Lesson One: Why is Education Important?

Lesson Two

Lesson Three

For the Teacher

Objectives

SWBAT recite and define advanced school related vocabulary (remember)
SWBAT explain why going to school is important (understand)
SWBAT read a short passage about school with various levels of school related vocabulary present. (apply)
SWBAT differentiate between a well funded school and an underfunded school (analyze)
SWBAT draw a well funded school and/or a poorly funded school (create)

Materials Needed

Share America on why school is important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hOp408Ib5w

Lesson Powerpoint: Lesson One Slides

While listening activity worksheet: Appendix A

Homework questions: Appendix B

Answer key and video transcript: Append ix C

Activity Two Stories: Appendix D

Activity Two Guiding Questions: Appendix E

Warm Up

Purpose: Introducing Students to the New Unit

Time: 10 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 1

Steps & Teacher Directions:

This Lesson is meant to introduce the general premise of the module and get kids thinking about the value of education as well as possible deficits present.

Before the Lesson! Tell the students that this module is all about school. Ensure students know the meaning of school vs. the meaning of education. The warm up section in Lesson One Slides will cover this material.

You may also choose to have the agenda for the day on the board so students can follow along as they go, or tell them beforehand orally what is planned.

Obama Video on Education

Purpose: Activating Schemata

Time: 20 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 2

Steps & Teacher Directions:

Pre-listening:

Write the following sentence on the board for students to replicate it on their own paper. Ask the students to then finish the sentence in their own words.

Remind them that there is no right answer and it should be their opinion.

School is ____.

Have students share what they wrote and give a short explanation why, then ask the students to do the same thing with a second sentence

School is important because _____.

Now give students time to interact with a few vocabulary words they will encounter in the video. Suggested vocabulary terms and school related definitions are provided in the lesson slides (slide #3). Students will encounter these vocabulary again in the While-Listening worksheet.

Caveat: if you’re worried not all students are fully engaged or understanding the content thus far you may encourage them to take notes on the vocabulary on the same page of their sentence prompts to be turned in at the end of class.

NOTE! It is important for students to keep track of these prompts which will be relevant to the final project at the end of the lesson.

Once students have activated their schemata and have a general inference of what this activity will be about ensure they also know who former president Obama is.

Ask:

“Does anyone know who Barack Obama is?”

“What did he do?”

Caveat: if no one knows you can easily explain this. The students will only need a very basic understanding of who he is. “President Obama was the elected leader of America. A president is the leader of a Country. This means he was chosen by the Americans to watch over the country and the government.”

Fill in the Blank Worksheet

Purpose: Listening for Gist

Time: 40 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 1 and 3

Steps & Teacher Directions:

While-Listening:

Play the video for the students twice. The first time to ensure that they have a general grasp of the gist.

Caveat- if you are unable to play the video due to technological obstacles you can read the full transcript aloud to the class which is located in Appendix C

If time allows: you may ask them to write down or call out what word they think President Obama would use to finish the sentence “School is __” immediately after viewing the video the first time in order to check understanding and practice vocabulary. Otherwise, watch the video once and then immediately skip to the while-listening activity below:

After having the students watch the video for the first time with nothing in front of them pass out the while-listening worksheet in appendix A.

Explain to them that while they watch the video for a second time they should listen for the missing words in the sentences on their worksheet.
- - Before doing this they should look at the word bank at the top of the worksheet and ask the teacher to clarify the definition of any words they may not know. If time allows: you may ask if another student can define the vocabulary words some students may be stuck on.
  - The answer key to this worksheet is in Appendix C

Post-listening:

In pairs or small groups,

have students compare notes and help each other fill in any information they may have missed.
When everyone is finished, call on each group and have one member give their final answer to one of the questions. Then have the whole class repeat the word out loud. (a few times may be necessary to perfect pronunciation.) Do this until all the questions have been answered.

Caveat: pronunciation practice and final answers with the whole class may be skipped if time is tight. The students may compare answers and then immediately turn the worksheet in before moving onto the next activity.

Interactive Activity on Inequality

Purpose: Get Students Thinking About Inequality in Education

Time: 40 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 3 and 4

Steps & Teacher Directions:

Activate schemata: Get students thinking about inequality in schools.

“Do you think all schools are the same?”
“What makes some schools better than others”
- - In one way or another direct the conversation towards funding
Define funding with the class, have them think about what funding for a school would look like and where that funding comes from.

The Activity:

Have students get into pairs and move their chairs so that they are sitting back to back.

*Caveat: this may also be done back to back on the floor*

To one partner hand a paper with two of the ‘stories’ from Appendix D
To the other partner hand out the guiding questions found in Appendix E

*Caveat: if there is a group of three you may have one student read the first story, the other the second story and the third the worksheet. OR you could have the third student read a third story from the list.

The students must work together to fill in the answer to each question, one of them has the answers and the other the questions. They must do this entire activity in English, and they cannot show the other what is on the paper!*

Have students work on this for about 10-15 minutes, and make sure they are both taking turns reading their passages/questions out loud.

If time allows: Give students a new story (and even a new partner) and have them repeat the activity until they have read all the stories.

*Caveat: if you wish to make the activity more competitive, pairs of students may race to fill out their worksheets first without any cheating.*

Once finished students should return to their typical seats for reflection.

Reflection

Purpose: Quiz Students on What They Learned

Time: 10 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 1-4

Steps & Teacher Directions:

Before assigning homework you may wish to briefly quiz students on a random bit of information from each section of the lesson. Some possible questions are prepared at the end of the lesson slides. The questions may be read for students to call out the answer to as a group or for them to individually raise their hands.

Wrap Up

Purpose: Assigning Homework and Preparing Students for the Final Project

Time: 10 minutes

Learning Objectives Targeted: 5

Steps & Teacher Directions:

For Homework

Now that the students have learned about the importance of education and started to think about possible deficits in any country's public education system, assign them the following tasks with the lesson in mind. (This homework will also help prepare them for the final project!)

For homework:

Looking towards the final project you can have your students do one of the two activities or both!

Draw a picture of a well funded school and a poorly funded school
Write a short paragraph listing 3 things a school should provide for its students and why.
1. Ex: Lunch, so kids can have energy for the day.

See Appendix B

Looking Toward the Final Project

Throughout all three lessons there will be allusions to the "Final Project". This is a hypothetical Lesson Four in which students are given a platform to manifest change within their community.

The lesson outline for the final project is housed here in the Teacher Toolkit.

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