| Lesson plan cover page | |
| Country | Qatar |
| Name | Anwar Maalej |
| CiSELT workshops attended on course to date | I have attended all the workshops so far. |
| Workshop title | 6.7 Project-based learning |
| Brief description of context, location and time (size of classroom, facilities/resources available, time of day, lesson length, etc.) – 50 words maximum | In a small classroom, the teacher’s movements and group-work become a relatively difficult task. However, the class is well-equipped, containing a white board, a data-projector and speakers. Though an internet connection is available, the webquest content was made offline expecting any technical deficiency. I taught the lesson during the second period in the morning from 8 to 9 am. It lasted 55 minutes. |
| Brief description of learners (how many, age, level, special needs/behavioural issues, etc.) – 50 words maximum |
The class I taught this lesson in was grade 12 Medical Studies. Their ages range between 17 and 18. Indeed, a good majority of the class is a group of able students who can cope with challenging situations and take part in high-order thinking activities. The class has an interesting cultural background as learners come from different countries; consequently, they have different interests and inspirations. As a result, I have to be very vigilant and stop any bursts of nationality-related comments. Three students have some difficulties in using English to communicate and are reluctant to take part of most of class activities. |
| Brief description of the new idea and why chosen (50 words maximum) |
The technique I applied in this lesson was the webquest, part of module 6.7 ‘Project-based Learning’. It consists in providing the students with a well-chosen list of websites with some tasks to perform, aiming to achieve a final goal eventually. This lesson is the second in a series of lessons taking the students through the process of doing research. I was convinced that the webquest would offer an unprecedented opportunity for my students to experiment with evaluating websites and to develop more awareness of types and reliability of resources. |
| Lesson plan cover page | |
| How does the lesson fit with syllabus/timetable? (30 words maximum) |
As a department, we have decided that our students should be exposed to research skills throughout their three-year secondary studies. As a result, for each level (i.e. 10, 11, and 12), a unit of work consisting of a series of lessons is devoted to tackle different research skills and cover some linguistic competencies. Following a lesson about primary vs. secondary sources, this lesson is a logical second step aiming at evaluating instances of available resources. |
| Learning outcome | By the end of the lesson, most of the students are expected to:
– Identify different ways to evaluate websites. – Evaluate websites using rubrics. |
| Materials and references (attach worksheets) |
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| Anticipated problems (50 words maximum) |
As it is the first time I use the web quest as a teaching technique, I had some fears concerning how far it could be effective and involving. I was concerned that the internet connection could be unavailable for any reason (that happened to me) and thus the core activity would be missed. Also, I was not certain that all the students could do the main activity when it comes to using the more advanced rubric. |
| Proposed solutions (50 words maximum) |
The possible challenges that I expected made me think of possible solutions while planning the lesson. First, I decided to develop my own webquest software. This would allow me to make the websites’ contents available offline. Also, the lesson should be very well structured, through making the lesson stages flow in a smooth way, leading the students to the core activity. Instruction should also be clear to the students to avoid any distractions. |
| Language Analysis (if appropriate) – cover meaning, form and pronunciation | |
| Observer comments (if appropriate) | |
| Lesson procedure | ||||
| Time | Teacher activity | Student activity | Interaction | Stage aim |
| 5 min | Do-now activity: Ask the students to think of all the possible resources that can be used in research. Accept any possible answers. | Given graphic organizers, the students think of all the possible resources used in research projects. | Teacher – student | List possible sources for a research project. |
| 5 min | Go through the lesson objectives then tell the students to read the five sections of the rubric. | Students split in groups of four and read the rubric and highlight the keywords. | Student-student | Identify the 5 W’s to evaluate a website. |
| 5 min | Teacher distributes copies of a web page and asks students to write the five words ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘When?’, ‘Where?’ and ‘Why?’ in the correct spaces.
Teacher monitors the activity. |
Students go through a webpage and write the five words ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘When?’, ‘Where?’ and ‘Why?’ in the spaces provided. | Student-student | Group-work: Evaluate a website using the 5 W’s evaluation rubric. |
| 30 min | Teacher presents the second rubric to the class and asks them to use it to make an objective evaluation of the websites.
Go round the groups and monitor the activity |
Students read the rubric, then use the webquest to surf the websites in order to evaluate them with reference to the rubric. | Student-student | Use a webquest: Evaluate websites using the advanced rubric. |
| 10 | Ask volunteers to report their evaluation to the whole class. | Students tell the class which website is the most reliable and justify their answers. | Student-student | Plenary: Present findings and justify choices.
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| Reflection | |
| What went well? Why?
(refer to the learners, learning outcomes and stage aims, lesson procedures, tasks / activities and materials) |
I think that the lesson flowed smoothly. Every stage led logically to the following, giving room for interaction. The worksheets were very helpful as they kept the students focussed on every lesson stage. Indeed, nearly all the students were able to do the activities using the worksheets as intended. Cooperative learning helped overcome some confusion in the main activity as more able students could help the rest of the class, especially to understand the content of the websites through explaining some new words. |
| What didn’t go well? Why?
(refer to the learners, learning outcomes and stage aims, lesson procedures, tasks / activities and materials) |
One of the best practices I have committed myself to do at the end of each lesson consists in thinking of other ways that could guarantee higher efficiency levels. In the case of this lesson, I think that the main deficiency was time. I think it would be better to administer such a lesson throughout four periods at least. The students would have gained more understanding of the evaluation process and have the opportunity to write a comprehensive report of their work. |
| What changes will I make next time? Why? | |