After taking the summer course Methods of Language Teaching, I have learned so much about how to build and how to put forth a lesson plan. Thus, I used this knowledge to build the sample lesson above.
The lesson I built my plan around is a lesson on shapes in a sheltered math class made up of beginner English Language Learners. In order to being planning, I had to think of objectives. According to Brown (2007), objectives allow one to clarify what students need to succeed in, unify the overall lesson, give a layout to see if the information is overwhelming, and to evaluate students at the end (p.165). My objectives were simple to think of; however, I began by reading the Common Core Standards for first grade mathematics with a focus on geometry. Thus, I incorporated this standard into my overall lesson. Because I will be teaching this lesson in a classroom of language learners, I decided to have not only content objectives, but language objectives as well. Language objectives are present to help students learn the content by learning the language that goes alongside the content.
Next, I developed activities that would introduce content, emphasize content, and then assess student learning. In order to introduce the lesson, I will read a book to the students. The book I chose incorporates the vocabulary and concepts of seeing shapes in the real world. Reading the book and showing the pictures allows the students to bind the concepts with the vocabulary. During the next activity, students pass around concrete 3D shapes and are asked to describe them by using the shape defining attributes. In order to apply their knowledge and make connections to the tangible world, students are arranged into groups and are given a task to find various shapes in the classroom. According to Peregouy and Boyle (2005), when teaching math, it is better to connect the concepts to concrete objects because it embeds it into their real life (p.8). After this activity, they are given a string to make the shapes out of. This binds the concept to the vocabulary terms as well. The final activity is an informal assessment. During this activity, the students are given craft supplies to make a monster out of a paper shape. They are then given a sheet to describe their monster using the shape-defining attributes and to relate the shape to an everyday object. This activity allows me to observe their individual understanding of the concepts.
The preceding activities account for different learning styles. Some were done standing up, others sitting down, while some were done in groups, pairs, and individually. The different activities allowed for verbal skills to be developed as well as writing and problem-solving skills. According to Ehrman, Leaver, and Oxford (2003), a learning style is the way one learns best or the brain’s preferred way to learn (p.314). Thus, because a classroom has many students who have their own individual differences, a teacher must account for different learning styles in one lesson in order to make the concept as attainable as possible.
References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson
Ehrman, M. E., Leaver, B. L., & Oxford, R. L. (2003). A brief overview of individual
differences in second language learning. System: An International Journal of
Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, 31(3), 313-330.
Peregoy, S. F., & Boyle, O. (2005). Reading, writing, and learning in ESL: A resource
book for K-12 teachers. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
The lesson I built my plan around is a lesson on shapes in a sheltered math class made up of beginner English Language Learners. In order to being planning, I had to think of objectives. According to Brown (2007), objectives allow one to clarify what students need to succeed in, unify the overall lesson, give a layout to see if the information is overwhelming, and to evaluate students at the end (p.165). My objectives were simple to think of; however, I began by reading the Common Core Standards for first grade mathematics with a focus on geometry. Thus, I incorporated this standard into my overall lesson. Because I will be teaching this lesson in a classroom of language learners, I decided to have not only content objectives, but language objectives as well. Language objectives are present to help students learn the content by learning the language that goes alongside the content.
Next, I developed activities that would introduce content, emphasize content, and then assess student learning. In order to introduce the lesson, I will read a book to the students. The book I chose incorporates the vocabulary and concepts of seeing shapes in the real world. Reading the book and showing the pictures allows the students to bind the concepts with the vocabulary. During the next activity, students pass around concrete 3D shapes and are asked to describe them by using the shape defining attributes. In order to apply their knowledge and make connections to the tangible world, students are arranged into groups and are given a task to find various shapes in the classroom. According to Peregouy and Boyle (2005), when teaching math, it is better to connect the concepts to concrete objects because it embeds it into their real life (p.8). After this activity, they are given a string to make the shapes out of. This binds the concept to the vocabulary terms as well. The final activity is an informal assessment. During this activity, the students are given craft supplies to make a monster out of a paper shape. They are then given a sheet to describe their monster using the shape-defining attributes and to relate the shape to an everyday object. This activity allows me to observe their individual understanding of the concepts.
The preceding activities account for different learning styles. Some were done standing up, others sitting down, while some were done in groups, pairs, and individually. The different activities allowed for verbal skills to be developed as well as writing and problem-solving skills. According to Ehrman, Leaver, and Oxford (2003), a learning style is the way one learns best or the brain’s preferred way to learn (p.314). Thus, because a classroom has many students who have their own individual differences, a teacher must account for different learning styles in one lesson in order to make the concept as attainable as possible.
References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson
Ehrman, M. E., Leaver, B. L., & Oxford, R. L. (2003). A brief overview of individual
differences in second language learning. System: An International Journal of
Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, 31(3), 313-330.
Peregoy, S. F., & Boyle, O. (2005). Reading, writing, and learning in ESL: A resource
book for K-12 teachers. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.