Week+7

= __Week 7: Lesson Plan Presentations (Continued)__ =

Agenda:
1) Student Centered Lesson Plan Presentations 2) eLearning Ontario 3) Virtual Classrooms 4) Skype 5) Discussion of Next Weeks Material

Student Centered Lesson Presentations- Group 7-14
 Course: Grade 9 Academic Geography By: Alex Windsor & Sejal Maisuria
 * Presentation 7: Immigration in a Canadian Context** [[image:2143_ImmigrationProfilePic.jpg width="313" height="147" align="right" caption="Profile of character created by Sejal"]]

Central Lesson Question: How has immigration built and formed Canada's population?

Students Will: 1) Log onto the following website and explore the push and pull factors that have influenced Canadian immigration over time [] 2) Who is welcome in Canada? This part of the lesson examined the different factors that affected immigration over a temporal scale. Students would take on a persona where factors such as their education and language skills would be used to determine whether or not they would be accepted as immigrants into Canada. 3) Students will create a podcast that explains their thoughts and feelings towards immigration in the 19th Century. Relate it back to the persona you took on and explain whether you think this individual was treated fairly.

Comments: This is a great exercise to use for students to learn and understand the processes of immigration. I actually used an activity very similar to this in my practicum and I would say that it was one of the highlights of practicum one. The students enjoyed the activity as well as using the computers to assess whether their persona was accepted to Canada or not. I would suggest this lesson to anyone studying immigration because it turns the theory of policies used into realistic activities that students can relate to. Students are also able to see the temporal change that occurred as time went on.

**Presentation 8: Research Methods** Course: This lesson could apply to any class where a research project or paper will be used as an assessment tool

Central Lesson Question: What are the appropriate skills needed to successfully conduct research?

Students Will: 1) Carry out a webquest that will give them the needed skills to successfully conduct research using Google Books and WorldCat.org. Students will follow a series of weblinks that will lead them to a quiz where they have to manipulate the search engines in order to find the answers. 2) If students complete the task on time they can help other students. This is great for student to student learning.

Comments: This is a great lesson to teach students during the first few weeks of school. By having the answers to the quiz being entered into the Google form, teachers are able to see which students understand the process and which students require extra help.

**Presentation 9: The Periodic Table of Elements** Course: Grade 9 Science By: Helen & Dane

Central Lesson Question: What are the properties of the elements in the periodic table of elements?

Students Will: 1) Research an element and create a wikipage so that a database can be formed around all of the elements in the table. This wiki can then be used as a study tool for future tests and assignments.

Comments: The provided links are quite useful for attaining information about the elements of the periodic table of elements. This could be done as a good unit review and then could be incorporated into the final exam review/study guide. Interesting how they made a wikipage for each element and then spaced it out to look like the periodic table. I think this is something that kids would use for studying purposes.

**Presentations 10: Comic Life and A Midsummer Nights Dream** Course: Grade 10 English (Academic or Applied) By: Karen & Steve Central Lesson Question: How can a scene from the play be effectively and creatively reviewed? How are graphic novels seen in the literary world?

Students Will: 1) Use the computer program Comic Life to create their own comic about a scene from the play. 2) When students are only able to use small amounts of dialogue they have to be cognizant of the images they use. These images must convey aspects such as tone and feeling onto the reader so that the reader gets a clear idea of what is going on in the scene. The text is only part of what is used to deomonstrate the plot of the story. 3) Write a paragraph about the decisions they made as director/artist/author etc to include certain images and exclude others. How graphic novels differ from traditional text based plays and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each one.

Comments: This is a great program. I would not hesitate to use this in my teaching. I feel that it allows students to be creative in what they select as images and texts and allows them to explore the concepts and conventions of the graphic novel. One issue that may concern me is to how many legal images exist on the internet for students to attain and use in the creation of their work. One method which would remedy this issue would be having students take pictures of themselves and their classmates displaying the emotions and body languages needed for that scene and then incorporate these images into their graphic comic.

Course: Grade 9 Academic English. By: Kristen, Natasha & Taylor
 * Presentation 11: Diamante Poems **This is the presentation that was done by my group.

Central Lesson Question: How can we become familiar with the concepts and conventions of diamante poems

Students Will: 1) Use the following website to explore the conventions of a diamante poem and then create one of their own. 2) Create a podcast of their poem and a video of images that relate to the theme and mood of the poem

Comments: I feel this was a good lesson as it allowed students to write poetry, an activity that at times can be challenging. The different aspects of technology allowed students to explore the other related concepts of poetry such as reading it out loud (podcast) and associating images with the mood of the poem. By providing students with the assessment rubric before they began, they were able to see what the expectations of the assignment were. One aspect that could have been improved upon was our introduction to the topic and explanation of the finite conventions of a diamante poem.

The lesson plan and accompanying documents can be accessed at the following link: Our Lesson

By: Andrea & Laura
 * Presentation 12: Introduction to Nutrition** Course: Grade 12 Exercise Science

Central Lesson Question: What is the energy balance and how does it affect humans?

Students Will: 1) Make a food diary for the week using the site. Information pertaining to this lesson cab be accessed at http://nutritionassignment.wikispaces.com

Comments: This was a good lesson that had a great hook (chocolate) and then allowed students to get up and move around (jumping jacks) but I felt that there was too much time spent on housekeeping activities when this time could have been spent on exploring other technological methods of assessing the energy balance. Also I understand the importance of keeping a food diary but feel there needs to be another associated activity to this lesson where students must use higher order thinking skills to assess/evaluate this topic. I thought the site they provided was great and you can use it every day of your life, so some students may even continue to access the site after the completion of this unit or course.

By: Steve & Helen?
 * Presentation 13: Mathmatics: At NASA and in our Daily Life** Course: Mathmatics (can be adjusted depending on formulas being studied)

Central Lesson Question: How are mathmatic calculations central to human life?

Students Will: 1) Watch a number of space videos that call on them to use mathmatical calculations to solved problems.

Comments: This was a nice change to mathmatics, with the teachers making the curriculum exciting and more relevant to student life. I enjoyed the role playing activities even though math is not one of my stronger subject. One critique I will make is that in terms of technological applications, this lesson did not have any student centered approaches. Overall though, I would not hesitate to use an activity such as this in my classroom. Humour can be drawn from it as well as understanding that activites such as math are central to our daily functioning.

By: Steph & __.
 * [[image:the-early-pioneer-settlers.jpg width="168" height="109" align="left" caption="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/03/da/1a/the-early-pioneer-settlers.jpg"]]Presentation 14: Welcome to New France ** Course: Grade 7 French Immersion

Central Lesson Question: What were the lives of the pioneers really like?

Students Will: 1) Create an end of the unit documentary on the trials and tribulations of pioneers. These documentaries will show the positive and negative effects of living life as a pioneer.

Comments: This was a good lesson as it allowed for students to explore both sides of the story so that they could develop an unbiased opinion on the life and activities of pioneers coming to live in Canada.

eLearning Ontario:
This is an online learning community where students can learn from their own homes. I feel that this type of learning environment is great considering the mobility of many of today's students. Through an environment such as this, students can continue to learn even when they are disconnected from the physical classroom.

Virtual Classrooms:
These are exactly what the name implies. Digital classrooms that are set up and developed in the cloud. They are a mainstay within the post-secondary education system and are gaining popularity within the secondary school setting. These Learning Management Systems are a way in which communication can be facilitated outside of the typical classroom hours. On a personal level I feel that the idea of these classrooms are great, however from experience I can find that the technological glitches and problems associated with them can hamper productivity. As these systems become technologically sound they will offer both students and teachers a way in which learning and communication can exist in the digital environment.

Skype:
This is an online web chat where video and voice are used. This application can be an effective way for teachers to present guest speakers who are not physically within the classroom. Another way that this technology can be used is to broadcast lectures to different goegraphic locations. One issue that hampers the use of this program is the lag that can occur between video and audio/voice. This would most likely be the case where poor internet connection exists. Once again, as technology improves, so will this program, making it a great tool to use within the educational realm.