Tracey is a senior staff member at a district high school, which has a professional school culture of proactively implementing programs and strategies to support all students.
Amy is a Grade one student with Angelman’s Syndrome. One of her Individual Education Planning key outcomes for 2005 was to increase social interactions and initiate communications with others. Tracey saw the opportunities the project could provide in allowing them to objectively assess how the strategies they were putting in place for Amy were working. Until now it appeared to the staff that this student rarely noticed others. They were aware that by structuring the learning environment differently they could increase the potential for Amy to acknowledge others.
The question
The guiding question for the action research that Tracey and her team explored was:
How can we increase peer interaction during playtimes and in the classroom?
Their action research took the following pathway:
- reviewing relevant literature
- developing a tracking sheet [Word 56KB] (proforma) for social interactions
- collecting baseline data (including video footage) about Amy’s existing peer interactions
- collaborative planning with teachers and Teacher Aides (TAs)
- involving Yr 10 Child Studies students – presenting them with the data and asking for ideas
- implementing classroom plan and playground program (which includes other students with social learning needs)
- documenting and reviewing progress - tracking sheet samples [Word 320KB]
- reapplying data collection at one and three weeks after withdrawal of formal playground structures
- reflecting on challenges, successes and questions raised by the whole process with members of school community.
Setting the scene : goals for the student within the project.
Hear Tracey and the class teacher, Mel, explain their work - VIDEO1 VIDEO2
[for privacy, the student's name has been removed from the videos]
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The answer
Tracey found that:
- the established supportive school environment and social skills program was a critical basis for success
- there was very clear visual evidence of Amy really noticing others as a result of the altered classroom environment; natural interactions between the students were fostered when adults distanced themselves at appropriate times
- the skills and enthusiasm of the older students were an invaluable resource: the Year 10 Peer Leaders in the Child studies class suggested they could run a playground program that would help students like Amy become more involved.
Outcomes for Amy
There were many positive outcomes for Amy. Most of these could be described within the Maintaining wellbeing key element, so Tracey used this as a framework to present information about the evidence she found of an increase in Amy’s social interactions. Explore the evidence of learning presented in a diagram to learn much more about the work Tracey and her team undertook.
Outcomes for others in the school community
At the beginning of the project, Tracey did not envisage that the outcomes for other members of the school community would be so significant. As the year progressed, she realised that the Year 10 playtime activity coordinators, Amy’s peers, staff and others in the school community had also learnt much from being involved in the experience.
Tracey grouped her evidence of their learning under outcomes from the Valuing diversity and Building and maintaining identity and relationships key elements.
Teachers explain the successes of their work - VIDEO1; VIDEO2
[for privacy, the student's name has been removed from the videos]
Tracey was thrilled with the outcomes they were able to achieve for so many learners with this work. Through the use of their social interaction tracking sheet, she was able to provide quantifiable evidence of the achievement of outcomes for Amy. The teachers were able to celebrate the fact that they were able to achieve the outcomes by creatively using the resources they already had in the school.
Tracey is keen to share the detail of the steps in their journey with other interested schools. For more information, in the first instance, contact Inclusive Curriculum Project.
She wishes to acknowledge all the students, teachers and teacher assistants involved in the project and the support of Sonja Vanderaa, Inclusive Curriculum Project Leader –South.
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Article for reference
Tracey found this article to be the most useful from her literature search:
Joseph, G. and Strain, P. ‘You’ve Got to Have Friends’ The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/modules/module2/handout3.pdf [Accessed 15 June 2006]
Resources
Amy’s class teacher found these books particularly useful in creating a positive classroom climate:
Collis, M and Dalton, J. (1989) Becoming Responsible Learners: Strategies for Positive Classroom Management. Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Melbourne.
Dalton, J. (1985) Adventures in Thinking. Nelson, Melbourne.
Hill, S and Hill, T. (1990) The Collaborative Classroom: A Guide to Co-operative Learning. Eleanor Curtain, Armidale.
Walker, D and Brown, P. (1994) Pathways to Cooperation: Starting Points for Cooperative Learning, Eleanor Curtain, Armidale.
Wilson, J and Egeberg, P. (1990) Cooperative Challenges and Student Investigations. Thomas Nelson South Melbourne
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Inclusive education
Getting Started: A guide for teachers of students with disabilities in regular schools 
Anna's story
Collage of students
