The lesson plans draws on a PBL (Project Based Learning) approach

Publicat în 17. 07. 2020 de Minerva Ignat | Etichetat cu: https://padlet.com/ninaignat68/dbwmbh40xfrg0ysk
Categorie: experienţe pedagogice

This lesson plan has been designed to help us, the teachers, use a project based approach to creating entries for
‘The Project Competition 2020’task.
School: Technical College of Aeronautics “Henri Coanda”, Bucharest
Students: 10th grade (High – school students, aged 15 to 16)

In the lesson plan I tried to include all of the essential elements of a project based approach, that included:
• A challenging problem or question - How to create a time capsule to send back to 2000
• Public product - The time capsule that the students create
• Key knowledge and skills - During the project the students have to work collaboratively and take responsibility for producing their time capsule
• Sustained inquiry - The students use time capsules from the past to research, explore and find out about the lives of students in 2000
• Authenticity - The materials they research are genuine
• Student voice - They can choose their own means of creating the time capsule and they are free to decide what they include
• Critique and revision - Students have the chance to give and get feedback from other students at the drafting stage of their project
• Reflection - At the end of the process students can reflect on what they learned and what they felt they did well and would like to do better
PBL Lesson Plan
Stage 1: Lead - in
Aim: The aim of this stage was to get students thinking about the concept of different times and communicating across time.
• I put up the title of the lesson - Time Travel.
• I asked students to think about where they would go - the past or the future?
• I gave the students some time to think about it and then got them to discuss it in pairs or small groups.
• I got some feedback from around the room.
Additional resources: Episode 3 from Project Explore 4 to get students thinking about time travel.
Stage 2: Inquiry 1
Aim: The aim of this stage was to help students access and share their existing knowledge about 2000.
• I showed the students the discussion questions ‘Life in 2000’.
• I put the students into their project groups and asked them to discuss the questions and share what they knew.
I asked the students to try to make a list of the 6 - 8 things that they thought were most important.
• I got some feedback from around the room.
Stage 3: Inquiry 2
Aim: The aim of this stage was to help students learn about the past from students in the past.
• I told the students that 20 years ago students like themselves created time capsules about their lives and the things that were important to them to send into the future.
• I told the students that they could open the time capsules and find out about the past.
• I asked the students to look at the materials from the time capsules and check to see how many of the things on their list were correct.
• I showed the students the posters created by students in 2000.
• I gave the students some time to look at the materials and discuss together.
• I asked the students to discuss what things surprised them and what things have changed and what things haven’t changed since 2000.
Stage 4: Drafting
Aim: The aim of this stage was to get students collaborating together and develop their team working skills.
• At this stage, I told the students that I wanted them to send a time capsule back to those students in the past and showed the students the mission brief.
• I asked the students to work in groups to decide what form I would like that to take and what they wanted to include. I suggested some of those formats, but it should have been up to the students to work together and decide.
• I asked the students to work together and provided a draft of their ideas for what they wanted to create and include.
Additional resources: reading and grammar activity from page 61 Unit 5A of Project Explore to give students additional ideas for the sort of things to include in their time capsule.
Stage 5:
Critique and revision
Aim: The aim of this stage was to develop students’ abilities to give and accept constructive criticism.
• I asked the students to share their ideas with another group and tried to get some suggestions about how to improve their ideas.
• I gave the students some time to review their brief after they had shared ideas.
Stage 6: Production
Aim: The aim of this stage was to get students working together to produce their finished product.
• I asked the students to start work on producing the finished time Capsule and wanted to give the students some extra time outside of the class for that.
Stage 7: Public product
Aim: The aim of this stage was to give the students the chance to share their products publicly.
• In the next class, I got the students to show and share what they had produced.
Stage 8: Reflection
Aim: The aim of this stage was to encourage students to reflect on the learning process and self-evaluate.
• I got the students to write a short reflection about what they learned from the process, what they did well and
what they would like to do better.
• Poster
• Video
• Presentation
• Story
• Other
One of my students, a group of four students, chose the format of a newspaper to tell their story of travelling in the past, from the year of 2020 back to the year of 2000. For them, it was a unforgettable experience. Full of joy and laughter, creative – some of the pictures are the students’ own drawings, collaborative, they lived the experience of their lives.
In my opinion, the use of a project based approach to creating entries for ‘The Project Competition 2020’ task had great benefits: when students take responsibility, or ownership, for their learning, their self-esteem soars; t also helps to create better work habits and attitudes toward learning. Although students do work in groups, they also become more independent because they are receiving little instruction from the teacher. With Project-Based Learning students also learn skills that are essential in higher education. The students learn more than just finding answers, PBL allows them to expand their minds and think beyond what they normally would. Students have to find answers to questions and combine them using critically thinking skills to come up with answers.
Here is the story of some of my students – they are the time travelers: Theo, Irina, Maria, Dragos and John
You can see the final product in the format of a newspaper here:
https://padlet.com/ninaignat68/dbwmbh40xfrg0ysk

"ON FACING BACKWARDS – A NEW TIME MACHINE???"
After we had finished the English class, we joined a project for getting grades. The first place that came into our mind was the library, a quiet place where we could hear our thoughts. Going throw the library I could feel the smell of old paper in the air, going deeper and deeper in that jungle of bookshelves with the books as leaves. Since all the modern computers were occupied, we went to the only available computer. During its start, we could see the dust collected for a long time, we could figure it out that it was the first time in a while it was powered up. As we saw the windows XP logo, we could tell we had touched an artifact.
During our research, Irina went and brought a few coffees, when accidentally her leg got caught in a cable spilling all of the coffee over the computer that acted as expected after coming in contact with hot liquid.
We freaked out, that we must have paid a fortune for it; luckily, our colleagues were handy with computers and threw a look to see if they could fix it. (we thought there was no chance but trying to fix it couldn't do any more harm, right?) Out of the blue, the computer started fuming and strange lights started coming out of it. The next thing we knew was that we felt like we were sucked by a vacuum and the force pulling us got stronger and stronger with every second passing by.
The next thing I remember is that we woke up on the floor in the same library but something was feeling odd and I couldn't figure out quite what it was.
We got up and asked ourselves what was going on (to our surprise, the computer was somehow fixed and looking better than before our research).
As we got out of the library, the difference between us and the others was enormous, particularly clothing.
Girls were wearing checkered dresses with a blue apron on top, and boys were wearing a school suit with a blue tie.
As we walked on the corridor to the class, everybody was staring at us with curiosity as we came from the future. (we really came from the future :D)
As we stepped into the class, we looked for our colleagues but couldn't see any familiar faces.
We headed to the back of the classroom, where we saw the only empty benches in the whole classroom. After the first bell, the history teacher entered the classroom, but she had a younger appearance. I felt like the stranger of this school, this bizarre situation couldn't answer the question "what is going on? ". All of us felt the same about this odd situation. Weirdly enough, there were no tablets, no smart tables (only chalkboards), there was no trace of any modern technology.
As the class came to an end, someone came over to us and asked who we were. After that, we became the center of attention, making us feel pressured.
As the bell rings, we rush out of the classroom to prevent any more attention being drawn toward us.
Here we are, the backyard, after the corner under our favorite acacia, we all share what we just experienced and try to put it piece by piece in hopes of finding an answer. As we take peeks to the yard, we see the kids, and even high schoolers play outdoor games, unlike now in 2020 it was unordinary because of the presence of mobile phones, although kids are still playing outdoor games, their number has significantly decreased.
Coming to think about that, the image of me as a kid rushes my mind. The famous bench was still there but in a bad shape. Right next to the bench was a newspaper, Dragos grabs it and reads it word by word, a shock on his face appears when he reads the date of the newspaper (February.14.2000). Most of us fainted away by just realizing that we got stuck in time.
A kid in 2020 reads fewer books than one in 2000, the same kid doesn't or does (on a small scale) socialize with other kids making it harder to make friends, respect for teachers was more important than the lesson.
If I stay to think about it now, most of the things have changed, the educational system has changed a lot and the people themselves have changed.
From the precious memories that high-school would bring those times, now is a vague black hole with drained colorless memories, a bitter taste comes in my mouth for a moment followed by new thoughts. But that's my opinion, maybe others have a different vision on the new era of zombies. Moving on, without looking back, we raised our foot and went straight to the library where it all happened.
As we see the computer once again, we stare and remember the things that happened hours ago.
Luckily, all the students were attending the classes which is why the computer was unused.
As we powered it, the lack of wear was noticeable as the computer started almost instantly. On the desktop, a folder titled "The year 2020" had been highlighted, inside it was a picture with us before we got transported in the past. One of us dared to click on the picture, which turned the computer in that unforgettable vacuum that got us here in the first place. A terrible sensation if you ask me.
That time, all of us woke up… in the same place but somehow we were on our foot. I could smell the coffee which Irina spilled over, a feeling of home sweet home was present and fortunately, that time spent in the past didn't change the time in the present (hopefully). History class, we all sigh relieved and have a little chat then out of nowhere the teacher stops and tells us to pay attention.
As the class comes to an end, we are the last ones who step out of the class when the teacher tells us next time to pay attention to the class. As we apologize, her mood shifts into a brighter one and stutters for a moment then she quietly speaks for herself (I do know you from somewhere) (Butterfly Effect). We remain quiet then we make our way home…
THE END…

Minerva Ignat

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În acest an școlar, elevii mei, de la Colegiul Tehnic "Henri Coandă", București,mai precis trei grupe de elevi, au participat la ‘The Project Competition 2020’, Time Capsule, concurs organizat de Oxford University Press. Am ales pentru a împărtăși cu dumneavoastră, stimați colegi, unul dintre proiectele realizate de un grup format din cinci elevi, patru elevi clasa a X-a, profil Tehnic și unul clasa a IX-a, Școală profesională, învățământ Dual. Acești elevi, extrem de creativi, au ales că format ziarul, unde au postat întreagă lor poveste, una adevărată. Experiență trăită de ei și de mine a fost una nemaipomenită.

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