot the week before.	5/10 min Group discussion Children log on to computer and start import film/video to edit and cut etc… (Observe computer skills to see where children are at, how they work as a group etc… to help with in-action planning.
		Week 4	Children continue cutting and editing, reshoot elements if needed.  Give more guided input to individual groups, raise questions where needed. Children discuss their movie and ask questions	Children start straight away. Give guided support to individual groups.  Guided/independent learning (children should start to naturally plan their next steps)
Thinking Hats/Questioning Use all thinking hats naturally apply What, why, how etc.. Develop more specific questions too.		Week 5	Introduce basic sound effects; children learn to import sound effects add to their movie. Children continue cutting and editing, reshoot elements where required	5/10min  input on import sounds Then give guided support to individual groups.  Guided/independent learning
		Week 6	Finish Movie, adding title page, ending and any further text.Use Thinking Hats to talk about final movie. (Plenary)	Children start straight away, give individual guided support where needed end with final group/individual discussion
Use Observation Grid, field journal, Draw and sketch take snippet of movies/still shots for examples – When green screen software arrives run a one/two weeks extra session for children to get to use – software will benefit the school and other children in the long term.

Summary writing session with Paula

Met with Paula a couple weeks ago and we went over the following points below, which I found very useful. Paula has put tips and further information on her blog, additionally has a few links on her blog to help with summarising and critical writing etc...

 

• Overview of module 3
• Summarising
• Critical writing
• Bibliography
• Harvard Referencing
• Theorising

 

Inquiry Tools Discoveries, Questionnaire, observation grid and field Journal

Using a questionnaire as a inquiry tool

After having now used a questionnaire in a more live manor. I have found it not as simple as sending an email, if you are wanting a specific audience to answer it. It can be time consuming and can require costs, if you are looking for a good response rate. It is not just about the questions.

If you want the email to be specific to a school or personal E.G You want to use the Head Teacher's name, then you need to send the emails separately or use automatic devise that changes the name in the email for you.  Getting a Head Teacher to answer it can be quite challenging because at times the admin staff could be answering it or it could be detected as junk mail. 

If you want the Head Teachers interest then you may need to research the school or send an invitation by post or even by hand. Head Teachers are often interested in the welfare of their students, so a competition aimed at their students may help, but then you may need to consider any ethics there. Schools are often looking for raffle prizes, so donating a raffle prize may increase your return rate.

Personally none of  the above are really within my budget, even creating and adapting a questionnaire into a direct mail could be costly. So after sending many questionnaires and only getting a couple or so in return, I decided to expand to include Deputy Head Teachers and Teachers. I also decided to use my professional network of teachers on Facebook. I sent the questionnaires individually rather than publically because I still wanted a good form of sampling. This I found more affective and less time consuming.  So building a professional network of acquaintances/friends on Facebook can be quite useful.

Using an Observation Grid and Field Journal.

I decided to use a Observation Grid and Field Journal slightly different, because being a Teacher Assistant I aim often observing.  I wanted a natural environment, so any questions related to the project I was teaching and not to my inquiry. The observation grid related to my teaching and delivery (because this is something I wanted to improve on), considering my inquiry project and leading to my specialism. I was the main participant and I wanted to improve my practice. I found the Observation Grid and field Journal helped me to reflect, thinking about the creativity and what was happening as well as some of the literature I had already read and previous experience.

The coding system I used which is an extension to the marking symbols we use at work, is something I could in future use to monitor how often a child was getting things right, engaged and making progress. This could help pick out a child that was coasting along or even be used as an assessment to compare to a test.  It is possible to put the results into a graph. The graph/assessment could support the progress a child is making if they underachieve in a test or a test doesn't demonstrate progress which could be caused by many reasons.

I think using an Observation Grid and Field Journal, is something I would recommend. This is something I will probably continue to develop using when doing a PGCE.

Literature review - National Curriculum extract review

Overview of the structure of the National Curriculum

The document sets out the framework for the national curriculum. It gives the overall school curriculum and the statutory national curriculum. It also gives statements on inclusion and development of pupils. It also quotes 'competence in numeracy and mathematics, language and literacy across the school curriculum'.

It also important to understand the different schools and how the curriculum affects them.

'Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based' 

• Primary teaching - is more broad, although a teacher can specialise in specific areas of the curriculum or learning etc...
• Secondary teaching - teacher normally have a depth knowledge of a specific subject area etc..

Prepare pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of later life and promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural..... as quoted in the national curriculum.

The national curriculum forms one part of the school curriculum. It also states there is time in the school day and in each week, term and year to go beyond the national curriculum specifications.
                           
Maintained schools are required to follow the statutory curriculum. Schools are free to include other subjects and topics. All schools must publish their curriculum online.

Pupils of compulsory school age in Community and foundation schools, including special community and special foundation schools and in voluntary aided and voluntary controlled must follow the national curriculum.

• community schools, controlled by the local council and not influenced by business or religious  groups
• foundation schools, with more freedom to change the way they do things than community schools
• academies, run by a governing body, independent from the local council - they can follow a different curriculum (although they still maybe guided by the national curriculum)

Quoted on the https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/overview website.

Academies are also required to offer a broad and balanced curriculum, in accordance with the section 1 of the 2010 Academies Act. 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/32/section/1

 My current school, is a primary school Academy so the act applies to my school.

                   
Inclusion ...national curriculum.... page 9

• Setting suitable challenges 
• Responding to pupils needs and overcoming potential barriers for individuals or groups of pupils.

The curriculum is organised into twelve subjects, split into core and foundation subjects. Schools can choose how they organise their day.

In my opinion it is important to understand the structure of a product or the rules of the game in order to allow for further creativity within the structure and to utilizes the strengths within the creativity.
                                                                                                                                      

Numeracy and mathematics 'every relevant subject to develop pupils' mathematical fluency numeracy and mathematical reasoning in all subjects Language and literacy spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject Science Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world's future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of knowledge, methods, processes and of science. Pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Aims   develops scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquires that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future

Art & Design Aims creative work, exploring their ideas proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques evaluate and analyse creative works using a language of art, craft and design know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and culture development of their art forms. Computing Computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the word. linked to science, mathematics and design an technology. provides insights into both natural and artificial systems principles of information and computation to create programs active participants in a digital world Aims can understand and apply the fundamentals principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation. can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme study, as quoted in the National Curriculum Design & Technology : is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Creative and imagination : requires a broad range subject knowledge, and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Aims develop the creative technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-equality prototypes and products for a wide range of users critique, evaluate and test their ideas products and the work of others. understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook Attainment targets By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and relevant programme study.

Other subjects

At KS1 and KS2 children are also taught the following subjects.

Geography, History, Languages, Music, Physical Education and Religious Education. 

As a teacher a abroad range of knowledge is often required, but more importantly in my opinion maybe a need to learn, adapt or research when required, the ability to develop the use of questioning and some understanding of how we learn. You are always at some point during your time teaching in a primary school, going to be teaching area that you maybe unfamiliar with, and it is your job as a teacher to know your strength and weaknesses, to know when you need to research or get the support to a learn a topic if needed. The curriculum often changes, schools and year groups are different.


Review

The National Curriculum is a framework, as previously mentioned. The statutory requirements, that includes inclusion and development of pupils, a curriculum that is balanced and broadly based. 'Preparing pupils at school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of later life, and promotes spiritual, moral and cultural etc...' This in theory is the ethos and ethics of the curriculum, which gives the curriculum foundation and room for growth and development.

However many people may argue what is considered to be preparing pupils for later life or what is a positive attitude towards spiritual, moral and cultural etc... Then you need to consider what in real terms is practical or affordable as this could impact on teachers and their wellbeing, which may lead to teachers striking or problems in schools.

The National Curriculum also only forms 'one part' of the school curriculum as quoted in the curriculum. It also states as previously said above, there is time in school day, in each week and year to go beyond the national curriculum specifications, which I do believe in many primary schools is true. However what is not considered is the extra time preparing for the other activities and some lessons which goes beyond the school day.  But what it does says is, schools can 'choose' how they organise their day, so there is room for flexibility but this depends on a schools budget and time.

Numeracy/Maths and Literacy/English should be integrated across all subjects. Creativity is important within the National Curriculum and there is room to be creative within it, developing thinking skills, exploring ideas and giving learning a sense of purpose at a primary level. However training maybe needed within some schools to implement parts of the new computer curriculum, which would have some impact on budgets.

The curriculum gives a foundation to learning, to which one can build on at a primary level, but this depends on circumstances how it is perceived.

Inquiry Tools and research, brief update

Both after school projects have started well and I have started to send out Questionnaires to Head Teacher's.

Below is a blank Observation grid that I am currently using for the after school projects. The grid is focusing on my delivery and planning, so I am indirectly observing myself, making me the main participant. (update - link analysis) I am also using my reflection journal. I will have 12 of these completed by the end of the after school projects. Six for each project.

 

The questionnaire is a little creative so I have taken an element of risk. At the moment I have sent it out with a formal cover letter, introducing myself, explaining about my inquiry, ethics and where the information would be going. I am currently focusing on my borough, but may extended to other boroughs or schools that run IPC depending on response. I also may send a less formal follow up or even as direct mail. The biggest problem I feel I may have to begin with is getting pass the admin staff and getting the Head Teacher to read it. However it is early days, and I have already received some responses.  I would like about 20 to 25 respond responds make to give me a good sample of data, so I am prepared to expand the focus group to teachers if needed.

(add example of questionnaire)

In addition, I have started to focus my literature reviews in line with my development and the area I would like to specialise in Primary Education. These will also support my inquiry/projects and primary research.

Having looked at the new National Curriculum more and IPC (projects), I realised my project/inquiry will be a platform to which I will continue to build on and develop. I personally like the new National curriculum and the IPC Projects, I think the creativity within it is suits my skills and creativity. But as a result of flicking through some of the IPC projects, I think some of the IPC projects may need updating to meet the demands of the new computer curriculum. However I will have to have better look at the IPC projects.  I think my skills are nearly there to meet the computer curriculum, however it has made me aware of what computer skills I may need to develop and learn.