Student Teacher: Julia Lo Raso

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Coat of Arms: Class 1 Group: 222 Grade level /Program: 4/ESL Period length: 60 min.

Goals for the period

• By the end of the class I want the students to be able to understand what a coat of arms is, and its basic components (common symbols, colours, animals)

• I will know they can do this when they begin preliminary work (handout) for their personal coat of arms by the end of the period.

Competencies to be developed o C1 o C2

Evaluation criteria N/A

Functional Language for speaking and writing N/A

Learning strategy PPT Kahoot!

Language conventions (grammar & punctuation) N/A

Vocabulary Focus: Coat of arms Motto Banner Symbol Shield

Cooperative learning techniques: Think-Pair-Share Pair work

Teacher-centred techniques: Teacher-led discussion Individual Work Cold calling Scaffolding

Learning Techniques Competition Choral Reading

Period Start-up Routines

• Agenda on the board: 1. What is a coat of arms? 2. Parts of a coat of arms 3. Kahoot! 4. Final project

• Students walk in silently and stand behind they chairs • Students say good morning and may sit down • Attendance

Activity Teaching

techniques Rationale

Min

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Activity

Teaching techniques

Rationale

Min In

tro

PowerPoint (appendix 1): What is a Coat of Arms?

• Think-pair-share: show the first example & give 10 seconds to think about questions:

1. Do you know what this is? 2. Where have you seen them before? • Show Examples: I’m going to show you

some pictures, I want you to think about the similarities between them

• Explain their use: represents a group, a culture, a family (provide examples: soccer team= group)

• As you saw in the previous examples, they are still used today

Think-pair-share Teacher-led discussion

Building student knowledge based on what they already know= activate prior knowledge!

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Dev

elop

men

t

Dissecting it: • Earlier I asked you to pay attention to the

similarities (how they are the same), what did you notice? COLD CALL

1. What are the parts? 2. Look at mine, and tell me what you

notice 3. Call students to fill out the spaces on PPT 4. Parts: a) Shield (symmetrical & quartered) b) Banner (motto) c) Symbols: Animals & other • Distribute handout (appendix 2): take a

minute to INDIVIDUALLY read over the bottom part with the lists of words

• Go through the rest of the slides

Cold calling Teacher-centered discussion Individual reading

Students build from their own knowledge and what they noticed, rather than just being told what the parts of a coat of arms are. Students make connections through inference & inductive reasoning.

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3

Activity

Teaching techniques

Rationale

Min

Vocabulary: • Use a Kahoot! with iPads to learn

vocabulary (IN PAIRS) • iPads will be set up and loaded on

Kahoot.it before the class • Explanation: Ø For each question you will get a picture

and you will have to select the word that goes with it by using your handout (appendix 2)!

Ø The pictures and answers will be on the projector

Ø You will have to choose and answer with the iPad (look at the matching color)!

Ø You have 10 seconds/question, the one who answers correctly and fastest wins!

Ø We will do the first question together as an example

• Take out your iPads and put in the pin# • Use your own names

Kahoot! Pair work

Fun game and sense of competition to have students actively participate in learning. Students will need to know what animals, symbols, and colours represent to create their own coat of arms.

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Explain project (final writing task): • PUT YOUR IPADS AWAY (ask

students to pick them up) • Take out your handout (appendix 2)!

Read the top part of it! INDIVIDUALLY • By the end of this project you will have

created your own coat of arms, and written a description of it. It must include a colour, an animal, symbols, and a motto that represent you! You will work in pairs with the person sitting next to you!

• Show the handouts they will use to create their coat of arms & show a completed final project

Teacher centered

Explaining and show the project so students know what is expected of them.

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4

Activity

Teaching techniques

Rationale

Min

Questionnaire handout (appendix 3): • Distribute, go over each question (give

examples) & cold call: Ø Important places: I like Paris so I’m going

to include the Eiffel Tower! Ø Animal: I am clever because I love

puzzles so I will draw a fox!

Teacher centered Cold calling

Explaining handout is important so that students can work more efficiently.

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Students begin the handout (appendix 3)! Individual work

If students have questions, they can ask while I am still there & I can check if they understood what they learned.

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Clo

sure

Sharing ideas: • Ask for volunteers to share their ideas for

their coat of arms to the class • Cold call if there are no volunteers • Remind students of homework: finish the

questionnaire handout

Teacher centered

End the class by reviewing what students have done & reminding them of homework.

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End of class reminders / routines ... hook them for the next class Next class you will continue the drawing and start working on your draft for the writing task

Anticipated problems Solutions/Plan B

1. No iPads 2. Students who

finish the handout

1. Q-cards association game: Ø Print photos of animals, symbols, colours Ø Write words onto Q-cards Ø Students match them together 2. Students who finish can begin the drawing stage of the

project

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Materials to prepare Homework Laptop PowerPoint Projector Handouts iPads

Continue the questionnaire handout

Post-teaching assessment Your reflections

1. Extent to which goals for this period were reached (based on observable elements from criteria OR based on targeted criteria) 0%? à 100%?

• 80% • Most students understood the project and

what they had to do, but others were either not on task or confused

2. Strong points including what can be kept (classroom management, pacing, teaching strategies, student response, goals set, activities)

• PPT (visual support) • Inductive reasoning: Ø Questions: Where have you seen this? Ø Asking about similarities between CoAs • Pair work • Preloading ICTs (Kahoot.it)

3. Problems encountered (classroom management, pacing, teaching strategies, student response, goals set, activities)

• Classroom management: A lot of excitement due to ICTs

• Difficulty transitioning from high energy to low energy activity

• Not everyone was actively participating during the deconstruction

4. Changes to be made for future periods (If you had to do it again...) Add the proposed changes to your lesson plan using the “track changes” function.

• Change deconstruction of CoA for full class participation

• Establish rules for using ICTs • Have a clear signal for transitioning from high

level to low energy level activities (counting: 5-4-3-2-1-STOP)

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Appendices Appendix 1: PPT

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Appendix 2: Project Handout

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Appendix 3: CoA Questionnaire NAME: _______________________________

Personal Coat of Arms: Questionnaire

1. What are some important places for you? What symbols represent them? 2. What are your favourite activities? What symbols represent these activities? 3. What animal represents you? Why? (Use the handout) 4. Which colour represents you? Why? (Use the handout)

5. Ideas for your personal motto:

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Analysis

What are some of the decisions that informed this lesson plan, and the choice of instructional

activities and flow/content of the lesson?

My cooperating teacher, who asked me to create the introductory lesson for a

project where students will have the opportunity to create their own coat of arms,

conceived the general idea for this lesson plan. The grade four students had already

been working on a story from their textbook that was set in the middle ages, so this

project seemed like a good extension of that theme. This is also a reason why I did not

need to refer to the PFEQ; my CT had been working on this theme and similar projects

with this grade level for quite some time. In addition to giving me a details of what was

expected of my lesson, my cooperating teacher and I did some basic research and found

some handouts that could help me, so that is what inspired my lesson.

As I began planning, I realized that the handouts were too complicated for my

students so I decided to alter the language to make it easier to understand. Most of the

words I chose are cognates, but I still wanted to make sure that my students understood

what they meant, which is why I created the Kahoot! to have students choose the

French translation for each word. After fixing the handout, it was time to start planning

the activities.

My first challenge was finding a way to introduce the topic without just telling it

to the students; I wanted to build from their prior knowledge. I resorted to using

PowerPoint because a coat of arms is ultimately an image, and I wanted to show some

examples to the students so they could notice the similarities between the images. This

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medium was also useful in the breakdown of the components of a coat of arms, because

it really helped me explain its parts in a way that the students could understand.

Toward the end of the PowerPoint, I distributed the first handout because I wanted to

take advantage of the visual medium to go over the vocabulary.

As previously stated, I decided to use the Kahoot! to help the students

understand the vocabulary. In my preparation for the lesson, I preloaded the iPads on

www.kahoo.it to minimize the problems I knew would happen with the ICTs. For the

activity, I decided to let students work in pairs, so they can talk about the vocabulary

and come to an answer together. Having them pick the French translation was effective

to a certain extent, but since most of the words are cognates, and we had already gone

over them in the PowerPoint, I think I could have used the Kahoot! differently; which I

will explain in the last section of this analysis.

Once the students were equipped with the vocabulary, and a good grasp on

what a coat of arms is, it was time to introduce the project. I decided to do this before

having my students work on the second handout because I wanted them to know what

they are working towards (this is also why I showed the rest of the handouts- including

the template for the actual coat of arms). Explaining that this was a project really

helped the students think critically about their coat of arms, and how they can use it to

represent themselves. This way, they would fill out the questionnaire more honestly.

The next step was to explain the questionnaire handout, and I did this by

providing concrete examples of answers for each question. I also decided to cold call so

that the students could understand, from their point of view, what their task is. Once

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all was explained, it was time for the students to start filling out the questionnaire on

their own. Finally, I added a section at the end of the lesson because I realized I needed

a closure, so there is another change that I will explain in the final section of this

analysis.

How does this lesson provide opportunities for all students to demonstrate clear and explicit

evidence of their learning?

As an introductory lesson for a project, I didn’t know if I should evaluate the

students or not so I conferred with my cooperating teacher about this; she said that it

wasn’t necessary. Despite not having an evaluation, I still think that the lesson provides

opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding. One clear example is

the questionnaire handout where students apply what they have learned about the

components of a coat of arms and what each symbol means to begin creating their own.

This is especially effective since it is an individual task, and therefore I could easily see

who has understood the lesson, and who has not.

The PowerPoint also offers an opportunity for students to demonstrate clear and

explicit evidence of their learning, although unfortunately not all of them. The slide

where I ask students to label the parts of a coat of arms based on the similarities they

noticed between the images could have been executed differently to allow for full class

participation. When I taught this lesson, I cold called 3 students to come up and label

the parts, but I realize now that this could be problematic since I don’t know if every

student has understood (I will outline the changes I plan to make in the last section of

this analysis).

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I also think the Kahoot! allowed the students to demonstrate their understanding

of the vocabulary, but I don’t think this activity gave students the opportunity to

demonstrate explicit evidence their learning. This could have been achieved if I had

done the Kahoot! in small groups and had gone over each question, but that would

have been impossible with the class size and the time constraints.

Compare/analyze this lesson based on some of the student-centered planning/instructional

approaches that you have been introduced to during your seminar classes.

When my cooperating teacher first told me about the coat of arms project, I

thought it was a brilliant idea because of its’ focus of self-identification. However,

because of the nature of self-identification projects, the work students are required to do

is largely individual. So, it became my goal to find a way to integrate cooperative

learning techniques into this type of lesson. This is what inspired my idea to have the

students do the Kahoot! activity in pairs, as well as the think-pair share activity at the

beginning of the lesson.

The next approach I will address is the use of ICTs in the classroom. My

students were familiar with using technology in school, as their homeroom class was an

iClass. I noticed that the specialists in the school lacked the classroom resources and

knowledge of how to implement some of this technology into the classroom and their

lessons. This is why I am very thankful for my cooperating teacher’s cooperation, as

well as a Francois’ (a fellow member of the teaching staff who is responsible for the

implementation of the iClasses in the school) collaboration throughout the planning

process.

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I also used inductive reasoning as a method for deconstructing a coat of arms.

This really helped the students come to their own conclusions, and build their

knowledge as a class. I did this (or rather tried to do this) by framing questions as

suggested by Barry Bennett and Carol Rolheiser. I did this by telling the students to

notice the similarities between the images, and that I would ask them about what they

found later. As Bennett (2001) mentions, this worked really well because it holds

students accountable to think, and actively participate in the lesson, even while I am

just lecturing (p. 59).

One other approach I should mention here is the “big idea”. I would say that the

big idea in this lesson is self-identification, however I think this could have been

delivered to the students in a more explicit way. I did mention to them that the coat of

arms is meant to represent them, but I don’t believe that was enough. As Wiggings

(2005) states, “the learning plan should ensure that big ideas are uncovered through

inquiry activities and explicit instruction” (p.70).

Comment on what you might do differently if you were to design this lesson on your own, and

why.

The lesson I planned for this class was detailed and organized, but if there is

anything I have learned about planning on this field experience, its that lessons seldom

go the way they were planned. For this reason, and because of the restrictions I had to

manoeuvre around, there are a number of things that I would change about the lesson.

First, I am going to address the issue I had with the PowerPoint slide where I

called three students up to fill in sections of the coat of arms (slide 12). By calling up

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only three students, I failed to make sure that the whole class was actively participating

and that everyone had understood the components of the coat of arms. If I were to do

this again, I would separate the class into groups of three or four and have them match

pre-prepared cards of the image and their name; this way I know that everyone is on

task.

The next changes I would make involves the use of Kahoot! and the ICTs. Since I

knew that my students were used to using technology in their homeroom class, I

underestimated the level of excitement when I decided to use the iPads for English.

This is why I would establish and go over rules for using the ICTs, as well as a signal to

indicate to students when it is time to calm down and transition into another (lower

energy level) activity. In terms of the actual Kahoot! I think I did an okay job in using it

to teach vocabulary, but I think it could have been done in a more meaningful way.

Rather than having students choose French translation of English words, I should have

used it to help students associate the animals, symbols, and colours to the adjectives

that describe them. By making this change, I could incorporate images and make the

activity more visual so that it could appeal to a wider variety of learners.

The penultimate thing that I would and have changed is the closure section of

this lesson. I think it is important to conclude a lesson because it helps students stay

organized and prepared for what comes next. I chose to have the students present their

work so far because I think it could give students who are having a harder time

thinking of ideas or understanding what is asked of them. This also creates an

opportunity for me to give additional feedback to the students that I may have missed

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while previously circulating the class. One last added benefit of this addition, is that it

reiterates the big idea of this project. Students get to see that they are creating

something that is unique to them, and how each decision they make to include

something in their coat of arms defines them.

Last but not least, I would make room in this lesson to account for evaluation of

C1 and C2. I would evaluate their oral interaction during their pair work, especially in

the group activity I want to add to the lesson. The Kahoot! and the class discussion are

also great opportunities to evaluate this competency. For the second ESL competency, I

would check to see if students are able to use the vocabulary and the parts of a coat of

arms to create their own. I want to see if my students could manipulate the information

they received during the lesson to create something representative of them. I would do

this by collecting the questionnaire handouts, and checking to see if the students have

sound reasons for choosing the elements that they chose.

References

Bennett, B., & Rolheiser, C. (2001). Beyond Monet: The artful science of instructional

integration. Toronto ON: Bookation. 55-66.

Wiggings, G., McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Whitney ON: Association

for Supervision & Curriculum Development. 69-70, 91-92, 106, 115-116, 155.