Florid Reka

Lesson Plan Analysis 

Date 02-14-11

The lesson plan looks well designed and nicely structured to achieve the goals. This plan is constructed for students in the 10th grade. The purpose of the lesson plan is to teach students to write expository essays in a creative way. Since the age of the students correspond to Piaget’s formal operational stage where preadolescents are able to think abstractly and reason logically, the plan seems to be appropriate for them. The brainstorm is a good method to engage the students with abstract thinking. Through this assignment students have the possibility to further develop their ability to reason about situations or conditions that have not been experienced. Another benefit of brainstorming is that students are directly involved in the learning process. This strategy is consistent with the active learning theory in which students play an active role in learning through direct involvement. In this case they will come up with different ideas and solutions and develop new learning strategies during that process. 

Being involved in learning, students will be able to better remember the information they learn. As the information processing model suggests, relevance makes the information more likely to be remembered. Brainstorming inventions will make students connect to the information, give meaning, and therefore being able to remember what they learned. Consistently, constructing and having a physical image of their invention will help students to better remember and describe the process latter in their essays. The brain is good in storing visual information, and thus, easier to remember. 

It is obvious that this is a student centered lesson plan rather than a teacher centered one. According to constructivist theories of learning, students must construct their own learning, and the role of the teacher is to facilitate and make information meaningful and relevant to them. This approach is best described in step 6, in which the teacher is instructed to walk around the class and make sure the student stay in task. Consistent with scaffolding, the teacher guides the students and provides them with assistance if necessary. Going over the oral presentation with the students is a good way to inform them what they should be looking for in their group work. 

Talking about working in groups, this strategy is compatible with the constructivist approach of cooperative learning. It is easier for the students to discuss with each other about what idea works for the task, how are they going to materialize it, and how are they going to introduce the invention in the class. By cooperating with each other, they are more likely to discover and understand difficult concepts about the task. Similar to zone of proximal development, working together it is more likely that one of the students in the group has a higher level of performance and therefore assist other peers to perform beyond their level. Other positive aspect of group work is the motivation. As Mueller model suggests, we are looking for affiliation, socializing with others. Being able to work in groups, the students are highly motivated to interact with each other and make their task easier and enjoyable. 

The peer editing process is very important and adds to the effectiveness of writing the final draft. The feedback will provide students with the correctness of their writing and also, with the means that made them to arrive to that solution. By practicing the feedback, students will learn how to approach and solve complex problems in the future.

Another beneficial aspect I found in the lesson plan is the pairing of two lower level students with two higher level ones in the group. I believe peer modeling is a very effective way to increase the achievements of lower level students. By working together with their peers, these students are more likely to observe the higher level students and try to be like them. Similarity to their peers will make the learning process easier and enjoyable to them. The lower level students are more likely to increase their self- efficacy, especially, if the higher level peers are coping models, the one that struggles but eventually succeeds. Another feature that will add to the positive outcome of the pairing group work, is the social desirability of the higher level students. The more good they are the more lower level students would like to follow their behavior and be like them.

The plan suggest also the pairing of a lower level student with a higher level one while writing the expository essay. This is a similar form of peer tutoring, which can be easier to arrange and be very effective. Again, what will make the writing process easier are the similarity between peers, feeling comfortable with each other, being intense on one to one, and furthermore increasing the self-efficacy of the lower level student for the task. This process will be beneficial for the higher level student as well. He or she is going to learn too, the writing is going to be enjoyable, and both students will add to their social construction.     

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