Lesson plan (English)

Title: The most important thing

Lesson plan elaborated by:Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

The most important thing. Values in human life.

Target group

5th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school

Core curriculum:

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

12) defines the theme and topic of the work;

2. Reception of cultural texts. Student:

2) searches for information that is directly or indirectly expressed in the text;

6) distinguishes between factual information and opinion.

II. Language education.

2. Diversity of language Student:

3) uses a style appropriate to the communication situation.

III. Creation of utterances.

1. Elements of the rhetoric. Student:

1) participates in a conversation on a given topic, separates its parts, constructional signals strengthening the bond between the participants of the dialog, explaining the meaning;

3) creates a logical, semantically complete and ordered utterance, using composition and graphic layout appropriate to a given genre form; understands the role of paragraphs in creating a whole mental utterance;

4) selects the information;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

5) discusses the text he/she has read.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) perfects reading quietly and aloud;

3) uses the information contained in various sources, collects information, selects information;

7) develops the skill of critical assessment of the information obtained;

9) develops the skill of effective use of information technology and Internet resources and uses these skills to present his/her own interests.

The general aim of education

On the basis of a literary text, the student discusses the values important in human life.

Key competences

communication in the mother tongue;
communication in foreign languages;
social and civic competences;
cultural awareness and expression.

Learning outcomes

Student:

discusses and prioritizes values;
discusses character traits useful to the researcher's work;
describes illustrations of different laboratory interiors;
notices differences in the illustrations described and is able to justify them;
searches for the relevant parts of the text in support of his/her opinion.

Methods / techniques

problematic: directed conversation, discussion;
programmed: using the computer, using an e‑textbook;
exhibiting: describing an illustration;
practical: tasks concerned, working with literary text.

Forms of work

uniform individual activity;
uniform collective activity;
activity in groups.

Methodological guidelines

Invitation to intertextuality and connectivism

One of the language training and texts reception aims is developing the ability to recognise the repetitive images, themes, motives and topoi in different cultural texts. The ability to notice the connections at the intertextual level lets us to develop the skill of synthesising and critical reception of literary texts.

At the same time, we want to encourage both, the students and the teachers, to create their own impressionistic and expressive elaborations through emotions and art, i.e.: through personal creativity (art works, photography, film, texts), elements of movement and drama, including the choice of other authors’ photography works, together with the justification. By doing this, we enrich the literary works with our own associations and thoughts. It is worth mentioning, that the activity of searching the information in the available sources itself is consistent with the connectivism principles, especially with the idea of constant learning and noticing connections.

We call this task: finding the key. It always includes the choice (selection) of the relevant examples, or the completion of a creative task and preparation of short presentation together with justification. Example:

Choose three photos from the history of photography that in your opinion best illustrate the message of the literary work.

Use your phone camera and record a short film, in which you will present your impression on the topic raised in the poem.

An extremely important element of the proposed educational activities is initiating a discussion involving the whole class, during which every student can ask questions regarding the reasons of the individual choice of examples, or the task completion. In order to read their colleague interpretation key, the students should ask the leading questions such as: Why did you chose this particular photo? What were the other photos that you could choose? What caused you to bring the reproduction of this painting to the today’s lesson? What were you thinking about when you were preparing the script for your film? Where were you looking for inspirations for your drawing?

These activities comply with the method of intersemiotic translation, and allow students to consolidate their knowledge and develop skills through associations, referring to symbols, emotions and images, generating mental structures and practical use of vocabulary. The involvement of the whole group into discussing the students’ presentations allows the active participation in the lesson.

Adjusting the language level

The opened questions included in the abstracts are adjusted to the level presented by younger and older learners. Imposing challenges is in our opinion the key motivation tool in foreign language learning. During the lesson we encourage students to use the strategies used in the formative assessment such as: the technique of lights, sticks, ABCD cards. This way we can provide feedback, that is so important for the students.

Depending on the students’ level the teacher may encourage them to answer in their first language, or in English, what is in line with the bilingual teaching. At this educational stage the most important is that the student understands the question, and is able to summarise the lesson in the foreign language, preferably using the newly acquired vocabulary. The tool placed at the end of each abstract may be helpful, as it requires the student to answer the questions: What have I learnt today? What was difficult? What do I need to repeat?

Before the lesson

Basing on the methodological guidelines, the teacher asks a student or students to familiarise themselves with the fragment of the literary work from the abstract, and to choose the illustrative music for the lesson. The students work with method of intersemiotic translation, and prepare three pieces of music, together with the justification of their choice. Their task is to begin the lesson with the presentation of their impressions or associations, and to encourage the other students to take part in a discussion.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the class that is reflection on things that are important in life, and specifies the success criteria.

2. The selected students present the prepared pieces of music and justify their choice (due to the time constraints it is enough to present one or two compositions). The students explain why did they chose them, and why did they present them in this particular order. The teacher encourages other students to ask questions like:

Why did you chose the song by this artist?
According to what key did you select your examples?
What does your examples refer to?

This material can be presented also during the lesson closing. If the student finds it difficult to speak fluently in English, he can justify the choice of examples in his first language.

Realization

1. The teacher displays names of different values on the board. The teacher asks students to arrange them according to their own hierarchy of values. This is a good moment to talk briefly about the different hierarchies of values. Students can try to justify their own choices. Then each of them formulates a thought according to the model in ex. 1 in the abstract. Selected (willing) students present their proposals.

2. Students get acquainted with the working conditions of scientists yesterday and today. The teacher asks them to compare the photos. Course participants should pay attention to lighting, equipment, laboratory technician/scientist’s clothing etc.

3. The teacher asks the students to read Ewa Curie's text “Robaczki świętojańskie” (Fireflies) or the teacher reads the text. Students check the meaning of the misunderstood words and then look in the text for the parts describing the workplace of Maria and Peter Curie. They answer the questions:

What is missing there?
What obstructs researchers in their work?
Which of the laboratories presented in the photo gallery could Maria and Piotr Curie have dreamt of?

4. The teacher displays on the board a photo of Maria Skłodowska‑Curie surrounded by the greatest scholars of the early 20th‑century. The teacher asks: How many of them are women? What is the reason for this? The analysis of the photograph may become the beginning of a discussion about what women could do and what they could not do in the times of Maria Skłodowska‑Curie.

5. What was Maria Curie? Students write her character traits. A task for talented students (exercise 7): what character traits would be attributed to the heroine based on translated quotes.

6.On the basis of the text, the students perform an interactive task of assigning character traits to the mentioned quotations from the e‑textbook. They justify their choice in Polish or English, depending on the level of advancement.

Summary

The teacher asks students to evaluate their work during the lesson and the level of understanding of the material discussed. He/she can use the bin and suitcase method: students receive self‑adhesive sheets in two colors. They fill them with their notes: what they take with them (put in a suitcase), and what they think are unnecessary (they are thrown into the bin). They stick their sticky notes in a specially prepared place (eg on a poster). To summarize, the teacher can also use the interactive board contained in the abstract.

Homework

To find out more about Maria Skłodowska‑Curie, look for information in the available sources. Prepare a poster about what she has achieved.

DEmxfawfr