NEVER RIDE YOUR ELEPHANT TO SCHOOL

Transcription

1 NEVER RIDE YOUR ELEPHANT TO SCHOOL Story: Author: Doug Johnson Illustrator: Abby Carter Grade Two Lesson Plan By: Chandra McIvor Submitted to: Professor Jim Howden Submission Date: November 8th, 2010 Components of Submission: 1) Formal Lesson Plan - WebCT 2) Student Work Sheets WebCT 3) Picture Evidence of Laminated Story and examples of student work to be used as models - WebCT 4) Mini Book Template Lesson Plan Assignment Folder 5) Copy of Original Story - Lesson Plan Assignment Folder

2 Lesson Title Never Ride Your Elephant to School A. FACTUAL INFORMATION Chandra McIvor Thursday, September 30 th, 2010 from 8:55am until 9:45am Grade Two Students in an IB program. Description of students: o Native French speakers from a high socio-economic urban, community. o Students receive approximately three and a half hours of English a week during the school year (4 lessons per week X 50 minutes) Previous Lessons: o Students have been reading Fairy Tales with a twist, for example Cinderella who was unable to go to a rock show instead of a ball. B. OBJECTIVES AND PROBLEMS Topic Area: o Students continue to explore authentic English texts related to the theme of Fairy Tales and Tall Tales. General Aim: o Considering this is still within the first month of the school year, this is a good opportunity for students to practice, and thus further establish classroom norms of proper behaviour in the classroom environment. Thus, the way in which the students get up from their desk and congregate in the designated area to hear the story is a relevant classroom activity at this point. Students need to practice smooth transitions in order to contribute to a classroom environment where moving from one task to the other can be done efficiently, with minimal time wasted and thus be respectful of the learning environment. o The reading of the story allows students the opportunity to reflect on the quality of their listening skills and their ability to pay attention when asked to switch into a different method in which to learn and practice listening skills. o The activities which follow the story allow students the opportunity to reflect on their level of participation in classroom activities as well as their ability to work well with their fellow classmates to complete a task in pairs. Specific Objective: o By the end of this lesson students will be able to: a) Understand the story, and b) identify correct answers (including true and false) statements concerning the story. c) Recall and reinvest new vocabulary words (animals, places, action verbs). d) Reinvest their understanding of the concept of the story, by e) constructing their own story based on the same line of thought as that of the author in Never Bring your Elephant to School. ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS The level of attention paid by a couple hyperactive students in the classroom. One in

3 particular I know will have the urge to roll around all over the place and not sit in the circle. Identification: Attention Seeking Behaviour Strategy: Higher level involvement in the story. Give him a responsibility. If the/ a student is acting up and will not sit still, they will be appointed the special responsibility of coming up beside me to hold the story and turn the pages while I read it. C. ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE Linguistic Content: o Grammar: Future Tense: He will... Conditional Tense: He might... o Vocabulary: Animals Action Verbs o Daily activities at school o Oral language: anticipated language needed when working in pairs See Page 4 of material, language help. D. TARGETED COMPETENCIES C1: To act on understanding of texts KEY FEATURES Explores authentic texts orally Uses knowledge from texts Monitors own learning C2: To communicate orally in English KEY FEATURES Transmits simple messages Listens to messages Monitors own learning * These two competencies are closely intertwined and contribute to the development of one another. E. EVALUATION CRITERIA 1) Post Story Comprehension Evaluation Target Specific Objectives a and b See Page One of Materials Choose the Correct Answer Points of Evaluation: DEMONSTRATION OF UNDERSTANDING OF TEXTS o Corrected as a whole class, each student corrects their own answers. o Allows for student to reflect on their listening skills. o Provides teacher with a quantitative assessment of each students ability to listen to, and comprehend the story. 2) Complete Mini-Book Target Specific Objectives c, d and e See Page five of Materials o Student use template to complete their book

4 Points of Evaluation: USE OF WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS FROM TEXTS o Completed in pairs o Students work should demonstrate the specific objectives the activity aims to target Thus, there should be evidence of vocabulary reinvestment, and following of the same concept as that of the original story; what could go wrong if you brought a (choice of wild animal) to school. F. MATERIALS AND AIDS 1. Stuffed Pink Elephant The Hook: used to grab the students attention during the introduction 2. Enlarged Book Pages of the story were enlarged, coloured and then laminated See laminated story attachment for picture evidence of end result Found in: Parents Magazine i Author: Doug Johnson Illustrator: Abby Carter 3. Page One of attached Materials Post Story Comprehension Evaluation Activity Sheet 4. Page Two and Three of attached Materials Word Bank Sheets 5. Page Four of attached Materials Language needed to work in pairs on the mini-book 6. Attached Materials Mini-book Template/Activity Sheets Scissors, Pencil, Colouring Pencils Use their word bank sheets and their language help sheet G. STRUCTURE OF THE LESSON INTRODUCTION Activity and Timing What the Teacher Does What the Students Do Daily Classroom Routine Teacher says: Good morning everybody Students Respond: Good morning Miss Chandra. How are you today? Good and You? Very Good thank you! Class Plan what students should expect for the next 55 minutes Introduction (5 minutes) Teacher writes what the students need for the day on the board: Eliciting the answers from the students. Ex) When we want to listen, do we use our big ear or our little ears? That s right our big ears (doing the action of circling around the ear like they are HUGE!) - Big Ears (to listen well) - Big eyes (to pay attention) - Raise hands to talk - Participate Students watch and listen to the instructions for the class. Respond to teacher when she is eliciting an answer. Ex) BIG ears!! Drawing a trace outline of huge ears near their heads.

5 Purpose: - activate prior knowledge concerning elephants and the school environment. - engage the students in the story topic. - motivate them to want to hear and pay attention to the story; build anticipation. Teacher brings out the stuffed pink elephant and asks the students: Who knows what this is? Where are we right now? Is it okay for me to have this elephant here at school? What if this elephant was real!! Then would it still be okay for me to bring it to school? Do you think there would be problems if someone brought a real elephant to school!? Because I know a story about a boy who did bring a real elephant to school and I would like to read it to you! To do so we need to remember our groups and when your group is called you come to the back and sit down. How do we go to the back? Do we walk fast or slow? Are we talking when we go to the back? Teacher then refreshes their memories of their groups and asks students to start sitting down. Group (#), Please get up, push your chairs and walk slowly and quietly to the back and sit down in listening position. Students raise their hands and participate in interaction. Answer should be no (teacher elicits that answer) Students should respond slow Students should respond no Students get up when their group is called, push their chairs, and move to the back of the classroom to sit down quietly in listening position. LESSON Activity and Timing What the Teacher Does What the Students Do Reading of the Story Never Ride your Elephant to School (10 minutes) Purpose: - Establish new vocabulary words and action verbs. Teacher reads the story aloud. Throughout the story, the teacher asks the students questions in order to: - Continuously check for understanding - Allow the students to interact with the text - Encourage student participation and meaningful learning Example: What does it mean to wiggle? - Call on one person Students sit quietly and pay attention to the teacher reading the story. Students respond to teacher s questions and demonstrate engagement with the text beyond passive listening.

6 Good exactly! Can all of you show me wiggle? - Observe that all students are in fact doing the action verb. All students should physically demonstrate that they understand what is means to wiggle. Story Wrap Up Natural and authentic wrap up to a story. Did you like the story? Do you think it would be fun to imagine this with another animal instead of an elephant? Students should say yes and will most likely start saying different kinds of animals. Activation of the thought process they will be using to do the final activity (the mini-book). Good! So, keep those different animals in mind and we are going to do an activity where you will need to write it down, okay. Before they even go back to their desks, the students are aware of their next task and what is expected of them. Reasoning: reduce talking during the transition back to their desks. With work already waiting for them there should be less of a reason to talk. Shows student the handout and explains to them the instructions. Teacher chooses two students to distribute the hands outs. Instructs the students to very quietly return to their seats and complete the activity silently by themselves. Students listen to the instructions and ask any questions they may have. These two students hand out the sheets. Students work individually to complete the activity sheet. Post Story Comprehension Evaluation (5 minutes) When all students have completed the task. Teacher circulates the class making sure all students are on task and answering any questions that may come up. Teacher corrects the sheet with the students. Done as a whole class, orally. *** If working with Grade 2 s than they to read and respond to the questions will read out the questions and guide choice options. A comprehension check will ask, for volunteer students to give number. Students work individually to complete the activity. Students follow along with the teacher and raise their hand to give answers. will most likely not be able individually. Thus, the teacher the students through the multiple will ensue at the end. The teacher the correct answer for each

7 Reinvestment Activity Preparation WORD BANK Activity Sheets Page 2 and 3 (10 minutes) Students are provided with aural, visual and kinaesthetic methods of learning the new vocabulary word. Aural student and teacher voice Visual written on board and on their paper Kinaesthetic drawing their own visual representation. Activity Sheet Page Three ** Again, if this lesson is done with time (as asking grade 2 s to copy a time consuming activity) just provide and thus a fully provided wordbank. Teacher instructs the students to flip over their paper and draws their attention to the next activity sheet. Explains instructions. Elicits answers from the students. Writes students answers on the board to ensure correct spelling. Gives them time to draw a picture pertaining to the vocabulary word. Continue in the same manner. Answers are elicited by the teacher from the students. Students answers are written on the board. grade 2 s and you are short on down words from the board is already completed activity sheets Students participate and contribute to building the vocabulary word bank by raising their hands to give an idea. Students copy down the correct spelling of the word in the designated spot on their paper. Students draw their own personal visual representation of the vocabulary word. Students give answers and contribute to completing the word bank activity sheet. Students copy the correct spelling from the board onto the designated area of their activity sheet. Reinvestment Activity- Construction of the Mini-Book Pair work (Rest of class time: minutes. Depending on whether word bank is provided or not) Teacher hands out template for the mini book and instructs the students to work in pairs. Teacher asks the students to get into listening position (routine of the class). Teacher draws their attention to Page 4 and the Activity Sheet concerning the language they should be using when working with each other. Teacher explains she wants to hear them speaking English and that this is a good opportunity to practice speaking English with each other. Are we going to speak English to each other as much as we can when we are working? She then explains the instructions for Students are in listening position. Students look at Page 4 and follow along. Students agree to practice speaking English while they are working.

8 how to construct the mini-book using their word bank and templates and the materials they will need. Students listen to the instructions. The IB attitudes must also be taken into consideration and pair work is a great one for co-operation. Constructing the minibook develops the IB attitude creativity. Teacher then asks the students, which IB attitude are we using when we work together in pairs? Allows students to start working and assures them she will be walking around to make sure they are working together, speaking English and to help them with any questions they may have. Students work in pairs. Practice the IB attitude Cooperation. Speak English as much as they can. They create the mini-book and work on the IB attitude creativity. CONCLUSION Activity and Timing What the Teacher Does What the Students Do Integration (3-5 minutes) Students share their ideas with each other to wrap up with a sense of shared creativity. Teacher asks students to stop working and to get into listening position. Teacher invites students to share which animal they chose to use and ONE of the problems this animal has while at school. Students offer their ideas and share with the class. Most likely students will not yet be finished. Teacher explains that students will continue working on their mini-books next class and to start putting their English supplies away. Students put their materials away. Transition Recess H. CLOSURE Teacher instructs students to: 1. Get up 2. Push the Chairs 3. Grab the Snacks 4. Line up 5. Be quiet Teacher takes them down to recess. Students need to follow teacher s instructions. Once they are lined up and quiet they will be taken out for recess

9 This was my very first official lesson where the materials and concept was created by me during my third stage and my first time in an elementary school. As I employ the hamburger affect with my students, I feel I should do the same with myself when reflecting on this lesson. First, I know that it went over very well from an outside perspective, considering how I was feeling on the inside! My supervisor evaluated me during this lesson and gave very positive feedback. The feedback I did receive concerned classroom management and not the actual lesson plan. My supervisor happened to be very impressed with my materials and this comprehensive lesson plan. However, as is noted in this lesson plan, with the section of yellow highlighted notes, I originally had planned for the Grade two s to write their own examples of different animals and activities that could be done in each room of the school. It wasn t until only an hour before I gave this lesson that my CT said, uh oh. Don t you know it would take hours upon hours for grade two s to copy down for themselves all of the information you have specified in your lesson plan. Panic moment number one. No, I really did not know that! It was only my second week, with zero experience before hand with kids and I had no idea what they were, and were not, capable of doing when it came to writing. Needless to say, I felt very silly! A problem easily fixed I simply printed out a Student Activity sheet with the answers already written down and decided that the original lesson plan was not at all a waste. I had simply overestimated what could be accomplished in one 55 minute class with grade two students based purely on inexperience with the age group and the level. Thus, the original plan could be used in the future but stretched over more than one 55 minute class, or could be used with the grade 3 s. I was honest about this mistake with my supervisor and even pointed out to him that the last page of the student activity book, the functional language portion, did not match a grade two level but that I had not had time to change it. He didn t seem to think it was a big issue and told me to keep it the way it was. On to major panic moment number two. I gave the students the handout and the first page is a multiple choice comprehension check. I expected them to fill this out individually in less than 5 minutes. Then they all start to blurt out, but Miss Chandra, we can t read this. I compensated by saying, that s okay! I planned on reading it out loud and doing it all together, I was just waiting for everyone to be ready! My supervisor didn t seem to notice at all that I had sincerely made the error of thinking the grade two s could complete page one, the multiple choice comprehension check on their own. Phew! By the end of the lesson I felt really silly for not having known such basic things as the reading and writing level of grade two s!! It was a huge learning session for me and perhaps I did the lesson too early, especially with my supervisor there, and should have waited for more time and experience in the classroom when everything was so new for me! However I still received an excellent evaluation and this helped cheer me up because it helped me to see that when it comes right down to it, I have the think on your toes skills to adapt and to modify my lesson plans as I go, even while being observed! My supervisor was really impressed and didn t mention once that he could tell I hadn t expected to do something a certain way! So I have to admit I was proud of that aspect of my teaching skills! While I almost cried because I felt so silly for not having been aware of things that may seem so simple to another teacher (and is probably why my CT didn t review my lesson until so

10 soon before I did it), in the end I pulled it off! The students learned, the objectives for the lesson were met, the final product of the lesson was used for the students portfolios, and the students enjoyed themselves! These are the things that matter! If the students and my supervisor didn t know I was freaking out on the inside, panicking an hour before and at point during, than only this self-reflection has to know!!! i My CT had this story in her stack of different stories and songs in her office. When I found it and wanted to do a lesson on it I asked her the source. She told me she got it from Parent Magazine. However I am not able to cite the source more specifically as it was photocopied years and years ago and she no longer has the magazine.