Technological tools in a lesson plan

In this post I'll show you how to incorporate a technological tool into your teaching practices.

LESSON PLAN

TIME OF THE LESSON: 90 minutes

CLASSROOM: Computer Lab (2 students per computer)

LEARNERS  

AGE: 11 years old  

LEVEL: pre-intermediate  

NUMBER: 18 students
 

GRAMMAR FOCUS: Will vs Going to  

Warmer: The teacher will give students the following photocopy. Students will be asked to find classmates that will/are going to perform some of these actions in the future. In the previous lessons, students have already been doing exercises related to the Future and the uses of will and be going to.

Once the photocopy is complete, there will be a brief class discussion about its results. The idea is that students revise the uses of WILL, and GOING TO, and remember they are used to express the future.

Web Session: The teacher will ask students to enter the following link for the next activity. (The teacher will monitor the activity and provide feedback and suggestions to the students)

What's Next: As a follow up activity, students will do a matching exercise which will sum up the USES of  WILL and BE GOING TO. Finally, the teacher will give students general feedback on their performance.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS THAT SUPPORT THE USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS IN MY LESSON PLAN

According to PLANIED, (Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital) which was drawn up by Ministerio de Educacion y Deportes de la Nación, ICTs are cultural shapes, that is to say, they are spaces in which information is not the only thing that circulates, but in which play, exploration, creativity, fantasy, critical thinking, and communication and collaboration converge as a whole. Creativity and Collaboration are 21^st century skills that teachers should foster in students, and in my lesson plan, the use of this tool will give room to exploration and creativity. As PLANIED states, students are the protagonists in the construction of knowledge (a message conversation), and they interact with each other during an activity that is mediated by a digital environment (ios.foxsash in my lesson). Besides, PLANIED considers that ICTs can be used to "role-play" a real life situation, with the aim of promoting students' autonomy in the use of digital tools in their lives, both inside and outside the classroom. The use of ICTs in my lesson will help students develop their digital citizenship and be ready to communicate in a digital environment.

On the other hand, Dolors Reig has brought up the term TACs (Tecnologías del Aprendizaje y del Conocimiento) which refers to the use of ICTs as formative tools, that have a impact on methodology and educational planning. In a nutshell, TACs are about LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY. In my lesson plan, my students will be using a technological tool as a means for learning and practicing the Simple Future. Instead of the typical worksheet with exercises such as fill in the blanks, match, or circle the correct option, my students will put into practice what they've learnt about the Future, at the same time they are working with technology to create a fake message conversation. The Fake iPhone Text Generator gives a clearer context, since students will not be working with isolated sentences, and it's a visually appealing tool that will make the learning experience more engaging and meaningful for the students. Therefore, TACs are about using technology in the classroom, and designing lesson plans that will include ICTs in our educational practices.

According to NAP (Núcleo de Aprendizajes Prioritarios) some of the aims of primary and secondary education is to establish learning situations that foster comprehension and production of diverse texts, development of strategies to comprehend and produce both oral and written texts, and a meaningful use of technology as learning tools.  That is to say, students should be able to reflect on their Language 1 and 2, and to use them both inside and outside the classroom, autonomously and with confidence. In my lesson plan, my students will be working with an informal type of text, through a guided process of planning and drafting. NAP highlights the importance of drafting to help students develop self-confidence and autonomy, and that's why they need exposure to the different types of texts and genres, before producing them. In my lesson plan, my students are given an example of a text message together with the abbreviations used in that kind of text. The idea is to help students reflect on interculturality, on the target language and its culture, and to highlight not just the differences but also the simmilarities among the different cultures and their languages. In my lesson plan, the students will realize that just as we (Argentinians) abbreviate when we type messages, English speakers do it as well in their own code. 


If you want to know what other educators say about this tool and if you want to watch a tutorial on how to use it, please click here.

REFERENCES:

Argentina flag images. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/search/argentina+flag?page=83§ion&sort=newest&search_source=base_related_searches.

Banner Stock Window Clip Art Vector - Window Clipart - Png Download (#293783) - PinClipart. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinclipart.com/pindetail/iRmJwh_banner-stock-window-clip-art-vector-window-clipart/.

FoxSash. (n.d.). Create Fake iOS7 iPhone Text Messages. Retrieved from http://ios.foxsash.com/.

Karaoglu, O. (2017, October 18). iFake Text Messages. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/12408.

Nik Peachey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/our-people/our-authors/nik-peachey/551829.article.

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-F9L9avcwo.

Portal, E. (2018, February 7). Presentación del Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital (PLANIED) - Ma. Florencia Ripani. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1o3AcEBenI.

Tablet Clip Cartoon Computer Vector Black And White - Battle For The Big B Tablet - Png Download (#527227) - PinClipart. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinclipart.com/pindetail/iJJiJT_tablet-clip-cartoon-computer-vector-black-and-white/.

Technology For Education. (2017, November 7). Retrieved from http://www.paesaggiocomesfida.com/technology-for-education/.

TIC, TAC, TEP. Tecnologías para aprender y para toda la vida. (2019, August 28). Retrieved from https://inclusioncalidadeducativa.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/tic-tac-tep-tecnologias-para-aprender-y-para-la-vida/. 

Using Fake Text Messages to Create Learning Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://quickshout.blogspot.com/2018/02/using-fake-text-messages-to-create.html.