Comprehensive Lesson Plan & Learning Activity Compilation - Research Paper Example

Comprehensive Lesson Plan & Learning Activity Compilation   Comprehensive Lesson Plan & Learning Activity Compilation Part 1 In light of the present demographic trends in the population, it is exceedingly likely that all instructors at certain points in their careers will come across students who do not possess sufficient proficiency in the English language to access academic content fully within the mainstream classroom environment. It, therefore, becomes pertinent for teachers to develop effective and comprehensive lesson plans that support linguistically and culturally diverse students. This lesson plan will focus primarily on creating an effective instructional environment for student in fourth grade. Although English Language Learners (ELLs) are limited in terms of their proficiency in English, go to school with colossal disparity in terms of their home language skills, either from full literate and oral proficiency (Wright, 2010). These students also possess exceptionally limited skill sets; hence rich English-language instruction, which offers students written and oral access to their native languages, is at its core the epitome of effective and comprehensive instruction. This lesson plan focuses intently on students from the Filipino culture who speak Tagalog. In essence, the lesson will consider fourth grade students whose native or first language is Tagalog. The proficiency of fourth grade Filipino students deters their effective access to complex English material and content, hence the need to appreciate their native language to present such material in their native language so as to assist the students grasp the content sufficiently in English. Teaching English language arts, as well as reading to ELLs entails a variety of elements such as reading, writing, research, listening and speaking and written and oral conventions. Reading essentially entails students interpreting and comprehending a wide array of informational and literary texts. Writing, on the other hand, entails students composing an array of written texts by following a concise idea, sufficient detail and coherent organization of written content. The lesson plan will also take into account the significance of research through which students are meant to become knowledgeable of effective ways of locating an array of relevant sources and appraising, amalgamating and presenting information and ideas. The lesson plan also appreciates the importance of speaking and listening in terms of teaching English language arts and reading to Filipino ELLs (Caine & Caine, 1994). Listening and speaking involve students listening and reacting to other people’s idea while simultaneously supplying their own ideas in groups and conversations. The last strand is oral and written conventions in which students gain knowledge on how to utilize written and oral principles of the English language in both speech and writing. This lesson plan allows for cumulative standards since students will keep addressing former standards while also attending to required benchmarks of their grade. In essence, in the fourth grade, ELLs will participate in activities, which add on their previous skill and knowledge levels so as to fortify their writing, oral language competences and reading. Consequently, students will engage in reading and writing on a daily basis. For Filipino students, their native language provides a basis for the acquisition of English language. ELLs are typically attaining English proficiency, studying content in English and grasping how to read, at the same time. Therefore, it is vital for reading instruction to be comprehensive and for ELLs to receive instruction in decoding, phonemic awareness, word attack skills and phonics (Wright, 2010). This should occur while the students are also being taught comprehension techniques and skills, as well as academic vocabulary. Reading instructions, which enhance the capabilities of ELLs to decipher unfamiliar words and make sense of such words in context effectively, expedites the students’ capacities to understand what they read and learn from their reading exercises (Tomlinson, 1999). Moreover, developing spelling, grammatical conventions and fluency in academic language should also take place within meaningful contexts rather than in seclusion. For ELLs, text comprehension needs the incorporation of additional scaffolds in order to allow comprehensible input. ELL students need to make use of knowledge of their first language (Tagalog) such as similarities in Tagalog and English to develop their English vocabulary. Instruction should include teaching the English language within the milieu of related discourse in order to ensure that language is sufficiently meaningful. In essence, ELLs need to appreciate the ways in which rhetorical devices in English are dissimilar from those used in Tagalog. All together, the primary focus of English learners is to gain proficiency in English, particularly academic English, language structures that are relevant to the content and concepts. Throughout the course of English development, ELLs should effectively meet standards in the second language, which monolingual English speakers typically find exceedingly difficult to attain in their first language. Notably, the capacity of ELLs to attain these standards will be highly influenced by the students’ proficiency in English. Although ELLs can assess, integrate and appraise, their degrees of proficiency in English can detrimentally affect their ability to exhibit this knowledge, particularly in the course of the first phase of English language acquisition (Díaz-Rico & Weed, 2010). This is pegged on the understanding that ELLs who had interrupted or no schooling at all typically need strategic and explicit support while they gain English proficiency and simultaneously learn English. In order to meet state goals of public education, students at Grade 4 should typically demonstrate exemplary execution of reading and writing in terms of the English language. Students should accomplish vital knowledge, competences, individual expectations and skills as defined by the state education system. The federal educational code stipulates the fostering of continuation with regard to the teaching tradition in reading courses, textbook adoption and regular subject matter. In order to meet these standards, the students will receive written and oral narrative and other informational texts, which assist them to become thoughtful in terms of their appreciation of basic democratic values (Wright, 2010). With regard to skills and knowledge, the lessons will incorporate fluency and reading exercises in which students will read grade-level texts with sufficient comprehension and fluency. In order to achieve this goal, students will be required to read out loud grade-level stories, which will take into account factors such as appropriate phrasing, rate, expression and accuracy. For the purpose of vocabulary and reading development, students will need to show understanding of new vocabulary, as well as effective ways of using it when writing and reading. In this case, students will be required to ascertain what grade-level academic English words mean. This particularly concerns the meaning of English words that are derived from other linguistic roots such as Greek and Latin. Students will also make use of sentence context to decide the definition of unfamiliar words or words with multiple meanings. They will also complete diverse analogies through their knowledge of synonyms and antonyms and establish the meaning of ordinary idioms while also demonstrating the capacity to utilize a dictionary to ascertain the pronunciation and meanings of unfamiliar words. Another prominent lesson strategy will be to facilitate comprehension and reading of literary themes and texts. Here, students will typically analyze and draw conclusions regarding genre and themes in various contemporary, historical and cultural contexts and supply proof from the texts to affirm their understanding (Caine & Caine, 1994). In order to do this, students will summarize and elucidate the message inherent in a fictional work and determine the differences and similarities of the exploits of characters in classical literature. For instance, students will show comprehension by appreciating the trickster in a fictional work. In addition to fictional books as literary texts, the lessons will also entail comprehension of poetry and drama through which students will understand and make conclusions regarding how the elements and structure of poetry and drama such as stanzas, rhyme and line breaks relate to poetry and drama through forms such as free verse poetry, dramatic literature and lyrical poetry. Teaching ELLs will also entail teaching reading and comprehension of texts through independent reading where students will read independently for defined durations and furnish proof of their reading. In this exercise, students will be expected to read independently for certain periods and rephrase what the text dealt with, while maintaining the logical order and meaning of the text. This will be done through the generation of reading journals or engaging in book discussions (Wright, 2010). Reading of informational text on history and culture will require students to assess and draw conclusions regarding the author’s aim in historical and cultural contexts and supply proof from the reading to espouse their understanding. On the other hand, reading of expository texts is also relevant to teaching ELLs English by requiring students to analyze and infer regarding expository texts by summarizing the key ideas and buttressing information in text through ways that sustain meaning, distinguish opinion from fact in text, describe relationships between ideas within texts organized through cause-and-effect sequences and make use of multiple text features such as concluding sentences and guide words to acquire an understanding of the text’s content and decipher information. In order to further provide ELL students with English language arts and reading competences, the lessons will also entail media and reading literacy where students will make use of comprehension capacities to analyze the manner in which images, words, sounds and graphics work cooperatively in diverse forms to influence meaning. In this sense, students will continue to apply previously acquired standards with intense depth in increasingly complex texts. This objective will be attained through students explaining the positive and detrimental effects of advertisement strategies utilized in different media genres to influence customer behavior; explain different design techniques utilized in media to sway the message and compare diverse written conventions utilized for digital media, for instance, language used in informal emails. Writing, which is also critical in the comprehension of the English language by ELLS will entail writing processes in which students will employ elements of the writing process such as planning an initial draft, developing drafts through idea categorization, revising drafts to ensure coherence, editing drafts to correct errors and publishing the final draft (Herrell & Jordan, 2011). The final draft will be drawn in reaction to feedback from teacher and peers. In order to enhance the students’ writing abilities, the students will also write stories regarding significant personal experiences. Additionally, the language learning class will also entail a research plan that requires students to pose open-ended research questions and establish an effective plan for responding to the questions. Students will do this by generating research topics based on their personal interest or through brainstorming sessions, narrow down to a single topic and develop questions regarding key research topics (Tomlinson, 1999). The students will also develop research plans for collecting pertinent information regarding prominent research issues. Lastly, teaching English to ELLs will entail listening and speaking strategies in which students use their acquired comprehension abilities to listen attentively to their peers both in a formal and informal environment. Students will typically keep applying earlier standards in increasingly complex situations. Students will be required to listen to speakers attentively, make relevant enquiries and provide pertinent comments and follow, rephrase and provide oral instructions, which consist of sets of related action sequences. Teamwork in listening and speaking will allow ELLs to grasp content and material effectively. Students will work cooperatively with their peers in teams. Students will keep applying earlier standards with increasing complexity. Students will be required to engage in student-led and teacher-led discussions by making enquiries and responding to questions with applicable detail and build on other people’s ideas by offering suggestions. The most applicable activity to employ so as to teach ELLs the English language is the use of image galleries. Visual scaffolding will effectively offer support to the students by providing images, which are viewable and can also be heard. This scaffolding technique will also facilitate learning of essential subject content and facilitate progress of English language. Notably, when students can view images of what the instructor is describing or see the key words, which the teacher is expounding, this makes the input immensely comprehensible. However, this strategy deters affect filters that come from either boredom or fear, which emanate from comprehending little in class. Students can thereby gain greater social English that will help them attain success in academic English. As earlier noted, an effective method of learning English is using a dictionary to determine proper spelling and pronunciation (Herrell & Jordan, 2011). Therefore, in order to attain optimal results, the teacher can require students to search for words in picture dictionaries and use them in sentences in conversations. Assessment will be conducted in conformity to state standards, which require posing of both open ended and multi-choice questions. Assessment will be performed through English language and feedback and results supplied through the same language. However, in addition to the term-based assessments required by the state, the students will perform self-assessments in which they assess their strengths and weaknesses. Part 2 Semiotics refers to a perspective, which examines the use of signs such as indexes, icons and symbols to create meaning. Indexes depict conditions, for instance, a smiley face denotes happiness; symbols indicate relationships between objects while icons denote stances. Semiotics is applicable in teaching ELLs whereby students can describe their personal experiences without necessarily using words and later describe what their semiotics mean thereby demonstrating competence in non-literacy comprehension and speaking ability (Tomlinson, 1999). ELL students can also learn effectively through image galleries that facilitate comprehension of what the teacher or peers is describing thereby facilitating greater comprehension of input and deterring the existence of affective filters that emerge from boredom and fear associated with inability to understand class content. Image galleries allow ELLs acquire exemplary social English that, in turn, facilitates their comprehension of academic English. The example provided in the first part of this paper shows the effectiveness of image galleries in enhancing students’ knowledge. Using a pictorial dictionary allows students to develop English skills needed in conversations and writing, for instance, word pronunciation. In order to ensure that students attain optimal English language knowledge, proper assessment is required. The most applicable assessment for ELLs is self-assessment, which provides the teacher with a foundation for assessing what students develop. ELLs know themselves intimately, for instance, their strengths and weaknesses making self-assessment exceedingly effective. However, the generation gap that exists between ELL students and teachers often proves to be an impediment to effective learning (Díaz-Rico & Weed, 2010). It is always beneficial for students to ask themselves what challenges they encountered in the course, what they grasped and what they needed to help them through and prepare themselves for the next grade. I would essentially require the students to perform weekly reflections regarding their weekly lessons. This is a substantive step in targeting all students and taking alternative avenues to enhance their knowledge. Self reflection and assessment helps students determine what they learned, in which areas they performed exceptionally, what they are still confused about and in which areas they need help. The results of these questions provide in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all students. When students share their perspectives with others in the classroom, this enhances teamwork, which, in turn, benefits the entire class. While teaching English language to ELLs, I will use phonics awareness through the exploration of a vocabulary scaffold. Through the review of high-frequency words and phrases within the context of a word map, the students will become competent to learn English speedily. I will use objects occurring in the natural and manmade environment such as flowers, books, pens and buildings to teach students how to relate words in their native language with those in English. The use of hand gestures will help students learn the proper use of phrases in different contexts. Practices such as word maps will enhance instruction by enabling students monitor their language use and comprehension (Herrell & Jordan, 2011). This will use some of the strategies mentioned in Part 1 such as comprehension of literary and non-literary texts to enhance reading and speaking capacities. This will ultimately help ELL students develop effective strategies, which they can employ independently when they confront challenges. This will enhance profound understanding of the English language and teach students how to react to different situations. I will encompass culturally meaningful stories shared by students in the class. This, as well as appreciating special occasions such as Ramadan, Chinese New Year and Divali, will provide pertinent information regarding the students’ traditions thereby validating the students’ cultural heritage to foster their self-esteem and capacity to adjust. Allowing students to speak about significant events in their lives is an effective way of breaking the ice and connecting with the students on a mutual ground of significance (Caine & Caine, 1994). Students unwilling to speak openly will write in journals, which will, in turn, provide an effective bridge to effective writing capabilities. Policy could be adjusted to test students on their individual cultures either in their native language or English to enhance enthusiasm and maintain focus on learning. The employment of the aforementioned strategies to the class situation through learning will facilitate effective learning of the English language and allow ELL students to gain competence in reading, writing, research and speaking in the English language. References Caine, R., & Caine, N. (1994). Making connections: Teaching and the human brain. New Jersey: Addison Wesley. Díaz-Rico, L. T., & Weed, K. Z. (2010). Cross-cultural, language, and academic development handbook: A complete K-12 reference guide (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Herrell, A. L., & Jordan, M. L. (2011). Fifty strategies for teaching English language learners (4th ed.). New York: Pearson. Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. New Jersey: Pearson, Merrill, Prentice-Hall. Wright, W. (2010). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing. Read More