Reflective Action Planning Approach Based Project ‘English Language Improvement’ As contribution to School Development

Introduction‘Reflective Action Planning is a term used to describe an approach to school improvement which is specifically designed to empower individual teachers’ (Frost 1997) School improvement rests on the imagination , commitment and effort of individuals working within effective management arrangements. ‘Reflective Action Planning is a process that enables participants to:

o engage in systematic curriculum, institutional and professional development work

o develop their understanding of educational issues through systematic critical reflection

o present evidence of achievement to an external accrediting body

Based on the Reflective Action Planning Approach(David Frost 1997) ‘Project English Language Improvement ‘ for contribution to School Development was launched on the 13th of November 2006 at Roots College International Rawalpindi. It involved two sections of 50 students in all.

RationaleHaving the experience of Professional Planning and Action Research in Teaching and Learningsince 1991 while working with the Fauji Foundation Education Network, I decided to apply the practical knowledge I had gained during my service and plan a project so that I could guide and divert the students abilities towards a positive outcome.

Problems in English Language Learning

‘When you teach the right things the right way , motivation takes care of itself’ Jere Brophy

The main problem was probably not so much as learning English butLearning itself. Attitude of the students reflected lack of interest in the class, lethargy towards opening the notebooks andtextbooks, wishing to talk to each other, making faces of extremeboredom and trying to stay away from the lesson.. Even when they did return to the class they would be holding a bottle of coke and a bag of chips,

Ma’am can I have this’?Ma’am lets go outside’ we are not in the mood today’Ma’am see , he is not giving my pen’Ma’am, please don’t make us write’Ma’am can’t we do without English?’

Do without English? Oh Dear , this is going too far. There is a dire need for Reflection Change of strategy and serious action, this state of affairs will not bring fruitful results.“If students are not enjoying learning something is wrong with your curriculum and instruction-you have somehow turned an inherently enjoyable activity into drudgery.”

Jere Brophy

Another problem was the regular work in the notebooks. Students would forget to bring their notebooks and as a result a lot of time was being wasted. Reprimand and calling the Coordinator to the class did not work There was fun and laughter after the visit. Loud warnings did not prove much respectful either.I was getting extremely worried and anxious. Wither my experienceof teacher training, learning with devotion and dedication, claiming to be one of the popular teachers, was I going to fail?NO….I went home sat down to reflect. I listed down the problems, and kept thinking about the solutions I opened my English Teaching Guidebooks, ‘Motivating students to learn’ Teaching Strategies that work’ ‘Teaching Principles and Practices’ what’s going to work with this group?

I picked up the book on Motivation again. On page 3 under the heading ‘Behavior Reinforcement Theories’ it said,

“careful work on assignments leading to successful task completion might be reinforced by giving verbal or written praise awarding high grades, affixing stars or other symbols of excellence, allowing access to some privilege or in some other way compensating students for their efforts or recognizing them for their accomplishments by providing rewards that they value.”

I needed to plan classwork that was according to the given syllabus. I needed a strategy and method to make the children write and complete their written work and at the same time I had to be sure that they were learning and their interest was maintained. It was as Elliott (1991) defines action research briefly as “the study of asocial situationwith a view to improving the quality of action in it” (p. 69).Forme my whole class became a mini society and I was a guide of a small community. My plan had to be democratic, equal for all and highly effective.When my colleague saw the new notebooks she said’ Oh you can’t doanything without my approval’ and that was a sudden shock but theAction Plan was already under way as I had found a way to begin the learning process. I decided that I had to be on a friendly level with my students, I needed to own my class and needed to encourage, help support, guide and care for them.I somewhat ignored the warning.

Before I write the details of the plan let us understand the termReflective Learning’

Reflective Learning

"Reflective learning is an ongoing process in which participants in a situation - staff members implementing a project, for instance - take time to examine their experiences, to reflect on those experiences, to think how things might be different, to think through these possibilities and to try out what seems to bethe best option. But this is not the end: Trying that option becomes another experience in itself - to study, reflect upon, etc.

Participants start by identifying their own experience.

They reflect on that experience (What? Why? When? Where? How?)

They think about how they could change the experience for the better.

They respond to this reflection by making changes.

With changes in place, participants re-examine the experience, reflecting again, changing, experiencing, reflecting, changing…

This process is often described as a reflective (or experiential)learning cycle, because it should be an ongoing process - not something that is done once, then left!

Experience>>...Reflect>>...Possibilities>>...Respond>>...

Experience>>...Vocabulary was weakReflect: >.give the students five new and interesting words with meanings every week

Possibilities :> students will wait for something new as it will be a suspense, interest will develop.>, thinking on new meanings,enjoyment, satisfaction.Respond: students will write , be satisfied, think about their work. The procedure generally associated with action research (see, e.g., Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) is one of a continuing spiral,of increasingly aware experience, which ismost simply represented as a succession of stages, beginning with: • action in the sense that one is in the middle of action• observation of what is happening, leading to a more specific focus of interest• reflection on the focus which has been identified, leading to• planning that forms the basis for future• action to improve the situation, supported by• observation in order to evaluate the changes made

Well, to begin the action I went to …do some shopping….which included.Single line notebooks, ballpoint pens, and small wish cards, I added to these, a message of encouragement, and a target of achievement. for the students.

The objectives were to enable students to: develop interest develop a regular reading habit write a paragraph of ten to twenty lines in a

given period of time learn time management overall add to their repertoire of English vocabulary up to a

list of 40 new words.Step 1I distributed the bright blue notebooksWhen my class saw them, it was a great surprise , later they toldme how happy they had felt at receiving the free copies.Along with the gifts were, what I call….

The Teachers Ten Commandments: they were announced with deep seriousness 1 You will not spoil these copies. 2 You will not scribble anything extra on the pages 3 You will not doodle 4 You will not take them home until I tell you to. 5 You will keep them neat and tidy 6 You will not tear pages out of it 7 You will not write any phone numbers on the last page 8 You will finish the written work within class time. 9 You will maintain a record of your work10 And if you manage to do all this and show consistency then you will get free time, you will be marked with ‘Good remarks’Step:2The second most important aspect was the students need for acceptance by the teacher and the building of their self esteem.For this I started by asking them about their interests and hobbies.I found out that this group had some very talented students. Three could play the guitar, one was a drummer and owned a full set of professional drums, one was a natural actor and knew aboutShakespeare, one could sing and rap with perfection, one was a born artist. Interestingly, all these were boys, the girls wanted to learn andwere not that much trouble.

Step 3My mode of address would be by skills of the students:I would call the students by their skill, added to their namese.g. Shehbaz the talented drummer, how are you today? Ibrahim who has such a rich voice Asad the born artist And the students would immediately feel happy and proud And many a times they would say, ‘Ma’am you have encouraged us so much’So the class became a welcome one.Step 4

The following are some sample activities ………..The instructions were given like this

‘Ok boys and girls lets quickly write a paragraph and then we canhave a short break’

This promise of free time made the students quickly start their work.Since the notebooks were ready they could not make an excuse.

Sample Activity 1 Time: 20 mins.Teacher says:Q. What is an ‘ac·count’. ? ‘Write the definition, please’.T.Dictates: The Definition: is : An account is :

1. A narrative or record of events. 2.

a. A reason given for a particular action or event: What is the account for this loss?

b. A report relating to one's conduct: gave a satisfactory account of herself.

c. A basis or ground: no reason to worry on that account.

T.says ‘ Some more definitions of ‘account’ are T now writes on the white board –students copy.

A relaying of happenings from one party to another.An account is the passing on of information for the purpose of explanation. Account as a Noun A recounting of past events: chronicle, description, history, narration, narrative, report, statement, story, version.

As a verb To look upon in a particular way: consider, deem, esteem, reckon, regard, see, view.

As a phrasal verb - account for To offer reasons for or a cause of: explain, justify, rationalize. See explain/baffle.

Activity 2Today we will add new words to our list of vocabulary’ Ready ? Ok lets begin:T says: The first word is …….. and writes on the boardAdvertorial ,T says: it is a noun, and the meaning is : advertising material in a newspaper or magazine.The word is a blend of advertisement and editorial.‘Next word is Afro’ I deliberately chose this word because I found that students had a variety of hairstyles, which was quite against the school directives. ‘Afro is a kind of hairstyle’ like some of you have your own , itlooks nice ,yes but you should keep it after you finish school, shouldn’t you?’

‘OK next word is Affluenza , a noun and so on…….

Observation:Change that took place:Day by day the attitude changed in the class. Work became regular. I had to prepare my lessons well too. Every lesson had to be planned carefully. The professional concerns were my responsibilities as an English Teacher but my role became more important as a friend guide and motivator, the students needed this more.The Development was of the students attitude towards learning, Action was more on the personal level relationship than actual written work.The Notebooks became the Portfolio of the students. All extra handouts were stapled in the copies. Newspaper clippings were pasted and Graphic Organizers were drawn by the students from the board.. Note taking, dictation and loud readingwere incorporated in the teaching methods.

All together the teaching time calculated came to 70 hours of class time.

The controlled work conducted in class resulted in : Better organization of written work Regular checking of notebooks

Overall students showed More responsibility Awareness of time limits More speed in writing Interest in learning Improved class discipline

The students needed a break for food; they wanted to be respected, appreciated and praised and above all to be encouragedto do their best. ‘You can do better work” and “you have done well”“You have the potential” and “I believe in you and trust you” Slowly my students and I developed the best of relationships withrespect regard and affection I can say with full faith that A Teacher Makes or A Teacher Mars’ it is up to her. A Teacher should try to be a good human being herself if she wants her students to be good too.‘Teachers who “ invite” students to learn are those who acknowledge students as partners in the learning process.Studentsfeel invited when they feel accepted, valued and capable.(Purkey and Strahan 1986, p.2

+Students Comments about this Project

“My vocabulary has improved because of new words learnt in the class” Saba Rashid O3 E

“My teacher made me read loudly so I have become confident One looks forward to attend the English class in the day My Grammar has improved”

Momena Sardar O3 E

“I have learnt a lot in English. It was all possible because of the tension free atmosphere in the class” Hassan Amar O3

“I have improved my Grammar in which I was weak” Asad Shah O3

“I have started reading books and taking interest in my studies, I have started writing essays . I have no problem in asking help from my teachers” Fiza Irfan

“In the project we always got our copies checked and enjoyed working” Hamza Tariq O3 A

“Doing written work in class was better as we learned more and got our copies regularly checked” Irtaza Ali Raja O3 A

“Doing the project I feel I have improved tremendously” Wajid Khan Burki O3

By Anjum Wasim DarMA EnglishPG Dip.TEFLEnglish Language TeacherEmail: rashidanjum20@hotmail.com anjumwasimdar@gmail.com

Address: H/No 8 .Lane 1 . Lake View lanes Bani Gala Islamabad 44000 Pakistan

Annex A

References

Barth,R.S. (1990) Improving Schools from Within,San Francisco,CA: Jossey Bass.

Brophy,J E Motivating Students to learn 1998 McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Frost,D Reflective Action Planning 1997 David Fulton Publishers Great Britain

Fullan,M(1993)Change Forces, London: Palmer Press

Gillian Fletcher Planning Models http://www.comminit.com/planningmodels/pmodels/planningmodels-122.html

Ruddock,J (1998) The Ownership of Change as a basis for Teachers Professional Learning inJ.Calderhead(ed) Teachers Professional Learning, Lewes: Falmer Press

Annex B

A REFLECTIVE ACTION PLANNING MODEL

Source : Reflective Action Planning for Teachers by David Frost.