LESSON PLAN – Lessons 1-2
Dov Bloom
ID 0000
School: ABC School, AnyCity
Level: Proficiency Stage 1 (10th Grade "aleph"advanced class, 5 points track, nonEnglish speakers)
Topic of Lesson:
Literature short story “The Fun They Had”, by Issac Asimov.
This first lesson in the unit deals with a school that is a home, thereby introducing the
“School and Home” unit.
Domains used:
Access to Information – both Written and Spoken
Social Interaction
Presentation
Appreciation of Literature
Benchmarks: By the end of the lesson students will be familiar with the classic
science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and his short story “The Fun They Had”. They
will have thought about and discusses the major thesis of the story, and will have
written a presentation opinion piece. They will relate to the efficacy of different
learning methods.
Enabling skills: (What skills they need to know in order to carry out tasks)
Introductory vocabulary. Background
Assumed previous knowledge: Robots, science fiction, school inspectors and
homework
Anticipated problems and solutions: Some of them may know the story. If so
continue and see that they don’t spoil it.
Materials: Computer, PowerPoint presentation, recorded section of robot-like
narrator as well as myself reading, texts of the story, class work and homework page.
Activities and timing (approximate)
See separate section following (I list the various AV aids and give an explicit list of
the parts of the lesson: What to show when, what to play when, what to discuss when,
etc.
Methods of assessing benchmarks:
Mainly - see how they react in the discussion. Grade the class work. Listen to the
presentations they write for homework.
Teacher’s reflection of the lesson:
The class cooperated in all segments of the double lesson. No one knew the story,
which I had feared in “Anticipated problems and solutions”.
The fact that I used a PowerPoint presentation was good. I had them hear 2 sections of
the story in .wav (sound) files on the computer. They liked that too. The topic
interested them and they related well.
Revision after reflection:
I considered eliminating the reading of the section read by computer voice Microsoft
Sam, because it was difficult for them to follow. However since it was an integral part
of the lesson for them to compare human teachers and robot teachers themselves, I
would leave it in all future use of this lesson, but I would play it twice.
LESSON PLAN – Lessons 1-2 “The Fun They Had”
Activities and timing (approximate)
1.
Introductory activity – present the vocabulary for this story in a
PowerPoint presentation. The presentation will have pictures
exemplifying the words we are covering.
Also give them a handout of vocabulary, written, for their reference.
2.
Discussion – How do the pupils learn vocabulary better? A teacher
writing/reading the list or a PowerPoint presentation?
This discussion will be a
metaphor for the theme of the
story, though the students don’t
know this yet.
The vocabulary learning is done in a way that models the theme of the story, a
computerized teacher and not a “man” (in the words of Tommy in the story)
(This is not obvious to the students)
3.
Write the title and author on the board/ show in the PowerPoint slide 7
Play .wav file of Dov reading the first 3 paragraphs. (3 minutes)
Project the text on the board (slides 8-9-10)
Do not hand out the story yet, so that we can discuss and predict first.
4.
Discuss: (Questions on slide 11)
Write their ideas (with their names) on the board.
What type of story is this (genre)?
When does it take place?
How old are Margie and Tommy? Why?
What do you think the story will be about?
5.
Next stage: play the next section read by computer voice Microsoft Sam.
Then give out the texts and play again, because it will be difficult to
understand. Play the third section (read by Dov again)
6.
Questions (Written on slide 12):
Who is the teacher?
Who is the Inspector, and what is his job?
Where/What is the school??
7.
Read (orally) till Tommy leaves. (“dusty old book under his arm”)
Write: (or discuss in pairs for 5 minutes, writing down main points and
reasons)
How did you better learn vocabulary, thru a PowerPoint presentation or
the regular way? Why?
How did you like hearing the story – a taped file, a computer reader, or a
real person? Why?
Why could “a man” be a better teacher?
Why could a “mechanical teacher” be better?
8.
How do you think the story will end? Discussion
9.
Read the final section from “Margie went in to the schoolroom…”
10.
After the story give out the Classroom Worksheet:
11.
Summarize and discuss the story, including the metaphor idea
12.
Homework– Write an opinion piece
(I think, I feel, In my opinion…, I believe that…
Also, furthermore (‫)בנוסף‬, in addition, Another important point is
On the other hand, while A is …, B is …
It may be that, perhaps, however (‫)בכל אופן‬
Subjects (choose one):
A. How do you think kids will learn in 50 or 100 years? Give specific
examples.
B. Which is better – to learn from technology or from people? Why?
Explain you reasons.
C. How did you feel today using “technology” to learn? When is it helpful
for students and when not? Use examples.