Joyce+Tabone

= **Action Research Project Planner:** = Which area/s of your practice would you like to improve? What will be your focus for this project in 2011? || Timeline for 2011 Meet with Faculty members to discuss project Brainstorm and create survey (survey monkey) [|Year 8 survey] [|Year 9 Survey] Survey year 8 and year 9 before term 1 to determine their current attitude to studying Indonesian Collate results Compare differences between year 8 and year 9 Determine what students prefer and like within their Indonesian classroom based on their survey answers Choose a unit of work in year 8 to be delivered near end Term 3 Brainstorm ways using student suggestions, on improving unit of work Determine resources needed Budget for resource grant Purchase resources Create unit of work Deliver unit of work end Term 3 Immediately Re-survey students and compare with year 9 results 2012 Collate results Compare differences Do evaluation || What did you do? || Meet with Faculty members to discuss project Brainstorm and create survey (survey monkey) [|Year 8 survey] [|Year 9 Survey] Analysis results. Below is the Studying Indonesian in Glenarthur survey analysis Share results with LOTE Faculty members Has the survey result data confirmed or rejected our hypothesis (students in year 9 are disengaged and do not enjoy learning Indonesian)? Based on the survey data it appears that the majority of our students enjoy studying Indonesian, therefore our original hypothesis has been rejected. Due to this surprising revelation our original plan of action (see above needs a total re-think and has caused other questions to be raised. During Term 1 holidays met up with Jacinta Forde (other team member) to discuss new strategy and approach based on the survey results. New plan of action to include: - no longer include year 8s in our research, it is evident that they enjoy and are generally engaged in learning a language - focus on year 9s only - based on activities students have indicated they enjoy, create a unit of work, including resources. This unit of work will be distributed to all Year 9 LOTE teachers and delivered at the same time. - Once the unit of work has been delivered, re-survey Year 9 students, using the same survey to see if there are any improvements - If there is a marked improvement, other units of work can be created based on the same formula However, the survey results presented more questions: - If students are generally engaged and enjoy learning Indonesian, why are the retention rates so low for year 10? Retention rates at year 10 -discussed this issue with the Director of curriculum, as students indicated that at year 10 there are many electives to choose from - Director of Curriculum was very interested in this finding and will bring this issue up with the Curriculum Committee, and perhaps a solution can be found. Ideas that have been branded included, students need to select at least one elective from various stream. Currently Indonesian at year 10 is a year long elective, perhaps we can have two electives, one as currently is, and also offer a semester study - There seems to be a general consensus within the school hierarchy, teachers and students that students do not like studying a language, however this perception is incorrect. There is a need to promote the language positively. Therefore, I have organised with the Deputy Principal to present our preliminary findings at the next staff meeting. The staff meeting will be held 1st June 2011. A copy of the staff presentation - Finally students have indicated that they will not continue with Indonesian at year 10 because they cannot see the relevance. This issue needs to be addressed. At tonight's LOTE faculty meeting, (9th May 2011) I bought this issue up and suggested that as well as creating a unit of work based on how students want to learn, we should also consider creating a mini unit of work of maybe one or two lessons as to why learning Indonesian is relevant. Things we can consider are: - Australia-Indonesia relationship -Global economy -Business Council laments lack of students learning Indonesian - Business partnership with Asia Institute -VCE study scores (Perhaps careers counsellors can help with this) - I have spoken to our careers counsellors and they are very happy to assist. They will be coming into our classes to deliver a 15 minute talk about how studying Indonesian can assist students with gaining entry to their preferred university course as well as how Indonesian can assist them with their careers. Refer to the Mini Unit of Work document for dates and times. On the 24th May 2011, Jacinta and I have been given time release (half day) to map out the major unit of work, as well as the mini unit of work Draft mini unit of work including worksheets Mini unit of work includes : Draft major unit of working including lesson plans Activities in the major unit reflect what our students have indicated they prefer doing and includes using As well as the above we will also be using the textbook and workbook for comprehension and listening tasks We are still awaiting for the funding to become available, once this is done I can purchase ipods and apps which could be relevant in our teaching. Research has already been undertaken regarding which ipod apps would be appropriate. Please refer to the Week Beginning document. Another initiative to improve year 10 retention rates was the creation of a letter to be sent to parents of year 9 students who based on their past results and attitude we believe have the ability to do well in year 10 and VCE. This letter was drafted with input of all the LOTE teachers as well as our careers counsellor, and informs parents that not only does their child have the ability to do well in Indonesian, but also the benefits of learning the language including learning about another culture, VCE study scores and career opporunities. This letter will be sent to the selected year 9 student's parents the week before year 10 subject selections. Equipment - 6 Ipods were purchased and received Friday 17th June at a cost of $317 each. These ipods have been uploaded with a number of free apps including Puppet Pals, Doodle Buddy, Dress the Monkey, Indonesian Dcictionary, Indonesian Flash Cards, Pocket Home, Story Kit, and Talking Tom. The IPODs will be given to all year 9 LOTE teachers so they can play with the apps and become familar with them with the aim that they will be used in the classroom beginning term 3. Apps that we will be using are: Puppet pals to create animations using voice recordings, Doodle buddy can be used as a pictionary game, Pocket home will be used to design a loungeroom and will use prepositions, for example the blue lamp is on top of the table, etc, and talking tom will be used to record students. The other apps will be trialled by staff and depending on usefulness consideration will be given in purchasing full versions. 2012 Enrolments - The year 9s have now made their elective selections for 2012. Today, 29th August, I received the numbers of how many students will be undertaking year 10 Indonesian in 2012. The good news is that 18 students have enrolled for 2012. This is amazing when compared to this year when we had 6 students enrolled. Through trialing various strategies it appears this may have contributed to a 300 percent increase in enrolments. The question now is: was this a one off co-incidence. Next year the same strategies must be done so I have actual evidence that the increase in enrolments is not a co-incidence but due to the strategies that have been put into place. As an aside, another interesting fact to emerge from the enrolment numbers is that there is no real difference between gender from the 18 students who have enrolled there are 8 boys and 10 girls. I have spoken with the Head of Languages and the next approach is to survey the 18 students to determine why they selected Indonesian as their elective in 2012. The original plan was to survey all the year 9s however I am not sure what the benefit of that would be. By surveying the 18 students I can determine what was their motivation or reasons for selecting Indonesian and based on their answers develop strategies for implemention in 2012. With the assistance from the Director of Teaching and Learning I have created the attached survey Over the past two days 1st and 2nd September students were asked to complete the survey. Results have been collated, it would appear that the main reasons students are continuing with year 10 is the VCE study scores as well as their like for the subject, their teacher encouragement and the letter being sent home. Attached are the results with strategies for 2013
 * My Profile:** Teacher of Indonesian Year 7 and 9
 * = ** Stage 1 ANALYSE ** =
 * Question:** why are the students at Aitken College becoming disengaged from Indonesian in mid year 8, and what can be done to help turn this around?
 * How can we find out why students are becoming disengaged?**
 * student surveys
 * discussions with members of the LOTE faculty
 * What do we want as the end results to be?**
 * higher retention rates
 * higher levels of motivation
 * How can we find out why students are becoming disengaged? (Brainstorming questions included:)**
 * What is your favourite aspect of Indonesian? Why?
 * What is your least favourite aspect of Indonesian? Why?
 * What activities do you like doing? Why?
 * What activities don't you like doing? Why?
 * Do you want to continue with Indonesian in year 10? If so, why? If not, why not?
 * In your opinion, what could be done to improve the Indonesian course?
 * What kind of assessment tasks are your favourite do to? (e.g. tests, role-plays, etc)
 * Increase student retention rates. To do this I plan on:
 * Survey students
 * Develop a unit of work based on student wants
 * Purchase necessary resources
 * Deliver unit of work that has been developed based on students' responses. ||
 * = ** Stage 2 - PLAN ** =
 * Stage 1**
 * Stage 2**
 * Stage 3**
 * Stage 4**
 * Stage 5**
 * Stage 6**
 * == ** Stage 3 - ACT ** ==
 * == ** Stage 3 - ACT ** ==
 * **Stage 1**
 * Stage 2**
 * Stage 3**
 * Stage 4**
 * Stage 5**
 * careers counsellor sessions
 * Discussion using recent newspaper articles
 * Viewing mini videos from Asia Link website
 * Student worksheet
 * mobile technology (ipods)
 * filming using flip cameras
 * using ICT, in particular
 * creating their own Indonesian games using Languages Online Game maker
 * creating a digital photo story, that incorporates images, text and audio
 * creating an advertisement (print or film) using Publisher or Film editing software
 * creating a cartoon using Cartoon Story maker that incorpates images, text and audio
 * hands on activities including
 * Read and draw
 * Excursion
 * Incorporating the Year 9 City Experience day, students visit the Botanical gardens
 * Create a photostory using their images, etc.
 * Stage 6**
 * Stage 7**
 * Stage 8**

The results have been emailed to all Faculty members for their input. Continue with the above activities in 2012. Careers Counsellors have agreed to participate in the "Why Learn Indonesian" forum to be held in the first week of Term 3. Dates, venues and classes have already been organised. Continue to source and use the ipods, new apps have included using QR codes Continue to source and use web 2.0 tools in the classroom including using bighugelabs, edmodo The school has purchased 5 class sets of ipads. Explore apps that can be used and integrate these into the classroom. Some apps that I have used successfully so far include iDrawing, Suzy Dress Up, Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets. || What did you notice? What would you do the same/differently in the future? ||
 * Stage 9**
 * == ** Stage 4 - OBSERVE ** ==
 * 1) What I noticed and have learnt from our initial stages is what teachers, faculties or schools perceive might not necessarily be the perception of our students. For example, at the beginning we created a hypothesis that our year 8 and 9 students are disengaged with learning a language. This perception was taken from listening to the minority of our students, and was perpetuated by the LOTE faculty teaching staff, teaching staff outside of the LOTE faculty and in fact our school management team. The general perception was that our students do not like Indonesian. However, when we give our students an opportunity to respond to a survey which is anoymous, it is quite amazing and surprising to discover what they actually think.
 * 2) Another observation is that when students are given information as to how studying a language can benefit them, students are very receptive and their own perceptions can change and they can see the value.
 * 3) Without the strategies put in place throughout the year our Year 10 2012 enrolments would have been 6 students with a possibility of upto 10 students, this is comparable with previous years. Due to interconnecting reasons our enrolments of 18 students is unprecedented.
 * 4) The mentoring project sounded good in theory, however, due to distances and other issues I did not meet with my mentor throughout the duration of this project except for the organised MLTAV days. The project was done with personal motivation and the support from my schools LOTE faculty. ||
 * == ** Stage 5 - REFLECT ** ==
 * == ** Stage 5 - REFLECT ** ==
 * I would work on my own and not do this activity as a "team" as I felt that I did the majority of the work including
 * creating the initial survey,
 * collating survey results,
 * creating a powerpoint presentation to present results to a teaching staff meeting,
 * purchasing ipods,
 * sourcing ipod apps,
 * downloading apps and maintaining ipods,
 * creating the majority of the mini unit of work including sourcing videos, creating the Why Study Indonesian handout and worksheet
 * liaising with careers counsellors and co-ordinating careert talk session times for all the year 9 classes
 * sourcing a copy of the Math Faculty letter to create Why your child should study Indonesian
 * liasing with our Careers Counsellors to enlist their assistance in drafting the letter to parents
 * liasing with our Director of Curriculum regarding electives,
 * creating the 2nd survey
 * administering the survey
 * collating results of 2nd survey
 * sourcing ipad apps and introducing them into the languages classroom

However, while the ride has been time consuming I feel that it was an extremely worthwhile project to be a part of. Teaching staff have been informed that our students enjoy learning a language, and through this presentation it was a first step to eliminating the perception that is held within the school that students do not like learning a language. Also by trying different strategies it appears it is possible to turn around low enrolment numbers into something more positive. ||