Bitesize Research: Adaptive Teaching

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far - and wishing you all a restful break when it comes along! We’ve been hearing lots about adaptive teaching as a new way of describing differentiation in recent times - this is the emphasis of the Early Career framework too in terms of meeting the differing needs of pupils as well as being the preferred term from the DfE. Going forward, I know we’ll be continuing to think about this going forward, as will the teaching profession in general. As such, this week, I was really interested to see an article in TES on adaptive teaching. 

Objectives: To suggest some ideas about effective adaptive teaching in school settings

Summary: 

• The author argues that adaptive teaching differs from differentiation crucially insofar as it starts on the whole class, rather than the individual

• The author suggests two approaches to adaptive teaching:

• 1) Proactive adaptive teaching - this is an approach that may look to perform small, inclusive adjustments to lesson organisation, and the author argues that this relies heavily on having strong teacher-student relationships. It may also look at modelling and giving instructions in bitesize chunks so that working memory isn’t overloaded. 

• 2) Reactive adaptive teaching - by way of using quick and ongoing formative assessment, this can be used to adjust teaching during the course of a lesson. In this respect, the author suggests a helpful resource from the Maximising the Effectiveness of Teaching Assistants group - see here.

How might this look in the classroom?

Expectations should be set high and tasks are challenging for all the students. Students are given a live example of WAGOLL - “what a good one looks like” and they have had the opportunity to follow the “perfect” thought process in problem solving

The main strategy for adaptive teaching is scaffolding; providing different levels of support for students whilst they all attempt the same task.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What do I currently understand about adaptive teaching? What do I need to know more about?

• How do I look to do proactive adaptive teaching?

• How do I look to do reactive adaptive teaching?

• What additional support would I like with adaptive teaching?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you! 

Student-Centred Scaffolding

By Andrew Moore

“Bop bop bop, bop to the top.” - Sharpay and Ryan Evans

When the term scaffolding is used in regards to education I can’t help but think of the characters Sharpay and Ryan Evans from High School Musical singing about ‘bopping’ to the top, both singing about and physically climbing ladders in their euphoric musical rendition. Although not an accurate representation of the act of scaffolding itself, the idea of climbing a ladder and moving one rung (eh-hem ‘bop’) at a time within a structured task is crucial in the student-centred learning experience. 

Becton Loveless offers the following definition. ‘Scaffolding refers to breaking up new concepts so that they can be learned more easily.’ With the implementation of scaffolds, pupils will have a greater ability to understand new concepts and more efficiently retain information.

The role of scaffolds within my own practice is crucial for building pupil understanding and returning to concepts. An issue that often arises in the music classroom is cognitive overload from the number of variables to a task. For example, a Year 7 piano task will typically require a student to combine previously taught information regarding note values with new information in the form of reading pitch AND learning how to both translate this to specific keys and have accurate motor control over their fingers. To exacerbate this, students may also only encounter the subject and instrument once a week often resulting in an element of ‘relearning’ taking place in each lesson. I imagine there will be doppelganger-esque scenarios in most subjects, further highlighting the importance of teacher tools to help students navigate or return to a concept. Below are some general tips I find helpful within my own practice:

1. Be aware of your students’ Zones of Proximal Development.

Coined by the researcher Vygotsky, the zones of proximal development (ZPD) refer to what a student can do independently, what they can do with assistance, and what they can’t do just yet, even with help. It is important to be aware of the students in your class and the ability they already have, the ability they will have with assistance from a student with slightly more ability (for example in music this could be a student who has learned the piano privately), the ability they will have with assistance from you, and then tasks that despite regular assistance are still too challenging (in music this could be providing a student who can competently read the various notes with a piece of music at concert level and ask them to perform). With understanding of the various zones you can effectively plan your lesson using scaffolds informed by the students within the room, what they know, how this may be used to help others and also how you may help the students by working with them. 

2. Link the steps, highlight the journey, empower students in future use.

It is important pupils can see the steps and scaffolds that are used in the delivering of a concept so their ‘toolkit’ of knowledge is nurtured and developed. If the steps for a particular task are linked to build upon one another then the student can use the scaffolds in real time. By immediately highlighting the steps and how they are linked, the students will gain an satisfaction and greater command over the task itself, perhaps being able to independently utilise the scaffold when in need and also appreciate the scaffolds provided within a new task or concept. This also helps as the steps should and naturally will become more complex as pupil knowledge grows. 

3. Embed scaffolds in pupil routines for consistent tasks.

Earlier in the blog post I discussed the scenario of a Year 7 music class learning to play the piano. The scaffold I used to support pupils in this scenario was laminated cut outs of part of a piano with the particular note names (translations) written for each key. Pupils could then slot the cut out behind relevant keys of the piano, therefore allowing pupils to more easily access the piano keys and link them to the notes. The keyboard cut outs sit at the front of the music room in a pile visible and readily accessible to students. For every subsequent lesson the scaffold was readily available to use and gradually I stopped instructing pupils to retrieve the cut-out, and rather allowed them to pick it up when they felt in need. This also allowed pupils to gradually manage the task without the scaffold, or use it when they may have had a lapse in knowledge or need just a little bit more support approaching the piano task itself. 

4. Make use of a physical scaffold.

This is not to say set up scaffolding as you would with a building, rather make use of physical. tangible objects that scaffold a task or a concept. For example, when leading pupils in their writing technique for an essay question, providing generic but typical sentence starters in printed form can be a useful scaffold students can use on a regular basis before they gradually no longer need it. This could be a typical starting sentence for an introduction section of an essay, and similarly a conclusion. If the sentence starters were printed they offer another vehicle for student understanding and reasoning, perhaps the student could place the physical object on the relevant paper to help with the process of planning and envisioning their future sentence etc. 

5. Scaffold conversations.

A fairly self-explanatory title, when you scaffold conversation you offer prompts in some shape or form that assist your pupils in verbal reasoning and understanding a concept. I find the key to scaffolding conversation is to ensure your contributions are brief and clearly highlight how the topic builds upon prior knowledge. Another important factor in scaffolding conversation is understanding and in part predicting student responses, then using this knowledge to inform your response and scaffolded sentences… (bear with me). There was a particular lesson where my Year 9 students were analysing a piece of music called ‘4:33’ in which the performer sits at a piano but does not play it. The concept briefly summarised is that the music is what happens within the silence- therefore unique for each performance. However, does this mean the piece is actually music? This was the question I posed to my Year 9’s with the overall goal that students would be able to articulate what they thought music was and why. By predicting likely student responses I would play devil’s advocate and ask leading questions requiring students to examine their views and deepen their inquiry of the debate itself. By doing so you can set the parameters to help support pupils as they formulate their understanding and answers whilst also inspiring them in their answers. The scaffold requires a good understanding of your pupils, however can be incredibly useful and helpful in supporting students within important conversations. 

6. Ensure understanding of scaffolding and differentiation, the similarities and differences.

Differentiation and scaffolding often overlap and both share the same desired end goal of increasing student success. Generally, differentiation is seen as more individualistic in approach, for example, modifying or creating a different task in order to cater more efficiently to a particular student or students’ learning style; whereas scaffolding is generally aimed at a class as a whole. Understanding the distinction is important for the lesson planning process helping to ensure teachers are firmly aware and have command over the resources they are creating and delivering within the lesson. A pitfall I occasionally fall into is I create a resource with the intention of using it as a differentiated resource for a student, however, it is actually part of the general scaffolding of the lesson, therefore missing the student in need of a modified task or resource. Similarly, understanding the two processes will allow you to reuse and repurpose previous materials, such as a scaffold becoming a more targeted resource of differentiation.

Thank you for reading and always remember, you gotta bop bop bop, bop to the top!

Further reading:

• https://www.educationcorner.com/scaffolding-education-guide.html
• https://blog.prepscholar.com/vygotsky-scaffolding-zone-of-proximal-development
• https://dataworks-ed.com/blog/2017/05/differentiation-and-scaffolding-before-teaching/
• https://www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-administration/what-scaffolding-education#:~:text=Scaffolding%20refers%20to%20a%20method,how%20to%20solve%20a%20problem.&text=Students%20might%20work%20together%20in%20small%20groups%20to%20help%20each%20other.
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261619027_Tools_for_Scaffolding_Students_in_a_Complex_Learning_Environment_What_Have_We_Gained_and_What_Have_We_Missed

Bitesize Research: Differentiating For Students With SEND

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! Continuing with our theme on student-centred learning for T3, and following discussions with the SEN team here at WA, I was really interested in this article about differentiation for students with SEN by Sobel and Alston. Objectives: To propose a particular perspective on differentiation and offer strategies for this Summary:

• The authors maintain the central importance of differentiation but propose that strategies to do this well don’t need to be time-consuming for the teacher.
• They propose small adaptations and adjustments for inclusive teaching for SEND students.
• They suggest that teachers reframe their thinking about differentiation; making it about a series of routines and priorities that will definitely benefit SEND students but will in fact benefit the whole class too
• They suggest ‘chunking’ lessons into a series of phases (or routines), which could also act as a roadmap for some students with SEND
• Phase One: Transition, entering the classroom and preparedness to learn. This includes starting on a positive note, having seating plans, and using visual timetables of the lesson.
• Phase Two: Settling the class, and starting to learn. This includes making the implicit explicit by using visual prompts, routines around listening, and ensuring everyone knows what ‘I’m ready to learn’ means in this classroom
• Phase Three: Delivering and receiving instructions, and whole-class engagement. This includes checking for understanding of instructions, ensuring you have a written instruction as well as a verbal one, avoid vague or unclear statements e.g. ‘work quietly’ is an ambiguous phrase.
• Phase Four: A whole class of individuals working. This includes making writing more accessible, and managing distractions.
• Phase Five: Individuals fitting into groups of learners. This includes balancing group work in terms of the individuals and giving them explicit instructions for roles to play in the group.
• Phase Six: Finishing learning and assessment. This includes supporting the students to self and peer assess learning, clarifying understanding through overlearning, and providing a clear end of lesson routine.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How am I currently working with my SEND students in lessons?
• How might I refine my practice in line with some of the phases suggested?
• What might be important about reframing thinking around differentiation?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Book Review: Teach to the Top by Megan Mansworth

By Holly Youlden

At the end of last year, I spent a chunk of time auditing the provision we offer as a school for students we might describe as More Able or having High Prior Attainment. I spoke to staff, students, middle leaders, observed lessons and had a student in every year group “shadowed” to gain insight into the type of stretch and challenge students were actually experiencing in a typical day of lessons. The results of this audit were not surprising:

• Students are excited and enjoy subjects they feel a good level of challenge in but are frustrated if tasks are not accessible to them
• Staff feel somewhat confident in how to support more able students but were very keen for more training in this area

This year, I am lucky to be in the Stretch and Challenge PLC which, after our first meeting, enabled me to reflect on these findings. One of the things that struck me was, although I had spent several years acquiring experience teaching very able students, I had not recently had a chance to think deeply about the ways in which I approach my teaching to stretch and challenge these students. This led me to read Teach to the Top, a brand new book by Megan Mansworth, an English teacher, leader and current PhD student in Literary Linguistics.

What is the book about? Teach to the Top advertises itself as a “research-informed guide to aspirational teaching”. One of the first things Mansworth writes is to clarify that teaching to the top does not mean taking approaches that prioritise high attainers. Instead, it looks to “consistently teach high-level ideas and knowledge” and make them accessible to all in the class. Echoing Sherrington in The Learning Rainforest and work by Reynolds and Farrels in the 1990s, learning happens best when expectations are high for all, including stretching the highest attaining members of a group. Mansworth then explores several key elements which she believes are essential for teachers to truly stretch their classes and create this culture of high expectation in the classroom.

First up was the subject knowledge of the teachers and how it is impossible for a teacher to have the “inner confidence” required for high-level questioning and quality explanations if subject knowledge is “fragile”. The second was a focus on curriculum, and thinking about how we build our medium and long-term planning to embed challenge, depth and what we assign value to in our curriculum. This also involves the pedagogical content knowledge, and how well teachers understand how best to teach particular topics or areas of content. Next was providing opportunities in lessons for students to think hard, reflect and discuss big ideas. Mansworth emphasised that this requires a distinct change in language from staff away from grade-focused language, which can cultivate a culture of students obsessed with exams, rather than learning. Finally, the book explored recent research by Smagorinsky (2018) which highlights how the concept of Zones of Proximal Development is often misapplied and stops many teachers from stretching students far enough. Mansworth highlights that we should not be reducing the aspiration of a lesson, irrespective of which set it may be or the prior attainment of students, but instead provide better access points and scaffolding so that all students are able to reach those high levels of thinking. Techniques discussed included Socratic questioning, asking students to generate questions about challenging resources and counterfactual thinking (i.e. “what if” questions) to help generate challenge in our lessons.

Overall the book provided a critical exploration of a lot of research and boiled it down to a short, sharp, straightforward guide with lots of questions to help teachers reflect and refine their own approaches.

Questions to think about:

• How regularly do you audit your own subject knowledge? How do you keep your subject knowledge up to date?
• How could you make the most of the subject knowledge of colleagues at WA? Beyond?
• Is the content of your lessons demanding? Is it accessible? Will all students have the opportunity to explore tricky concepts or ideas?
• How can we design activities that encourage deep thinking or add challenge?

How To Promote Reading In Lessons: Musings From The English Department

 By Lucy Neil, Izzy Hilliard & Carla Boniolo

In the English Department, we are of the view that the ‘little and often’ approach to promoting reading in lessons works best. Below, we have gathered a list of easy-to-try, low-fuss strategies that have been successful in our classrooms. For ease, the strategies have been divided into three distinct target groups: students with low prior attainment who may need remedial support; those with high prior attainment who may need to be challenged; and those in the sixth form with a goal of continuing on to tertiary study. Whilst we acknowledge that none of these strategies aim to reinvent the wheel when it comes to promoting reading in lessons, we believe that sometimes it is useful to be reminded of the simplest strategies with the highest yield. 

Carla Boniolo’s thoughts on promoting reading with LPA students in mind 

#1: Creating a specific reading focus: 

When reading any text as a class, I find that it is always helpful to have the text projected onto the whiteboard (in a large enough font!). Adjacent to the text, I like to include a simple text box entitled ‘Reading Focus’ with one clear sentence that summarises - in clear ‘student speak’ - the main gist or the ‘top line’ takeaway from that particular section of text. For example, if the section of our extended text details a passage from Macbeth where Macbeth expresses doubt, my ‘Reading Focus’ box would truncate this and say something like: ‘Here, Macbeth struggles to accept the reality that he must kill King Duncan in order to become the king himself’. I explicitly direct students to this box as we read, ensuring that they know where to find the most important takeaway details about the text we are reading. 

#2: Using images to clarify meaning

I continue to be inspired by the Universal Design for Learning approach to creating an inclusive classroom. Something that the model advocates for is rethinking how we present information to students. In my classroom, I like to place images adjacent to text that clarify concepts in either a concrete or abstract way. For example, a contextual article about King James I as a keen patron of the arts might be accompanied by a portrait of the monarch (concrete) or by an image of a theatre stage (a little more abstract). As a general rule, I try to provide one image per paragraph or slide. I believe that this aids cognition and provides visual context clues for students who may find large chunks of text daunting. 

#3: Pre-teaching essential vocabulary 

Another strategy that the Universal Design for Learning promotes is the pre-teaching of essential vocabulary in a way that links to prior knowledge. I find it useful to concentrate on one or two important words or phrases per lesson by introducing them at the beginning of the lesson and explicitly defining them. For example, a lesson on the character of Mr Birling in the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ might have ‘avarice’ as a keyword for the lesson. Alongside the definition for the keyword (and an image of something like a pile of coins - see #2 above!), I will have a sentence that uses the word in the context of a previous topic (‘Scrooge displayed the negative trait of avarice in ‘A Christmas Carol’). This encourages students to solidify new vocabulary by linking to a context with which they are already familiar. 

You can read a little more about the Universal Design for Learning approach here

Lucy Neil’s thoughts on promoting reading with HPA students in mind 

#1  Stretching HPA’s through academic reading:

Teachers are aware that it is essential to differentiate big chunks of text for LPA pupils. However, what about differentiating for HPA’s? We must constantly engage our HPA pupils, and stretch them to their limits. Where you might break up a big chunk of text for an LPA pupil, or give them an “easier” extract, why not give HPA’s a more engaging and challenging extract? 

Here are some suggestions of readings you can give to HPA pupils so  that they can deepen their knowledge and write more in-depth and detailed class notes:

• Academic writing on an unusual and interesting topic, such as reading about psychoanalysis in Macbeth, or reading about a scientific debate.

• Books with more complex text and/or diagrams

• A tool or piece of equipment that requires more dexterity or technical expertise

• An artefact that is more obtuse in its function or design

• A medium that is more difficult to work with (eg, in art, textiles or food technology).

#2 Questioning when reading to create authentic responses:

Graves and Fitzgerald are two academics who created a range of activities for a Scaffolded Reading Experience. When it comes to promoting reading and challenging HPA pupils, they emphasise the importance of questioning, as ‘questioning activities allow you to encourage and promote higher-order thinking,’ as well as eliciting ‘creative and personal responses.’ (Graves and Fitzgerald, 2004, p.97).

An example of how I use this in the classroom is to get my HPA pupils to think critically and outside of the box. After reading a text I will ask my pupils a series of comprehension questions to check their understanding. However, I will challenge my HPA pupils to think more critically by asking more ambitious questions. For instance, at the moment in Y10, I am teaching Macbeth. Not only will I check their understanding of the plot and characters but I will ask them to start making links between the text and other moments in the play, or to consider alternative opinions. An example question would be “How do you think a Jacobean audience would perceive Lady Macbeth, given what you have read about Witches and Demonology in the Jacobean era?

Fitzgerald, J. and Graves, M. F. (2004). Reading Supports for All. Educational Leadership 62 (4).

#3 Developing a Dialogue for Reading

When teachers want to push the boundaries for HPA pupils, a great way to do this is through talk. Using a dialogue will encourage pupils to think about the ideas and views of others. We have all been guilty of skimming through an article, but how much have you remembered? The use of talk will enable pupils to cement new and academic ideas to use in the future. This is where you, as the teacher, need to step in. You need to be a conductor to develop exchanges between the texts and the pupils to develop their thinking. For instance, this can be done by asking one pupil to respond to another’s answer, by commenting or asking a critical question about a pupil’s response. As teachers, we can add information into the discussion to develop knowledge and understanding, as well as asking our questions in response to children’s comments. As a result, critical thinking and deeper comprehension of a text are more likely to be developed in this way than through written answers to a list of questions with little discussion. If you wish to read more on this, check out Corbett and Strong’s theory on “Talk for Writing”, which is powerful because it is based on the principles of how children learn. It enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it and then writing their version. 

Izzy Hilliard’s thoughts on promoting reading with KS5 students in mind 

#1 Encouraging reading for pleasure

Westminster Academy is currently promoting reading for pleasure throughout the school. Research demonstrates that reading enjoyment is more important for educational success than socio-economic factors (OECD 2002). By the time students are in KS5, as teachers, we should be encouraging a dialogue about what students are reading and what they are enjoying about the novels they are studying. Even students who are not art-focused should be able to recognise the benefits of accessing all types of literature before heading to university or further study. These conversations do not have to be time-consuming, but could happen on your Google Classroom stream or briefly before all students have arrived in the classroom. The cultural exchange between teacher and students can be mutually beneficial. My year thirteen Literature class recommended Akala’s “Natives,” and I continue to go back to their recommended reads to briefly discuss with them. 

The DfE published a comprehensive report on the topic of “Reading for Pleasure” in 2012.  

#2 “The Potency of Relevance”

Gith and Guthrie (2008) wrote about teenagers all reading with “me” in the background. Students need to make real-world connections with what they read and I think we can make recommendations of novels that are to do with or relate to the topical issues that our KS5 students are talking about in any given movement. Our students have a wide range of interests, and we are the ones who know these the best. If we can frequently recommend novels that we know would interest our KS5 students the students will not only know that we see their reading as important, but that we see their voice and interests as valuable, 

#3 Developing the skill of critical reading 

Many students will be faced with critical literature for the first time at university. This could be integrated into KS5 lessons in small chunks. Learning to be resilient in the face of something that appears confusing, dense and written in an ivory tower is a skill that our students need to learn for future academic study. An interesting, understandable piece of critical literature will probably be available for many KS5 lessons.  Whilst only needing a soundbite of this literature in the lesson, using Google Classroom students could be given the opportunity to read the entirety of the report, whether that be Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” to Emma Mawdsley’s “A post-aid world?” if it is something they want to read about in further detail.

Teaching English to Arabic Speakers

By Greg Day

As mentioned in Jaya’s Bitesize Research this week, here at WA we teach a large proportion of students who would be classified as EAL. Of those students many speak Arabic. As someone who does not speak a second language myself, I wanted to have an understanding of the barriers that Arabic speakers face when learning English using research from the British Council.

Objectives: To understand the barriers faced by Arabic speakers when learning English and how to overcome them. 

Summary:

The key overall themes are: 

• English language is extremely important in Arabic speaking countries. The majority of the population would begin to learn English during their time at Primary school. Many students in Arabic countries also learn English outside of school through additional English lessons. Arabic nations are very diverse and so being able to use English as a common and business language is vital

• Learning English can present many challenges to Arabic speakers. For starters there is a completely different writing system as well as use of grammar. There are different rules for punctuation and so, as an example, many Arabic speakers will use a comma instead of a full stop.

• One of the main differences is that Arabic is written from right to left as opposed to left to right in English. Because of this, English will appear backwards making school textbooks seem very confusing. 

• Some English sounds are very difficult to pronounce. For example in Egypt, Arabic speakers pronounce ‘p’ and ‘b’ and ‘th’ as ‘s’ or ‘z’. These pronunciation errors do not tend to cause communication problems but can lead to some misunderstanding.

   

Tips to overcome these barriers:

• Let the student listen first. It takes time for someone who is new to English to acclimatise to the sounds. When the student is able to hear how words are pronounced correctly they will then feel more confident speaking themselves. 

• Lots of ‘drill and repeat’. Learning English for the first time requires lots of repetition and drilling, especially as the learner gets to grips with the new sounds. This is especially important when learning keywords.

• Establish classroom language early on. It can be very daunting learning a new language so keeping classroom instructions basic and using the same instructions each time will help the student understand these instructions much quicker.

Most important tip - don’t forget that the student is fluent in their own language(s)!

It’s all too easy when listening to somebody speaking broken English to forget that behind the errors and the mispronunciation is a person with cogent thoughts. They are articulate in their first language however may be struggling to communicate his or her opinions or ideas in English. This can be very frustrating for the student. Use positive praise and encourage the student to use English as much as they can and reminding them that making mistakes does not matter!

Bitesize Research: Within-class Attainment Grouping

By Jaya Carrier

We mostly teach at WA in mixed ability groupings, and this is underpinned by a very important part of our educational philosophy. As such, this week, I found it interesting to read about the idea of within-class attainment groupings in this summary from the EEF - namely, grouping students in mixed ability groups together with peers of a similar attainment level. 

Objectives: To understand the impact of grouping students of a similar attainment level together in lessons.

Summary:  

The key overall themes are:

• Evidence suggests that grouping students with those of a similar attainment level has a positive impact on all learners
• Despite the overall positive effect, there does appear to be less of a beneficial effect for lower attaining students
• There are some studies that suggest that grouping students in this way has a negative impact on other factors such as student confidence - possibly as it discourages the belief that attainment can be improved through effort 

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How might considering this help the learning of some students in my lessons? What might I need to implement this?
• What impact does the currently COVID situation have on this? 
• What other strategies might be needed for LPA students to support their learning?
• How might I mitigate potential negative impacts on confidence if I were to use this strategy?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Thoughts from the Learning Support Team

By Keren Lovie and Nichola Vo

By now, you have probably seen, heard and met at least one or two Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) around the school. You may have noticed us chatting in the staffroom; running around a classroom; or assisting you directly in classes. Even so, you may not be sure of how best to utilise this extra person in the room, and how we can effectively contribute to teaching. And, because we want to help, we have collated our ideas together in this blog post.

It’s worth starting this post by stating the obvious: no two LSAs, like any other group of teachers, will ever be the same. We all have our different personalities, styles, and backgrounds which contributes to our methods. However, what this post will hopefully do is provide an insight into how teachers can work effectively with their LSAs, in order to produce a supported, happy and engaged classroom environment for students. 

Who are we?

In Westminster Academy, there are 11 LSAs, usually helping multiple students a day.

• Imogen Blythe

• Hibah Rizki

• Janice Zvimba

• Bianca Triffin 

• Aminat Quadri

• Forzana Begum

• Mickey Lemos

• Keren Lovie

• Nichola Vo

• Iyesha Turay

• Chloe Ashley

What do we do?

In previous, Covid-free years, we would have been assigned to a particular subject area and assisted across multiple year groups. Now, to avoid mixing bubbles, we have been tactically assigned to follow one or two students with Educational, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). And, we’re not there just to help them: in the same class we could be assisting other SEN K students, EAL students, and anyone else who may need additional support. We’re there to facilitate every students’ success in learning as much as we can, whether it’s writing down to-do lists, creating differentiated questions, or giving them more attention and encouragement, we, and our whiteboards, will be there.

It’s quite difficult to summarise how we work 1:1 with a student. SEND students are extremely diverse in their needs so there’s no real one strategy fits all. Some students may require a lot of differentiation to answer questions and remain focussed, with us having to spend a lot of time with them. Others, you may just need to give clear, written explanations on how to do tasks, and you may never even have to check in with them again that lesson. There are even some who reject any additional help, and we have to come up with some subtle way to help in the background. And just to make our lives more interesting, a strategy that might have worked with a student in their Maths class, may not work at all in their English class. As such, we are constantly collaborating with each other to find the best method. 

Within the classroom, we have had to adapt to a Covid world. We can’t take students out to break out spaces as much as we used to, we can’t be in close proximity, and we can’t touch any of their things. Now we are trying to use technology to help us. I sometimes create differentiated worksheets on Google Docs, and then I can observe work from a distance. But one of the main tools in our arsenal is our multitudinous whiteboards. With our whiteboards, we can leave students a checklist, write out differentiated equations, show working, draw pictures - it is the most versatile piece of equipment. 

Finally, our job also includes keeping in touch with the students’ families. There can be multiple reasons why we may do this. If an EHCP student is absent for a period of time, we call home to check on them, and discuss how we can help them catch up on the work. If a student is showing negative behaviour, we can call home to see what’s happening behind the scenes. But it’s not all negative - sometimes we call home to let families know how well their child is doing. It can be stressful for a parent to have a child with any learning difficulties, so a positive call home can really put their minds at ease, and brighten up their day. 

How can you utilise our skills?

So that’s the LSAs role in a somewhat large nutshell. I know, it’s still a very vague description for our work, and you may still be a bit unsure on how we can work with you. So, we created a few ways you can utilise us the best you can:

1. Communicate with us.

Like any other kind of collaborative work, the most important driving factor for a successful relationship is communication. You can let us know your aims for each lesson, and we can suggest potential differentiation. Once the lesson is over, we can then review what worked and what didn’t. Whether you check in with us at the end of a lesson, drop us an email, or have a quick meeting, all communication is helpful.

2. Please share your lessons with us!!! 

This links to the above point - knowing what your aims are each lesson can help us prepare our strategy for the students we support. We can decide beforehand which key terms to focus on, whether we need to prepare a word bank, or even whether we need to take the student to a break out space to catch up. All the LSAs should have access to the Classroom Admin accounts on google classroom, so you could upload an early draft there, or you could just email us a copy. 

Additionally, it will refresh our memories on the subject. As I mentioned earlier, LSAs now assist in multiple subjects, some of which we may not have studied for a rather long time. For instance, I (Keren) haven’t thought about French since I was 12 years old. But still, I assist in a French class. And while this may have some usefulness in the class (e.g. students often end up correcting me on my incorrect grammar and spelling, which shows they are learning) it’s not useful if we’re telling them the wrong answers! 

3. Read the student passports. 

These are fantastic resources which provide useful context and pointers on how to best engage students. We know these inside and out, but you being on the same page can help tremendously when planning lessons.

You can find all the student passports in WA SEN Folder > Student Passports > Student Passports 2020-21.

4. Ask us for resources.

If you have read the student passports, you may have noticed a couple of pictures in the “to calm/re-engage” column. For instance, you may have seen the Zones of Regulation handout, which we use for students who might not be able to access their emotions easily. Or perhaps you have seen the Lazy 8 handout, which we use to try and help students calm down. If you would like to understand how to use these resources, or want further resources please do ask us.

You can also ask us for help on creating resources you can use to assist work in the class. For instance, in English, for students who struggle with writing answers to analytical questions, sentence starters are a fantastic way to get them practising. In language classes, using shape coding to differentiate verbs, nouns and other words can be really helpful. One thing that I’ve seen be really helpful for some students who have ADHD or ASD is a class checklist, breaking down the class into chunks. This can be granular as you want (e.g. including taking out equipment at the start of the lesson) and gives a student a visual guide to the lesson. There are loads more techniques we can suggest - so again, just ask!

5. Think of attainable goals.

Any student who cannot access the work given to them is going to act negatively, regardless of whether they are SEND or not. So it’s important to communicate with us what exactly a student will be able to learn, and what we should be rewarding. For instance, some students will find it simple to write one paragraph, but for a particular SEND student, writing one is an achievement worthy of a house point. We know these students well, so talk to us to find out what a good goal or target each lesson could be.

With regards to class engagement, it’s important to check when a student will be comfortable contributing to class discussions. Cold calling students should generally be avoided as that may increase their anxiety, but some students may be comfortable giving an answer if you give them a warning that you will.

6. Don’t be afraid to sanction SEND students (as long as the work is accessible!)

If you have done everything you can to allow students to access the work, but the student does not put effort in or begins to act out, don’t be afraid to start sanctioning students. We, generally, don’t want to send ECHP students to G22 if at all possible. One day lost at school can be disastrous for someone with working memory issues, anxiety, or ASD. However, they too need to be prepared to learn about honesty and responsibility so if they’re acting against that in any way (e.g. playing video games instead of doing work) they should be sanctioned. Make it clear from the start what the standards are for the class. For instance, when some students I have worked with started consistently playing video games in class, I began to tell them at the start of every lesson that if I caught them three times playing games, they would get a detention. And, with each warning, I would remind them how many more they had until detention.

While LSAs can explain these standards to students, because students get used to us from every class, warnings from us may not seem as severe. So additional help from teachers with discipline is appreciated. Discuss with us how best to do this, whether the LSA comes and tells you when a student is acting out, or you have regular check ins with the student.

8. If you’re not able to be in lessons, we can still help.

In this “new normal” we’re in now, there is a chance you will be asked to self isolate for two weeks. Provided that we haven’t also been told to stay home, we can help out in class to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. This includes having us cast do now activities, continuing to assist all students, and behaviour management. Let us know what we can do to help in this strange time.

On the other end of this issue, just because we may have to self isolate does not mean we still can’t help. We can still work with our students over Zoom and google documents to help out as much we can. And, if you’re worried about having one less person in the class, let us know. We will try and find another LSA to fill in if absolutely necessary. 

9. The methods that help SEND students also help other students

Keep in mind, the methods you use will not hinder other students! In fact, they might also assist them. Any method that works for a student with learning difficulties will also work for everyone else. 

I hope that does something to inform you about our role and how we can assist you. We’re a friendly bunch so please do not hesitate to ask us anymore questions if they arise.