Transcript The Writing Process

Review: Weeks 1-6
 Materials design and development principles
 Foundation for everything we do in this course
 Applied to textbook lesson(s)
 Multiple intelligences (*learning styles/different strengths)
 Variety of activities and ways to present materials
 Describing learners
 Age (uniqueness of children to adults), levels, motivation, good
language learner characteristics
 Defining learning objectives (“The Teaching Game”)
 Aims (learning outcomes) vs. objectives, SWBAT, action verbs
Evidence of a plan
 Shows students that the teacher has devoted time to thinking
about the class
 Strongly suggests a level of professionalism and a
commitment to the kind of preparation students expect
What a plan does for teachers
 Gives the lesson a framework – an overall shape
 Helps teachers think ahead
 Provides a destination they want to reach
 Lays out a map which shows how they are going to get there
A good lesson contains
A blend of coherence (logical pattern/connection between
activities) and variety
What should be in a plan
 Identify who the students are – How many? Ages? Gender?
Likes/Dislikes? Easy/Hard to manage?
 Identify what students want to do (e.g. grammar, games,
read a passage, etc.)
 Identify how students and teacher are going to do it –
Groupings? Sequence of activities? Time? Aids?
 Identify what might go wrong and how it might be dealt
with, and how the lesson fits in with other lessons before and
after it
Questions teachers need to ask
 Who exactly are the students for this activity? (i.e. age, level,
cultural background, and individual characteristics)
 Why do you want to do the activity?
 What will the activity achieve (i.e. what will the learning
outcome be)?
 How long will it take?
 What might go wrong?
 What aids will be needed?
 How does the activity work (i.e. procedures)?
 How does the activity fit in with what comes before and after it?
Form of a lesson plan
Should be useful for the teacher and for anyone who is
observing him or her
Principles for a sequence of lessons
Variety and sequencing (coherent pattern of progress;
connections between activities and lessons)
8 components of a well-written lesson
 Objectives and goals (SWBAT)
 Anticipatory set (tap into background knowledge and give
objectives a context)
 Direct instruction (how to present lesson information to
students – e.g. reading a book, playing a game, etc.)
 Guided practice (determine how your students will demonstrate
that they have grasped the skills, concepts, and modeling you
have presented in direct instruction; circulate and
facilitate/manage)
8 components of a well-written lesson
 Closure (wrap up a lesson plan and help students organize the
information into a meaningful context in their minds – e.g.
summary/overview, discussion about learning, etc.)
 Independent practice (reinforce skills and synthesize new
knowledge by completing a task on their own)
 Required materials and equipment
 Assessment and follow-up (assess final outcome of the lesson
and to what extent the learning objectives were achieved)
Common mistakes in writing lesson plans
 The objective of the lesson does not specify what the students
will actually do that can be observed
 The lesson assessment is disconnected from the behavior
indicated in the objective
 The prerequisites are not specified or are inconsistent with what
is actually required to succeed with the lesson
 The materials in the lesson are extraneous to the actual
described learning activities
 The instruction in which the teacher will engage is not efficient
for the level of intended student learning
 The student activities described in the lesson plan do not
contribute in a direct and effective way to the lesson objective
Ways of varying a lesson
 Tempo (fast-moving or slow and reflective)
 Organization (individually, pairs, groups, whole class)
 Mode and skill (speak, listen, read, write)
 Difficulty (non-demanding or challenging)
 Topic
 Mood (light/fun, serious, etc.)
 Stir > settle (enliven/excite > calm down)
 Active > passive (own initiative > do as told)
Ordering components of a lesson
 Put the harder tasks earlier (when students are fresher and
more energetic)
 Have quieter activities before lively ones (as it is difficult to
calm down a class)
 Think about (smooth) transitions between activities
 Pull the class together at the beginning (greetings,
organization, and introduction to the lesson) and the end
(round off lesson)
 End on a positive note (fun activity, summary, task that’s easy
to succeed in, etc.)
Lesson plans
 Evidence of a plan (devotion, professionalism, commitment)
 Plan: Framework, think ahead, destination, map and directions
 Good lesson: Blend of coherence and variety
 In a plan: Who Ss are, want to do, going to do it, possible problems
 Questions teachers need to ask: Why do activity, achieve, time, etc.
 Sequence principles: Variety and coherent pattern of progress
 8 components of a well-written lesson: Objectives > Assessment
 Common mistakes: Objective does not specify what Ss will do, etc.
 Ways of varying a lesson: Tempo, organization, topic, mood, etc.
 Ordering components: Harder tasks earlier, quieter before lively, etc.