Evaluating My Practise and students Learning

As I mentioned in my last post, everytime I try to approach my students to engage in learning activities these are some emotions I get:

Upset	Screaming	Stubbornness
Whinging	Non-compliance	Inappropriate Behaviour

Students were 

• Disengaged

They showed no or little interest in most learning activities provided for them.

• Unhappy 

They became unhappy and displayed negative behaviour. Behaviour specialist

has to get involve because of the increased in their inappropriate behaviour

Time lost

• Because students were not cognitively engaged. There is a time loss in trying to motivate them to show interest in the activities provided.

Because of what I have noticed in these students and faced in my classroom daily, my Inquiry this year to focus  on our School Wide Goal-Play based Learning.

“To Provide opportunities for my students to develop and increase their engagement through participating in play based learning activities” 

Did I change my Practise? 

Yes, Here are the changes I made.

Classroom setup I changed my classroom setup and created play stations To give my students opportunities to play throughout the day	Adapt Classroom Programme Taught Curriculum through play activities Play Activities were based on the students interest.	Four steps Procedures Approach When I taught a new skill, I tried to use this 4 step approach. Here are the 4 step procedures Step 1-1:1 teaching (staff and student) Step 2-1:2 (1 staff: 2 students). Step 3-1:1 (student and student) in a group with staff supervision Step 4-all students in a group for up to 5 minutes.
Implementing the “ENGAGE” programme into the daily routine Engage activities were implemented to our daily programme. Some Engage activities were adapted to suit the level of the students learning	Key Competencies focus. Relating to others Managing self Communication Participation and Contribution Thinking   Key competencies were reinforced throughout the day in different contexts.	Outdoor Activities Gardening-(Host school focus) Outdoor activities such as gardening included in the weekly programme.  Encouraged students to take part in simple activities such as digging, planting, weeding, watering the garden. Playground/Developmental Activities Ensure the children are getting their playground break. Developmental Activities set up daily.

What happens to the students Learning?

Did the change of my practice changed the students' learning outcomes?

Let's look at the Evidence of Data collected:

I used

• Teacher observation

• ‘More than words’ assessment

• Stages of Play retrieved from pathways organisation

• Piaget’s period of Cognitive Development

      Teacher Observation

Assessment tool- Teacher Observation	Before the intervention	After Intervention	Comparison
Teacher observation Target student  Dayten	Displayed Negative behaviour scream when a staff member tries to get into his space. “No” is the common response to given instructions. Runs outside the classroom when things were not happening in his way. Aggressively reacts to unwanted instructions. Bite was his first reaction if upset for any reason	Increased Positive behaviour can tolerate staff member entering his personal space Respond positively to the instruction given such as” OK, yes please”	Compliance and Calmer Is more aware of the people around him. Responds faster to the instruction given.  . A lot calmer and biting has no longer existed in term 3 and 4.
	Show little interest in activities. Not interested in any activities except for fiddling toys such as pieces of puzzles or small objects that he can hold in his hands.	Show Interest in a variety of activities Is now showing interests in a variety of activities such as marble run, building with wooden blocks, connect four, bouncing with a ball.	Increase engagement in activities. Can engage in the activities up to 10 minutes with adult support. Peer interaction has developed and is beginning to engage and show enjoyment in the activity.

Before Intervention and After Intervention images

                         Before Intervention-(Solitary play)

   After Intervention-(Parallel Play (2+ Years)

 My observation was based on the research studies below:  

More than words assessment -

1-Own agenda (Show what he wants or doesn’t want)

2-Requester (Intentionally ask for things he wants or doesn’t want)

3- Early Communicator (Connect with others by sharing Interests)

4-Partner (Have short conversation about many things)

Stages of Play

Unoccupied Play (Birth-3 Months) At this stage, babies are just making a lot of movements with their arms, legs, hands, feet, etc. They are learning about and discovering how their body moves.

Solitary Play (Birth-2 Years) This is the stage when a child plays alone. They are not interested in playing with others yet.

Parallel Play (2+ Years) When a child plays alongside or near others but does not play with them this stage is referred to as parallel play.

Associate Play (3-4 Years) When a child starts to interact with others during play, but there is not a large amount of interaction at this stage. A child might be doing an activity related to the kids around him but might not be interacting with another child. For example, kids might all be playing on the same piece of playground equipment but all doing different things like climbing, swinging, etc

Cooperative Play (4+ years) When a child plays together with others and has interest in both the activity and other children involved in playing they are participating in cooperative play.

Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensori-motor Birth -2 years (During this period, the little one learns about the world by using their senses to interact with their surroundings.)

Pre-operational 2-6 years (During this stage, children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols. Increased playing and pretending. For example, a child is able to use an object to represent something else, such as pretending a broom is a horse.

Concrete Operational 7-11 years (your child is beginning to think logically and rationally, but they tend to be limited to thinking about physical objects)

Formal Operational 12 yrs to adulthood. (As adolescents enter this stage, they gain the ability to think in an abstract manner by manipulating ideas in their head, without any dependence on concrete manipulation)

     

                              This video helps to understand and value the studied that Piaget and Vygotsky 

                               (2 cognitive Psychologist)     Piaget Vs Vygotsky