Lesson topic: Thinking of arguments
Lesson time: 1 hour
Target: high-intermediate university students
Notes: This lesson assumes that I have collected the students' email addresses and shared the wiki with them beforehand.
Warm-up
- Class brainstorms a list of controversial issues related to schools.
Research
- Students navigate to the following website and click on school.
http://www.cdlponline.org/ - In groups, students read the article titles and decide which may be related to the controversial issues form the warm-up.
- Groups choose an issue that interests them.
- Students read the articles on the website related to that topic.
Creating arguments
- Students navigate to the activity wiki page.
https://sites.google.com/site/6611wiki/ - Groups define sides to their issue, label them pro and con, and choose the side that they would like to take.
- A member of the group writes this information into the wiki.
- Students use the article sand their own ideas to create arguments supporting their side and write them in their group's wiki.
Further practice
- Groups switch wikis and attempt to create opposing arguments for each other's topic.
Homework
- Students fill in any remaining opposing arguments in their own wikis.
Lesson Review/Analysis
How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?
The aims of my lesson are to have students brainstorm ideas for a debate class and to begin to formulate opinions ideas. I am using two different resources to do this, one to present content, the California Distance Learning Project's (CDLP) Adult Learning Activities page and the other, a Google Sites wiki page, to help students create content.
Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?
These applications are appropriate because they provide a specific platform for the aims of my lesson. To brainstorm ideas, students don't yet need in-depth knowledge of the topics. That's why the CDLP site is so great. The articles are short, edited texts that are already categorized and can be read and understood by high-intermediate learners quickly and efficiently.
The wiki is a very good way to help students formulate and organize ideas. Students will be able to work individually but also to interact with others and get instant feedback all at the same time. Not only should this make them more productive, but they will be motivated by this as well.
What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional goals?
The wiki does contain some instructions for completing the activity but beyond that I don't plan to provide handouts to my students at this point. I will be providing them with oral instructions and I'll be writing things on the board though. Both URLs will be written on the board before class begins to save time, as will the list of brainstormed topics for reference.
Additionally, I will demonstrate how to edit the wiki using my phone plugged into a projector. I use this setup on a regular basis to show multimedia and PowerPoint shows so I'm fairly confident it will work well.
What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?
The biggest problem I'm anticipating is that students can figure out how to use the wiki. Like I mentioned, I will demonstrate this to the students but there is always the chance that the site will be formatted differently on different phones. Editing the wiki could become an issue if it turns out that only one student can edit at a time. (I believe Google allows simultaneous editing from multiple users but I can't test that out myself.) If this becomes an issue, groups will have to share a phone to enter data into the wiki.
I don't anticipate any major language issues as this task shouldn't be too difficult for high-intermediate students but as we are not covering any reading skills or the language necessary to express opinions, there is always a chance that students may struggle with this as well. In this case, I may have to write some examples on the board that students can use as models.
I love the interactive element to this lesson. I think it is more motivating than having to complete the assignment as an individual. I also find that site (CDLP) to be interesting. The Common Core standards in elementary school include that students will write persuasively and defend their opinion. It can be difficult to find topics that children can relate to. I will have to spend more time looking at the site to get ideas and possible articles. One question I have after looking at some of the topics, is what do the Korean students think about American schools? How much background knowledge do they have? I would think that some of those topics would seem bizarre to them, like the one about children reading to dogs to improve their reading skills.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. You make some very good points. Mostly what my students know about American schools comes from TV and movies, I guess. A few may have studied abroad but not many. I plan to teach this this summer and will make a few modifications before I do.
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