Multi Intelligences What is the focus of your investigation? I have been interested in the idea of Multiple Intelligences for about two years now, since attending an INSET at the school which I am currently teaching in. After discussions with my Head of Department I have been looking for a way into learning more about MI's and their effect on the learning in the Drama classroom. I am intrigued to know how much of an impact the awareness and usage of MI's will have on a selection of pupils in one of my current Year 10 classes. This research is in its infancy and in discussions with my mentor, Donna, who is undertaking a similar project, I have had to begin to narrow down the focus for the project. Through 'bouncing ideas' off one another I have had to start to answer questions such as: Which model of MI's will I use?, Will I focus on one or two MI's or will the investigation infact be open ended?, How many students will I use and will they learn in the same way? Whichever route I choose, I wholey expect to find that there will be no definate conclusion to the study, rather that the process will be on-going and will shape the way I and hopefully my department will teach drama in the future. Spidergram-Action Research: My project This are my initial thoughts in regards to my Action Research project. Spidergram - What is a Mentor? This spidergram shows my initial thought to what the role of a mentor should be, what I would like to get out of the project,why I want to be a Research Mentor and how I could see myself supporting and being supported.

Howard Gardner What resources / references have you found helpful? I have found the process of working through ideas with my mentor such a valuable experience. Through discussing both of our action research projects during their early stages, I was able to refine my investigation in terms of the practitioners I would study. This would help me to decide upon which MI's to use with the class. As we are both looking into the study of MI's, we were able to offer information and guideance on the practitioners and philosophies we had respectively researched. From these meetings, I have started to narrow down my investigation. I have been aware of the work of Howard Gardner through the INSET led by Karl Turner and I initially assumed I would follow his model. However through discussions with Donna and Sarah Fletcher, I have been drawn to the models put forward by Kolb, Jung and Briggs. They interest me on different levels. 'Kolb's Learning Cycle' offers a much more open ended study which I can identify with; it offers a framework which I can use in the classroom. 'Carl Jung and Myers Briggs Type Indicator' (MBTI) on the other hand, is much more of a personality model and deals with different learning styles such as intuition, perception, sensing and extroversion. I am still unsure which route to follow but the more I reflect on my teaching and ask how to improve it and move forward, the more I am finding myself drawn towards something open ended so that a cyclical process can be started. I see my action research as being a continuous process which I can constantly reflect upon. However, perhaps for the good of the project for the short term I should focus on one or two MI's which Gardner proposes and use the open ended models (such as the MBTI) in the future? PLTA The following shows the reading and research I have found useful in my enquiries:

What are my views on Research Mentoring? At the start of my reading My focus was drawn to the theories of Sarah Fletcher. Her book Mentoring in Schools:A Handbook of Good Practice, conjours up many ideas which I could identify with. I drew a lot of comparisons with this writing and my Action Research project, particularly in the way that Fletcher describes the way that this will be an opportunity for the sharing of ideas and practice across departments, between professionals and between pupils and teacher. I know that I will learn more about how children learn from doing this project and my main aim from doing the action research is for my own professional development and to be able to disseminate my findings to the drama department to make the teaching stronger. This quote seems to lend itself directly to my project: Knowing that learners learn in very different ways reminds us all as teachers to focus on flexibility and creativity in planning a learning experience for others I am aware that my mentoring relationship should and probably will change over time. Fletcher re-enforces this notion this by highlighting that having guided the mentee by using open ended questions, the relationship will alter as the mentee becomes more independently led and self sufficient; able to take guidance and use it in a way where they can look back at their learning and feel as though they have made a difference. This is precisely what my goal is: to not become a clone, but to have guidance and advice offered to encourage me to become a better classroom practitioner for the benefit of the department, the school the pupils and myself: a mechanism for effecting change and improvement at whole-school level I do not however agree with some of the following: So often good advice in mentoring assumes a rather static model where giving feedback is concerned. It is true that there are certain commonalities in good practice no matter what the context: Being honest Empathising with your mentee Keeping to the facts rather than opinions Opinions from Donna (my mentor) are important as the research and the issues within it that we are both undertaking can overlap. I want to know what she has found successful and I value her opinion, perhaps because I trust her, because I know her and we are both in the same boat. I want her to be honest with me and vice-versa. If something is not working I do not want to fail just because she has not been honest with me. For reflection in mentoring to be productive, it must produce a change in teachers attitude and in classroom practice. While I agree in principle with this idea; that it can change the way I teach my subject, I believe it can also can re-enforce positive existing elements too; that the process will strengthen good practice and indeed that this could also filter across to other subjects through the mentoring process. I have recently used a questionnaire to find out what style of Mentor I am. From this I have found that I favour the Advisory Style: Giving suggestions for good problem solving, advising as an objective outsider ang giving alternatives so that the mentee can make a choice. I agree that this tends to fit in with my expected style. I am able to listen and act on my findings, normally giving suggestions which may help the mentee. I am pleased that I am an advisor. I would like to think that the relationship would mature on an equal footing and would be a two way process.

Working together as a team What results have emerged? When I approached the pupils in my year 10 class, their response was positive - many of them had some prior knowledge of what type of learner they are. This class know that they are a unique group of people and I think that because of our really strong relationship, the pupils wanted to help and felt as though they were important to both the development of their learning and to my development as a teacher. During one of my mentoring sessions with Donna, she showed me a format for a questionaire she used with her pupils. I decided to use the same format with mine as it is clear and does not involve too much teacher intervention to set up with the pupils. I took this in to my most recent lesson, the pupil's filled it in and we discussed the results afterwards. Out of a class of 21 these were the outcomes: 1 = Logical - Mathematical Intelligence 2 = Visual - Spatial Intelligence 7 = Musical - Rhythmic Intelligence 3 = Bodily - Kinesthetic Intelligence 8 = Interpersonal Intelligence Many of the pupils found that their intelligences overlapped, however it can be seen that most of the students in the class posess either Interpersonal or Musical - Rhythmic Intelligences (and interestinly most of the middle to lower end of the abilities in the class appear to fall into this catagory). I was not surprised that so many favoured learning by group collaboration but was more surprised at how many learnt in a more rhythmic style, although later reflection led me to notice that half of the class play a musical instrument and that at least half of the class have taken music as another option in Key Stage 4, so therfore I have gained a very 'arty' class. These two results have left me both pleased (as I feel that I can appeal to the Interpersonal learners as Drama involves this naturally) and a little apprehensive/challenged (I have little experience of how to incorporate Musical - rhythmic Intelligences into my teaching). The most surprising result I felt was that only one pupil appeared to learn visually. Drama is a very visual subject - often part of a typical lesson is to watch work and evaluate it visually. The pupils have been doing this since Year 7 so it came as a shock to see that apparently this is not their preferred learning style. I have also been using more visual teaching resources such as Powerpoint particularly as a starter to engage them and to solidify information. Perhaps the pupils aren't learning sufficiently like this? This is going to be one of the focus' for my video diary with them. There are many students in this particular class who are B/A borderline however there is one boy who is capable of achieving A* easily. He however appears to fall into both Logical - Mathematical and Bodily - Kinesthetic Intelligence, both of which did not score highly. By doing just the questionaire, I am now aware that I may not be hitting his logical learning style unless I am directly questioning him. Am I pushing him to succeed? Or am I preventing him from reaching his full potential?

What was your approach and/or what evidence have you gathered? June 6th 2005: The next stage of my action research will focus on a 'video diary' which I will do with the pupils next lesson. I am interested in their views from the questionaire and feel that in order to look closely and evaluate my practice now, I need to be aware of how the pupils see the lessons currently. I also want to find out how much they understand about how best they learn and whether they are aware of the parts of the lesson they are going to gain the most from. I will be asking closed and open ended questions to determine this. I am going to narrow the focus down to working closley with a smaller group of pupils who have Intelligences in the 5 main areas which came up. I am going to plan a lesson which will intergrate these MI's and again interview these students to assess their leaning within that lesson. I am also going to ask the students to complete two more questionaires: one determining whether they are aware of how they learn and another very much more subject specific regarding my teaching and the impact on their learning. June 22nd 2005: Since writing the previous entry, I have videoed a session and asked the six pupils I am centering on questions regarding the lesson and what they gained from it in relation to their learning styles. They were very positive in their views and responses and these will appear as a link. I have also asked them to respond to a questionnaire about their learning so far during the year, asking them to imput the ways that they remember learning about the topics. This data shows a clear link with their Intelligence: they have shown that the pupils retain information in a particular way. I have also asked them to complete a grid which asks them to score a mark out of 10 depending on how each situation contributes to their learning. Pupil responses to teacher led questions By clicking on the following link you will be able to access pupil's work and their responses to teacher led questionning Pupil 2 Pupil 3 Pupil 4 Pupil 5 Pupil 6 Pupil responses to the question: 'How have we learnt about...?' The following are responses from the students when questioned about the MI's we have used in the past year to learn about topics Pupil 2 Pupil 3 Pupil 4 Pupil 5

The nature and constraints of being and having a mentor Honestly speaking, I am finding it very hard to conduct any formal meetings with my mentor. I think there are many factors contributing to this. Firstly there are timetable constraints: my mentor for example only works in school two days per week, therefore actually organising time to meet is near on impossible. Through talking with others undertaking the MA, we have all found that due to the nature of being teachers and working around timetables, our PPA time where we would often have opportunity to meet with each other does not match up. We are all very busy professionals and often have other committments after school which does not help. Therefore the main way of corresponding with any other professionals has been by E-mail or telephone. I have found that the mentoring sessions have taken two main forms: time when I or another professional have needed clarification on the tasks and when we have needed to ounce ideas off one another, and discussions about our understanding of what mentoring is and how it affects us. Through our sessions, we have built up a very trusting relationship; one where we are able to discuss issues honestly and not be afraid of admitting that we may not completely understand an idea and helping each other to find a solution or aid with understanding. I have also found that my mentor relationship has not just centered around one person but that the nature of the tasks have led me to discuss issues with other people. One such person has been Rachele Morse who I have known for three years. This relationship has been built up over a period of time and being a friend, Rachele has been my first port of call with any issues and questions that have arisen. Again, these have taken place very informally however, I have found them to be very worthwhile and rewarding. We have been able to support each other when needing clarification and have been able to critically analyse our work and look for ways to improve it. Diary entries Here are a list of informal discussions that I have had with professionals

How will I use the findings of my Action Research project to better the standard of education at my school? 4th July: I have already found that there is an interest in my project and the results it may have with members of my department. Our teaching spaces are having a facelift and my HOD has asked if I could use some of the research into MI's to improve the space and make it a dynamic, enthralling and innovative learning environment for teaching to take place in. I will be using my growing knowledge of MI's to create new ways of learning, for example, each space will get 'concept boards' - a series of small whiteboards which would enable the pupils to visualise their ideas and give them a sense of ownership on their learning. There will be more use of displays to highlight good work from both coursework and performances and these would also be used to teach from, for example current SOW. So already, my Action Research has started to inspire my department to evaluate the ways they teach and how it can be bettered. I am leading INSET on the vision for the spaces this week and I am excited - this is the first time that MI's are going to be recognised for their worth and if the ideas I have about the teaching spaces work, the teaching and learning of the drama department and perhaps the school will be improved. This is afterall the mission statement for my school - to improve results to be the best mixed comprehensive in Southampton. Perhaps this is where we can build some of the foundations?

Reflection Examples of student work By clicking on the link at the bottom of this section, you will be able to watch a brief video of a lesson I taught with my Year 10 pupils. In the lesson I was aiming for them to be able to make links with the work they were doing in the session and their preferred learning style. I also asked them to discuss their findings so far.

Improving my mentoring? How is my own experience of being a mentor influencing how I undertake my Action Research enquiry? Above all, I have found that having and being a mentor has been such a worthwhile process for my development as a teacher. I have begun to consider my professional development in terms of mentoring NQT's. I have found that the cyclical approach to mentoring is proving to be one model which works for me. As a mentor, I am constantly reviewing how I teach in response to meetings and discussions with my mentee and using this to inform my Action Research. I had initially found that questions raised in Fletcher, S. (2000) Mentoring in Schools: A Handbook of Good Practise, London: Kogan Page, particually insightful and a good starting point for my research and for forming the starting point for my meetings with my mentee. What do I do well? How can I do it even better? Why do I need to do it better? What action am I going to take? When am I going to start? How will I know I am doing it better? Do I use reflection to improve my own practice? What evidence do I have that it does lead to improvement? As I continue my Research, I am constantly reviewing these questions in order to improve my teaching, and as I discuss the answers to these questions with other professionals, I feel that my mentoring skills are improving. In terms of my mentoring, I am asking the questions 'why' and 'how' in order to develop my mentee's focus. In terms of improving my mentoring skills, I am aware that I am perhaps sometimes too positive or impartial regarding the advice I give in mentoring sessions. As a person, I have always been 'the ears' when giving advice rather than offering suggestions to improve situations. I find it far easier to listen to another person and use myself as a sounding board. Often after they have 'poured out' their ideas or 'off loaded' when things are not necessarily going as thay would like, they tend to suddenly realise that they have the solution anyway and needed the process rather than the advice to find the solution. I will need to be less inpartial in the future when being a mentor. I feel that I need to be able to show the mentee that things may not be working and able to offer advice or solutions for improving their work. Even though in my reading I have seen it suggested that to offer opinions should not be part of the mentor's role, I feel that in order to have a good relationship with your mentee, the partnership should be strong enough to cope with opinions because mentoring is a two-way process. Self Assessment This is my self assessment of the module