FREEING THE IMAGINATION. A snapshot by Rachele Morse.

imagine the imagination

What is the focus of your investigation?

I have been teaching English for six years now; a relatively short amount of time in the grand scheme of things. Yet, in this time, I have seen English deform from a vibrant, dynamic, creative subject to a constrained, objective driven and really quite dry product of the National Literacy Strategy. With these changes in focus and delivery I have also witnessed increased changes in pupil attitude toward the subject.They no longer see it as an opportunity to be creative with language, sparking off their imagination and emotion, but as an increasingly difficullt and formulaic exercise in feature spotting and conveying the 'right answers'.

Now, don't get me wrong, there have been tangible benefits of the Literacy Strategy: improved punctuation, sentence structure and awareness of writers'craft to name but a few. My intention here is not to suggest that it is worthless, but I can't help but wonder if these improvements are at the expense of the pupils' capacity for independent, creative and imaginative responses. Surely children can't be becoming innately less imaginative? I decided that I would like to begin to release the imagination of some of my own more able pupils whilst still teaching within the confines of the Literacy Strategy.

My original brainstorm
This was the product of a brainstorming session in which I tried to formulate my thinking on the issue/subject that I wanted to tacklwe in my action research. It was the fact that my interest lay in a similar field to Donna's that enabled us to form a mentor/mentee bond based primarily on our Action Research.

My initial definition of action research.

Having attended a couple of initial lectures for this MA I was introduced to the concept of action research. We were asked to formulate our own definition of action research and my initial thinking was as follows:

I believe that action research is developed from the desire to improve an area of current practice. It is done within the context of daily work, using my own teaching as the stimulus and context for research.

Action research is a self-centered and evaluative approach to improving my practice, which would result in higher quality teaching and learning. It is an organic and generative process and gives rise to new concepts and approaches. Action research will allow me to use approaches that are both self-refelctive and grounded in individual pupils. It allows me to adapt methods of teaching according to what I find to be effective or otherwise.

Having conducted, and whilst still conducting my action research, I believe much of my original definition is still accurate. My drive for the research is born out of the desire for self-improvement. The process has been organic and has moved in different directions according to the results the pupils achieved. One way that the process has suprised me though, is that I have had to allow the pupils a higher level of independence in the research than I had originally intended. (This is a feature of my controlling personality that is detailed further in the right hand column of this snapshot.) By allowing the pupils to own a lot of the research I handed control of the project to them in lots of ways. I regarded this as a gamble and it was a big step for me to take a risk like this. However, the risk has paid off and, as a result, the pupils have shown higher levels of commitment and enthusiasm for the project. I have been amazed at their leadership skills, technical ability (they did their snapshot in an hour where it took me a month!) and sense of responsibility towards their work. They were also really proud when they saw their efforts translated into lesson plans which were to benefit other pupils in the group. This experience has shown that, for me, action research is a liberating process that has enabled me to loosen my 'classroom reigns' and take a few risks that I wouldn't normally consider. The process of my still quite under-developed action research project has been quite enlightening and extemely rewarding. (For further information on how my reading on action research has aided or changed my views please refer to the link PLTA at the bottom right hand corner of this snapshot.)

What resources / references have you found helpful?

As my research is in its infancy,I have found it useful to share ideas with my research mentor, Karly, who is doing a similar project. She and I were able to discuss a variety of approaches to particular pupils and clarify our intended outcomes. The focus of our research became quite fluid as we refined our ideas until we reached a fixed point we were happy with.I think to try and tackle this process alone would have been quite restrictive but having a mentor to 'bounce' ideas off made it much less intimidating a task.I also found it very usesful that Karly was able to point out potential pitfalls in my plans and was able to be a little more detatched from the issues that I am personally involved in.From my discussions with her, I was able to view the issues from a different perspective and modify my plans as necessary.

One of the things that really sparked off excitement in the pupils was when I told them that we would be making short films and video diaries of our research together. In an era when technology reigns, immediacy is the key and the pupils liked the idea that they would be able to access their findings on the internet and via moving image rather than recording purely through writing. I also value the fact that using this media, I will be able to capture the imaginative process in action. In my developing research mentor relationship I have found it useful to be able to contact my mentor via email. It has provided us with an easily accessible and quick medium for having those snatched chats that formed the basis of the early stages of our relationship. It has also enabled us to check each other's progress over the internet and debrief from the comfort of our own homes. It has meant that we have become really quite involved in each others' work and it has been good to have such easy access so that we are always up to date on changes and how the other person might be feeling about them.

My epiphany

In my readings around the subjects of Research Mentoring and Action Research I stumbled across an idea given by Bridgit Somkeh 'Quality of Educational Research'. She states that' much of what we do is guided by either half-known or subconscious values and beliefs...we may be unable to break the mould of routinised, ritualised actions, which have their roots in these tacit and subconscious theories, hopes and fears' There was a dawning realisation that my own classroom approach, which is one of discipline, high expectations and rigid routines is actually a product of the values that I hold dear. This realisation actually made me a little uncomfortable as I also realised that until I am able to be a little adaptable then change through action reserach will be very difficult. It was a real epiphany for me and and as well as being tough to face also gave me hope that it is possible to achieve.

What results have emerged?

I have been really encouraged by the pupils' response to the nature of my project.They genuinely seemed to understand and empathise with my objectives here and were pleased to have been selected. I was conscious that I didn't want my selected pupils to feel that they were targetted because they were underperforming. If anything, I selected them because I feel that they have tremendous imaginative potential that I am not tapping into very effectively and I want to further enrich their learning.

The pupils have been instrumental in changing a fundamental approach to my teaching. I am well known by my classes, and the rest of the school if I'm honest, as a bit of a control freak. My classroom must be just so, by books and files are organised by colour(I kid you not!) and I'm really pernikerty about my little routines. The process of handing the creativity over to a group of pupils was quite a big step for me. But the response that I've had from the pupils; their enthusiasm and commitment, their fresh, unblinkered approach was renewing and regenerating. Just as I have been becoming stale in my teaching they have rejuvinated my approach. If no other results come from this investigation then it will have been worth it for that alone.

Examples of student work

One of the most refreshing experiences of this whole project for me has been the enthusiasm and energy of the pupils involved. They have been keen to research independently and have shared their findings honestly and candidly. I find myself being constantly overwhelmed and taken aback at actually how different the world of school and learning looks through the eyes of the pupils. I have learned about their thoughts and views on the issues I'm tackling and have been suprised and encouraged by the volume of new ideas these have sparked; many of which I am intending to use in the classroom before the year is out. Under this commentary, there is a link to a separate snapshot that the pupils have created to give their own comments and accounts of their initial research with me. It makes entertaining and interesting reading. I particularly like the section on whether being blind enhances a persons imagination. I also became interested in how many pupils mentioned the performing arts such as Dance as a method for expressing their imagination. I am planning to deliver a set of lessons shortly which will allow the pupils to express their outcomes in the mode of their choice (art, poetry, song, dance, drama, modelling); a list inspired by the pupils ideas. I shall report on the outcomes of this lesson later.

Pupil Snapshot
In this snapshot, the pupils I have been working with have given their personal account of some of the research they have conducted and their thoughts on what they have discovered

hold my hand to guide me through

How does my research help me to improve my mentoring?

Having imagination and creativity at the heart of action research is very similar to my initial mentor's chosen focus. As a result of this shared vision, we have approched the mentor sessions (which have basically consisted of informal chats so far) on an equal footing; neither of us being any more the 'expert' than the other. This has challenged my typical hierarchical approch to mentoring. My only experience of mentoring up until this project, involved me training and mentoring someone less experienced than myself and so this approach has seemed the most natural to adopt. This experience has provided me with a refreshing change of perspective as a mentor.

We have been able to clarify each others' ideas and approaches to our intended research. For example suggestions for questionnaires and advice about approaching pupils. It has also been encouraging that we can affirm each others tentative ideas and build self esteem; something that I haven't normally got from prior experiences of mentoring!

I have felt that Karly has been encouraging yet probing in her approach to my focus and I hope that I have been able to reciprocate this style.

Mentoring: a collaborative and fluid relationship.

The nature of undertaking a task such as research mentoring in a school means that you are not allocated time within the school day to actually liaise with your partner you have to snatch time with them as and when you can.A our research projects have developed,I have found that Karly and I have very different timetables and it has been increasingly difficult to discuss any issues with her as the logistics of the school day make it virtually impossible. Karly and I chose each other as research mentors because our action research focus was similar. However, I have found an more informal mentor relationship has developed between myself and another colleague called Donna Chipping. This began by the pair of us being equally baffled by the approach we were to take to recording this research. Step by step, through trial and error we found our feet(though Donna really must take the credit for figuring out the more ICT heavy aspects of the research!) I found that I began running my ideas past Donna and we would check each others snapshots and provide helpful tips and comments. I have found this to be a great support.Donna and I have had collaborative approach to our informal mentoring of each other and through the changes in partner I have found that a degree of flexibility and fluidity has been necessary to allow this to happen. I hope that I have not taken time away from Donna's original mentor/mentee and I have to confess about feeling quite bad about not really seeing much of Karly.

The mentoring partnership that I have developed with Donna has progressed quite unpredictably over time. (For a detailed account of the evolution of this relationship please read the reflective journal that is linked at the end of this section.As I write this we are nearing the end of this unit of work and have reached a stage in our mentoring partnership where we are actively asking each other out to engage in collaborative and supportive work. I am suprised that this is the case because in my initial musings on the practical application of mentoring in schools, I raise the relevant point that there often simply isn't time in the school day to undertake useful mentoring sessions and yet here I am actively seeking out my mentor and engaging her in a collaborative task! Today we have spent time reading each others work and providing comments and suggestions. We have tried to 'spot the holes' in each others writing, make sure that each area is covered and setting each other targets to work on. This has been a useful session as I have read this snapshot so many times that it is all swimming into one now! A fresh pair of eyes was just what I needed. Indeed, as I type, Donna is at my side waiting to read the next installment. I can't believe that my mentoring experience has become such that I actively seek out opportunities to meet and discuss my project with Donna and I really hope that I can sustain this approach in other mentoring scenarios.

A growing relationship
In this journal you can read about how my relationship with Donna began and how it grew. I have also reflected here on my own qualities as a mentor to Donna and the improvements that have been, and need to be, made.

The cycle of mentoring

In my development as a research mentor during my action research project, I have been interested in the approach taken by Sarah Fletcher, our course tutor, in mentoring our group here at school. She has guided me through my initial work for our MA in a caring and gentle manner and has always been extremely encouraging towards me. This has built my confidence hugely over the past few weeks. Sarah's way is to listen to issues that I raise, to calm and soothe me when I get a little ICT stressed. She gently suggests alternatives, asking me whether I have considered this, that or the other. I have come to realise that even though the mentor relationship between us is not on a professionally equal level (she is much more experienced than me!)I have not felt like the receptor of the apprenticeship model in action (please refer to my ideas on this later in this snapshot). Sarah has very much allowed me to make my own choices and decisions but has taken an active role in guiding and supporting me towards them. It has made me see that the apprenticeship model, that I always associated with being used when the mentor relationship was not built on an equal footing, is not necessary. I believe that I have had a much more positive experience from being mentored by Sarah than I suspect any teacher trainees have had from being mentored by me. I have been gratified to hear that Sarah had liked and been interested in my work and ideas.I would like to think that she was able to take some positive personal experience from my action research and thoughts on research mentoring, making our mentoring relationship more of a two way process. As a result, I believe I have, so far, had a very positive model of how a mentoring partnership can work and it has made me consider and reflect on Donna as my partner and how I can better mentor her.This is a cycle of mentoring at work.I have had a positive experience as a mentee and I that is now spilling over into wanting to create an equally positive experience for my mentee as well as for myself as a mentor.I want to try and encorporate the approches that Sarah has taken with me into my developing mentoring style. In the attached link, I reflect in more detail what I consider to be my weaknesses in my mentoring and how I wish to improve.

The positive experience I have had through mentoring Donna has led me to reflect upon what it is that made the partnership such a success. I think that it was because it was just that...a partnership. We both started from the same point of being quite fiercely independent and preferring to work by ourselves. When we tentatively formed our working partnership, it led to an evolution of thought on how mentoring can work for the benefit of both parties. We came to this understanding independently of each other and were quite amazed at the similarities in our thinking. I believe that we are similar in our approaches and our mentoring needs have developed along the same lines. We both feel insecure about our own abilities and appreciate regular praise and feedback. We both worry about our listening skills and yet we are both willing to give each other the time needed to build these skills up. I think the parellel changes in our thoughts about mentoring are a tribute to the success of our partnership and how we have both grown.

Donna's qualities
This is a link to brainstorm on the qualities I have observed in Donna during my time as her reserach mentor. It includes reflections on how she has approached me as her research mentee/mentor and the attributes she has brought to our relationship. There are many qualities that I aspire to here and am consciously trying to repsond to her with similar approaches.

A network of new relationships

Ongoing personal and school-wide benefits of my action research and research mentoring

I think that my primary desire is that the pupils will get more enjoyment and stimulation from my lessons as a reult of the research I am conducting. From my experience, if a pupil is stimulated by and enjoys a particular lesson then this will, in turn, influence their achievement in this area. With an increse in individual pupil achievement, the issues and approaches that I hope to discover will be delivered to a wider cohort of pupils and should therefore begin to have a positive influence on class and, in turn, school achievement, which, of course, is central to the overall aims of the school.

Perhaps this might encourage more staff to experiment and research in this way, which would enable the school to develop into a teacher and pupil centered environment over which staff have genuine influence, rather than feeling that they are simply there to deliver a pre-determined, government-driven stack of objectives and targets (ooh..spot the cynic!).

I also hope to develop more personal relationships with my target pupils through sharing, adapting and remodelling ideas. Involving each member of the research 'team' on an equal level promotes as sense of individual value that many pupils don't get a chance to experience.Allowing pupils to grow as individuals in this way is essential in the school producing the well rounded pupils it craves.

Certainly I hope to develop my experience as a research mentor on an equal footing. My experience of this project so far has encouraged a dramatic u-turn in my preconceptions and prejudgements on mentoring and what the process involves. I hope that I am able to promote, through demonstration and discussion, what mentoring now means to me: a supportive, constructive, reflective and holistic process of professional development. If school based mentors approach mentoring in this manner, then the process, I believe, will become a much more palatable and rewarding process.

My initial approach to Action Research

I decided to focus on a group of twelve pupils within my able year eight group. All twelve pupils achieved a 5b or 5a in their KS2 SATs and I consider each to be articulate, bright and enthusiastic about their learning. I decided to use year eight as there tends to be a lack of definition given to the yr group. Year seven have the pressure of transition between KS2 and KS3 and the year nines have the pressure of the coming SATs. In my experience,year eights can often underachieve as they lose motivation and focus.

I am quite aware that I have a bit of a 'bee in my bonnet' about how the Literacy Strategy constricts imaginative response and I was curious to know whether the pupils themselves actually consider this to even be an issue for them, let alone be something they would like to see improved. In order to give my research a starting point, I designed a questionnaire that allowed the pupils to respond honestly and frankly about issues such as how they feel about their imaginative capacity, what stimulates their imagination, how they express it and whether they even consider it to be an important asset. From this,the pupils will share and discuss their thinking with the research group which will give me a starting point.

THE DISCUSSION

The questionnaires that I gave the pupils to answer involved a lot of probing thought on their behalf. I was interested in their views on their own imagination and its usage, as well as the importance they place on it in facilitating their learning or as a tool for experiencing everyday life. They answered the questionnaires as individuals to enable them to form and consolidate their personal opinions and thoughts but I then asked them to discuss their ideas with their peers from the target group. Their responses were very interesting. They all felt that their imagination was a very important faculty and the majority of them felt they probably didn't use it enough. What suprised me though was that they generally felt that their English lessons already allowed them freedom to be imaginative; something I am not keen to agree with. This made me wonder whether they were giving these responses because I, their English teacher,was asking their opinion or whether they have simply lower expectations of themselves. I also wonder how much of this is another conditioned response to the Literacy Strategy? Was it because they have not been educationally raised on the imaginative subject I know English to be?

The pupils, in their discussion, came up with some fantastic ideas for how I could teach to allow more imaginative responses form my pupils. They suggested responses through drama, dance, music, artwork, modelling, poetry etc. This was a real 'lightbulb' moment for me. I realised that, providing I could assess these against the Strategy critera and that they would link to the teaching objectives, there is no reason why I couldn't try some of these approaches in the whole class lessons.I am really proud that the sparks for these ideas came from the pupils themselves and they are really excited about being able to have some influence on their own lessons. I plan on trialling

some of these in the near future.

pupil questionnaire
Here you will find the questions that I gave to the pupils in order to begin a dialogue with them on their feelings about imagination. These questions then became the stimulus for a lengthy discussion between the pupil (which I captured on video and hope to provide a link to.) It also sparked off their interest in finding out alternative views on this subject. From this they adopted the role of pupil researcher and conducted and taped interviews with selected peers and staff to discover other views on imagination.

you WILL learn from me

My feelings on mentoring.

I find the task of self-reflection a difficult yet useful tool. As a typical stubborn Aries, I am not especially good at accepting criticism, however constructive, even when it comes from myself! As I have started this research I have been forced to consider my own mentor style and how succesful it has been in the past. Through my reading and more recent experience of being a research mentor, I have been forced to reassess my approach to being a mentor and I am also having the novel experience of being a mentee.

I began by trying to define my preferred approach, chosing from the following categories

'Letting go' style

'Active listening' style

'Advisory' style

'Prescribing' style

'Cooperative' style.

I decided that I best fit into the 'prescribing' style with elements of 'Advisory'. The primary characteristics of this approach would be taking responsibility for the mentee's problems, offering instructions or advice on how to rectify the problems and requiring specific improvement. When I conducted a self-evaluative questionnaire designed to discover my mentor stytle, it turned out that my initial self- assessment was, in fact, absolutely correct. I felt a little sheepish and embarrassed by this as, when defined in these terms, it sounds a little like professional bullying!(I consoled myself by remembering that I was responsible at the time for getting NQTs and ITTs to the required level to pass their course.) However, I am beginning to recognise that there are different ways of doing this. Fletcher (2000) states that 'mentoring should unblock the ways to change by building self-confidence, self-esteem and...is concerned with continuing personal as well as professional development. I very much doubt that my mentees saw it this way! On reflection, I agree with this as an ideal to be aspired to and it has challenged my outlook in a short space of time.

I have painted a rather negative picture of my mentoring and I feel that, actually, there are many reasons why this was the way that I, and I believe a great many teachers, approach mentoring.

As I was reading around this area, I discovered that my preferred style had been categorised by Mullen and Lick (1990) as a one-way apprenticeship based model. Fletcher states that 'the apprenticeship model is still prevelant rather than the two way enquiry process that can assist in building personal and professional development'. I felt that there was an implicit criticism in this statement that needed addressing. I agree that it is the case but I believe that it is largely a result of the context of school based mentoring that most teachers are faced with. Mentoring NQTs and ITTs is not an equal process on an experience, knowledge or confidence level, plus the mentor is under pressure to get the mentee to pass a set of specified standards. This is bound to result in the mentor placing the emphasis on imparting knowledge and skills.

Fletcher goes on to state that 'both mentor and mentee are seeking to improve their work based practice.'. Again, I agree in principle but in reality, this is not how mentoring is introduced in schools. Teachers are commonly simply told that they will be responsible for mentoring a given person and this usually involves helping them to improve in some way.

Also, when mentors are selected, there is often little or no training given to help them to formulate a suitable approach, resulting in them simply attempting to pass on their skills, according to the apprenticeship model.

In addition to this, mentoring, in my experience, is commonly viewed by the teacher as a time-consuming extra 'add-on' for which they are not trained or often have not requested. The fact that the mentor is generally expected to take on this weighty and expansive role without having allocated time or financial renumeration often adds to a negative view that mentoring is not something that they themselves will actually gain from, which is Fletcher's ideal.

Despite all of this, I agree that this situation is generally not beneficial for mentor or mentee. I think that the ideal that Fletcher is striving for is worthy but it is helpful to remeber that for this to happen, it need to take place within the realistic confines of the school environment.

CHANGES IN MY VIEWS.

My readings on Research mentoring have led me to belive that it is a more equal process because it is based on shared experience, similar focus and promoting self relfection rather than imparting knowledge.

This leads me to believe that the nature of mentoring is conditioned by the intended outcomes and the needs of the mentee primarily. sometimes it is necessary to adopt an apprenticeship model in order to affect significant improvement in knowledge or skills in a new or training teacher. As they gain confidence and experience, the mentor/mentee relationship could shift to a more equal footing. When mentoring a person of similar experience (in a given area) to your own, be it of many years or none at all, the process would be more equal as both roles are filled by people who are gaining from the situation. A good mentor should therefore be able to adapt their approach according to the needs of the mentee and the intended outcomes of the mentoring. In my capacity as a research mentor, I have come to realise that, contrary to my previous experience, mentoring is not just about achieving certain standards. I began the process of research mentoring on equal footing with my mentee and, from the start, because the outcome was an objective we were both striving for, the relationship was one of mutual support and encouragement. It has taught me that being a mentor can actually be enjoyable, comforting and of some personal benefit as opposed to stressful, time-consuming and unwanted (my previous experiences of being a mentor!)Using Action Research as common ground gave us an immediate bond and common purpose. As a result I have become genuinely interested in my research mentee and their progress as a professional, a student working towards an MA and a friend. I have been amazed that mentoring has provided me with this experience and I think the key difference has been that we have started with the same initial purpose.

THE JEDI APPROACH.

I was my reading of Brooks and Sikes (1997)that challenged the benefits of my (previously) preferred apprenticeship style. They suggest that this mode of training, that is suited to passing on lower order craft skills through simple demonstration is actually unsuitable for mentoring a teacher as teaching is a more intellectually demanding, higher order profession. Teaching is not simply a collection of skills that can be practised and refined then applied. I realised from this that teacher mentee can't simply duplicate a style: they have to develop it for themselves and therefore the apprenticeship model isn't appropriate. This was another 'light bulb' moment for me as previously I had been thinking within the constraints of having to get a mentee to a particular standard, rather than seeing mentoring as a person-wide process. In discussion with my husband, he likened this to a Jedi Master mentoring their Paduan Learner. The Jedi encourages a holistic and individual development rather than simply replicating a clone of themselves (every pun intended!)They encourage their mentees to experience, reflect and learn, which is perhaps a model to aim for.

The PLTA
THIS IS A DETAILED RECORD OF MY READINGS ON ACTION RESEARCH AND RESEARCH MENTORING. IT INCLUDES MY THOUGHTS ON THE LITERATURE AND WHETHER IT INFLUENCED MY THINKING