coat of arms - · pdf file2 activity teaching techniques rationale min ro • powerpoint...
TRANSCRIPT
Student Teacher: Julia Lo Raso
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Coat of Arms: Class 1 Group: 222 Grade level /Program: 4/ESL Period length: 60 min.
Goals for the period
• By the end of the class I want the students to be able to understand what a coat of arms is, and its basic components (common symbols, colours, animals)
• I will know they can do this when they begin preliminary work (handout) for their personal coat of arms by the end of the period.
Competencies to be developed o C1 o C2
Evaluation criteria N/A
Functional Language for speaking and writing N/A
Learning strategy PPT Kahoot!
Language conventions (grammar & punctuation) N/A
Vocabulary Focus: Coat of arms Motto Banner Symbol Shield
Cooperative learning techniques: Think-Pair-Share Pair work
Teacher-centred techniques: Teacher-led discussion Individual Work Cold calling Scaffolding
Learning Techniques Competition Choral Reading
Period Start-up Routines
• Agenda on the board: 1. What is a coat of arms? 2. Parts of a coat of arms 3. Kahoot! 4. Final project
• Students walk in silently and stand behind they chairs • Students say good morning and may sit down • Attendance
Activity Teaching
techniques Rationale
Min
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Activity
Teaching techniques
Rationale
Min In
tro
PowerPoint (appendix 1): What is a Coat of Arms?
• Think-pair-share: show the first example & give 10 seconds to think about questions:
1. Do you know what this is? 2. Where have you seen them before? • Show Examples: I’m going to show you
some pictures, I want you to think about the similarities between them
• Explain their use: represents a group, a culture, a family (provide examples: soccer team= group)
• As you saw in the previous examples, they are still used today
Think-pair-share Teacher-led discussion
Building student knowledge based on what they already know= activate prior knowledge!
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Dev
elop
men
t
Dissecting it: • Earlier I asked you to pay attention to the
similarities (how they are the same), what did you notice? COLD CALL
1. What are the parts? 2. Look at mine, and tell me what you
notice 3. Call students to fill out the spaces on PPT 4. Parts: a) Shield (symmetrical & quartered) b) Banner (motto) c) Symbols: Animals & other • Distribute handout (appendix 2): take a
minute to INDIVIDUALLY read over the bottom part with the lists of words
• Go through the rest of the slides
Cold calling Teacher-centered discussion Individual reading
Students build from their own knowledge and what they noticed, rather than just being told what the parts of a coat of arms are. Students make connections through inference & inductive reasoning.
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Activity
Teaching techniques
Rationale
Min
Vocabulary: • Use a Kahoot! with iPads to learn
vocabulary (IN PAIRS) • iPads will be set up and loaded on
Kahoot.it before the class • Explanation: Ø For each question you will get a picture
and you will have to select the word that goes with it by using your handout (appendix 2)!
Ø The pictures and answers will be on the projector
Ø You will have to choose and answer with the iPad (look at the matching color)!
Ø You have 10 seconds/question, the one who answers correctly and fastest wins!
Ø We will do the first question together as an example
• Take out your iPads and put in the pin# • Use your own names
Kahoot! Pair work
Fun game and sense of competition to have students actively participate in learning. Students will need to know what animals, symbols, and colours represent to create their own coat of arms.
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Explain project (final writing task): • PUT YOUR IPADS AWAY (ask
students to pick them up) • Take out your handout (appendix 2)!
Read the top part of it! INDIVIDUALLY • By the end of this project you will have
created your own coat of arms, and written a description of it. It must include a colour, an animal, symbols, and a motto that represent you! You will work in pairs with the person sitting next to you!
• Show the handouts they will use to create their coat of arms & show a completed final project
Teacher centered
Explaining and show the project so students know what is expected of them.
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Activity
Teaching techniques
Rationale
Min
Questionnaire handout (appendix 3): • Distribute, go over each question (give
examples) & cold call: Ø Important places: I like Paris so I’m going
to include the Eiffel Tower! Ø Animal: I am clever because I love
puzzles so I will draw a fox!
Teacher centered Cold calling
Explaining handout is important so that students can work more efficiently.
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Students begin the handout (appendix 3)! Individual work
If students have questions, they can ask while I am still there & I can check if they understood what they learned.
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Clo
sure
Sharing ideas: • Ask for volunteers to share their ideas for
their coat of arms to the class • Cold call if there are no volunteers • Remind students of homework: finish the
questionnaire handout
Teacher centered
End the class by reviewing what students have done & reminding them of homework.
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End of class reminders / routines ... hook them for the next class Next class you will continue the drawing and start working on your draft for the writing task
Anticipated problems Solutions/Plan B
1. No iPads 2. Students who
finish the handout
1. Q-cards association game: Ø Print photos of animals, symbols, colours Ø Write words onto Q-cards Ø Students match them together 2. Students who finish can begin the drawing stage of the
project
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Materials to prepare Homework Laptop PowerPoint Projector Handouts iPads
Continue the questionnaire handout
Post-teaching assessment Your reflections
1. Extent to which goals for this period were reached (based on observable elements from criteria OR based on targeted criteria) 0%? à 100%?
• 80% • Most students understood the project and
what they had to do, but others were either not on task or confused
2. Strong points including what can be kept (classroom management, pacing, teaching strategies, student response, goals set, activities)
• PPT (visual support) • Inductive reasoning: Ø Questions: Where have you seen this? Ø Asking about similarities between CoAs • Pair work • Preloading ICTs (Kahoot.it)
3. Problems encountered (classroom management, pacing, teaching strategies, student response, goals set, activities)
• Classroom management: A lot of excitement due to ICTs
• Difficulty transitioning from high energy to low energy activity
• Not everyone was actively participating during the deconstruction
4. Changes to be made for future periods (If you had to do it again...) Add the proposed changes to your lesson plan using the “track changes” function.
• Change deconstruction of CoA for full class participation
• Establish rules for using ICTs • Have a clear signal for transitioning from high
level to low energy level activities (counting: 5-4-3-2-1-STOP)
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Appendices Appendix 1: PPT
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Appendix 2: Project Handout
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Appendix 3: CoA Questionnaire NAME: _______________________________
Personal Coat of Arms: Questionnaire
1. What are some important places for you? What symbols represent them? 2. What are your favourite activities? What symbols represent these activities? 3. What animal represents you? Why? (Use the handout) 4. Which colour represents you? Why? (Use the handout)
5. Ideas for your personal motto:
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Analysis
What are some of the decisions that informed this lesson plan, and the choice of instructional
activities and flow/content of the lesson?
My cooperating teacher, who asked me to create the introductory lesson for a
project where students will have the opportunity to create their own coat of arms,
conceived the general idea for this lesson plan. The grade four students had already
been working on a story from their textbook that was set in the middle ages, so this
project seemed like a good extension of that theme. This is also a reason why I did not
need to refer to the PFEQ; my CT had been working on this theme and similar projects
with this grade level for quite some time. In addition to giving me a details of what was
expected of my lesson, my cooperating teacher and I did some basic research and found
some handouts that could help me, so that is what inspired my lesson.
As I began planning, I realized that the handouts were too complicated for my
students so I decided to alter the language to make it easier to understand. Most of the
words I chose are cognates, but I still wanted to make sure that my students understood
what they meant, which is why I created the Kahoot! to have students choose the
French translation for each word. After fixing the handout, it was time to start planning
the activities.
My first challenge was finding a way to introduce the topic without just telling it
to the students; I wanted to build from their prior knowledge. I resorted to using
PowerPoint because a coat of arms is ultimately an image, and I wanted to show some
examples to the students so they could notice the similarities between the images. This
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medium was also useful in the breakdown of the components of a coat of arms, because
it really helped me explain its parts in a way that the students could understand.
Toward the end of the PowerPoint, I distributed the first handout because I wanted to
take advantage of the visual medium to go over the vocabulary.
As previously stated, I decided to use the Kahoot! to help the students
understand the vocabulary. In my preparation for the lesson, I preloaded the iPads on
www.kahoo.it to minimize the problems I knew would happen with the ICTs. For the
activity, I decided to let students work in pairs, so they can talk about the vocabulary
and come to an answer together. Having them pick the French translation was effective
to a certain extent, but since most of the words are cognates, and we had already gone
over them in the PowerPoint, I think I could have used the Kahoot! differently; which I
will explain in the last section of this analysis.
Once the students were equipped with the vocabulary, and a good grasp on
what a coat of arms is, it was time to introduce the project. I decided to do this before
having my students work on the second handout because I wanted them to know what
they are working towards (this is also why I showed the rest of the handouts- including
the template for the actual coat of arms). Explaining that this was a project really
helped the students think critically about their coat of arms, and how they can use it to
represent themselves. This way, they would fill out the questionnaire more honestly.
The next step was to explain the questionnaire handout, and I did this by
providing concrete examples of answers for each question. I also decided to cold call so
that the students could understand, from their point of view, what their task is. Once
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all was explained, it was time for the students to start filling out the questionnaire on
their own. Finally, I added a section at the end of the lesson because I realized I needed
a closure, so there is another change that I will explain in the final section of this
analysis.
How does this lesson provide opportunities for all students to demonstrate clear and explicit
evidence of their learning?
As an introductory lesson for a project, I didn’t know if I should evaluate the
students or not so I conferred with my cooperating teacher about this; she said that it
wasn’t necessary. Despite not having an evaluation, I still think that the lesson provides
opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding. One clear example is
the questionnaire handout where students apply what they have learned about the
components of a coat of arms and what each symbol means to begin creating their own.
This is especially effective since it is an individual task, and therefore I could easily see
who has understood the lesson, and who has not.
The PowerPoint also offers an opportunity for students to demonstrate clear and
explicit evidence of their learning, although unfortunately not all of them. The slide
where I ask students to label the parts of a coat of arms based on the similarities they
noticed between the images could have been executed differently to allow for full class
participation. When I taught this lesson, I cold called 3 students to come up and label
the parts, but I realize now that this could be problematic since I don’t know if every
student has understood (I will outline the changes I plan to make in the last section of
this analysis).
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I also think the Kahoot! allowed the students to demonstrate their understanding
of the vocabulary, but I don’t think this activity gave students the opportunity to
demonstrate explicit evidence their learning. This could have been achieved if I had
done the Kahoot! in small groups and had gone over each question, but that would
have been impossible with the class size and the time constraints.
Compare/analyze this lesson based on some of the student-centered planning/instructional
approaches that you have been introduced to during your seminar classes.
When my cooperating teacher first told me about the coat of arms project, I
thought it was a brilliant idea because of its’ focus of self-identification. However,
because of the nature of self-identification projects, the work students are required to do
is largely individual. So, it became my goal to find a way to integrate cooperative
learning techniques into this type of lesson. This is what inspired my idea to have the
students do the Kahoot! activity in pairs, as well as the think-pair share activity at the
beginning of the lesson.
The next approach I will address is the use of ICTs in the classroom. My
students were familiar with using technology in school, as their homeroom class was an
iClass. I noticed that the specialists in the school lacked the classroom resources and
knowledge of how to implement some of this technology into the classroom and their
lessons. This is why I am very thankful for my cooperating teacher’s cooperation, as
well as a Francois’ (a fellow member of the teaching staff who is responsible for the
implementation of the iClasses in the school) collaboration throughout the planning
process.
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I also used inductive reasoning as a method for deconstructing a coat of arms.
This really helped the students come to their own conclusions, and build their
knowledge as a class. I did this (or rather tried to do this) by framing questions as
suggested by Barry Bennett and Carol Rolheiser. I did this by telling the students to
notice the similarities between the images, and that I would ask them about what they
found later. As Bennett (2001) mentions, this worked really well because it holds
students accountable to think, and actively participate in the lesson, even while I am
just lecturing (p. 59).
One other approach I should mention here is the “big idea”. I would say that the
big idea in this lesson is self-identification, however I think this could have been
delivered to the students in a more explicit way. I did mention to them that the coat of
arms is meant to represent them, but I don’t believe that was enough. As Wiggings
(2005) states, “the learning plan should ensure that big ideas are uncovered through
inquiry activities and explicit instruction” (p.70).
Comment on what you might do differently if you were to design this lesson on your own, and
why.
The lesson I planned for this class was detailed and organized, but if there is
anything I have learned about planning on this field experience, its that lessons seldom
go the way they were planned. For this reason, and because of the restrictions I had to
manoeuvre around, there are a number of things that I would change about the lesson.
First, I am going to address the issue I had with the PowerPoint slide where I
called three students up to fill in sections of the coat of arms (slide 12). By calling up
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only three students, I failed to make sure that the whole class was actively participating
and that everyone had understood the components of the coat of arms. If I were to do
this again, I would separate the class into groups of three or four and have them match
pre-prepared cards of the image and their name; this way I know that everyone is on
task.
The next changes I would make involves the use of Kahoot! and the ICTs. Since I
knew that my students were used to using technology in their homeroom class, I
underestimated the level of excitement when I decided to use the iPads for English.
This is why I would establish and go over rules for using the ICTs, as well as a signal to
indicate to students when it is time to calm down and transition into another (lower
energy level) activity. In terms of the actual Kahoot! I think I did an okay job in using it
to teach vocabulary, but I think it could have been done in a more meaningful way.
Rather than having students choose French translation of English words, I should have
used it to help students associate the animals, symbols, and colours to the adjectives
that describe them. By making this change, I could incorporate images and make the
activity more visual so that it could appeal to a wider variety of learners.
The penultimate thing that I would and have changed is the closure section of
this lesson. I think it is important to conclude a lesson because it helps students stay
organized and prepared for what comes next. I chose to have the students present their
work so far because I think it could give students who are having a harder time
thinking of ideas or understanding what is asked of them. This also creates an
opportunity for me to give additional feedback to the students that I may have missed
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while previously circulating the class. One last added benefit of this addition, is that it
reiterates the big idea of this project. Students get to see that they are creating
something that is unique to them, and how each decision they make to include
something in their coat of arms defines them.
Last but not least, I would make room in this lesson to account for evaluation of
C1 and C2. I would evaluate their oral interaction during their pair work, especially in
the group activity I want to add to the lesson. The Kahoot! and the class discussion are
also great opportunities to evaluate this competency. For the second ESL competency, I
would check to see if students are able to use the vocabulary and the parts of a coat of
arms to create their own. I want to see if my students could manipulate the information
they received during the lesson to create something representative of them. I would do
this by collecting the questionnaire handouts, and checking to see if the students have
sound reasons for choosing the elements that they chose.
References
Bennett, B., & Rolheiser, C. (2001). Beyond Monet: The artful science of instructional
integration. Toronto ON: Bookation. 55-66.
Wiggings, G., McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Whitney ON: Association
for Supervision & Curriculum Development. 69-70, 91-92, 106, 115-116, 155.