Teaching and Learning with Technology
Content Area Project Activity 1: ESL
Content Area Project Activity 2: English and Language Arts
E-Book: Intercultural Communication 101
Content Area Project Activity 3: Mobile Learning
Mobile Learning Lesson Plan: Uniting Authentic Materials and Reading and Writing Skills
I. Background
Content Area: Reading and Writing
Title: Uniting Authentic Materials and Reading and Writing Skills
Grade Level or Target Group: this particular lesson plan is designed for college level ESL students.
Levels: Lower Intermediate and Intermediate.
Note: This lesson can easily be adjusted for middle and high-school students, both ESL and native speakers.
II. Pre-Planning:
Big Idea(s): The purpose of this lesson is to engage learners in authentic reading and writing. Students will explore various news sources and write reflective responses using their mobile devices. In addition, students will write summaries and compose a compare and contrast essay comparing the sites.
Essential Questions:
What is the main idea?
What are the supporting details?
What are the steps in writing an essay?
How can news be categorized?
Objectives:
Students will expand their vocabulary.
Students will develop new academic vocabulary.
Students will improve grammatical structures.
Students will learn essay structure and organization.
Student will exercise their analytical skills.
Students will learn and use descriptive adjectives.
Students will publish their digital writing posts.
Summative Assessment:
Students will be assessed for:
- descriptive language/adjectives
- news analysis
- essay (essay structure and organization)
- published post
- comments
Content Area: Reading and Writing
Title: Uniting Authentic Materials and Reading and Writing Skills
Grade Level or Target Group: this particular lesson plan is designed for college level ESL students.
Levels: Lower Intermediate and Intermediate.
Note: This lesson can easily be adjusted for middle and high-school students, both ESL and native speakers.
II. Pre-Planning:
Big Idea(s): The purpose of this lesson is to engage learners in authentic reading and writing. Students will explore various news sources and write reflective responses using their mobile devices. In addition, students will write summaries and compose a compare and contrast essay comparing the sites.
Essential Questions:
What is the main idea?
What are the supporting details?
What are the steps in writing an essay?
How can news be categorized?
Objectives:
Students will expand their vocabulary.
Students will develop new academic vocabulary.
Students will improve grammatical structures.
Students will learn essay structure and organization.
Student will exercise their analytical skills.
Students will learn and use descriptive adjectives.
Students will publish their digital writing posts.
Summative Assessment:
Students will be assessed for:
- descriptive language/adjectives
- news analysis
- essay (essay structure and organization)
- published post
- comments
III. Lesson Opening:
Students will download and explore the following apps:
Students will download and explore the following apps:
USA TODAY
"Join the conversation and get the latest news you need 24/7 from USA TODAY on your iPad. The new app is wonderfully simple and easy to use. Plus, it delivers even more news content than ever before. It’s more advanced, more fun and there’s much more to explore."
BBC News
"By downloading the BBC News app you can view:
News stories by geographical region.
News by category including business, technology, entertainment and sport."
News stories by geographical region.
News by category including business, technology, entertainment and sport."
NPR News
"Experience NPR as a delightful magazine! The NPR iPad app presents our award-winning storytelling as a seamless mix of audio, text and images in a clean visual design. With a focus on News, Arts & Life, and Music, the app gives you content that’s broad, deep and timely."
IV. Lesson Body
Explanation: Reading Steps.
Word Salad App
Step One: Pre-reading activities.
- Students copy an entire article from one of the news sites listed above and create a word cloud using the Word Salad app (another option would be that groups exchange their word clouds.)
- Students study the word cloud and identify new vocabulary. A selection of dictionary apps can be found here.
- Students discuss and make predictions about the main idea (MI) and the supporting details (SD) of the article.
- Students read the article and confirm the MI and SD.
Check for Understanding:
Quizlet App
Step Two: Vocabulary Builder
- Students create flash-cards for the new vocabulary used in the article.
- Students test each other to confirm the acquisition of the new vocabulary.
SpellingCity App
Step Three:
Students check the spelling of the newly acquired vocabulary.
Students check the spelling of the newly acquired vocabulary.
Extended Practice :
Sentence Builder App
Step Four:
Students use the new vocabulary to create their own sentences.
Students use the new vocabulary to create their own sentences.
Essay Organizer App
Step Five:
- Students identify the steps used in essay writing.
- Students work in small groups and complete each step.
- Students write a compare and contrast essay and discuss differences and similarities between the three news apps they used at the beginning of the activity (USA Today, BBC News, and NPR news.)
Essay Writing Workstation App - another option for the previous step.
Essay Grader Mobile App
Optional: Teacher creates a rubric to grade students' essays.
Closing :
Blogger for iPhone App
Step Six:
- Students publish and share their essays.
- Students post comments to each others' posts with at least one compliment and at least one question.
Wordpress App
Another option to complete the previous step.
IV. Materials Needed
1. Mobile Devices
2. iTunes accounts
3. Wordpress accounts
4. Blogger accounts (either Wordpress or Blogger's account will be sufficient.)
5. Internet access
2. iTunes accounts
3. Wordpress accounts
4. Blogger accounts (either Wordpress or Blogger's account will be sufficient.)
5. Internet access
Sources:
Images: Google Images
Ideas: I just attended an ORTESOL conference and feel inspired to try out the idea of using the word cloud app/software in teaching ESL reading. Credits to Luciana Diniz, Ana Vitale, and Sarah Bailie.
Images: Google Images
Ideas: I just attended an ORTESOL conference and feel inspired to try out the idea of using the word cloud app/software in teaching ESL reading. Credits to Luciana Diniz, Ana Vitale, and Sarah Bailie.