Mindmeister Lesson

Candela Carballo's Lesson

Lesson Plan #1

STUDENTS' AGE : 15 years old

LANGUAGE LEVEL: Upper-Intermediate

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 20

ALLOTTED TIME: 80 minutes

Physical Location: Computer Lab and Classroom

Communicative Goal: Talking about Medicine & Health

Grammar Focus: “Should” for giving advice

Vocabulary Focus: Medicine & Health (to feel drained/ to feel re-energized/ to have adverse health outcomes/to suffer from fragmented sleep/to contact your health care provider)

Recycled Language: 1- Zero Conditional. (If you heat water, it boils)

WARMER (20 minutes) How good a doctor are you?

The teacher will stick the following pictures on the board containing different easy symptoms which the students are supposed to have learnt in previous years. The teacher is going to ask what symptoms these people are experimenting and will write them on the board.

Dizziness

Headache

Backache

Toothache

Lastly, the teacher will ask the students why they think these people may be exhibiting these symptoms, thus, eliciting words such as “Tooth Infection, Pregnancy, Muscles Problems, etc The teacher will encourage students to activate as many words as they can remember to check how much they know.

WEB (40 minutes)

The teacher will instruct students to click on this website

“Why you feel tired all the time”. The “T” will ask them to spot the five reasons why people may be feeling tired these days according to the article. She will invite five students to go to the board and write them:

1. Lack of Sleep
2. Poor Diet
3. Sedentary Lifestyle
4. Excessive Stress
5. Medical Conditions

Then , they will divided 5 groups of four and they will be sent to this new app and each group will be given the following instructions:

Watch the following tutorial first:

1. Choose one of the main factors from the board. E.g: “Lack of Sleep”
2. Create a visually appealing MindMap with the main factor you have chosen as your core expression.
3. Read the article again and identify possible solutions to YOUR factor. Add as many branches as you need to your factor: E.g. “to prevent lack of sleep, avoid naps”

Once students have finished creating the MindMap, the teacher will devote some time to conducting feedback on the choices and connections to each group of students. This is a crucial part of the task since students will share their findings, account for their choices and refer back to the websites and sources of information used. In this case, they will be making use not only of their language skills but also of their ability to provide sensible arguments which support their decisions, which will eventually promote critical-thinking.

WHAT'S NEXT (20 minutes)

Using the information displayed in the MindMaps, the teacher will ask students to create an informative poster containing useful information about the measures that should be taken if someone is exhausted. The interesting thing is that each group will approach the same topic from a different perspective. To exemplify this: One group will approach tiredness due to lack of sleep, another group will do the same but from the point of view of “Stress”, etc…

The students must do research on unknown vocabulary and be ready to answer questions asked by the audience.

Once they have finished their posters, they will have to deliver a presentation and use their posters as prompts to remember ideas.

During the presentation, the students are expected to provide pieces of advice using the structure “you should ……” Students will also make use of the Zero conditional construction when presenting their topics such as “If you are suffering from, you should…”

By the end of each presentation, the audience will have time to ask questions as regards new lexical items related to medicine.

The posters will be later stuck on the school corridor so as they can be read by other classes. This may make students feel more motivated when working on the task since they know that, by creating their posters, they will not only be complying with the lesson's objective, but they will be also contributing to the school community.

Evaluation Criteria:

A- Do the posters provide useful information?

b- Are the posters visually attractive so as to catch their classmates’ attention?

c- Did students make use of the Zero Conditional while delivering the presentation?

d- Were the groups able to answer the questions asked by the audience?

e- Were the groups responsible enough when publishing the information in the school corridor?

Theoretical Support

• The SAMR model by Dr. Puentedura

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might enhance teaching and learning. To apply this model, educators follow four different levels: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. By using this models, the students will engage more with the activities proposed.

In this plan, the teacher makes use of an Online MindMap. This part of the lesson corresponds to the Substitution level since technology acts as a direct tool, with no functional change. This area tends to be teacher centric where the instructor is guiding all aspects of a lesson. However, it could have been done with printed out worksheets.

• Triple E Framework by Liz Kolb

This framework provides specific guidance for teachers in integrating meaningful technology mindfully in their classroom activities. This theoretical framework encourages teachers to go beyond an instrumental use of technology and consider how it can extend and enhance learning goals.

The framework is based on three components: Engagement, Enhancement and Extension.

1. Engagement: the teacher needs to motivate or engage students to start the learning process through the use of technology and prove them that technology can be use not only to have fun but also to learn. Technology can promote a change in the students from passive to active social learners.

2. Enhancement: this component focuses on the added value of using technology tools which goes beyond engagement in content. It refers to how technology can aid, assist and scaffold learning in a way that could not be achieved by traditional methods.

3. Extension: The idea is that the teacher becomes able to connect what happens in the classroom with the real world and through the use of technology the teacher can make these connections. Technology allows the students relate the classroom activities to their everyday lives. The use of technology can promote the idea of working in an online project in a collaborative way even with distant partners.

References:

• SAMR Model - Technology Is Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model
• Banegas, López-Barrios, Porto, Waigandt. Adapting to meet diverse needs in ELT

MEISTERLABS

Mind mapping and similar brainstorming techniques facilitate creativity and the free flow of ideas. However, in contrast to regular paper mind maps, online mind mapping offers a range of additional possibilities for both students and teachers that make it one of the most practical applications that can be employed in a classroom.

Online mind mapping is a means for teachers and students to work collaboratively and brainstorm together in real-time. The software basically offers a two-dimensional canvas which allows teachers and students to explore ideas, concepts and other types of information visually.

Mind maps can easily be shared with individuals or whole groups of students, who can then contribute to them by adding their own ideas, images, links to external websites, files, notes or even tasks. Being web-based, online mind mapping software runs inside the web browser and requires neither installation nor updating. This is especially important because it frees up IT resources and can easily be managed by teachers, who are able to add new students to the system with just a few clicks.

1. Note Taking and Revising: Teachers can easily prepare an overview mind map for a new topic, and share it with their entire class. Each student can then expand the map with their own notes and use it for later revisions of the material.

2. Creating Stunning Presentations: Using the built-in presentation mode, users can turn their mind maps into engaging slideshows with just a few clicks. Besides being able to present their slideshows in class, teachers can also embed them in blogs or websites.

3. Monitoring Student Participation: With MindMeister’s History View users can go back in time and replay the entire change history of a mind map. Teachers can thus make out the thought process of their students as well as retrace the participation of each map contributor.

4. Research and Writing: Mind maps are the ideal format to brainstorm and outline texts before starting the actual writing process. Students can then export their outline as a Word document and use it as the basis for further expansion.

5. Conquering Learning Disabilities: Students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia or high-functioning autism can benefit tremendously from the visual depiction of information provided by mind maps.

Click on https://www.mindmeister.com/es You can either register through Google or Facebook

Choose a template for your mindmap....

You have a wide variety to choose from...

For example.... This is the Brainstorming Template... Click on use template... and Create your MindMap

References:

R, (2017, July14). The Benefits of Online Mind Mapping in Education. Retrieved from https://www.mindmeister.com/blog/benefits-online-mind-mapping-education/