Completing a TLA project  through effective use of research and evidence

published:01 Sep 2007

Colin Hill is a Key Stage 1 teacher at Birkdale Primary School in Southport.

Colin noticed when he tried to involve his pupils in group work it often ended in conflict. He wanted to help his pupils develop their skills for working together effectively.

Colin attended two events run by the Engage Network, which supported him to complete a Teacher Learning Academy (TLA) project addressing these aims:

• the first event introduced Colin to research resources which could support his project and help him to identify a specific focus for his work
• the second event gave him the opportunity to reflect on and embed his findings by sharing them with others, and to develop a plan for writing up his presentation.

How did Colin make use of web based research resources?

At the first event Colin was introduced to evidence from Research for Teachers (RFT) through tasters which:

• distilled bite sized ‘chunks’ of evidence from the RFT articles
• offered examples of short, practical activities that teachers could used to help them understand how their pupils experienced the interventions they were researching; and
• suggested ‘next steps’ activities teachers could use to take their practice forward.

Colin reflected on the RFT tasters and identified one that seemed most relevant to his own needs and the group of pupils he was currently teaching. This taster:

How can you help pupils become more aware of their thinking?

in the Pupil talk taster pack (PDF, 139kb) explored how pupils could become more aware of their own thinking by sharing their thoughts with others during group work.  

Colin wanted to find out more, so he visited Research for Teachers and read the article that the taster was based on: Raising achievement through group work.

This RFT built on Vygotsky’s theory, which claims children learn to think individually by learning to reason with others through conversation. It explored how children created shared knowledge and understanding when they were engaged in exploratory talk.  In this article Colin found a selection of activities and resources he thought could help him to improve group work in his classroom. 

How did Colin make use of other resources to support his project?

Colin looked in his school for other resources and identified two which built on the evidence presented in the RFT:

• Adey, P., Robertson, A. and Venville, G.  (2003)  Let’s think: a programme for developing thinking in five and six year olds.  NfER Nelson: Windsor
• Dawes, L. and Sams, C. (2004) Talk Box: Speaking and listening activities for learning at key stage 1. David Fulton Publishers: London

He used these resources to develop a series of six sessions focused on speaking and listening to help his pupils improve their skills for group work.  

How did Colin make use of evidence from his own practice to support his work?

Colin decided that he would focus his TLA project on trying to improve the dynamics of this group so that they could work together effectively (see RFT 'Helping pupils to develop skills for effective group work'). 

Prompted by the tasters he decided to evaluate his pupils’ skills by video recording a session of group work before experimenting with any new strategies. The Talk Box resource suggested a series of 14 speaking and listening sessions to use with his pupils.

Colin felt that some of the sessions were inappropriate for his pupils so designed a reduced series of six sessions adjusted to their needs. For example, he planned the second session to be deliberately short as he was aware that new rules he introduced were likely to cause frustration.

How can you make use of the research to support your own project?

• How could you make use of evidence available within your school and on the internet to support your own project?  
• Could you draw on the Engage network’s behaviour for learning resource?  
• Could you draw on your colleagues’ experience to explore different approaches relevant to your focus, for example, or access research in your area on the Education-line website?
• How could you make use of the RFT tasters to help identify a focus for your project?  
• What is your classroom evidence telling you about the types of strategies you need to adopt to take your pupils’ learning forward?