Lesson Plans and Rationale, Attributes of the Teaching and Learning Strategies - Speech or Presentation Example

Running head: Lesson Plans and Rationale Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date Prior Knowledge: Change and continuity in the patterns of social life experienced by Jews in Nazi Germany, Ways in which groups and communities organised to protect and advance their political, social, and economic interests. Risk Assessment Resources Computers, interactive whiteboards, course books Learning Outcomes Learners should be able to identify circumstances surrounding Nuremberg trials. Learners should be able to analyse and establish the co-relation between Nuremberg trials and modern day Europe. Time Guide 5 mins 10 mins 20 mins 15 mins 10mins Content/Learning Experience Briefly introduce the lesson by asking learners what they think constitutes crimes against humanity and mention recent case examples. Learners to list them. Outline the events leading to the Nuremberg trial on interactive whiteboards and read the transcript on Nuremberg trials. Ask learners to analyse the transcript and brainstorm on what constitutes war crimes against humanity. Learners in groups to analyse events in history similar to Nuremberg and prepare power- point presentations. Select learners to present chosen group power- point presentations. Teacher and learners discuss emerging issues and compare them with modern day international criminal courts. Teaching Strategies Teacher- led Teacher-led Teacher to monitor progress Interactive session Class Organisation Whole class Group work Group work Individual Whole class Assessment Techniques Multi-media presentations Oral presentations Conclusion: Summarize day’s lesson by highlighting similarities between contemporary international criminal court and Nuremberg trials. Prior Knowledge: Role of class, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, nationality and gender in social experience in the holocaust. Risk Assessment Resources Computers, interactive whiteboards, course books Learning Outcomes Learners should be able to identify circumstances leading to second world war. Learners should be able to analyse and establish the significance of Nuremberg trials to present and future world history. Time Guide 5 mins 10 mins 15 mins 20 mins 10mins Content/Learning Experience Briefly introduce the lesson by asking students to brainstorm on what they know about the holocaust and focus on the events at Nuremberg. Ask learners in groups to research on the internet about the Nuremberg trials and how it contributed to modern day history. Learners to individually analyse the major points from their group research and write down outstanding points. Learners in groups of three to make use of their combined points and prepare summary reports depicting the course of Second World War while focusing on Nuremberg trials. Discuss selected reports in a whole class setting and make conclusions from presented reports. Teaching Strategies Teacher- led Teacher to monitor progress Interactive session Class Organisation Whole class Group work Individual Group work Whole class Assessment Techniques Short reports Oral presentations Conclusion: Summarize day’s lesson by highlighting the significance of Nuremberg trials to present and future world history. Prior Knowledge: Factors influencing changes in social life especially economic, political and technological developments. Risk Assessment Resources Computers, interactive whiteboards, course books Learning Outcomes Learners should be able to construct a timeline of events surrounding the Nuremberg trial and analyse its impact upon everyday life. Learners should be able to analyse and establish the social significance of second world war to present and future history. Time Guide 5 mins 10 mins 20 mins 15 mins 10mins Content/Learning Experience Briefly introduce the lesson by availing pictures depicting the Nuremberg trial and ask learners to re-enact the Nuremberg trials Learners in groups of four to outline the proceedings detailing emerging issues. Learners to individually make use of their outlined points to analyse events leading to Nuremberg trials and write summary reports detailing the timeline of events leading to Nuremberg and establish its social significance to present and future world history. Select learners to present their reports to the class and discuss the reports in a whole class discussion. Discuss with learners on the social significance of wars. Teaching Strategies Teacher- led Teacher to monitor progress Interactive session Class Organisation Whole class Group work Individual Individual Whole class Assessment Techniques Short reports Oral presentations Conclusion: Summarize day’s lesson by highlighting the social significance of war to present and future world history. Attributes of the teaching and learning strategies that were chosen Teaching and learning strategies employed in the three lessons were carefully considered to ensure a holistic learning process where the teacher can adequately monitor the lessons’ progress and ensure that learning outcomes and set objectives are achieved. Adherence to time limits in different segments of lessons is only possible when the teacher handles the pace of the lesson. However, integration of learner-led processes within the lesson is inevitable so as to avoid redundancy. By making learners take charge of their learning process, they are bound to gain a better understanding. Lesson focus was laid on the social aspects of historical events as learners easily relate to social changes, therefore identifying with the lesson and helps to achieve the lesson outcomes. Lesson 1 Use of a question as part of lesson introduction sets the stage for inquiry learning. Individual effort requiring learners to do analysis ensures that learners are personally engaged and get to develop their skills as well as equipping them for group inputs while utilization of groups and the concept of re-grouping ensure that there is substantive conversation and therefore encourages learners to share ideas. It also injects diversity into the lesson and avoids a monotonous process. Varied assessment techniques enable the teacher to identify strengths and weaknesses of learners in a continuous and dynamic manner. Giving learners a free hand in their choice of assessment tasks allows for creativity and therefore promotes higher order thinking as learners are able to go beyond a set routine and chart their path of learning (Newman & Wehlage, 1993). This allows for exploration of possibilities which ultimately, enriches their knowledge. Learners are required to create media formats based on inquired points earlier in the lesson and later question their rationales. Tasking learners to apply ICT skills in creating PowerPoint presentations ensures usage and development of ICT skills. Conclusive discussions in an interactive session helps to consolidate the gains of the lesson as learners are able to retain more information gained through an interactive session as opposed to individual learning. Lesson 2 Brainstorming as an introductory part of the lesson allows for generation of ideas and engages learners to be part of the lesson. A group research ensures that learners gather supporting data, subsequently improving their arguments and ensuring learning and syllabus outcomes are effectively met. Individual analysis makes learners to think deeply and analytically consequently developing their higher order thinking skills (Newman & Wehlage, 1993). Utilization of interactive sessions enables a healthy exchange of ideas which appropriately sets the tone for the lesson and breaks the monotony of a teacher guided learning process. Grouping learners allows the teacher to adequately weigh the input of different learners. This allows the teacher to take charge of the lesson pace and identify learners who can sufficiently deliver on the subsequent oral tasks. Allowing learners to individually critique class presentations develops their higher order thinking abilities. The teacher can therefore easily guide them on how to improve their work. Internet research enable students to gather data which strengthen the inquiry based approach and develop their ICT skills. Summary reports provide an avenue for assessment of learners understanding of the lesson. The focus is laid on the social aspects of history so as to enable learners to connect the lesson and their daily environments. This promotes learning beyond the classroom environment as set out by Newman & Wehlage (1993). Lesson 3 Introducing the lesson in a whole class setting using pictures ensures that there is undivided attention and therefore all learners are on an equal footing. Asking learners to re-enact the Nuremberg trials engages them in substantive discussion that ensures cooperation and mutual sharing of ideas which enrich their learning process. As learners set out to tackle tasks both individually and in groups, they will have had a foundation which in turn enables them to exchange ideas and thoughts. It also promotes a dynamic learning environment and allows proper utilization of lesson time considering lengths of lessons. Preparing of reports ensure learners depth of thinking is developed as it calls on higher order thinking skills into action and thus develops the learner. Interactive class discussions enrich lesson gains as it allows students to examine divergent views and consolidate from various sources of information. Nonetheless, the teacher is ultimately the principal guide of any lesson. Analysis The three lessons incorporated various strategies necessary for quality teaching. To begin with, the lessons were inquiry oriented and therefore from this design; it ensured development of higher order thinking among learners. One of the strategies used is group discussions which best exemplifies cooperative learning and promotes substantive conversation as set out in five standards of authentic instruction (Newman & Wehlage, 1993). At the same time, group discussions are important in the development of higher order thinking and critical thinking skills. It boosts students’ understanding by enhancing understanding and reflection in the course of studying (Kyriacou, 1997: 51). Marzano et al. (2003) highlights the fact that group work is a robust instructional activity that can be used to enhance learning. This has been supported by the fact that many scholars have argued that cooperative learning positively impacts on learners’ achievement. Learners learn from each other through group discussions. Incorporating ICT in a lesson helps in introducing new learning experience among the learners. Examples of ICT tools used are the interactive white boards and PowerPoint presentations. ICT’s are tools for information sharing and organizing better and more efficient communications with each other (Robertson, Webb & Fluck, 2007: 103). New experience has an effect on the retention level of the learners and the general learning process. Use of ICT to enhance learning helps in fostering the development of thinking skills and also enhances student understanding (Robertson, Webb & Fluck, 2007: 104). PowerPoint presentations can also be the best evaluation method to determine the level of understanding in learners. Other activities such as teacher/ learner discussions were important in enhancing the participation of the learners. Utilisation of internet research to gather data helps learners to build arguments supported by data and therefore ensuring the inquiry based approach is productive. These activities exemplified the best forms of productive pedagogies. Rationale Newmann & Wehlage, (1993) suggested five standards that can help teachers to reflect and improve their class instructions. They include; higher order thinking, depth of knowledge, connectedness to the world beyond classroom, substantive conversation and social support for student achievement. Class instruction ought to be measured based on scales indicated by the five standards. This analysis aims to investigate whether the above lesson was able to meet these standards which are helpful in achievement of stated syllabus outcomes, learning outcomes and content or learning experience. The lesson is inquiry- based with an aim of learning about Second World War with a focus on the Nuremberg trials. This is done through posing the questions ‘How did the nature of global conflict change during the twentieth century?’, ‘What were the consequences of second world war?’ and ‘How did second world war shape the modern world?’. Based on the standard of higher order thinking, Newmann & Wehlage, (1993) points out that learners should be able to use information and ideas in ways that change their meaning and implications and subsequently, solve problems and arrive at new understandings. Learners were able to analyse information provided to produce multimedia presentations and summary reports. This provided a problem- solving avenue for the learners as they were able to construct new knowledge that identifies socially with their lives through historical information. This called for a higher degree of abstract thinking and level of complexity as learners are required to link the historical event and establish its significance to present day social life. To achieve a proper depth of knowledge, attention was paid to ensure that focus was directed at answering the questions posed for every lesson. This ensures a systematic and connected approach to subsequent lessons. Provision of relevant historical information helps learners to make clear distinctions, develop arguments and ultimately construct explanations that answer the inquiry- question posed. Having learners to input previously acquired knowledge on social life calls for mental skills of recalling knowledge. Through this effort, learners are able to jolt their brains into merging previous knowledge and using it to tackle the problem at hand. The lesson was administered in a way that ensures connectedness to the world. The inquiry questions posed calls on learners to answer questions that resonate well with their daily or previous experiences and observations. By making use of provided historical information, learners are able to relate it with their present day historical events and therefore create a personal significance. This in turn ensures connectedness to the world beyond the classroom. Engaging learners to use a range of media forms to create and communicate new information and ideas promotes their creativity and nudges them to connect the lesson to their contemporary skills and experiences. Collective dialogue through group work and discussions also enhances understanding of the topic at hand and creates a base for better understanding, flow and coherence of subsequent lessons while ensuring substantive conversation (Newmann & Wehlage, 1993: 10). It also ensures a disciplined subject matter and promotes higher- order thinking that allows learners to make distinctions and raise questions, not just reporting experiences, facts or procedures. This is a high level of interaction that ultimately enriches the learning experience. The role of the teacher is to facilitate these forums and follow- up on responses, thus avoiding the redundancy and monotony of lecturing the learners. A free exchange helps learners to share ideas. When learners explain themselves or respond to comments of previous learners, they are able to share their thoughts and concepts. Through oral presentations, select learners were able to use and subsequently, develop their auditory, visual and kinaesthetic skills. In essence, the resulting conversations and cross-exchange of ideas enriches the learning process. Conversely, it was not feasible to consolidate all resulting thoughts and concepts due to limitations of time. Social- support for student engagement is also an important pillar of authentic instruction that enriches the teaching and learning experience (Newmann & Wehlage, 1993: 11). This are embedded into the lesson through individual efforts, discussions and handling of tasks in groups. These avenues provide for a challenging environment for learners to become proficient in handling demanding academic tasks. This can only be achieved when there is climate of substantive mutual respect between learners, which is cultivated through encouraging efforts of learners with less ability or competence and valuing their contributions. Selection of learners to do presentations allows the teacher to identify learners that require support in line with the principles of authentic instruction as set out by Newman & Wehlage (1993). Individual input provided a good avenue for personal engagement and development in the lesson before embarking on group inputs. It also ensured an inquiry-based, independent learning experience to the learners. Learners were encouraged to put in strong effort and handle challenging work at an individual level. Ultimately, combined effort from highly skilled learners adds value to the learning experience. However, control of the learners input proved difficult. Fast learners tended to dominate input into discussions at the expense of slow learners. It also proved impracticable to adequately encourage every learner’s effort due to limited time constraints and volume of learners’ contributions. Martin-Hansen (2009:xlii) mentions various challenges of inquiry including it being difficult to understand, confusing, not rigorous, difficult to assess learning, some concepts cannot be adequately taught using inquiry among others. It is also process oriented with little room for content manipulation and therefore appropriate for young learners while at the same time, it requires a lot of time to implement which comes at the expense of limiting the range of concepts that can be effectively covered in a lesson. References Kyriacou, C. (1997).Effective Teaching in Schools: Theory and Practice. New York: Nelson Thornes. Martin-Hansen, L. M. (2009). Inquiry Pedagogy and the Preservice Science Teacher. New York: Cambria Press. Marzano, J. S., Pickering, D. J. &Marzano, R. J. (2003). Classroom Management that Works: Research-based Strategies for Every Teacher (ed 5). New York: ASCD. Newmann, F. M. & Wehlage, G. G. (1993). Five Standards of Authentic Instruction. Educational Leadership, 50(7), 8-12 Robertson, M., Webb, I. &Fluck, A. (2007). Seven Steps to ICT Integration. Camberwell: Australian Council for Ed Research. Read More