Goal Two

Develop a Learning Inquiry, focusing on a small group of learners, using the Teaching as Inquiry Process, implement a new, research based strategy to improve their learning and assess and analyse the results.

Evidence

I spent a period of time observing the children in my year one and two class, getting to know them and deciding what I wanted to focus my inquiry on. I’ve always had an interest in literacy, and I soon noticed a group of year one boys who were still learning to write their names. These same boys also needed teacher-involvement to start writing, were inconsistent when forming their letters and seemed reluctant to start literacy lessons, preferring to play. I thought that some additional focus, working with these boys would help their writing. I discussed this with my AT and she agreed that they would be a good group to focus on, and that helping them with their writing would be beneficial.

I followed the Teaching as Inquiry process. My aim was to increase their engagement with writing. My starting point for research was building on a discussion about crossing the midline during a literacy lesson last year, which led onto a discussion about sensory activities and the connection with writing. My research showed that there is a link between sensory activities and improved handwriting. I discussed it with my AT, she thought it was a good idea, and my inquiry question became can I increase engagement with writing by using sensory techniques.

As baseline data, I asked the children to write their name and all the letters from a – z, on ‘handwriting’ paper, with a dashed line in the middle of each line. I also observed the children writing their names (for example, when naming work) – one child would always copy his name, another would consistently miss a letter and the third was accurate but slow. I also noted how they acted during literacy lessons. Two of the children would often push back at the beginning of literacy lessons, saying they didn’t want to do them, and all three were easily distracted throughout the lesson.

As a result of my research, I decided to use sand trays to practice writing. Each child made their own sand tray using sand from the school sandpit, and we started using them. To begin with, the children explored them, making hand prints, drawing and moving on to letters. I did three lessons like this, but wasn’t happy with how it was going. I was running these as lessons separate to their regular literacy lessons, and it felt like the lessons were very disconnected and the children weren’t connecting the writing on the trays with their regular literacy programme. I was also finding it difficult to store the sand trays between lessons – I didn’t want to drop sand through the classroom.

Upon reflecting, I decided to make Ziplock bags with coloured cornflour gloop for them to write on, and to integrate the sensory activity into their regular literacy lesson, connecting the sounds they were learning with letters and words they were writing. I discussed my new plan with my AT and she agreed that it was a good direction to go in. Upon making these changes, my inquiry leapt ahead and the children started making good progress with their writing. Going through the whole cycle of the Inquiry process was helpful for my learning, as it showed me that things don’t always work, and when they don’t, you need to look at what you can change and try again.

My final written assessment didn’t show huge improvements, but all three children are now able to write their name, without copying it and with no missing letters. My observational data did show improvement – all three children were more willing to start writing without teacher-involvement, for example, when doing whole-class handwriting lessons, and they were definitely more engaged during their literacy lessons. This continued, even when I stopped doing the sensory activity in the last week, with one of the children expressing disappointment that a literacy lesson wasn’t scheduled on my final day (due to Assembly), and asking if we could please do literacy.

Following the inquiry process in a real-life teaching situation has shown me how effective it can be for students learning, particularly the cyclical nature, which allows for changes and tweaks if the initial plan is not working or could be improved. I found working with my AT on this inquiry helpful, it showed me how important discussion with colleagues is – we had numerous discussions about literacy, maths and everything to do with learning which I found incredibly valuable. I was lucky enough to be involved in a number of professional development opportunities across literacy, maths and internet safety/duty of care while on practicum. This, coupled with my own research, highlighted how important continual learning is for my own professional learning and teaching practice, in order for me to help achieve the best outcomes for the children in my class.