Session 11:
Our transition journey - Part two
Session overview
Session Eleven introduces the final three stages of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process, where pupils are encouraged to first 'dream' about the potential of how great the move could be and then 'design' their plan to realise this ambition. Doing so will create a path to the 'destiny' they want. Three principles are critical to the appreciative inquiry process, and it is much more effective, persuasive, and powerful if these are incorporated into that process:
Principle One: People are drawn toward the positive
Principle Two: Thoughts and words create worlds
Principle Three: You create the world you pay attention to
A. Session aims & objectives
Understand the fundamental principles of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process.
Apply a positive mindset and complete the development of a plan to achieve a successful transition to secondary school.
B. Learning outcomes
I am prepared to take responsibility for making my move to secondary school successful.
I have a plan to achieve success in secondary school.
I have SMART objectives to strive for at secondary school.
C. Terminology introduced
Example definitions of key terminology are included but, wherever possible, use pupils' agreed descriptions, as per previous sessions.
DREAM (Appreciative Inquiry context) — Exploring 'what might be' by building on the themes developed during the discovery phase to imagine the best possible future.
DESIGN (Appreciative Inquiry context) — Positive statements that capture our vision of the future and how we'll achieve it.
DESTINY (Appreciative Inquiry context) — The clear goals that will lead to our own better future.
D. Resources required
❏ Kwan's story comic
❏ Slide pack for Session Eleven
(note: some activity slides are blank for you to make use of as you wish)
Session title
Learning outcomes for Session Eleven
Starter Activity — Guided visualisation
Activity 1 — Dream
Dream phase
Definition of dream phase (from Appreciative Inquiry)
Activity 2— Design
Design phase
Definition of design phase (from Appreciative Inquiry)
Activity 3 — Destiny
Destiny phase
Definition of destiny phase (from Appreciative Inquiry)
Plenary — Programme summary
Principle One
Principle Two
Principle Three
Learning Outcomes for Session Eleven
❏ Resource Sheet 10a: Positive mindset canvas (printed at A3)
E. Assessment opportunity
By reviewing Resource Sheet 10a: Positive mindset canvas that pupils will create during sessions ten and eleven, teachers can gauge any additional support individual pupils might require to prepare them for transition.
Starter activity: Guided visualisation
Guided visualisation brings about a specific state of mind that is particularly useful for engaging positively with change. Children can use it to reduce anxiety, improve self-confidence or cope more effectively with difficult situations. Here, it is used to initiate a positive view of transition as an introduction to the dream stage of the AI process.
Recap and review ground rules as a class. Discuss any rules that worked well and any that didn't – do they need to change? Make amendments if required. Ensure pupils are clear about why ground rules are used and why they are so important.
You will guide pupils through an imagined scenario using a calm, slow, gentle voice. First, urge them to tune into and control their breathing, slowly inhaling and exhaling. You will need to encourage a focus, perhaps on specific body parts, getting them to relax, and you will need to use vivid descriptors like colour, smell, feelings, textures, and sounds. The script below provides a framework to help you do this.
EXPLAIN:
Let's imagine what it will be like at secondary school and what a positive and stimulating place it is. We'll do this by creating a picture in our minds.
Close your eyes. As you slowly breathe in and out, sitting nice and still, with your mind thinking, I will tell you to picture something. I want you to try to imagine the picture in your brain. Keep silent and don't share what you are thinking because every person thinks about something different, and we want to be respectful of everybody's thoughts. I will pause every now and then to let you THINK but make sure you keep your thoughts in your head, so you don't disturb anyone else. Think about the colours, sounds, and pictures. Try to keep your eyes closed and your body perfectly still so your brain can do all the work.
Picture what it's like in your fabulous new school. Is the picture you imagine like a series of still photos or a movie?
What kind of space are you in? Is it a corridor, the playground, the library, or a classroom? Whatever it is, make it colourful and vibrant.
Look at the pictures on the walls. What do you see? Are they paintings, photographs, or posters? Look at the rich colours and think about how they make you feel.
Who is there? Are there lots of other students and friends? Are they smiling?
What sounds do you hear? Is music playing? Are there voices? What are they talking about?
Now imagine yourself with them. What are you saying?
Finally, imagine what your body feels like physically. Are you energised, relaxed and calm? What do you feel in your fingers, toes, stomach, and head? Think about all the sensations you experience.
Think about this beautiful, colourful place, full of smiling people. Turn up the brightness of what you are imagining.
Let's pause for a moment and take in this wonderful place's sights, sounds and smells.
Activity one: Dream
Dreams motivate people to think about their wishes for the future. Within AI, a dream-related question should encourage the depiction of a desirable future experience and is considered to be like an energetic dream. It inspires a positive and concrete vision of the future and boosts the expectations of positive and growth opportunities. The ultimate purpose is to fuel all participants' imagination. However, it's important to note that responses should always be realistic and experience-backed when forming the dream image of the future. While 'dreamers' will perceive this reality from a different (third party reflective) point of view, it should ultimately enable them to depict real possibilities and opportunities for the future.
EXPLAIN:
Working in small groups and building on the vision you just created for yourselves, discuss and complete the 'Dream' phase of your mindset canvas.
SHOW:
As pupils discuss this in their groups,
ASK:
What's the best vision of our future at secondary school that you can imagine?
What kind of situations might you find yourself?
How does your future environment look?
What kind of person are you here? (i.e. what are your future capabilities, interests, and beliefs?)
What about other people? How do they treat each other? How do they make you feel? (e.g. welcomed, empowered, enthused, motivated, inspired)
Who is with you in your dream?
In your dream, what are you like?
Encourage pupils to think about the best possible but realistic scenario, imagining the conditions that would make secondary school the most positive experience for them.
They should then write/draw their dream vision of their future secondary school, making it as colourful, vibrant and exciting as possible while ensuring it remains realistic. This 'vision of the future' should articulate the best version of a reality where they believe they can flourish.
Spend around 10 minutes completing this.
EXPLAIN:
Let's share our best ideas about what secondary school will be like with a 'speed chat'. Think about one aspect of your dream vision of school next year to talk about with your classmates.
Organise pupils into two equal groups. Get one group to form a circle facing outward and the other to form a circle around them so that you effectively have pairs facing each other. Pupils in the outer ring will have 30 seconds to discuss one aspect of their dream vision. Pupils in the inner circle will then have 30 seconds to expand on that vision, making it even more vibrant or descriptive. After each minute, one group should rotate to the next person, swapping the roles, with the inner circle pupils talking about their vision and the outer circle pupils expanding upon the point.
Sound an audible signal every 30 seconds to let pupils know to swap over who is speaking and rotate.
When they have finished, pupils should spend 5 minutes adding notes or sketches about their 'dream' to their individual canvasses.
Activity two: Design
The positive nature of the Appreciative Inquiry process engenders emotions such as optimism, hope, gratitude and pride, which in turn can generate the necessary energy for change. At the end of the 'Dream phase', pupils should have clearly set out a vision for the future. We now need actionable items to come out of a 'Design phase'. The future that pupils have imagined should be considered a travel destination. All we need to do now is plan the travel, pack suitcases and find the best possible route to get there!
EXPLAIN:
Imagine you are at the ideal vision of a secondary school that you envisioned during the 'Dream phase'. Thinking only about positive and exciting situations and using the present tense, come up with five sentences to describe what it's like in your imagined secondary school.
Examples:
I experience exciting new things I haven't tried before, like experimenting with chemicals in a laboratory to make slime.
I greet others cheerfully because our school is where people are happy and want the best for each other. Everyone is kind and helpful and always gives time to support others.
I care about others and try to understand different perspectives, even if we don't always agree. We know that while we all have differences that make us unique, we also have much that connects us.
I am inspired to chase my dreams and ambitions and am given the support, learning and encouragement to realise them.
Encourage them to create statements that are:
Affirmative– positively stated, about what you want rather than what you don't want.
Stretching– challenge people to improve (hence 'provocative') but still be achievable.
Stated in the present tense – which makes it easier for people to associate with and imagine.
Exciting– and as vivid as possible.
In particular:
Avoid abstract concepts and technical or complex language. Instead, use simple, evocative, sensory-specific words so that they form pictures or tell stories.
Use the active rather than the passive voice.
Make sure they resonate with core values.
Use real-life examples of the best current practice – the proposition is more convincing if you can point to examples showing where it is already beginning to happen.
Example:
Every day provides a new challenge that helps me to grow and learn and move closer to my goal of becoming a teacher when I finish school.
Pupils should complete the design section of their canvas and then briefly discuss it as a class to share ideas and help those struggling to complete the task. The output will provide a plan for pupils to approach Year 7 positively.
Teaching tip
Remind pupils about the kind of growth mindset phrases we looked at during Session Five and again during the homework introduced in Session Eight and reviewed in Session 10.
Activity three: Destiny
Also known as the 'Delivery phase', but as actual delivery will take place after pupils have left to begin Year 7, in this context, the focus is more about ensuring they have a sufficient structure to achieve the destiny they have described. Your role is to assist them in developing well-defined, incremental and achievable goals. Initially, this means stepping back and letting them decide the necessary steps in creating an action plan built around the 'how to' and the 'what'. It would help if you worked on goals and sub-goals together, setting a realistic timeline to achieve them and creating clear responsibilities and deadlines.
ASK:
How will you ensure your vision of secondary school becomes a reality?
What things do you need to plan and prioritise to make this dream a reality?
EXPLAIN:
With a partner, pupils should set tasks they will commit to when they move to secondary school. They should try to select at least a couple of short, medium and long-term goals, and wherever possible, goal setting/action planning should feature SMART objectives:
Definition of SMART goals:
S—specific, significant, stretching
M—measurable, meaningful, motivational
A—agreed upon, attainable, achievable
R—realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding
T—time-based, time-bound, trackable
Example:
In the first term, I will join two sports teams to improve my running and complete a 5k park run by Christmas, which will help me prepare to become a PE teacher when I leave school."
Teaching tip
To break down and plan realistic timeframes, use statements such as:
In the first day I will ...
In the first week I will ...
In the first month I will ...
In the first term I will ...
In the first year I will ...
Plenary: Programme summary
Several critical factors characterise successful transition:
Preparation must be effective, proactive and overt if children are to benefit from and experience smooth transitions. To achieve this, the discussions, experiences and activities they have completed over recent weeks have intended to level out any difference in knowledge, understanding or fear about moving schools.
Co-construction and partnership are central to the process. Children exist in a series of interconnected communities where 'to belong' is critical. As children move from one community to another, it is helpful if these are bridged in some way. Therefore, the activities in this programme encourage pupils to work together, sometimes in groups they would not usually choose. This experience will help them reinforce existing connections and practice the process of making new ones in preparation for their move to new surroundings.
Continuity of friendship groups provides stability at times of transition. The broader the groups that children have experience of working in, the greater the likelihood that everyone will have some continuity as they change schools. The opportunity to work with existing and new groups has been encouraged throughout the programme.
It's important to note that the secondary school to which pupils are heading should pick up other factors:
Pupils should be as familiar with their new environments as possible to reduce the anxiety that they might feel from their arrival in unfamiliar surroundings.
The new environment should inspire an eagerness to explore and a zest for learning.
It's therefore helpful to forge links with secondary schools and establish a dialogue that promotes this approach.
SHOW:
Slide 13: Plenary — Programme summary
Remind pupils of the work they have covered over the last term and how this can help them become more independent as they get older. In particular, remind them about what great decision-makers they now are.
SHOW:
Slide 16: Principle Three: You create the world you pay attention to
Pupils should note these principles on their mindset canvas and be encouraged to continue thinking about and building upon their work, adding to it in the coming weeks and months and, significantly, at the beginning of the next term.
Be sure to invite them back, let the school know how they are getting on, and share their journeys with younger pupils.
Note: As an assessment opportunity to ascertain if any additional transition support is needed, collect and review all pupils' positive mindset canvases. Remember to hand them back so that pupils can continue to work on them in preparation for next year.
SHOW:
Slide 17 Learning outcomes for Session Eleven
Recap the key learning outcomes in light of today's discussions
Teaching tip
You may wish to plan additional time for pupils to continue to develop their plans, or turn their work into a class display.
Delivery resources
Lime 2021-22 Y6 S11 Checklist.pdfChecklist
Lime 2021-22 Y6 S10 Resource Sheet(s).pdfResource sheet(s)
Lime 2021-22 Y6 S11 Slides (PDF version).pdfSlides (PDF)
Lime 2021-22 Y6 S11 Slides (PowerPoint version).pptxSlides (PowerPoint)