Lesson Plan# 2/3
Unit Title: Creating a unique Coat of Arms / Independent writing
Number of Lessons: 2
Lesson Length: 70mins, Lesson3:40mins
Subject: Social Studies
Rationale: Work in groups to share and explore different ideas. Narrate and explain different meanings, present ideas and information. Communicate ideas with the use of visual aids (e.g. pictures of symbols). Demonstrate awareness of artistic expression as a refection of the culture in which it is produced. Combine prior knowledge with newly acquired information and ideas. Applying knowledge of word relationships and meanings. Create thoughtful representations, develop key ideas through images. (www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp, September 2010)
Lesson Title: Coat of Arms/Kumon
Prescribed Learning Outcomes: A1: Interact with the group through discussing ideas, A2: Narrate and explain different ideas from different cultures to other group members, A4: Work effectively together while completing the activity (sharing ideas on large sheet of paper) while actively contributing ideas. Respect all points of view as symbols may have various meanings across cultures., A6: Use chart made with group as a visual aid when presenting ideas to the class., A10: Combine prior knowledge with newly acquired information and ideas while creating your own "Coat of Arms" or Japanese "Kumon.", B13: Demonstrate increasing vocabulary by using personality adjectives introduced in previous class, when explaining with meanings of the symbols briefly above the actual cut out; also by completing the cloze handed out in the beginning of class. , C4: Create thoughtful representations on your board, use imagination while making connections of symbols to personal feelings or experiences, create representations that express your personal feelings when creating the "Coat of Arms" or "Kumon."
Material and Resources: Large sheet of paper: For students to share their ideas. Felt markers: For students to share their ideas. Cardboard: To use as "Coat of Arms" or Japanese "Kumon." Scissors: For cutting shapes and pictures. Glue: For gluing pictures and words onto the cardboard.
Lesson Activities: I will start off by giving a "cloze" based on the previous week's lecture and vocabulary sheet. The cloze will not be used for marks, but rather to gauge in the student's understanding of self-reflective language. The language sheet will be given to them in the previous lecture, with definitions and examples with some of the vocabulary. After the cloze, the students will break off into groups and share their answers, before the teacher goes over them. The students will then in their groups, on a large sheet of paper, share their ideas of different symbols from around the world. Each student will contribute to the sheet and have a chance to explain the meaning of their symbol or word to the rest of the group. The students will also be encouraged to share why they felt it describes them. This activity will be similar to the group activity in lesson 1; except now students will have information which they brought from their homework. I will give clear instructions and ask a student to repeat the instructions as the teacher writes them on the board. After sharing their ideas, the students will display their sheet on the wall. The groups will then take turns sharing their symbols with the meanings to the class. The teacher will "lead from behind," so as students present the teacher will scaffold the student when he or she needs help presenting a symbol or word to the class; the teacher will encourage the students to use personality adjectives, such as the ones provided in lesson 1. Every student in the group will have an opportunity to present at least one thing. Afterwards; the teacher will give clear instructions to the students on how to make a Coat of Arms. The teacher will give them a cardboard cut-out which they can colour, and add on different symbols or pictures. They will be required to use at least 6 words or symbols (any combination) and at least 4 have to be from cultures from different continents. Below the symbol or word the students will write the personality adjective which correlates with what they have chosen. (e.g. A picture of a lion may have the word "courageous" written below it. Lesson 3: With the previous lecture on Coat of Arms and Kumon, the adjective word list, the group time in which students shared ideas, and the students constructing their own Coat of Arms or Kumon, they would have built up knowledge around the topic. The student's would also learn information from the student's sharing their ideas and knowledge with the rest of the class. At this point, they will be ready to "model the text." The student's will be told to write a small text on why they chose the symbols on their Coat of Arms or Kumon, explaining why they feel it represents them. They will be encouraged to use the adjectives introduced as well in this exercise. At this point, they will work in pairs so they can help each other. Each student will write their own draft, then share it with their partner (which will be chosen by the teacher). The "cloze" exercise should have helped them build up enough vocabulary for this exercise. They would already have a brief description on their actual Shield or Kumon, they would just need to put it into a small text. The student's will now engage in joint construction. The student's will give each other feedback, while the teacher walks around the class going to all the groups to assist as well and gauge into how the class is progressing. The teacher can suggest more appropriate language and encourage students to focus on all aspects of writing. This part of the lesson will be teacher guided, not teacher-dominated. By now, the student's can write their own text. At this point they would have had enough scaffolding, but this will just be their first draft. They will be encouraged once again after the first draft to get into their pairs and focus on editing. The point is to offer systematic guidance at each stage so that the students will finally be able to carry out the writing task for themselves. The student's will also be given an option to write the first draft in their own language, however; this may make it difficult to find a partner to edit, with this option they will be encouraged to "self-edit" the first draft in another language, then write it out in English to give someone else a chance to edit it. Once the students hand in their writing, the teacher will be able to better gauge into their writing skills.
Assessment and Evaluation: The teacher will not be looking for perfection. The students are encouraged to be creative and put in effort for this project. What the teacher will be looking for is a completion of the basic requirements; which
will be an inclusion of at least 4 symbols or words (any combination) from cultures belonging to different continents, with a minimum of 6 used for the project. The students will also be encouraged to use personality adjectives such as the one's provided in lesson 1; but again will not be looking for perfection, the students will be encouraged to use words to describing their symbol or word to the best of their ability and writing it below.
Universal Design for learning: The lesson plan will be designed to be inclusive to all students. As the students are encouraged to bring self-describing symbols and words from other parts of the world, it will include material from other
languages, and incorporate many cultures. Students will be encouraged to learn about words or symbols from other cultures as they incorporate them into their project. Learning about different cultures will enrich the students cultural
knowledge and value cultural diversity. It is important to note that we live in a culturally diverse environment, we can all benefit from learning from each other; the ESL students in our class can share any knowledge they have about
cultural representations.
Cloze (5 mins): The students will be given a cloze to complete in the beginning of class. This will help them build up a vocabulary of Personality Adjectives, which they can use for their project.
Group Sharing: (Described in learning activities): 10mins
Sharing with the Class: (Described in learning activities): 25mins
Creating the Coat of Arms: (30 mins)
-Now the students will use their knowledge built up from the previous class about personality adjectives to reflect themselves, and decide on which words would describe them. They will be encouraged to use information learned both from the teacher and in class while the students shared their different ideas. They will choose symbols from anywhere around the world to communicate these characteristics on the Coat of Arms or Kumon; they can use the symbols they brought to class for their homework on any other ideas they learned from their peers.
The students will be given a cardboard cut-out which they can use to make a Coat or Arms or Kumon. The students can pick from a variety of colours for the actual sheet. They will then use the symbols or pictures which they printed our and brought to class, or words if they choose, which they would like to place on the sheet. The students can use any combination of pictures, symbols, colours or words that they choose. If they wish, they can even use the class computer or make a quick trip to the library to print out something which they would like to add on (for students who want to add on something they learned from their peers in class).
Below is a link to show the basic shape of an empty Coat of Arms, which students can use as an example, with some examples below:
http://www.storyboardtoys.com/releases/coat-of-arms.pdf
Below is a link to show the basic shape of an empty Coat of Arms, which students can use as an example, with some examples below:
http://www.storyboardtoys.com/releases/coat-of-arms.pdf
A Japanese Mon is a bit different, instead of a shield it could be multiple symbols which people can wear on their traditional clothing. If the students create a Japanese Mon, instead of cutting out a shield they can cut out a big square with multiple "Mon's" placed on, Mon's will be smaller symbols with the following examples shown below this text. The students can be creative with this project, they can even place Japanese Kumons or "Mon's" on their shield, or incorporate symbols from the knights Coat or Arms into their Mon's. The idea is to be as diverse as possible!