Lesson plan incorporating visuals & technologies to address various learning styles

Assignment Prompt

This project was completed for EDU250, Teaching in the Community Colleges. The assignment for this project was:

This week you reviewed chapters 23, 25-27, exploring ways to make learning easier for your students.

You read that there are a number of strategies that we can use to get our students to do the readings, and ways to personalize learning in regard to learning style. You also learned some tips for using visuals in your classes and were exposed to some low and high tech strategies for incorporating technology in your classes, which should relate to some of the eTech challenges we have been working on.

So for this project, you will continue to work with the 1-3 learning objectives for the class that you identified in the the prior projects.

Using the techniques and information that you learned in the readings, identify the teaching and learning techniques that you would use to engage your students with the content including reading, addressing learning styles, using visuals and technologies.

Submit a plan for those objectives including:

• The learning objectives to be covered
• Techniques for students to do the reading
• Addressing different learning styles
• Using visuals
• Using technologies
• A description of why you chose the technique and how they relate to your learning outcomes/objectives

Learning Objectives

1. Engage in a first-meeting conversation
2. Ask and respond affirmatively or negatively to yes/no questions
3. Know what questions Deaf people are likely to ask you when you first meet them, and know how to respond appropriately

Techniques for Students to Do the Reading

At the beginning of the course, I will show students how to read the workbook, watch the DVD, and write/draw in the workbook to complete the exercises. I will give them hints on how to read the text; for example, to read the first and last pages before reading those in the middle, scan for headings, words that are bold or italicized, look at the exercises in the book before watching the DVD so they know what to watch for; I will teach the students to watch the DVD once through; then watch it and answer questions in the workbook as they go; then check their answers with those in the back of the book (if there are any); then note what they got wrong and what the correct answer is; then watch the DVD again to see if they can see the correct information being signed. I will show them how to pause the DVD as necessary, but review the DVD for longer and longer periods between pausing until they can watch the section all the way through and understand all of it. I will also instruct the students in using study buddies to practice the conversations.

Addressing Different Learning Styles

When I assign the homework, I will tell the students that they will either be chosen to demonstrate the role play in front of the class or be an active observer who might be called upon to write the sequence of utterances, diagram the conversation, reflect on the role play, or critique the role play for accuracy of message or sign and grammar production. At the beginning of class, I will chose a pair of students to role play the conversation in front of the class. After the students role play, I will give them and the observers time to reflect upon the activity. After the reflection, I will pair up the students and have them practice the conversation with each other.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

For the pair of students role playing, the activity addresses Gardner’s verbal linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligences. For those observing, it addresses Gardner’s logical-mathematical, spatial, and intrapersonal intelligences.

Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Types

The homework for this activity involves Kolb’s concrete experience (CE) and abstract conceptualization (AC) phases and is ideal for Kolb’s convergers and assimilators learning types. For the students doing the role play in front of their classmates, this activity involves Kolb’s active experimentation (AE) phase and is most ideal for Kolb’s divergers learning type. For the students watching their classmates role playing, this activity involves Kolb’s reflective observation (RO) phase and is most ideal for Kolb’s accommodators learning type. However, observers who are convergers will also be served because demonstrations are one of the best activities for them learn from.

Fleming and Mill’s Sensory-Based (VARK) Learning Styles

The homework for this activity can address the auditory/aural learning style if the students translate the conversation into English and practice reciting and hearing it in English either before or in between recitations in ASL. The translation involved would also address read-write, as could a study activity in which the students write the sequence of utterances in the conversation (e.g., “say hello, give full name, ask other’s first name, express pleasure in meeting…”). All phases of this assignment, both during homework and classwork, address the visual and kinesthetic learning styles. Also, the read-write learning style is addressed in the classroom exercise for the students watching the role play to write a reflection, critique, sequence, or diagram. As a teacher, I can also address the auditory learning style by briefly explaining the conversation in English or allowing for a few minutes of spoken English question-and-answer.

Felder and Silverman’s Index of Learning Styles

The students doing the role play in class are learning actively while the students watching the role play are learning reflectively; the students role playing and watching will all learn both verbally and visually. As the instructor, I can ask the students after the role play “how did you feel?” to address intuitive experiences and “what did you observe?” to address sensory experiences. Most of the homework and classwork for this assignment will be done sequentially, but as an instructor, I can guide the students to see the big picture of the conversation–which is to make connections in the Deaf community–so they can understand the assignment globally.

Using Technologies and Visuals

The book and DVD used in the course contain both still and motion pictures of signs, respectively. Also, the students observing the role plays will be instructed to create visuals if they choose. The instructor can then project the visuals using an ELMO. Alternatively, students can draw diagrams on the board. In addition to this, the instructor may make corrections or amendments to the diagrams drawn by students, or may draw new diagrams on the board to clarify any misconceptions. The board may be a better technology than a presentation slide, because, as Nilson (2010) explains:

First, it slows us down—both our speaking pace and our movement through the material—giving students a few more precious moments to follow and absorb what we are saying and doing. We might not notice it, but we often speed through the material when we are working off prepared slides or transparencies. Second, while writing on the board, most of us do a better job of modeling our thought processes. We explain them while they unfold. By contrast, PowerPoint slides are designed for lists of items, not cognitive processes. (p. 254)

I might even use the visual below if I want to teach the students about Kolb’s cycle of learning theory and how I hope these activities will support them in their learning process.

Rationale for Techniques and Their Relevance to Learning Objectives

Every activity in this lesson guides students toward the objectives of engaging in a first-meeting conversation, asking and responding affirmatively or negatively to yes/no questions, and knowing what questions Deaf people are likely to ask you when you first meet them and know how to respond appropriately. The book and DVD expose the students to the information and language modeling they need to know in order to practice toward learning these objectives; the recitation students do before class and during class–as well as the observation and explication–give them practice in applying the theory and language learned in the book and on the DVD. All the activities in this lesson are designed to relate to the learning objectives in ways that address various learning styles.

Resources

Nilson, L. B. (2010). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. Wiley. Kindle Edition.