I found this lesson plan to be appealing primarily because of the various forms of language stimulation & the authentic application of technology it contains. This lesson on learning about the regions of Washington D.C & Washington state entails multiple procedures that require the students to practice their oral, reading, & writing proficiency in English. The lesson involves orally evaluating student knowledge before & after the information sources are offerred. The ELLs are exposed to maps, documentary films, & websites which altogether allow them to answer the initial questions & explore beyond these points.
I modified the orginal lesson plan in several manners, in order to more effectively direct the materials & activities to the curriculum goals specified in the NJ standards I obtained. In the effort to incorporate diverse technological media, I changed the assessment task & included exposure to documentary films within the lesson. Instead of having the students produce a written letter to a friend (original assessment), I modeled the scenario of them having won a travel sweepstakes. The students have been granted the opportunity to travel to either one of the two researched destinations (Washington DC or Washington state). The task requires for them to compose a formal e-mail (using an e-mail account) confirming which destination they selected & what appealing aspects of the location influenced them in their decision. The students must discuss which sites/activities they are looking forward to & how this travel experience will expand their perception of American society.
The diverse selection of technologies that are integrated into this lesson indeed can formidably achieve the defined curricular goals for this intermediate ESL class (proficiency level suggested by original lesson plan author). They strategies/technologies included in the original lesson plan or that I implemented address several of the curricular goals. For instance, the W 9-10.1 strand which requires students to be proficient at introducing/developing precise claims in an organized & evidence-supported manner is forged by the different sources of language use & topic information (online, film, class discussion, printed maps, consistent teacher assistance). The RI 9-10.4 strand which expects ELLs to determine the meaning of words/phrases as they are used in a text, is satisfied by access to online bilingual or ELL dictionaries & the visual/audio components of the films & websites. In general, the features of each technology integrated into this lesson, serves the purpose of enriching the learning experience while addressing the overall curricular goals.
Link to spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuwMUFKQz3bNdHBpd1pHR3RZSXlZdWk1U2I3QWJJNWc
Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that you have been able to find such a beneficial lesson plan that can be used to instruct your future students. I think that you did a good job in filling in the gaps of the lesson plan and thinking of technologies that can be used in combination with specific strategies and standards.I see however, that most of the strategies listed are student centered and I feel that most teachers tend to do this. I have just recently started tutoring a Sophomore student in Italian and while devising lesson plans I have little to no professional or teacher centered strategies or technologies. How do you think that technologies can be integrated into this particular lesson plan in order to facilitate the life of the teacher.