Professional Learning Log Trainee name: Andrew Adamski School name: Cedar Mount Academy Please give brief overview of school context here Cedar Mount Academy is part of a larger group of academies lead by Bright Futures Education Trust. It joined Bright Futures early on in its inception and has taken on outstanding teachers, including a few from Altrincham School for Girls, the trust’s lead school. It has a rich and culturally diverse student body of over 600 students, many of whom speak English as a second language. There are 26 other languages spoken by 42% of the students at the school, including Romanian, Polish, Urdu, Czech, Somali, and Arabic, to name a few. Of the student body, 71% of the population are entitled to a pupil premium, compared to the national average of just under 27%. The school offers Spanish as a Modern Foreign Language. Date Key Activities Year Data Reading 6.1.14 Lesson Observations: MFL and ESOL Years 7 and 8 Lesson observation notes Chambers, G. (2012). Transition in modern languages from primary to secondary school: The challenge of change, The Language Learning Journal 7.1.14 Lesson Observations: MFL and ESOL Mixed years; Year 7 and 9 Lesson observation notes Hunt, M. et al. (2007). Moving on: The challenges for foreign language learning on transition from primary to secondary Comments/Key Reflections and Observations Today’s observations have given me a more general idea of the makeup of the school and how MFLs and ESOL are taught. I have observed 3 MFL lessons and have gained a better picture of what is accomplished at this level and therefore, what is needed in preparing students for their move from primary to secondary school. Lesson observations in my MFL journal give an indication of this. Also see lesson observation and reflection attached. Today I continued with my observations of MFLs and ESOL. I was able to gain an even deeper insight into strategies used and followed this up with school 8.1.14 9.1.14 Lesson observations: English and Maths Year 11 and 7 Lesson observation notes Topping, K. (2011). Primary-secondary transition: Differences between teachers’ and children’s perceptions, Improving schools Lesson observations: MFL and Science Years 7, 8, and 9 Lesson observation notes Languages PoS for key stages 1 and 2. Lesson plan and materials for Group Lesson taught Pupil and teacher interview questions EAL research relating to transition between the levels. Evidence of this is attached in “What Practitioners Need to Know about Transition.” Today I moved beyond observing languages to observing Maths and English. I notice the pedagogy when teaching Maths was different from what I observed at the primary level; there was more autonomy given to the pupil and less teacher-lead questioning and answering. It was very much: here is the method, now use it to do exercises in the book while I come around and help. The teaching of English for year 7 did seem similar to what I observed in year 6, other than the obvious timetabling differences. Lesson observations in my MFL journal give an indication of this. Also see lesson observation and reflection attached. Research done regarding transition of core subjects can be seen in the attached, “What Practitioners Need to Know about Transition.” Today I again observed MFLs and had the opportunity to team teach part of the lesson with two of my classmates. The interactive nature of our portion of the lesson was well received and that pupils where able to show progress. We also had the opportunity to interview the pupils to find out how they felt about the transition of language learning between year 6 and 7. The pupils I interviewed remained coordinator interview questions positive about their primary school experience and said it help them in secondary. We managed to interview the class teacher as well and gained valuable information about transition. After MFL, we had the opportunity to observe year 8 Science. I was surprised at first to find out that they were covering what consisted of part of the primary curriculum. It soon became clear, however, that due to the high level of recent immigrants who speak English as a second language, the students often struggle with the academic language needed to discuss science. We had a conversation with the class teacher who informed us that pupils needed to be well supported with vocabulary and the ESOL classes provided to be able to show what they know and show signs of improvement. Following Science, we had a conversation with the Head of EAL, Andrea Jackson, who gave us valuable insight about various measures the school has put into place to ensure that EAL pupils get acclimated and get further support in and outside of the classroom. Evidence of observations, lesson taught, questions asked to the pupils and class teacher of MFL, and conversation with EAL coordinator can be found in my MFL journal. Evidence of questions with pupils and teacher are also attached. Further reflections on programmes of study are also attached. Your final log is likely to be longer than a single sheet of A4. Please submit it electronically in WORD, not pdf or other format to angela.mclachlan@manchester.ac.uk by Monday 20 January. Please only send the log, not this entire document. This log replaces Reflection Point 6 ie you do not complete Reflection Point 6 via Turnitin. You may prefer to note your KEY REFLECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS in your Exploring Real World Primary Languages journal – please note the relevant page numbers in the column Now turn to Page 2 for some general information and a learning activity outline; related materials are available on BB in the KS3 Enrichment folder Observing Experienced Practitioners & Observation foci Observation 1 – Spanish Year 8 Attendence/Review/Starter: Powerpoint up on IWB including: Title: Mi Pasta/my money Key Words: Cognate, el dinero, and recibir (English translations used) Review Questions: 1. What currency do they use in Spain? 2. What does the work ‘plata’ mean? 3. Do you think you people in Spain receive pocket money? When taking the register, teacher get pupils to say a word a word of their choice in Spanish as a response. Teacher reviews what was covered in a previous lesson by asking questions related to PP. Teacher introduces objective for today: 1. Know numbers 1-100 2. Information about pocket money 1st task: Put the numbers in the correct order, starting with the smallest: Noventa, Viente, Cuarenta, CIncuenta, Diez, Setenta….etc. to Cien. 3 minutes put on the clock. The teacher sets the task and the timer and they continue on their own to complete the activity in their notebook. The teacher then checks their work by asking for feedback as a class. 2nd Task: Bingo: Pick 3 numbers and write them out in Spanish on mini-whiteboards. The students now have to recall the spelling of the words and write them out. The teacher calls them out in Spanish and the pupils cross out the numbers if they have them. If a pupil has all three, they say them out loud and the class checks. This activity gives them practice with writing, listening and speaking. 3rd Task: Find the translations for these questions around the room. Recibes dinero de tus padres? Con que frecuencia recibes dinero? Cuanto dinero recibes? Trabajas para ganar dinero? Piensas que en importantes tener tu propio dinero? The pupils write the questions in Spanish in their notebooks and look for the English translations around the room. They use commonalities between the languages such as cognates to help them with the matching, which they find challenging.. Once completd, the teacher asks for repetition of the answers. 4th Task: Throw and catch the object. As you throw it, ask a question in Spanish, when you catch it, say the translation in English and then answer in Spanish. Repeat! The students do this activity as a class, which allows them to take what they have read and written in the previous activity and begin to listen to it and speak it. While the students are involved in the activity, the teacher encourages them to look at a PowerPoint slide that asks them to self-assess their ability. They must ask themselves in Spanish: Si, yo puedo, Puedo con ayudar, or No puedo 5th task: Unjumble the boxes of sentences written in English and find the correct Spanish translation. e.g. Recibo mi dinero de mis padres cuando lo necesito. Tambien gano dinero porque reparto los periodicos. my pocket money I receive from when my parents I need it. Deliver papers money I also earn because I This activity introduces more vocabulary for them to learn, such as gano. This activity introduces more challenging sentences and takes reading and writing about money to a higher level. The teacher check the answers and the lesson time has run out. Other aspects of the lesson to note: Behaviour Management System: C system (consequences): first warning, final warning, detention Rewards: name gets put on board and gets ticks. R1-credits, stamps, verbal praise R2Credits, recommended to form tutor, teacher postcard home R3-House Form star, subject star, R4-acadamy star, 100 attendance award. Feedback from teacher: Teacher checks the work in their books and uses it to inform the next lesson. PROFORMA PS2 ANALYSIS OF LESSON OBSERVATIONS FOCUS Reflect upon the extent of the subject knowledge required to teach the lesson. You may need to refer to the National Curriculum requirements. ANALYSIS of LESSON OBSERVATIONS Reflect upon the children’s learning and acquisition of new skills– was there evidence of prior knowledge drawn upon and links to other curriculum areas and the wider learning environment It is clear from this lesson that the pupils covered money in the previous lesson. However, the pupils were asked to take this a step further by learning some questions related to money and asking and answering these questions. By doing this, the pupils were now working on not only improving their receptive skills, but also their productive skills. The pupils were also introduced to new vocabulary brought up in the context of the activities. To teach this lesson, it is important to understand a lower-intermediate level of Spanish related to the topic of money and to know numbers 10 to 100 in 10s. Most of the activities involved reading and writing, which require the teacher to know spelling and grammar related to the topic. Some of the lesson included speaking and listening, so an acceptable pronunciation of the vocabulary words used, including to spend, to earn, is also needed. Reflect upon the extent to As the work was not differentiated, this lesson seemed to be easy for which all children were some, a challenge for others, and too difficult for a few, though it should included and the scope be noted that it is hard to tell whether the few that found it too difficult for the ECM outcomes to really tried. There was some differentiation by outcome, when pupils be addressed who responded to questions were able to give either one word responses or full sentence answers. Identify a development I like the way the teacher introduced questions to ask before having the point based on what you pupils use them in a speaking activity. By going around the room and have seen that you could finding the translations, and then writing them down, the students had to use to improve your own dissect the Spanish language and find the commonalities between it and teaching. English. This made them more aware of questions and how they are constructed in Spanish before going on to actually ask them. This was also a very kinesthetic way learning. There is one thing I would consider changing about the activity. I wonder if it would be better to get the students to write a question on their own as a next stage of the lesson. It is one thing to say something you memorized, but another to come up with an original question in a foreign language. I think that this is an essential step to building fluency in a language; it is important to move from a controlled activity to something freer in order to give pupils the chance to create a conversation instead of just reproducing one. Observation 8: English Year 7 Class started with a starter before finishing the end of yesterday’s lesson. New lesson: Learning Objective: To be able to complete spy profiles using creative vocabulary and language features. Yesterday’s Starter: Adjective challenge! Think of as many adjectives as you can to describe secret agents and spies? Today’s Starter: Sentence challenge! Using your adjectives from the last lesson, can you create an interesting sentence? Think about how you could start the sentence and what punctuation you could use. Starter: Teacher asks for examples of introductions to stories they wrote during the last lesson. She then gets the pupil to write a new sentence using the instructions from the starter. e.g. “Quickly and quietly, the sneaky spy walked down the corridor….” Final Stage: Teacher provides model on IWB of her personal profile and reminds them to finish theirs. Included on the IWB are success criteria they need to include: Facts, Opinions, Alliteration, List of Three (3 different words to describe a noun), Adjectives, Good punctuation. Teacher tells pupils that they have 10 mins to finish. Are pupils engaged? Pupils seem to be keen on what is covered in the lesson. When asked about success criteria, they give a clear description and are more then happy to share their answers. One pupils was struggling to come up with ideas but with support, got on with her work. Teacher gets students to share some details of their stories with the class . My thoughts on differentiation: Teacher gives extra work for pupils who have finished first. Is this differentiation? Pupils may have finished first but may not have tried as hard or produced good work. How do you differentiate in creative writing? Is it by outcome? Surely each pupil will produce work specific to them and it’s up to the teacher to check their work and see if they have progressed from prior learning. Perhaps the pupil who was struggling could have been given some words to get them started. But would this help of inhibit creativity? When I asked the teacher about differentiations, this is what she said: They pupils are placed in 3 different groups according to ability. The work is differentiated by outcome. For example, during this lesson, the pupils in the lower ability group are expected to produce 2 adjectives per noun while students in the higher ability group are expected to produce 3. PROFORMA PS2 ANALYSIS OF LESSON OBSERVATIONS FOCUS Reflect upon the extent of the subject knowledge required to teach the lesson. You may need to refer to the National ANALYSIS of LESSON OBSERVATIONS Firstly, it is necessary for teachers to have a firm grasp of the English language, including a range of descriptive vocabulary to help provide pupils with good examples. It is also necessary to understand English grammar. Next, teachers must be able to understand other elements that make writing better, such as the rule of threes and alliteration. Finally, teachers must have an understanding of how to structure writing, such as profiles, in a constructive way. Teachers must be able to get this information across to students clearly and diligently. Curriculum requirements. Reflect upon the children’s learning and acquisition of new skills– was there evidence of prior knowledge drawn upon and links to other curriculum areas and the wider learning environment The children had started this task during the previous lesson. Though they are aware of all that is expected of them, and “know” all the information presented to them, the real challenge for them is to extend their creativity. Some students were doing so quickly and coming up with good work while other students struggled. However, with assistance, and support through questions and effective elicitation, struggling students were able to come up with original ideas which meant they were meeting the objective. The prior knowledge they were drawing was what was discussed last lesson, including elements that make good creative writing including writing adjectives in threes, alliteration and a mixture of both fact and opinion. Reflect upon the extent to which all children were included and the scope for the ECM outcomes to be addressed All children were included as all children were able to accomplish this task through differentiated outcomes. Their teacher knew what each student was capable of so knew what they should be producing to take their learning further. For example, during this lesson, the pupils in the lower ability group were expected to produce 2 adjectives per noun while students in the higher ability group were expected to produce 3. Identify a development point based on what you have seen that you could use to improve your own teaching. This and the previous lesson were well structured and scaffolded. When teaching a lesson on writing profiles, or any creative writing, I could use the same steps to get strong outcomes. For example, for a lesson on personal profile, I could do the following. I could start by having students predict the personal profile of a famous spy, like James Bond, to get them to come up with what a personal profile might look like. I could then get them to brainstorm some creative adjectives that could be used to write about a spy. Next, I could get them to imagine that they were spies and have them think about things they might do. Then I could give them an example of my own spy profile. Finally, I could take this profile away so that they don’t copy my model and get them to write their own profiles about spies. Mapping progression in learning: reflecting on Programmes of Study KS2-3 Languages PoS Key progression points While the purpose of study and that aims of language learning are identical across KS2 and KS3 in the languages programmes of study, the subject content shows two distinct levels of progression. In KS2, students are expected to express ideas, facts, and feelings related to ‘familiar and routine matters’ in order to lay the foundation for KS3. In KS3 students are expected to take what they have learned from KS2 and begin to build on core skills to express personal and factual information that is ‘beyond their immediate needs and interests.’ This takes pupils beyond the everyday uses of the language, like shopping, or saying daily routines, to having to converse on subjects that are not discussed on a regular basis for the average person. While students are expected to learn basic reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in both key stages, the vocabulary and grammar used should show an obvious progression. In KS2, though pupils are expected to express both facts and opinions, they are only expected to use familiar vocabulary and basic language structures to do so. In KS3, however, pupils are expected to speak in a more spontaneous and fluent way, through the use of present, past and future tenses and other tenses needed to express voices and moods. The linguistic competence expectations of KS3 move pupils further beyond the familiar, raising expectations that pupils should be able to cope ‘with unfamiliar languages and unexpected responses’. What children need to know and be confident with in Year 7 To be confident in year 7, pupils should know the basics of any language. That is, how the basic grammar works for any target language and how important it is to constantly build up vocabulary. They should get to the point where they are able to put these elements of language together to express basic ideas that are routinely used. Even if the pupils are starting a new language in Year 7, they should have this knowledge of what is needed to speak a language and have developed skills of acquiring what is needed through group and independent study. How to bring Year 7 learning into the Year 6 classroom including pplying what they know in a variety of contexts. For pupils to be prepared for Year 7 learning, they need to be exposed to the pedagogy common in secondary school. This means that pupils need to learn greater independent study skills through using dictionaries and the internet for support. They should become independent in their learning of vocabulary they feel they might need to express more complex ideas. The pupils also need to be given more opportunity to express themself in a freer context. This means moving beyond just memorizing phrases that they then repeat to having activities where a variety responses may be required. The pupils must learn to become spontaneous with their use of the language and increase their recall speed. What do practitioners need to know about transition? Transition from primary to secondary school can be a challenge for students for a whole host of reasons. The social climate of the school, the change into subject specific classrooms, the increase in autonomy, and the change in the way each subject is taught all have an effect. This essay will look specifically at how this transition is handled in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and core subjects in both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 by teachers and schools. Transition of MFLs When it comes to MFLs, there is strong evidence that transition problems have existed for some time, not only in Britain, but all across Europe and the United States. One of the chief reasons for this is that pupils do not have adequate exposure to languages at primary; pupils are not prepared for secondary because they have not learned much. This can be attributed to not having appropriate staffing, priority given to core subjects over languages and a lack of policy in schools. Problems with staffing vary depending on who is chosen by a school to teach MFLs in primary. According to Gary Chambers (2012), one of these problems is “often associated with a specialist MFL teacher, often from a local secondary school but lacking expertise in teaching of primary-school-age-children.” Other schools hire on native speakers who, despite the obvious benefits, lack the teaching skills need for effective learning. Still, many schools face the opposite problem: class teachers who lack the competence and confidence to speak a foreign language in the classroom. Even if a school has competent MFL teachers, languages in primary schools are often put well below other subjects in importance, especially Maths and English. It is hard for effective language learning to occur with so little time dedicated to it. It is even harder when this limited time can be pushed aside for other priorities. When there is a lack of policy to encourage the teaching of the language, it is often one of the first to be rejected. This is not to say that there are no schools where languages are effectively taught in primary schools. However, even with the school’s support of languages and effective teachers, a lack of communication between primary and secondary schools can lead ineffective transition. This is not something that is exclusive to languages. Pupils’ attainment in all subjects can often level off or worse in the process; this problem is largely due to curriculum continuity (Maurice Galton et al. 1999). It is understandable that, due to staffing availability, the language learned in primary could be different from what is learned in secondary. It is often hard to get around that fact, and some would argue the greatest benefit of learning a language is developing language-learning skills, with the actually attaining of a language being secondary. However, even when the same language is taught in both schools, with a lack of communication between schools, there can be a negative impact on students. According to Allison Bolster (2009), when the language scheme of work from primary informs the scheme of work in secondary, students are motivated by progression in their abilities. However, when a secondary school decides its own starting point for a scheme of work, it is often below the students’ ability. The result is they are not sufficiently challenged and motivation is lost. A lack of communication between primary and secondary schools is often the result of a lack of planning in place for managing the transition and a lack of time to prepare for the transition. Where there is no clear government guidance in place, schools may make varying efforts, and apply their own strategies, but without cooperation and agreed strategies of all schools involved, efforts often fall flat. There are groups of schools that are successful with transition and it is up to us as teachers and MFL specialists to encourage this in our schools. Transitions in Core Subjects Despite there being greater communication between primary and secondary schools about pupils’ attainment in core subjects, they too often suffer during this transition. Research indicates a variety of reasons for this. One major reason is the timetabling difference between the levels. Students were shown to have a positive response to the flexibility of the primary school day. They subsequently found it difficult to adjust to the secondary timetable, both due to shorter lesson times and the order of subjects throughout the day (Jane Tobbell, 2003). Another reason is the difference in pedagogy experienced in the transition. Students found it hard to adjust from a more open, student-centred approach found in primary schools, to a more authoritarian, teachercentred approach. (Carol Midgley et al., 1989). No matter what the subject, it is absolutely essential that there is effective communication between primary and secondary schools. As can be noted from looking at the transition of all subjects, this communication needs to go beyond just sharing pupils’ attainment; there needs to be communication between schools about the pedagogy used at both levels, with the sharing of approaches to teaching various subjects. This can help ensure that pupils experience a smoother transition of their school experience as a whole. Bolster, A. (2009). Continuity or a fresh start? A case study of motivation in MFL at transition, KS2–3. The Language Learning Journal 37, no. 2: 233–54. Chambers, G. (2012). Transition in modern languages from primary to secondary school: The challenge of change, The Language Learning Journal, available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2012.708052, accessed January 2014. Galton, M., L. Hargreaves, C. Comber, T. Pell and D. Wall (1999). Inside the Primary Classroom: 20 years on. London: Routledge. Midgley C, Feldlaufer H and Eccles JS (1989). Student/teacher relations and attitudes toward mathematics before and after the transition to junior high school. Child Development 60: 981– 992. Tobbell J (2003). Students’ experiences of the transition from primary to secondary school. Educational and Child Psychology 20(4): 4–14. Key Questions for Students Rachel Do you enjoy learning languages? All of the children said yes and were keen to talk about them. What do you enjoy the most? The children agreed that the fun activities and games that they get to do were the best part. Least? They didn’t like the tests they have to do because they are not fun and can be hard. Nahuel Would you like to have Spanish more often? Why? Mixed responses: Most would prefer more engaging approaches i.e. games, word searches and puzzles particularly for lesson starters. Why do you think you learn Spanish at school? If you go to Spain I will be able to talk to the people there in their own language rather than expected them to speak to me in English. How can you go to a country and not know much about their language? What jobs do you think you could get where Spanish would be helpful? Spanish teacher, doctor. (I think there was a lack of awareness at the opportunities languages can bring). Andrew Did you learn any languages in Primary? If so did that help you learn Spanish? 2 students learned French, 2 Spanish. All said they just learned a bit of vocabulary in primary and that they were excited now that they were learning how to speak in complete sentences. Even the French students said that learning French in primary helped them with their pronunciation and learning of words in Spanish in secondary. Do you think that it would be useful to use you Spanish in other lessons or do you think that it would make those lessons more difficult? No—It wouldn’t be relevant to the subject. Maybe—You could understand some of the ideas in that subject, and then you can practice your Spanish also…but then some things would be hard to understand, and you couldn’t learn that subject well. Key Questions for teacher Develop 3 key questions for your school mentor and a small number of Year 7 pupils exploring what you consider to be important aspects of practice in the context of transition from KS2 to KS3. You may note these questions and responses either in your learning log or in your Exploring Real World Primary Languages journal. At least one of these questions should focus on Languages. For example, you might like to explore the following questions with both teachers and pupils: Teacher: Are Year 7 pupils streamed or set for Languages in Year 7, and on what basis? The Year 7 children are not banded according to their language. Instead, they are banded according to their English and Mathematics results. They keep this band for the rest of the year. Even if the child is excelling they will not be moved up due to timetabling issues with English and Mathematics. Teacher: In what ways do practitioners differentiate teaching and learning in Languages? The level of vocabulary that they are expected to learn. Questioning Outcomes - results Success criteria - differentiated steps to success. - good children are not capped on their learning. HAs often become the mentors of the other children. Often strong speakers, who might benefit from a similar first language, will focus on developing other skills, like writing. Teacher: How do EAL pupils approach the learning of a subsequent language in a classroom environment? EAL pupils are keen learn. Those who speak a European language find Spanish more accessible. Those who speak Urdu struggle as they find fewer links with their language and Spanish. In lessons, they will be trying to learn English and Spanish at the same time and this can be challenging for them. Visuals are used. Repeating the writing they have done. Teacher: What is the purpose of learning at home, and to what extent to It’s difficult we want to focus on that. Keen students will willingly do extra homework. Diff to monitor. pupils engage with this? How popular do Languages appear to be at the beginning of Year 7, and does this change during KS3? What might the possible reasons for this be? Does popularity change throughout KS3. GCSE uptake is high this year - they value the language. If you can make it accessible. What can the primary school do to ensure that learning is meaningful, and also effective preparation for future learning beyond KS2? There should be more communication. In primary we are going to teach them to level three. What each one is doing. If you did know what works for them. Lots have never done a language. In the past we had a language expert to differentiate the children. Child will help others once they had finished in class. Peer support. Doing questions that are useful in English and aim to translate. What can the secondary school do to ensure that prior learning is celebrated and built upon? Encourage them if they have the languages - applying what you know. I like, well how can you say I don’t like. Language expert helped. How might primary and secondary colleagues work together to ensure progression and continuity in learning? How do you assess? Homework - listening, reading and writing test. It’s not easy to do speaking - last year we had the British Council assist but this year there is a lack of funding for this.. Effectively using others members of staff. How well prepared are children to learn at KS3? Refer also to learning patterns and models, whole-school and classroom environments, location and travel, general guidance and ‘looking after’, the differences in life at primary school and at secondary school, and the responsibilities Year 7 children may have that they did not have only a few weeks earlier in Year 6. Independence is a key skill. How best can we prepare our Year 6 children for these changes? Accuracy versus fluency - They try to focus more on fluency in class and attempt to fix errors later on. They don’t want to shake a students confidence by correcting their mistakes all the time.