Key Themes in Education History of Saudi Arabia - Assignment Example

Assure Model lesson plan Assure Model lesson plan of the teacher: Grade: Nine School: Al-Zahra Intermediate School Date: Subject: History Time: 80 minutes Topic: History of Education Sub-topic: Key themes in Education History of Saudi Arabia Objectives: By the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to: I. Trace the history of education in Saudi Arabia by watching a power point presentation and writing the summary in their notebooks. II. Select key themes in Education History from a Power Point presentation and film documentary from you tube and answer oral questions. III. Outline the socio-economic and political elements and their effects in education by participating in group discussion. IV. Combine the themes from the film and those in the textbook on charts in task groups. Introduction Assure method is an example of the use of technology/media in education. It is also revered to as ‘machine approach’. In this approach, a teacher identifies a learning problem and chooses an equipment to solve the problem. The principal role of assure method therefore, is to improve the overall efficiency of teaching and learning (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2012) 2. In this lesson plan, I will develop, apply and evaluate systems, techniques and aids to improve the process of learning history in Saudi Arabia. The justification of this is research which has shown that we learn primarily through our senses. Each sense accounts for a different percentage of learning as follows: Sight 83%, hearing 11%, smell 3.5%, touch 1.5% and taste 1 %. How do visuals help in conveying of meaning? According to Martin Grant in Comparing Instructional Design Models, visuals communicate meaning much more efficiently than the written or spoken word. Words whether written or spoken are usually arbitrary symbols. They neither look like nor sound like the object they represent, visual on the other hand resembles things and objects, they are able to communicate information much more. This is why I made the lesson rich in visuals. In order to use media, it is imperative that, systematic planning be done. A system is a set of parts coordinated together to accomplish a set of goals, in this case, instructional goals. Systems in education are harmonious, holistic, have goals and objectives and are non-reductionist. The ASSURE model is a simple approach based on assumption that the teacher, students do not know how to use resources such as laboratories, projectors and textbooks among others (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2012). Below are the elements I will follow in the lesson plan: I. Analyze learners. The class composition of Al-Zahra Intermediate School is of Asian, mixed boys and girls of ages between 13 and 14 with varied paces of learning. A few are ablebut underachievers; there are also slow and exceptional learners, while the majority is average students. None of them is a foreign student, so they have a superficial knowledge of the Country’s Education History from their previous grades (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2012). Two students, however, have partial visual impairment therefore they will be seated in the front row. Besides, four learners also have hearing difficulties; the sound system volume will be adjusted a little higher to suit them. Because the school is a predominantly governed by Muslim laws, boys and girls do not mix. I will factor this during the group discussion. Boys will discuss separately and girls too. Styles of learning: Sense of sight is an indispensable component in learning. Research reveals that we learn 80% through the sense of sight (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2012). Indeed 4. seeing is believing and education imparts new belief systems in learners. Visuals are more concrete and direct hence communicate meaning much more efficiently. This is the main reason behind the use of power point and film in the lesson. Due to the age of the learners, I will choose a medium degree of realism in the power point and documentary film I have selected. Too much detail might overwhelm the learners making interpretation of instruction difficult. Learning therefore might be hampered instead of being enhanced. Besides, from the previous lessons the learners tended to lose concentration whenever I used lecture method. To this effect, I opt to employ a lot of Question-Answer technique, group discussion and note making. Lastly, I will device leading questions for the slow learners and rhetoric questions for the exceptional learners. II. State the Objectives My objectives will dictate the sequence of learning activities. By the end of the lesson the learners should be able to; a. Accurately trace the History of Education in Saudi Arabia by summarizing points from the PowerPoint presentation in their books. b. Elaborately highlight key themes in the development of education by watching the film from you tube and answer verbal questions. c. Precisely outline key socio-economic and political elements and their impacts in education by discussing in task groups. 5. d. Combine the themes in the film and those in the textbook and write them on charts. III. Select strategies, technology, media and materials. Strategies: For learning to take place, there should be an interaction of three things. The teacher, learner and the content to be learnt. The learner should be at the center of the teaching-learning process. This consideration will ensure that, the teacher progresses at the learners pace, and not the learner trying to catch up with the teachers pace. Most but not all questions, therefore, will target the slow learners. I will employ both teacher centered and learner centered strategies to achieve the lesson objectives (Smaldino, Lowther & Russell, 2012). On the teacher centered strategy, I will give an expository approach during the introduction of the lesson and when explaining the power point presentation. The student-centered approach will entail answering oral questions, note taking, task group discussion to mention a few. Media: Because the class has a medium group of learners, i.e. 39 students, the overhead projector and film documentary in good working condition will be utilized. I will stream the film from you tube. A 300 watts JVC sound bar will give sound to the film. Materials: Grade 9 History textbooks, encyclopedia and notebooks. A textbook will be shared by two students. I will also display charts and illustrations on the board. IV. Utilize technology, media and materials: (45 minutes) 6. Method My first choice of media is a song, followed by a PowerPoint presentation from my PC, then a documentary film from You Tube and lastly Question-Answer technique. Song will be used as set induction to capture their attention. Time will be two minutes. Introduction will be expository followed by a projected power point presentation highlighting key themes in Saudi’s Education History. It will take 5 minutes. I will allocate 10 minutes for the power point presentation and 40 minutes the documentary film will form the main body of the lesson. Lastly but not least, the Question-Answer technique (Q&A) will be used in Assessment/Evaluation of the lesson’s objectives. This will last for 10 minutes. Conclusion will take 5 minutes, bringing the lesson to 80 minutes total time. It will therefore require a lot of stimulus variation to capture and sustain the learner’s attainment throughout the lesson. Technology Smaldino, Lowther and Russell put it clearly that reading is boring especially in those schools where English is the second language, p.71-72. This is the case of Al Zahra School which calls for the use of technology. In class the projector shall be focused in the middle of the white board to give a broader field of view. Learners will sit in seven columns and five rows for the best view. Preference to position on front row will be given to learners with sight and hearing impairment such as short sight. According to Smaldino, Lowther and Russell the students with visual impairment will be given additional sites with adaptive application and soft wares from the website. These are, kindle, www.rfbd and text-to-speech software. 7. It is a requirement in the school for each student to own a portable media device. I will recommend electronic books and above software be installed for further reading on the lesson content. Step 1: Teaching activity-I will repeatedly sing a song about the benefits of Education. Repetition is for emphasis and also capturing attention. Tonal variation with appropriate body movements (not dancing) will be used where appropriate. Learning Activity- students join in singing the song after listening to it. Step 2: The power point projection of the key themes in Education History. Using pause and poise at each stage to explain emphasize and involve the learners. Leaner Activity- Note down key points from the presentation in their History notebooks. Step 3: By use of an overhead projector for clarity, I will show a documentary film of the various developments in Saudi Arabia education from You Tube. Learning Activity-learners ask and answer verbal questions. Step 4: Question-Answer technique to recapitulate the learners’ interests. Questions to be asked in a logical order. Questions such as; what did you learn from the power point presentation? What role did the government of Abu Dhabi play in education? What was the documentary film all about? State one theme in the history of education from the film. 8. Materials The School History Lecture Hall, Grade 9 History Textbooks, notebooks, a Personal Computer with power point presentation, sound system, overhead projectors, and 8mm film recorded from You Tube. V. Require learner performance By the end of the class, a learner should be able to answer verbal/oral questions which will be balanced across gender since it is a mixed school. In buzz groups, set at least five questions on each theme learnt in History. A lot of attention will be given to the slow learners by use of leading questions. Exception students (high achievers) will also be assigned to guide them. Take down key points, in summary, in their History note books. They should also compare and contrast the notes taken down within the groups. Lastly, in task groups, compile similar points watched on the video documentary and those in the textbook. VI. Evaluation and Revise According to Bloom in his publication of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, questioning is an indispensable tool in evaluation. The skill will help me understand if the lesson is understood or not. It will also make the learners participate and lastly arouse curiosity and make them think. I will evaluate the effectiveness of the multi-media approach at three levels: 9. The first is evaluation of learner. I will sample a learner from each row to stand before the class and present the power point as others listen. I will involve others in ranking process and reward the best presenter. I will use flash cards which I will expect learners to tell what they stand for in unison. The lesson will be achieved if they present well, answer oral questions and identify the flash cards. The second is evaluation of the media by asking the learners of their views on media used. This is to help for future improvement and improvisation. Evaluation of media is a continuous process-before, during and after the lesson. It is not an end process but rather a means to an end. I will ask the students their opinion over the power point presentation, video and ask for improvement. Appropriate and timely feedback will be employed to reward the learners. Words such as, very good, excellent, well done shall be used as part of verbal reinforcement. Non-verbal rewards such as nodding, moving closer to the learner or pat on the back shall be similarly employed. Lastly but not least, the effectiveness of the instructional strategy shall be assessed by demanding discussion in groups on key theme in education. Task groups and syndicate groups will further present in turns on the objectives. Learners will award marks for the best group. Conclusion 10. I will forcefully conclude by reviewing the lesson by use of Question-Answer technique. For the exceptional learners, reflective (high order) questions for thought provoking shall be asked (Bloom taxonomy). Such questions are; Factual (low order) questions for recall of facts will be directed to the whole class. I will use the criteria of Gender, sitting positions and types of learners to choose those to answer the questions. I will prompt the learner in case there is no response; the response is weak or unrelated to the question. Lastly, I will give an assignment, on the key personalities in the Education development to be tackled in syndicate groups and be submitted in the next class. 11. Reference Smaldino, S., Lowther, D., & Russell, J. (2012). Instructional technology and media for learning (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson. ISBN: 978- 0138008154.) Read More