Justin Matkovich

Psy 205

Dr. Mueller

2/14/11

“Parts of Speech – Adjectives” Lesson Plan Analysis

Source:

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAAdjectives412MO.htm.htm

Objectives

The objectives that the lesson plan states are not appropriate. A proper objective should list specific behaviors that a student is expected to show by the end of the lesson. However the ‘objectives’ that are displayed in this lesson plan are not behaviors, but are more steps for how the lesson will be carried out. These objectives describe what the lesson will be doing, not the behaviors the student should master by the end of the lesson. More effective objectives for this specific plan would be: Identify adjectives and create adjectives. These are clear and concise and show specific behaviors that a student will learn by the end of the lesson.

Vygotsky

This lesson plan would best fit under Vygotsky’s model of learning because it requires a social approach. Piaget’s theory has a stronger focus on the individual and their own growth. The instruction techniques that this lesson plan requires are: whole group, cooperative learning, small group, and (if necessary) individual teacher and student conferences. All of these strategies are group oriented and need social interactions in order for it to be effective. The interactions can come from either a student’s peers or the teacher. This is an effective use of Vygotsky’s theory because the interactions are varied. However, when the students are doing the peer reviews, the lesson plan calls for the students to only circle the adjectives found in the peer’s writing. In order for it to be more effective, the students should talk with each other about adjectives found in the work, because Vygotsky said that language is the most effective way to administer symbols and signs among people. By having a dialogue between the reviewer and the reviewed, student’s would provide better support for each other.

The Peer Impact

As previously stated, because this lesson plan shows signs of Vygotsky’s theory, it is extremely reliant upon other people in order to facilitate learning. While the teacher does have some role in this lesson, the main focus is put on the students themselves. Peer approval is a major motivating factor for students in the classroom. By having students read each other’s 2-paragraph essays and identify the adjectives, a student will most likely put more effort into the assignment because they want to make a good impression with their peers. If their work is riddled with errors and inaccurate information, they risk being teased and ridiculed by their peers. Even on the final evaluation, in which the teacher grades the paper, there is a peer related aspect. Though the teacher is the sole person grading the paper, all the papers will be displayed for everyone in the class to read. This will make the students still want to improve their work to impress and fit in with their peers. To a student, what a peer thinks of their work is often more important than what a teacher thinks of it. In an instance such as this, the peer is being used as a reinforcer to the student’s work. Approval from peers can be a very powerful motivating factor.

Repetition

Many of the tasks that this lesson plan asks the students to do seem to be repetitive: The student first has to look up a definition, and then they have to make their own definition. The student must identify adjectives in a passage given to them by their teacher, and then the student must identify the adjectives in a passage given to them by their peers. However this act of repetition is a form of rehearsal. Rehearsal helps the process of transferring information from short term memory to long term memory. Because long term memory is permanent, the student wants to get as much information into that section of their memory as possible.

Storage

Besides repetition, this lesson plan also organizes the information by making it meaningful to the student. If information is meaningful to a student, they will be able to store that information because they have a deeper connection to the material. If they can give the information personal significance, they can activate various cues to relate the new information to. By making the students look at their own writing to identify what adjectives they use, they will be able to more effectively store that information in their long term memories and they will also have a deeper grasp of what an adjective is. If a student assigns multiple cues to something, they have a better chance of remembering that information. This is advantageous because when a student is tested on the material, they will be able to retrieve that information more effectively and score better on the test. If the students only learn a definition and see a few examples of adjectives that the teacher shows them, they may be able to recognize what and adjective is, but they still may not fully understand what it means. This lesson does give a definition as well as a few teacher given examples, but it also requires students to create and identify their own adjectives.

Overall Effectiveness

This lesson plan had some very good overall qualities about it. However it does have one fault that if corrected could vastly improve the effectiveness of the lesson. The very first activity of the lesson is to look up a definition in the dictionary, which is boring; there needs to be a much more interesting and engaging way to initiate the lesson. An inductive approach would be a better option because the student would have a more active hand in discovering the meaning. The teacher could present a paragraph without any adjectives in it and have the class discuss what makes it a good or a bad paragraph. The students can then breakdown and discuss what it is missing. The deductive model that is used is still effective though, especially if the class is in a time crunch. But if time is not an issue, the inductive approach would be more effective because there would a more significant instance to associate with the topic, creating stronger cues for storage.