Lesson Plan Analysis for autonomous learning:
This activity is a comparison of two lesson plans, looking to the use of autonomous learning opportunities in each, and then making suggestions to improve self-directed learning.
Lesson plan 1: Finding Information about Jobs in Canada Using the Job Futures Website (https://tutela.ca/Resource_695)
This lesson plan is for CLB 4/5 and using reading and writing skills. The objective of the lesson is to interpret data from different types of graphs and tables, and to learn to navigate the Canadian Job Futures website. It’s a very practical lesson.
I think this lesson plan incorporates a significant amount of autonomous learning because:
1) It uses a practice sheet to start, but does give the students choices when they are doing Activity 1.
2) Learners exchange their worksheets and use peer review to check answers and discuss.
3) The students are introduced to the website, but they are left to navigate and explore the website on their own, or in pairs.
4) Students are asked for predictions of what they will find, so they have to think about what they have seen already and put it together with what they expect.
5) Students again have a choice of where they would like to explore, and which jobs they might find useful or interesting. This may help with their future plans and goals. They will also discover new vocabulary as they explore, which they may have to look up.
6) A guided debate is one activity where they must think about what they have learned in an organized format. This and the final group discussion stimulate their thinking about what might be useful to them in the future and what kinds of skills they might need.
This is not a full lesson plan, but rather listed as an activity. It is for CLB 3-5 and is a very practical activity about vocabulary and shopping, centered on vocabulary and reading, and some writing. I think there are many opportunities in this lesson plan to incorporate more autonomous learning.
This lesson plan is much less self-directed because:
1) The reading and worksheet are read together as a class. The students are not given the opportunity to scan, skim, predict, or guess vocabulary on their own. The teacher goes through it with them to make sure they understand the meaning and how to pronounce the words. Suggestions: Allow the students to try and read through the text individually or in pairs. Ask them to highlight vocabulary they don’t know, and make a guess based on context. Suggest they use predicting, scanning and skimming techniques. Allow them to look up words they don’t know in a dictionary.
2) The teacher introduces new vocabulary and ideas on quantities, sections of a grocery store and shopping. Suggestion: In pairs or small groups, have the students think about their own shopping experiences, and come up with vocabulary from pictures of a grocery store. Let them guess on the word spelling. Make a list on the board, and then discuss and correct as a group.
3) The teacher leads a discussion on common questions when grocery shopping. Suggestion: Try and find a few videos/tv/movie scenes where there are grocery store scenes. Have the students watch and pick out phrases that they hear that might be common. Have them think about their grocery shopping experiences, or when they go grocery shopping this week, to pay attention to the questions asked.
References:
Armstrong, A., Zacharias, V., Thiel, D. (2008) English for Daily Life (Unit 3), South Eastman
English and Literacy Services Inc. Retrieved from:
Center for Canadian Language Benchmarks (2009) Lesson Plan 14: Finding Information
about Jobs in Canada using the Job Futures Website. Canadian Language
No comments:
Post a Comment