Lesson Plan Math Grade 6 (Area and Perimeter)

Area and perimeter of a Square

Subject	Teacher	Grade	Date	Time
Mathematics	Iqra Aslam	06	December 20, 2017	40 Min

Overview

Today, we will be studying area and perimeter of the square from the unit area and perimeters.

	Teacher Guide	Student Guide
Objectives	Ø  At the end of this lesson, students will be able to: v  Define a square v  Calculate area and perimeter of a square
Lecture	Ø  Start the lecture by showing PowerPoint slides on projector/LED Ø  Distribute worksheets among students	Ø  Students will listen to the lecture carefully
Activity	Ø  Students will be asked to draw a square Ø  Students will use the scale for this. Ø  Students will be given a worksheet so that they have to solve questions at the end of the lecture	Ø  Students will draw a square on the back side of the worksheet
Video	Ø  Show an animated video at the end of the lecture to revise the concept	Ø  Students will get an idea of area of square with a real-life example described in the video
Review	Ø  If there are some questions, teacher will help students by solving them off the whiteboard	Ø  Students will submit worksheets

Requirements	Resources
·  LED ·  Speakers ·  Whiteboard ·  Marker	·  Textbook

Lesson plan grade 4 (Social Studies)

Grade:4

Time:40 min (1 sessions)

Subject: Social Studies

Topic: GOVERNMENT:

The way we govern ourselves

Learning Goal:

• Students understand basic concepts of topic:

    -Society

    -Democracy

    -Law

    -Government,

    -Rule

• Able to research relevant material on the topic using internet
• learn and revise on their own through an activity.
• Develop presentation skills

Learning Objective:

Students will be able to define the terms society, democracy, law, government, rule and give examples

Methodology

Learning activities

Discuss learning objective with students

Have set goals for the topic

Introduction

Revision will be done by asking questions from the topic as explained in last class

Research Activity( For revision )

*Student will search for a 2-3 min video relating following concepts using tools (any website) of their own preference:

Students will work in group

Share their videos and findings (relevant and new knowledge presented in video) with each other.

Students will present the accumulated knowledge in the class

For presenting the knowledge student will choose technological tool of their own choice.

Make a presentation or develop a document using pictures and text.

Highlight new information and terminologies regarding the relevant topic in their presentation.

Share extra knowledge (if any) in their video regarding the topic

For performing this collaborative activity and time management, teacher will help student assign task in the group.

• All group members will design presentation and content(15min)
• Student decide how they are going to present the results. (2min)
• 2 in the group will look for the pictures required in the presentation. (5min)
• All students of a group can contribute collectively in this activity(8min)

(Note: data from different PC will be shared through USB or email)

Assessment

A work sheet will be provided to students comprises of MCQs

Resources and Materials

Teaching aids: Projector, whiteboards

Technical tools:

Laptops, whiteboards, tablets, desktop pc (Computer lab), USB, internet

10 Most helpful Resources for Lesson Planning

These are the 10 most helpful resources for lesson planning that I used and I hope these websites will help you as these were helpful for me in creating my lesson plans.

1.       Teaching English by British Council: 

This is a British council website where they are providing stuff related to English which is focusing on improving the quality of teaching for better student learning outcomes. I agree with this line that when you are faced with planning whole lessons on your own for the first time it can seem like a daunting task. This is my number 1 website because I really liked the resources and explanation provided. In their lesson planning session, they have given some activities that teacher can perform in the class with an aim that why are you going to perform this activity, who will be involved in the activity and how this activity can work. There is an explanation in which some of the issues are discussed that can happen to a teacher while delivering the lesson for example shortage of time. All the English teachers must consult their website

2.       Lesson Plan: 

A Wikipedia webpage with a huge number of details, references and resources. This page provides information about a well-structured lesson plan and types of assessments and it also gives details that how we can set objectives of the lesson. Lesson plan development is described with detailed phases here.

3.       TeacherVision: 

This website is really helpful for teachers and their vision is “reach every student and bring meaningful, real-world skills into the classroom.” When I checked their webpage related to lesson planning they are working exactly like their vision. They are providing worksheets for mathematics for k-12 grades and Classroom activities.  They are also providing lesson plans in a printable form for teachers. Videos and topic wise lesson planning guide is available on their website. A mathematics teacher should definitely consult this website to get more ideas and activities that he/she can use in the class and how they can connect lesson with real-life examples.

4.       Teachers.org : 

This website is a complete package, you can find lesson plans from k-12 grade for arts, mathematics, science, environmental, physical education and social studies. This website is providing lesson plans where you can find clear objectives, description of the material, a procedure to start and close a lesson, assessment and activities. Their mission statement is “It is our mission to continuously empower and motivate teachers. We want to honor our dedicated teachers by sharing their work with the rest of the world.”

These lesson plans are created by experienced teachers who have real-life classroom experience and they are motivated to encourage all the teachers to create a better and engaging learning environment in the classroom.

5.       ASCD: 

ASCD is an organization dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching and leading so that every child is safe, healthy, engaged, supported and challenged.

“From the first day of a teacher preparation program to the last day on the job, ASCD supports educators regardless of their years of service, positions, or titles. We're committed to helping educators enhance their crafts and enhance their roles by providing high-quality, research-based resources and support they can trust.ASCD strives to expand our influence as an international organization that is widely recognized for helping educators define, support, and engages in the development of highly effective learning systems. Educators everywhere have the vision to change the world—one child at a time. It's our vision, too. Supporting the whole child is at the core of our mission and everything we do at ASCD. Five areas of focus guide our mission and help support educators to ensure that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.” (ASCD). So their main focus is a child and they are trying to improve the quality of education by providing teacher training, resources and support so that they can contribute to change the world by making the learning more effective.

This website has complete detail of the lesson plan and unit plan that how a lesson can be planned from start to end and what are the phases of a lesson and how much time a teacher should be giving in each phase. Unit plans are developed to teach a complete unit or chapter and lesson plans are developed for a single topic in the class. I found this website really helpful when I was developing lesson plans for implementation in a real classroom and I recommend it to every teacher who is going to develop the lesson plan.

6.       Education.com:

This website has 1548 lesson plans from pre-school to fifth grade for different subjects like maths, reading, writing, typing, science and social studies. This site is useful if a teacher is finding different activities for the classroom of new ways to teach in the classroom. Our topic was Light and sources of light so we found many activities in their lesson plans and selected some of them to use in the classroom. We were also using this website to plan our lessons which we had to deliver in the class of Learning through Pedagogy and Technology. A teacher must think about class activities on their own but if they need any help then I would recommend this website because they will be able to find tons of activities and ways to deliver their lecture. They are also providing many other facilities like progress tracker in their guided lesson where they guide you step by step throughout the lesson.

7.       Shmoop.com: 

This website is a complete package for every students and teacher. It’s just like an online learning management system because it has lots of courses, videos and standardized test material. They are also providing information resources and guidelines to the teacher so that they can improve their teaching skills.  If you want to have an idea about lesson planning and its essentials, this is an excellent resource because they tell about what is necessary for lesson planning and how and why you can add learning goals, how you can manage classroom, relating to lesson with interesting examples, use different styles to teach and be creative to use technology.

8.       Edu_Tech: 

This website looks like a Wikipedia website but it is about educational technology and related fields they have articles for teachers, instructional designs and e-learning consultants. They have a complete article for lesson planning with a purpose, guided examples and lesson planning tools.  Some useful links and resources are provided here so that if you want to study further about lesson planning, you can use them easily.

9.       FluentU-English educator Blogger: 

This is an English subject related blog for the teacher where they can find strategies and tips to improve their quality of teaching. It discusses the lesson planning strategies for a teacher who did not get any training and they are new to this task. This webpage has an engaging content which is relatable if you are a newly appointed teacher having no idea about planning a lesson. It defined lesson planning in six stages and scenarios of challenges faced by teachers in the classroom. If you are new to teaching, try this web to get an idea about lesson planning.

10.   Teaching Channel: 

This website is for new teachers and the content id video based. They are showing a complete step by step journey of a new teacher and his/her growth. Videos are a bit lengthy but useful. Their breakdown of a lesson plan is very well. if you are a new teacher of a teacher who wants to know effective lesson planning strategies, just have a look at this website. 

Emerging Technologies and improved student Learning

There are many emerging technologies but I have seen or read about few of these technologies. Artificial Intelligence, Text-to-Speech, Voice recognition, Image Recognition, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, gamification and big data are some of those emerging technologies. Artificial Intelligence is basically a machine that can perform intellectual task like humans. AI helps students as well as teachers. AI can provide a grading system that helps teachers in saving their time that they used to spend in grading a test or assignment. AI helps students in knowing their strengths and weaknesses in an assessment for example when I was searching for LMSes (Learning Management Systems) for an assignment of Role of Technology in Education, I found an India based LMS BYJU. BYJU’s LMS provide students’ strength and weaknesses in the report after taking an assessment and this is all done by AI because it can get where the students need more improvement. AI can also provide a feedback to users like we get a positive response in games when we complete a level. But we get a response that motivates us to play again if we fail a task or level. In the class, we have seen a video where a robot Sophia got the citizenship in Saudi Arabia and a guy who married to a robot. Fullan also mentioned that in near future, people will be marrying robots and this is actually happening nowadays (Fullan, Stratosphere Integrating Technology, Pedagogy, and Change Knowledge, p. 72). I also remember a news where a student, of Electrical Engineering from NUST Islamabad, developed a robot that was serving food in Multan’s restaurant. (Ahmed, 2017)

Virtual Reality is a different world apart from the real world but Augmented Reality interacts with the real world things. These technology helps in overcoming the trial and error fear because students can work in virtual lab by using this technology and they can do whatever they want because it is virtual and there will be no loss if they perform any of the experiment wrong. Its content is seems real so it is very effective but costly at the same time.

Big Data is a concept I have not read in the class but I read about it online. An example is Gmail that is providing free storage space on cloud to its users so that they can store their data online. Google docs, Google slides and Google sheets are also being developed with real time feedback by teacher or colleagues like we used it for our lesson planning and Dr. Gulab was continuously giving feedback to each student. Most of the data in Digital learning systems is on cloud storage.

We have read about the students with learning difficulties so technology is also helping such students to overcome these difficulties that they face during class time. Like in Dalarna University in Sweden, there is a system which provides assistance to students with difficulties/disabilities. If a student has a difficulty in listening then they provide an assistant that uses hand gestures to make that student understand the lecture. If a student face difficulty in notes taking then they provide recorded lectures.

Voice Recognition and Text-to-speech is an emerging technologies that are helping students with some learning difficulties. These are basically the software that are used to convert sound into text and vice versa. Such technologies are helpful if students have problem in writing and reading. These technologies can be used for best delivery of content if used properly.

Technology- As a part of assessment

Assessment plays an important role in learning because it gives a direction to students by feedbacks and clear identification of learning gaps. Some of the assessments are for learning, some are as learning and some are assessments of learning. There are many ways to assess students in schools like formative assessment, summative assessment, e-portfolios and reflections, assignments, quizzes etc. I have read about all of these in my course of Learning through Pedagogy and Technology and Role of Technology in Education. Formative assessment provides feedback when the learning takes place. Summative assessment is not for feedback most of the time but it gives a clear result of passing or failing a subject after learning process. Assessment should not only focus on academic content but also on critical thinking and real-life problem-solving skills. If we talk about the role of ICT in assessment then there are tons of technological tools which are helping students in self-monitoring, understanding their progress and help them in learning. Digital assessments are also tracking skills of a student nowadays. Tests like NTS tests that are marked by computer systems use OMR (Optical Mark Recognition). Learning Management Systems are very helpful in assessment. Most of the LMSes are tracking students’ weaknesses, strengths and skills like Khan Academy, BYJU and Learn Smart Pakistan. Digital assessments quizzes are based on MCQs (Multiple choice Questions), fill in the blacks, true-false and matching the right answer. E-portfolio (Electronic-portfolio) is the evidence assembled and managed by the user on the web. It gives a view of learner’s personal growth in learning as they complete complex activities. E-portfolio contains text, images, multimedia and hyperlinks. WordPress, Dreamweaver, super link and Asymmetric toolbook can be used to create E-portfolio. Mahara is the fully featured tool to create E-portfolio. Then comes online assignments in which peer reviewing is the latest trend in which students share assignments with each other and give feedback. Google Docs is the best tool for this purpose and I liked the add-on features and real-time feedback is the in Google Docs. When individual assignments are given to students then the best way is to provide a digital rubric with that because rubric will help students in self-assessment. R-Campus, RubiStar and Quick Rubric are the best tools for digital rubric creation. Google forms is also the best app to create digital quizzes.  I remember when we used kahoot in the class where Dr. Gulab Khan created a quiz and asked us to choose an option. I personally didn’t like that much because there was very less time limit to answer a question but Sir managed it by showing question and asked the class to give votes for each option and then explained the correct one. So digital assessments seem to have so many benefits but at the same time, there are lots of disadvantages associated with digital assessments like you need a proper setup if you want to go for digital assessments which will be very costly. Bring your own devices does not work all the time because it is difficult to manage so many devices. A reliable and valid test is not easy to create so a test expert or subject matter expert is required. Apart from these disadvantages, digital assessment provides a qualitative assessment and it maps students’ performance and improvements. We cannot ignore the power and benefits of digital assessment. Knowledge is changing so are the tools of assessments. I am very much in the favour of digital assessments because of real-time feedback and skill mapping with quality questions. But we should be careful in using technology in classrooms to avoid its dangers.

Active Learning-Strategies to promote active learning through the use of Technology

Active learning is a way of learning in which students engage in the learning process by meaningful activities and thinking what they are doing. Students can actively learn in collaborative learning in which students work in a group to achieve a common goal or problem-based learning in which the problems are defined at the beginning of the learning cycle. In traditional classrooms, there was a teacher standing in front of the class reading textbooks or giving lectures and students had to listen to the teacher as a passive learner. The current system is too costly, too ineffective and as any kid will tell you, deadly boring (Fullan, Stratosphere: Integrating Technology, Pedagogy and Change Knowledge, 2013, p. 5). This boring and ineffective system needed to be changed so today’s education system is student-cantered and the teacher is the facilitator in the class and has a duty to give timely feedback to the students. In today’s classroom, students are encouraged to discuss and express their ideas with teachers. Teachers prefer inquiry-based, problem-solving and project-based learning because students participate actively in these learning environments. Project-based and inquiry-based learning should be promoted in educational institutes. I have read about inquiry-based learning in my online course ‘Classroom Strategies for Inquiry-Based Learning’ that it makes a student learn critical thinking, reinforce cognitive growth and engagement. In week 4 and week 5, in the class of Learning through Pedagogy and Technology, we discussed the benefits of projects based learning and its effectiveness that it promotes real-life problem solving, collaboration, management and communication skills in a student. When I talk about active learning through the use of technology, the first thing that comes to my mind is online courses, discussion forums and peer review because we are doing these activities in class. I like the activities that we do in class but I personally do not like group activities that much because it is really difficult to explain your thoughts in front of someone else and some people in group work and some do not. So I think it is better to plan what kind of teaching strategy is needed to achieve learning goals of a lesson. If there is a need of group activities then there should be group activities otherwise inquiry-based learning classroom discussions and discussion forum also promote active learning. Teaching cannot be reduced to formulaic methods and active learning is not the cure for all the educational problems (PRINCE, 2004, p. 7). TEAL projects are Technology-Enabled Active Learning Projects. We view the TEAL project as a step towards preparing tomorrow’s citizens, leaders and experts for future roles by engaging them in a technology-enhanced environment that supports peer discussion and collaboration (Dori, 2005, p. 33). In a classroom teacher can use inquiry-based learning, group work, discussions, project-based learning, engaging 2D and 3D visualization and simulations as strategies to promote students participation in class as an active learner

UNESCO Framework, TPACK, and Technology Integration Framework from Florida- Teachers in Pakistan

TPACK framework helps teachers to learn the relationship between content, technology and pedagogy. TPACK is how teachers use technology tool to deliver content in their classrooms and how these elements are connected with each other and common knowledge of these three make TPACK. As we discussed this framework in class, it focuses on teachers to be competent in technology, pedagogy and content knowledge so that they can promote a learning environment in classrooms. 

While UNESCO frame focuses on all aspects of a teacher’s work. It explains that a teacher should be aware of policies, curriculum, pedagogy (How, when or when not to use technology), technology knowledge (hardware/software) and classroom management. This framework is designed to enable students to use technology to learn more efficiently, acquire deep knowledge to apply it to real-life problems, social and collaborative skills.  

Technology Integration Matrix (TIM), developed by Florida Centre for Instructional Technology (FCIT), has a description of the use of technology to enhance learning. This framework contains five characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaboration, constructive, authentic and goal-directed. These aspects of learning environments are associated with technology integration: entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion and transformation. It is designed to assists schools, districts and states to evaluate the level of technology in the classroom and to provide help to teachers that how technology can be used in a better way.

TIM can be used in the context of planning comprehensive technology, grant evaluation and program accountability. I personally like UNESCO framework because it emphasizes not only in classroom learning but also making students able to solve real-life problem-solving. After understanding these three frameworks, I think that these frameworks are very difficult to apply in Pakistan. Education System in Pakistan is not good enough because there are very few schools where technology is available. If technology is available then no one knows how to use technology. We can implement some parts of these frameworks but it is very difficult to fully implement in Pakistan. First of all, Teachers in schools of Pakistan should be trained how to use technology otherwise use of technology would become really dangerous as we have already discussed the pitfalls in previous lectures of Learning through Pedagogy and Technology. Teachers in Pakistan need pedagogy training before technology. UNESCO is offering online material to teachers that can be used in technology integration like Common Love Navigator’s Certificate (CCNC) that can be used for technology literacy, Commonwealth Certificate for Teacher ICT Integration (CCTI) that can be used for both technology literacy and UNESCO framework knowledge and Instructional Design Tool that assist in developing learning resources. I have read few pages of the CCTI in PDF form and it seems very helpful for a teacher. Teachers in Pakistan should use this material to be more competent in creating a learning environment in classrooms. 

The use of technology to support learning- Techno Enthusiasts vs Techno Dissenters

Technology has become a part of everyone’s life these days even in schools. Most of the school principals and teachers want their kids to know more about new gadgets but there are also some people who think that technology should not be used within a classroom. In the third week, the class of Learning through Pedagogy and Technology, Dr. Gulab also assigned an activity, in which he asked the class to divide into two groups i.e. techno-enthusiasts and techno-dissenters. I was a part of techno-enthusiasts which were in the favour of technology. We started panel discussion and techno-enthusiasts gave their point that technology is helping in learning because students get more engaged, they can find different simulation software, learning with games, social media is being used in learning, disable children are also getting education, improved writing with WordPress use, distance learning and assessment system is better with technology because there will be no judgment or favouritism of teachers. On the other hand, Techno-dissenters who were in the favour of the traditional way of teaching gave their opinions that using technology costs more than traditional teaching, technology is making children unhealthy, children are suffering from anxiety and depression, children are facing cyberbullying and teacher student-teacher interaction makes learning easier. Then each panel was given two minutes to defend their method of teaching. Even being a techno-enthusiast I accepted that children are becoming addicts of technology and their health is at risk. When sir Gulab asked me how you would defend technology as it is making children stubborn. I replied, “I think it’s a social issue.” Because I think a teacher can only work with students in the class but he/she cannot be responsible for what children are learning at home. Almost all schools arrange a parent-teacher meeting in schools to tell performance of their child. I think teachers should ask parents not to allow children to use technology for hours. There must be a fixed time for children to use technology in class and home as well and teacher in school and parents at home should be supervising children that how they are using technology. I learned from this activity that technology and pedagogy are meant to be used together because we cannot rely on any one of these. Technology can never replace teachers and at the same time, the traditional way of teaching is also outdated now because everyone prefers to learn with the blend of technology and lecture method. 

Technology can support (or hinder) teaching and learning in Pakistan

When I joined this course, I thought that I will learn how to teach using technology but I came to know that pedagogy is also very important part of teaching and learning. There is a concept of the stratosphere that shows the importance of trio of new pedagogy, technology and change knowledge.  A Few decades ago, in Pakistan, it was considered that teacher is the boss of the school and class and total education system was teacher-centric. The teacher was the only source for students to seek knowledge. This method of teaching where the student only gets lectures in the classroom was not so engaging because student starts getting bored. Then technology was introduced in classrooms and it helped both teachers and students in teaching and learning. I feel that teachers had more burden before technology because they have to make their teaching style more interesting but it is difficult when he/she only has to just speak in front of students for hours. Now teachers have internet access and a wide range of study related content. Teachers can show subject related videos, tutorials and simulation in the class by using projectors or multimedia. Before joining the course “Learning through Pedagogy and Technology” I didn’t know how technology is helping students and teachers in learning. Now I came to know that how social media, videos, multimedia and simulation software. I have played different games but never thought that games can also be used in learning. Games are the most useful way of learning as it improves logical and critical thinking skills of students. I liked the activity in class where the class was divided into two groups where one group was techno-enthusiasts who were in the favour of technology and the other group was techno-dissenters who were in favour of the traditional way of teaching. This activity showed how technology and pedagogy are important in learning and teaching. I have seen people with the misconception that if a student has access to internet and technology then there is no need for teachers in classrooms. But this course tells me how technology and pedagogy are linked together. Only technology or lecture method cannot be used for teaching. This means that a teacher cannot be replaced by technology. There are some disadvantages of technology like addiction, cyberbullying, less creativity etc. These problems can be solved when we will learn how to use technology in education. If students know that we have a fixed time to use technology and someone, can be a teacher, administrator or lab assistant, is supervising them they will use technology for the educational purposes only. But we can’t deny the fact that technology is a part of life now and it is improving Pakistan’s education system. I am sure that this course “Learning through pedagogy and technology” I will come to know how to use the blend of technology and traditional learning in a more productive way.