Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
1
This writing frame template provides a structure and supportive process to enable you to complete a Recognition 2 Project. Its use is optional and is not a guarantee that your project will be recognised.
The writing frame should always be used in conjunction with the TLA Recognition 2 verification criteria. These can be found at www.tla.ac.uk
together with the TLA Recognition
Project Cover sheet which needs to be sent in with your project.
The template is divided into four parts, each with expandable text boxes:
1. Preparing for the Learning Journey
2. Planning the Learning Journey
3. On the Learning Journey
4. The Learning Breakthrough
The first and third sections (Preparing for the Learning Journey and On the Learning
Journey) have prompts, headings and questions to help you. They provide a basic framework to get you started but you will need to check your answers cover all the verification criteria before handing in your project. Don’t just rely on the prompts.
If you want to do a written project, you can either write under the headings or you can refer to these as you write in continuous prose. The suggested word limit for Recognition 2 is
1500 words for the learning plan and learning journal and 1000 words for the learning breakthrough. So if you feel you have already communicated something do not feel obliged to repeat it later on. If you want to present in other media e.g. audio or video clips, you may find the prompts useful as a reference or you could ask your coach/mentor to use these as interview prompts/questions.
The second section (Planning the Learning Journey) must be presented in written form and it is strongly recommended that you use the template as the headings and questions cover all the requirements for this part of your Learning Journey. This section can stand alone if sections one and three are presented using other media.
Please remember that you can complete the different sections during as well as at the end of each part of the journey, refining and amending what you have written before submitting
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy your final version of your project. You can also delete the italicised prompts before you submit the project to be verified.
2
Deciding upon your learning and change focus
It is important to establish a clear and manageable focus for your learning by considering what you already know and identifying where you might find out more. Such a knowledge base can include literature, research findings and pupil data. It will often include evidence from your own and other colleagues’ practice, gathered through experience, dialogue or observation.
Work in dialogue with your coach/mentor to decide upon and refine your learning and change focus. It is a good idea to have a learning agreement with your coach/mentor and ensure that you plan opportunities throughout the learning journey with them to provide support and challenge and to assist in the review and evaluation.
1.1 Briefly describe your working context
I work at Barbara Priestman Academy, which caters for student aged between 11 and 19 years of age, who are on the autistic spectrum. We currently have 122 students on roll, with the majority having a diagnosis of autism.
I have been working at Barbara Priestman since 2005, having qualified in 2000. I am in my thirteenth year of teaching, having worked previously in a mainstream setting, with an individual with autism. I am a middle leader and my area of responsibility is music along with leading the arts across the academy. I teach music across all Key Stages as well as delivering the bronze level Arts Award qualification to Key Stage five and monitoring the delivery of the discover and explore levels of the Arts Award qualification in Key Stage three.
1.2 Access to coaching and mentoring
As a group our initial meeting looked at what we wanted to have as our focus for our lesson study project. Three of us from the group teach student M ’s class and the fourth member of the group has completed a speech and language report for student M, so we felt it was best to focus on him, as we felt we needed to develop strategies to help him to achieve his full potential. For this project, we felt that peer coaching would be the best strategy to use, as we all work with Student M and felt we could support each other effectively.
Pam Robbins (1991) defines peer coaching as:
“a confidential process through which two or more professional colleagues work together to reflect on current practices; expand, refine, and build new skills; share ideas; teach one another; conduct classroom research; or solve problems in the workplace.
”
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
3
Peer coaching has been very supportive as some of the group members have a good working relationship with student M and know a lot about his background. As a group, we all have a lot of experience of teaching students who are on the autistic spectrum and one group member is the Speech and Language Therapist (SALT). We have had regular meetings to discuss possible strategies for use within the lesson study, discussing which lessons to observe, evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies used to aid motivation within those lessons and then looking at possible areas for improvement.
Throughout the process our group has been a sounding board for ideas, giving constructive feedback where needed and offering support and guidance constantly. Their knowledge of student M and their knowledge and understanding of students on the autistic spectrum has been invaluable throughout the whole process.
1.3 What is the focus for your learning
The whole academy has been working on lesson study projects in small groups, which aim to offer a model of professional learning, a way of developing current practice and the transfer of learning among colleagues. It is a classroom centred and school based collaboration, allowing staff to share the best practice that works for the students within the academy, whilst solving common problems that occur on a regular basis. Lessons would be planned as a group in collaboration, then one member of the group would teach student M’s class whilst the other three members of the group would observe, noting the impact of the strategies on student M’s attitude to learning. Feedback would occur to analyse the effectiveness of the strategies. The process would then start again for the rest of the lesson study group incorporating the discussed areas for improvement each time, forming a collaborative CPD for all involved.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
4
My group chose to focus on motivation amongst our teenage boys, in particular class three in Key Stage three, looking at our more passive learners within the group and developing strategies for engaging and motivating them to improve learning and achievement. Several of the students in the group are very difficult to engage, displaying varying attitudes and behaviour each week e.g. they can be highly motivated one week and complete the work set and the next they complete the bare minimum of work. When evaluating work at the end of a lesson, they often find it very difficult to give constructive feedback, making negative remarks and refusing to say anything positive about anyone in the class. Student M will not engage in lessons if he feels he can not be the best or if he feels the work is too basic. Student M’s statement of special educational needs states he has;
“ ...difficulty in sharing or listening to others’ opinions .” “ ...where further support may be needed, could include his motivation when completing schoolwork independently, to be less critical of other children, and to learn to win and lose with dignity .” He also, “ ...has difficulty in coping with mistakes ,” and “ ...has little confidence in himself as a learner...
”
Relating to this, “ ...he is a perfectionist who is slow to commit to paper, being almost unable to cope with the smallest error .”
When looking at student M’s PASS (Pupil Attitudes to Self and School) data showing scores out of 100 for nine different areas, it showed his general work ethic to be 96.8, his perceived learning capability to be 78.7, his self-regard to be 58, his confidence to be
58.7, his response to the curriculum to be 41.4, his attitude to teachers to be 40.2, his preparedness for learning to be 18.9, his attendance attitudes to be 5.1 and his overall feelings about school to be 2.3.
Rozella Stewart, based at the Indiana Resource Centre for Autism states:
“An individual’s motivation is strongly influenced by: learning history; learning styles; internal and external incentives to engage in tasks; expectations of success or failure with a particular task; meaningfulness and purposefulness of the task from the perspective of the learner; and task-surrounding environmental variables which affect attention and achievement.”
It is with this in mind that we decided to focus on strategies to motivate student M across our lessons and the curriculum, so we can address some of the issues he has whilst improving our own teaching strategies. Strategies for use were assertive discipline to give a consistent approach to behaviour, attendance on ASD (Autistic Spectrum
Disorder) courses for staff to gain a better understanding of the students involved, use of praise within lessons. Other strategies were developed throughout the lesson study process.
1.4 Analyse in what way your learning focus is relevant to your pupils, directly or indirectly?
One student in particular in class three, student M, is very difficult to motivate due to his feelings of insecurity, heightened emotional responses and his fear of losing control.
Motivating individuals who have autism is essential, but it is a very difficult process due to the very restrictive interests which are often displayed. It is essential that as an academy we offer planned, positive experiences which aim to stimulate interest, along with using strategies to motivate our young people.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
5
Our aim is to motivate student M, along with some of the other boys in the class who look up to him and are easily influenced by him.
1.5 What do you hope will change as a result?
I am looking to develop my own teaching strategies by the end of the project, so I can engage and motivate the more passive learners within the year nine class. The aim is for the individual student to raise his attainment and improve his approaches to learning across several areas of the curriculum, rather than just in one subject. If successful, I would like to implement the strategies used within the lesson study into other lessons I teach with other year groups.
1.6 What ethical considerations/issues have you identified?
I need to make sure I maintain and ensure a safe working environment for students at all times. Confidentiality will be maintained throughout, eliminating individual staff and student names when citing particular examples of work.
1.7 What diversity/equal opportunities have you identified in relation to e.g. gender, ethnicity, language, disability and SEN or G&T?
All students in the group have a statement of special educational needs in relation to their diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. All successful strategies will be used across the curriculum and Key Stages with members of both sexes, rather than just with boys. The class have LSAs who support them in their lessons.
Check that you have covered the following in this section, amending what you have already written or providing additional information in this box:
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
6
The learning focus is how pro-active strategies can elicit positive, productive responses and pride in personal accomplishment, whilst supporting motivation in disengaged learners.
Make sure that you have included all key activities on your plan e.g. o Refining learning focus with coach/mentor o Contact with coach/mentor including progress review, evaluation opportunities o Reading, observing, dialogue with.... (i.e. Accessing the Knowledge Base) o Evaluation Plan (How and when do you intend to evaluate your own learning and changes to practice? E.g. feedback from colleagues or pupils, recorded observation, data collection) o Sharing learning with other colleagues (give details of what and who)
Actions
Research students.
– investigation of the theory behind motivation of
Background information
Round 1 of observations.
Timescales/
Key dates
Dec 2012
Dec 2012
Jan 2013
Resources/
People inc.
Sources of support and challenge
Success
Criteria
EC/ EL/DW/ RP Group members will have a better understanding of what motivates students to learn.
EC EC will find background information about student M including ELLI
(Effective
Lifelong
Learning
Inventory) and
PASS (Pupil
Attitudes to Self and School) data.
EC/EL/DW/RP All group members to observe one PE, music and maths lesson with a focus on
Comments/ amendments to plan
Research is ongoing – group members to continue to look for more theoretical evidence to back up the findings of our investigation.
After observing 1
PE lesson it was felt that it was now more appropriate to implement motivational
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Planning
Collection of
Data.
Implementation of techniques.
Round 2 of observations.
Data collection.
Assessment
Jan 2013
Feb 2013
April 2013
May 2013
May 2013
May 2013
Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
7 motivation. techniques and apply them to lesson and look at their effectiveness.
EC/EL/DW All teaching group members decide on one motivational technique to implement in their lessons and to apply it for a given time period.
Collection of data for Maths,
PE and Music for student M.
EC
EC/EL/ DW Teachers implement their motivational technique and then write up a personal view on its effectiveness.
EC/EL/DW/RP Observations of one of each lesson – focus on the motivational technique used in that lesson
EC and how effective it is.
Collection of new data for
Student M to see if the motivational techniques have affected academic progress.
EC/EL/DW/RP Group collate all information and discuss the effectiveness of the techniques
Data also collected for Student P –
Student P is a student of a similar level who will not receive the motivational techniques to allow for comparison.
Data collected for student P also.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
8
Write up.
Sharing of findings.
July 2013
September
2013
DW/ EL tried.
TLA essays to be written up by
DW and EL.
EC/EL/DW/RP Group report back on their findings to rest of staff during twilight session.
Check the following, amending what you have already written:
For each action have you been clear about the intended timing, any resource implications, and by what criteria you will judge the success of the action in terms of its contribution to your journey? Are any changes made to your plan obvious?
Have you covered all the verification criteria for Planning the Learning Journey?
At this point refer back to your plan with its key dates and actions and consider your progress.
3.1 What has been the influence engaging with the knowledge base?
From research and participation on courses i.e. behaviour management ran by the Deputy
Head of an Academy within our Ascent Trust, a variety of new strategies were tried in the classroom. During the course motivation was discussed and several strategies for engaging passive learners were addressed. This really helped me to gain more insight into why students might become passive learners and what I could do about it within my lessons.
3.2 How did mentoring or coaching influence the way you learned and/or the outcomes of your learning?
Discussing ideas and progress within the group helped me to gain a clear vision and plan for future success. By talking through ideas within the group, we were able to be ‘critical friends’ to each member of the group, evaluating strategies for motivating students within lessons observed. By supporting each other in this way, we were able to learn more about our own teaching and adapt it accordingly.
3.3 What, if any, changes were made along the way? What impact did the review have on the remainder of your learning plan?
It was decided that data would also be collected for Student P to allow for comparison, as they would not be receiving the motivational techniques. After reviewing the plan our group decided to collect two sets of data in order to compare the effects of the motivational techniques being used on Student M, against Student P who had no motivational techniques used on them.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
9
3.4 How did you evaluate your intended learning outcomes?
Feedback was given from a teacher perspective during the lesson study group meetings and in the final review. Effective strategies observed within lessons were discussed and evaluated during the meetings. It was decided that strategies deemed successful helped to motivate the pupils and in turn behaviour, attitude and attainment improved.
3.5 What has changed as a result of your learning?
Positive feedback gained during feedback from observations has helped me to gain more confidence when teaching this class. I am now able to ignore the more secondary behaviours displayed by Student M i.e. muttering under his breath to other students or saying negative comments about his own abilities, and focus on the positive aspects of the lesson. Student M has displayed a more positive attitude during music lessons, especially when he is asked to demonstrate particular skills. During one lesson, Student M demonstrated how to use a piece of software to another student within the lesson. This is something Student M would not have done previously for fear he would get it wrong.
3.6 How did you share your learning with others?
My learning was shared with the lesson study group during the final review meeting. Our findings will be shared during twilight sessions in the autumn term, for the whole staff. It is here where we will share the effectiveness of assertive discipline, praise and a positive working relationship incorporating the interests of the students wherever possible. This will ensure successful motivational strategies for these students can be shared across the curriculum with other staff in order to raise standards.
3.7 Refer back to the ethical issues you identified in Preparing for the Learning
Journey and show how these were considered and if necessary, addressed.
All staff and student names have been kept confidential throughout the lesson study and the working environment was kept safe so everyone could have a positive experience throughout the whole process.
3.8 Refer back to diversity/equal opportunities issues you identified in Preparing for the Learning Journey. Show how these were considered and what actions you took to secure best possible outcomes.
Looking back at diversity and equal opportunity issues it became apparent that both girls and boys with differing conditions achieved a positive outcome within the class. As a result, successful strategies from within the study will be used in other groups of mixed ability, condition and sex, across the curriculum.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
10
Check
Have you covered all the verification criteria for On the Learning Journey, amending what you have already written or providing additional information in this box:
This is the written part of your project that demonstrates the depth of your reflection and analytical thinking. As such your writing needs to be clear and succinct, with correct grammar and spelling.
Although the learning breakthrough is presented as a written piece, there is no reason why you should n’t refer to other, non-written parts of your project. For example, if your learning breakthrough came through being mentored and if you have an edited audio recording of your mentoring meetings as part of your learning journal, you can refer to specific parts of the recording in your learning breakthrough.
Write a descriptive and reflective account of a learning breakthrough (i.e. a critical learning incident of no more than 1000 words).
Check that your account includes the following: o The impact on your learning o How the plan and practice were affected o The importance to the learning of pupils and/ or colleague/s o Next steps taken
The impact on my learning
My learning breakthrough occurred when I observed a PE lesson focusing on athletics,
(javelin in particular), where Student M was being used to demonstrate his skills to the rest of the class at the start of the lesson. Praise was also another huge part of the lesson along with the close relationship demonstrated with the PE teacher, where he used some of
Student M ’s interests to motivate him along with humour. Student M was fully involved and enthusiastic about what he was doing, as the task was challenging enough to motivate him to compete alongside his peers, but not too challenging in that he still felt pride in his own personal accomplishments. It was clear that the member of staff had used feedback from a previous observation. In a maths lesson, Student M had been required to complete a written worksheet and he had made a mistake. From that moment he withdrew from the lesson completely as his motivation had disappeared, due to the fact he was unable to cope with the smallest error. The PE teacher h ad noted student M’s frustrations and heightened anxieties, so completed a thinking map as a group at the start of the lesson, rather than individually as it could have triggered a memory of his previous anxiety.
After the observation of the PE lesson, I began planning a music lesson looking at how to incorporate S tudent M’s own interests in order to motivate him within the music lesson,
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy whilst developing a more positive relationship. Usually, Student M completes the bare minimum amount of work stating he does not like music, rarely playing an instrument and disrupting the other students. I began by planning a lesson focused around hooks and riffs, using examples of songs via YouTube. I had chosen songs from a range of decades, with the idea that the students could share some examples of their own to demonstrate their understanding and preferences. One of the examples I used was a song by Fatboy Slim called ‘Praise You.’ I explained that it was created using samples on a computer, rather than live instruments in a recording studio. Student M listened intently and commented on the music using technical vocabulary. I used praise at this point and asked the students if they had any examples they would like to share which demonstrated hooks and riffs. Student P s uggested a song called ‘One Pound Fish,’ another song created using a computer. At this point Student M became very enthusiastic and started to talk to me about the song and his feelings about it, along with a variety of humourous comments. When it came to choosing another song, Student M chose another example, called ‘Buckle Your Pants,’ a YouTube hit.
I told him I had not heard of it and again, he enthusiastically started to discuss the song.
Student M said he thought I would not have liked the song as it was not a song I would approve of. When I told him I thought it was very catchy and an excellent example of what we were discussing, Student M smiled to himself, demonstrating a more positive self-image.
Student M demonstrated more musical knowledge in one lesson than he had done in the whole half-term.
11
The impact on students
The rest of the students have a more positive experience when discussing their work, as they know that Student M will not be making negative comments about their work. Student M even got up off his chair to help another student who was having difficulty with a MacBook when composing their own music. The student in particular was pleasantly surprised and
Student M smiled when the student said thank you. Other students’ learning has also improved, including Student P; there are less disruptions in music lessons meaning they are able to focus on their work. Ignoring secondary behaviours has also had an impact on other students in the class as learning has not been interrupted due to minor behavioural incidents.
Next Steps
Since the music lesson I have incorporated the use of Apple MacBooks into my lessons, so the students are able to create their own songs based on those listened to via YouTube.
Student M has remained motivated throughout the activity and although still reluctant, will share his work with the rest of the class. Student M has started to give more constructive feedback when evaluating the work belonging to other students, rather than just direct criticism. I now realise it is not the subject area he dislikes, it is more about the level of difficulty of the activity and whether or not it relates to Student M directly. Humour has been a big part of student M’s progress, as he now has friendly ‘banter’ with the other students in his class whilst working. Student M has also been more willing to try new things, as he has experienced prior success within the lesson, making him more motivated to succeed.
Hopefully, Student M will be able to build on the learning experienced so far and make expected progress, thus achieving his potential.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development

Emily Landells
Barbara Priestman Academy
12
How the plan and practice were affected
The focus of the plan changed from just motivational strategies as an aid to learning.
Instead, we looked at developing our own relationships with student M and incorporating his own likes into our lessons as much as possible, as it is here where Student M is able to experience the most success.
After the lesson study
Since returning to school in September, Student M has demonstrated a different attitude altogether, appearing motivated and willing to learn. Student M was unable to access a cookery option as part of the Key Stage 4 curriculum, meaning he would be part of the music option instead. Past experience made me feel that Student M would not be happy about having to access music again this year, but I could not have been more wrong. From day one, Student M has demonstrated enthusiasm, motivation and humour. Through using strategies gained during the lesson study process, Student M has been able to demonstrate an excellent amount of progress in a short space of time. He was offered the opportunity to have a bass guitar lesson in order to develop skills within the music option. Previously,
Student M had ridiculed another student within his group who attended peripatetic tuition, so much so, that the student had given up their drum lesson because of the amount of ridicule experienced.
After the first peripatetic bass lesson, Student M stated they had found the work ‘easy’ and would like to continue to have tuition each week. Within the music lesson following this,
Student M showed an enthusiasm for learning I had not seen before. He was asking questions focused on rhythm and chords, with a genuine desire to improve. By the end of the session he had successfully played the verse. I gave positive feedback, stating it was the best music lesson I had experienced with him in the whole time he had been at the school.
Student M left the room to go to his next lesson with a smile on his face. In weeks to come, I will be asking Student M to demonstrate his learning to the other students in the class in order to further develop his confidence and self-esteem, as well as being able to demonstrate his learning with a view to motivating others in the group.
Led by the TLA Consortium- a partnership of Higher Education Institutions with a strong commitment to Continuing Professional
Development