Instructional Dream II Nevin Kamal CEP 816 Instruction rubrics Global Warming unit Problem and solution The

aim for designing activities for a writing unit is to help students to develop their writing skills in English. Students need to develop their writing skills to pass the University Entrance exam (listening, speaking, writing and writing). I believe that by integrating literacy skills with technology students will show more interest and engagement in the course content. Using technology will help ESL learners enjoy learning English in a stress free class. Students are encouraged to use the web to find resources and that is why they are asked to use the web present their findings. Students are given open questions to answer with guided instructions but at the same time the door is left wide open for their creativity. The unit will extend to five weeks to allow students the necessary time to reflect and synthesize the information they are getting. The activities in this unit are based on the project- based method that allows students to be facilitators and excerpters at the same time. Instructional Dream Learning Objectives: Students will make connections to the course content by using oral, written language, media and technology. Students will apply different critical thinking skills to create oral, written and visual texts. Students will use a variety of technologies to communicate information effectively.

Instructional Plan: The main technology tools that I would like to incorporate into my unit are: Blogging Podcast Videocast Edmodo Google sites Youtube Voice Thread Web searching 1

Technology requirement and Instructions: It is assumed that students have their own personal laptops, IPads or desk computers. It is assumed that students have access to high Internet speed. It is assumed that students will be introduced to blended learning. It is assumed that downloadable instructions will be posted on the class website. There will be instructions to create: blogs, Voice Thread account, upload YouTube videos, Google docs and Presentations.

These technologies are chosen because I want students to share their ideas, thoughts, and respond in different ways to a variety of written texts and assignment to develop their critical thinking skills. Through blogs, students can post their reflections and share their discussions with their classmates. Blogs help students develop their critical thinking and allow them to express their ideas in writing. Because students know that their work will be published on the web, they work hard to produce good pieces of writing that would give them pride of their work. Podcasts are great tools for ESL learners. Students will be asked to read different topics related to the unit taught and create oral presentations to share with their classmates. Posdcasts allow students to feel safe and confident when sharing their presentations with classmates as they lift the fear of public speaking away from the classroom. By asking students to use different podcasts for their presentations, teachers are giving them chances to exert every possible effort to produce a good piece of work. Students share their podcasts with their class and would ask their classmates to give their feedback in a written form. Free web resources are great tools for all teachers and different learning context that teachers and schools need to make use of. Edmodo- free course management system- is a highly recommended application for teachers to organize post and archive their work. Google tools are great for collaboration and publishing. In addition, free web tools allow students to develop their e-portfolios over a period of time. They can access their work at any time and keep updating and adding to it. To achieve this, I will break the unit down to different stages and activities. Each activity will focus on a different stage. Prior to asking students to start writing their problem and solution reports, the necessary grammar and vocabulary related to problem and solution essays are introduced to the class. In addition, the teacher will create a class website to allow students to download all the assignment instructions. Students will be given a code to access their group on Edmodo to post links to their assignments in their blogs. Activities: Language skills: Integrated skill with special emphasis on writing- problem and solution essays. Students will create blogs to serve as their e-portfolios for this unit. Students will post all their assignments on their blogs Students create presentations using Voice Thread and YouTube. 2

Students will make use of YouTube and other online resources to respond to different assignment related to the problem of global warming. Eventually, after a significant number of assignments that progress in difficulty, students will be able to write a 250 word report about the problem of global warming and suggest some solutions to this problem.

Lesson Plan: The unit lesson plan for problem and solution essays progresses in difficulty. First, students will familiarize themselves with blogs and postings. Then, students will be engaged in different activitieslistening, reading, and speaking. Finally, students will write reports about global warming and will To begin this unit, student will create personal blogs that be will the corner stop for the rest of the unit. Every time students respond to an assignment on their blog, they have to post a link to it on Edmodo. The aim of using Edmodo is that it helps teachers organize their assignment in one place and grade students work directly without going through the hassle of moving from one site to the other. In addition, teachers can post all their assignments on Edmodo and thus students will receive notifications about assignments and deadlines. A class website using Google Sites was used to post all the assignments required to be shared by teachers at my work place. It is necessary to clarify that Edmod and Google Sites serve different purposes though they them similar. Edmodo allows teachers and students keep track of assignments and notifications. Students will go to www.blogger.com where they will use the teachers username and d password. The teacher will guide them to the dashboard link and instruct them step by step to create their own blogs. Instruction to create a blog will be posted on Edmodo and Google Sites. Students are required to download all the assignments from the class website or Edmodo. The teacher tells students that good projects will have to include all the tasks posted on Edmodo or Google sites, with related links, videos, reports and comments on their classmates blogs. Students work must be creative and original which means they cannot copy and paste from the web. Global Warming for intermediate ESL students at the University of Sharjah This set of assignments will be introduced over a period of five weeks. The aim of the activities in this unit is to help student write well structures problem and solution reports about a very controversial topic worldwide. It is a unit that integrates different language skills including grammar and vocabulary and allows students to familiarize them with the topic of global warming, renewable energy, and fossil fuel. Sharing students work: Good samples of students work will be pulled up and shared with the class. Before every assignment, the teacher provides examples of former students work so students can see what the teacher is aiming at.

Task one: My Profile Technology used: Blogger Edmodo

The first stage in this unit will introduce students to www.blogger.com, Google Sites and Edmodo. The teacher will use the classroom blog- Global Warming Problem and Solution Writing Unit to post assignments and record conversations. Students will also have their personal blogs to post their work and the teacher will monitor their blogs using RSS feeds. At an earlier stage, students have been trained to use Edmodo to post their assignments, ask questions, and receive posts and announcements from the teacher. Assignments will be posted on Edmodo as well as the classroom website because Edmodo allows teachers to send e-mails to students and announcements to different groups in different sections. In addition, the grade book in Edmodo allows teachers to grade students work and post a grade directly without going through paper work hassle. To start this unit, students will create their personal blogs. They will go to www.blogger.com where they will log in under the teachers username and password. The teacher then will guide them through the Dashboard link and instruct them to create their own blogs. Students will be able to download instructions to create their own blogs from the classroom website or Edmod. Blog posting and etiquette will be discussed with the class. To practice publishing their work, students have to create their own blogs and write a short summary talking about themselves. They have to name the first blog assignment My profile. Instructions will be posted on the class website and Edmodo. By the end of the deadline, the teacher will post a page will all the links of the students blogs on the class website so that they can click on and comment. Students have to post a link of their blog on Emdodo by the dead line. Furthermore, they have to choose two postings from the class and comment on them. They also have to post a link to their postings on Edmodo for their teacher to check and grade their work. After the deadline, the teacher will use the class time to ask students about the blogging experience and respond to different questions about posts and comments. The teacher will present samples of posts and discuss with the class what made them good or helpful. Task two: Introduction to Global warming Technology used: Blogger Edmodo YouTube Free web resources

The main focus of this unit is to help students express their ideas on global warming. By the end of the unit students should be able to answer the following questions: What is Global Warming and what are its causes? What are the consequences of Global warming if nothing is done about it now? What can we do to make sure that Global Warming doesn't become a disaster for the future?

The second blogging assignment will start in class and students will be given some time to complete their work and comment on each others blog posts. Students have to write a short report of 150 words on global warming. Their posts should mention some of the causes of global warming and why this could be a problem. They have to name their second post Introduction to global warming. Once they post their report on in their blogs they have to post a link on Edmodo. Students are advised to write their reports in a word document to run grammar and spelling check before posting them in their blogs. After summiting their posts and emailing their links on Edmodo, students will be asked to visit two other blogs from the class and comment on them. They have to post links to their posts on Edmodo after responding to two comments at least. Their response should include their point of view about global warming and mention the major aspects to this problem. Students need to use different web resources to search this topic. They may use the following: Natural resources Global Warming And Melting Glaciers Global warming Frequently asked questions Global warming thinkquest Students can watch a YouTube video on global warming for further information. After the deadline, the teacher will use the class time to share with students some of the good reports and discuss the topic in details with the class. Task three: Global Warming Technology used: Blogger Edmodo YouTube Free web resources

For the third blogging assignment, students need to watch a video on Global warming- Discovery Channel. They have to summarize the documentary in 100 to 150 words and post the summary along with relevant pictures on their blogs. Students are reminded to write their summaries in a word document and run spelling and grammar check before posting them. They have to post a link to their summaries on Edmodo. The second stage of this assignment will be asking students to record their review as a Voice Thread and post their audios in their blogs. Again they have to post their links on Edmodo by the dead line given. The teacher will guide students to register in Voice Thread and will provide a step by step handout to help them register. Students have to visit at least two blogs and comment on the audios. The day after the dead line, the teacher will make use of class time to discuss the video, reports, and the audio reviews of the students and share some of the good posts. Task 4: Renewable Energy Technology used: Blogger Edmodo YouTube Free web resources Video recording (videocasting)

For this assignment, students need to write 200 to 250 words problem and solution essay about cool cities and renewable energy. Students need to mention how modern cities contribute to global warming (problems) and suggest some ways to save energy and reduce green house effect (solutions). Students need to use the links below to help them write the report. They have to name this post Renewable Energy. http://ibrahim83.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-cities-sdcj.html http://milan5665.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-cities-sdcj.html http://174alharithi.blogspot.com/2008/11/sdcj-cool-cities.html http://adshark.blogspot.com/2008/06/sdcj-cool-cities.html http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1712863_1712864,00.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIaz61zpLfs Students need to post heir reports in their blogs and post a link to their blogs in Edmod. Students have to visit two more blogs from the class and comment on the posts. They have to email links to their posts to their teacher using Edmodo.

For the second part of this assignment, students have to work in pairs and create their own videos and upload them on YouTube. They have to click on private before uploading their video and post links on Edmodo and their blogs. Students have to comment on two more videos and post links to their comments on Edmodo. They have to name their videos Renewable Energy. After the deadline, the teacher chooses some exemplary work and shares them with the class and discusses some of the good aspects of the reports and the videos. Task 5: Fossil Fuel Speaking Technology used: Blogger Edmodo YouTube Free web resources Google Docs Google Presentations Google Images

Students will be creating presentations using Google Docs presentations and document. The teacher will guide students to the basics of the presentation program using the following YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG0etmnwuk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elk0I-mjSZ0 Students will be guided how to invite the teacher to be a collaborator on their files and how to or Emodo publish them to post links on their blogs and Edmodo. Students have to refer to the class website for the assignment details. They have to respond to the following prompt:

Fossil fuels, such as oil, carbon or coal have been used for many years as a source of energy. However, fossil fuels are a non-renewable source of energy and also have serious environmental issues. What are some of the problems of being dependent on fossil fuels as an energy source and what alternatives are there?

Students need to use different search engines and web resources to search this topic. The PowerPoint presentations should include information about fossil fuel, problems, and suggest some solutions.

Students need to include pictures and videos related to the topic. Students need to use Google Docs to take notes keep track of their resources. The teacher will use that document to monitor their progress and suggest different track of thinking when needed. Students are given a week for this assignments and the teacher will check this document three days before the presentation day. Students need to links to their presentations in their blogs and Edmodo and present their work on the presentation day to the whole class. For the final part of this assignment, once the presentations are finished, students have to choose two presentations and comment on them. They have to email links to their response on Edomdo. Final Thoughts I think that this serious of progressive assignments allow students to learn about things in challenging ways. For every assignment, students are expected to new different technological tools as well as synthesizing what they have read. There is no right or wrong for these projects, but students are always encouraged and pushed to their maximum effort in the assigned work. Working with technology, reflecting on their work, commenting on each others work provides a new learning experience for ESL learners- Arab learners in my context. The assignments are designed to provide students with stress free leaning opportunity where they share their anxieties, worriers and fears. Most importantly, by publishing their work and commenting on each others, students develop their sense of ownership and in turn are pushed to their give their utmost effort.

Appendix

Task 1: My Profile

Task 2: Introduction to Global Warming

Task 3: Global Warming

10

Task 4: Renewable Energy

Task 5: Fossil Fuel

11

Class Blog as a Sample

Edmodo account: You may access Edmodo by using the e-mail and password below: E-mail: ngazzar@sharjah.ac.ae Password: lolokoky

12