Enhanced Lesson Plan

Welcome again! Today I will try to enhance a lesson plan by using technology. This lesson plan was created by Giuliana Poma and me last year for our practicum. This was the final lesson, so the idea was to celebrate Halloween with our 3rd-form students. The communicative goal proposed for the original lesson plan was identifying vocabulary related to Halloween. For the enhanced lesson plan, the final task will be to tell a very simple Halloween story by using PODBEAN. To see more about this tool, please, click here.

School: Escuela 18. D.E. 14. 

Class:  3rd form, Public Primary School

Time allotted: 80 min (2 lessons)

Required materials: A tablet for each student.

Warmer

The T will play some sounds from this video Guess The Halloween Sound Game For Kids | 4K related to Halloween and ask students what they think those sounds are related to. They will guess and then watch the video to check whether their suspicions are correct or not. The sounds will be a wolf howling, a ghost, a witch laughing in a scary way, a creaky door, an owl, bats, footsteps, etc. The T will write the words on the board and then ask students to copy them on a new notebook in Evernote under the name of “Halloween”. Students are free to write the vocabulary with their fingers, or a stylus pen or if they prefer, to type it. Learners may use this note later to record their story with PODBEAN. Then, the T will share pictures with them to make the note more appealing and to make easier the task for those students who need that support. 

What about the theory?

SEN MODEL

According to Hockley (2017), SEN students can highly benefit from technology since these tools can offer students different possibilities and can help them gain confidence and build self-esteem. They can work independently or in groups; thus, overcoming frustration. In the lesson plan proposed, SEN students are taken into account in various ways By using Evernote students who have motor-skills challenges can write and add images by using their hands, fingers, a pen or if they wish, by typing on their tablets' screen. Those with visual impairments can modify the background colour, size and font of the letter used, in order to accommodate them to their needs. In addition, by using PODBEAN those SEN with visual impairments or who suffer from dyslexia can record their homework in different ways with their voice. 

SAMR MODEL

Taking into account the SAMR model proposed by Ruben Puentedura, PODBEAN can be considered part of the redefinition stage. According to Dincer (2020), in this stage technology radically changes the students’ experience; it provides opportunities to ‘redefine and redesign a traditional task. The redefined task cannot be created without technology,’ which is the case of the suggested task; it could not be carried out without technology. Moreover, the author states that, within this stage, integrating technology fosters and transforms the lessons in a way that brings into play creativity, productivity and collaboration. This task fosters cooperation between students to create a product, and to develop communicative competence through socially structured interaction activities. It also contributes to the development of teamwork and social skills, which determine the way students interact with each other as teammates. This model designed categorises four different degrees of classroom technology integration:

• Substitution: Technology has substituted existing processes with no change. Evernote has replaced pieces of paper or Gdoc/Word documents but they haven’t replaced the steps needed in order to craft a review.

• Augmentation: The use of technology in this lesson plan makes improvements in the process. It is a great opportunity to get our students to work with different tools that they may have never used before and get them acquainted with new ways of working; in this way, they can improve on their 21st century skills.

• Modification: The final task has been redesigned in order to have a new purpose; record a story by using PODBEAN. As it has been stated before, this can help them to get acquainted with new tools that they probably knew nothing of.

• Redefinition: This is the last stage of the model. Here, technology has transformed the student’s experience by making it more collaborative, creative and authentic. The final task wouldn’t have been possible without technology: the tools selected really facilitate students’ production.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

This model is described as a pedagogical one of cognitive skills in order to set up learning experiences (Dincer, 2020). Each level is defined by action verbs: remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create, which take students from lower-order to higher-order thinking skills.

The aim of the task is to promote students’ active role in the lesson. Since they are expected to create a final product, it can be stated that the use of Podbean allows students to use high-order thinking skills.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Assistive Technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is adapted or designed to help people with SEN and disabilities. It gives students tools to work more independently and can help overcome barriers to learning. In the English class, it can help with reading and writing, organisation, motivation and working memory. AT helps students gain confidence and build self-esteem, improve literacy, work independently, show what they know, and overcome frustration and tiredness.

Some learners with SEN find abstract concepts and theories difficult to grasp. Allowing them to use the internet to look up information in class makes learning meaningful and relevant. In this lesson plan, I am applying AT to give students the opportunity to work by breaking down pieces of information into smaller, more manageable steps and writing them on Evernote.​ Then, they use PODBEAN to avoid writing and to keep in mind that they can use their voice as an outlet to express what they need.

REFERENCES

Hockly, N.(2017) Unit 45: 10 things to know about SEN students and technology. EtPedia: Technology.pp.

Dincer, Nazmi . «The SAMR Model for Technology Integration». Myeltcafe, 6 de febrero de 2020, https://myeltcafe.com/articles/the-samr-model-for-technology-integration/ .

Applying the SAMR Model in the ELT Classroom – PeacheyPublications.Com. https://peacheypublications.com/applying-the-samr-model-in-the-elt-classroom

Delaney, M. (2016) Special Educational Needs. Chapter 6: Assistive Technology. Oxford: OUP