Phase 4
Inquiry Demonstration Plan
| Lesson Title: | Whole body listening-Listening comprehension | Lesson #1 | Phase 1 | Date: | 16/3/2021 |
| Name: | Anjali Amjad Zaheer | Subject(s): | English Learning Arts | Grade(s): | 4 |
Lesson Rationale & Overview
| Whole body listening is a useful tool that breaks down the tasks involved in listening. It has not only aided in making a complex concept clearer, but it increases awareness of expected behavior and can facilitate the teaching of self-advocacy skills. If taught, practiced and supported in a mindful manner, it can become a habit and more automatic response. However, to use this concept correctly, we must be sensitive to the unique abilities of each person. When appropriate modifications are made and abilities are taken into account, whole body listening can be a powerful tool that benefits a broad and diverse range of students. Listening comprehension is considered as the precursor to reading comprehension, so it’s an important skill to develop. Clark (1999) students who are attentive listeners have the ability to influence the attitude of the speaker. The aim of this lesson is to familiarize students with the basic ideas of listening-to start from the simple ways of listening to the complex ones. Thereby preparing them to actively listen to more complex matters. Various classroom activities are provided for them to master this phase of listening. For instance, drawing activity and story completion are the major activities that are done in the classrooms for the students to get a good start of the whole unit. Listening comprehension is the ability to understand what is said and also to understand the words and relate to them. For example, when the students hear a story read aloud, good listening comprehension skills enable them to understand the story, remember it, discuss it, and even retell it in their own words. They use these same comprehension skills when they read. Learning how to listen can also teach students how to communicate their ideas. This is because students who listen pick up more knowledge to reflect on and think critically about before they respond. Plus, for dual language learners in class, learning how to listen can help students pick up their second language faster. The students ask questions related to the topic- whole body listening, and they investigate the different aspects of the same. Through the provided classroom activities, they create their own ideas related to the topic and discuss with the peers and reflect the understanding towards the end of the session. Paying attention and listening to others are not only considered essential for social communication, but also for learning to be part of a group and for academic success. Barr, Dittmar, Roberts, and Sheraden (1997) found that academic performance is strengthened when listening skills are actively taught. |
Key Questions For Inquiry About the Topic of Study
| Core Question for Inquiry Project | Supporting Question(s) in This Lesson |
| What is Whole body listening? How the whole body listening contribute to listening comprehension? How to attain better comprehension? | What helps to listen better? How to actively listen? How to accurately respond to the listened matter? How comprehension affects the other aspects of listening? |
Inquiry Approach/Style and Rationale
| The method of inquiry is design-thinking as engaging students in activities that help them develop ideas for particular listening tasks. This inquiry lesson fosters student engagement, critical thinking, collaborative, and affective skills development. Inquiry-based activities are with clearly defined objectives. The inquiry – based activities allow for collaborative work between students. The activity engages the participants, both teacher and students in collaborating with each other to grow in understanding of the world around them, forming a group. This inquiry model lesson has been designed to be very effective at engaging students in learning and exploring ideas, improving critical thinking skills, affective skills and collaborative skills with related to the tasks. The process engenders affective and collaborative skills and attitudes as well. Since the participants are engaged in thinking together, and if they want their view to be respected, they will learn that they need to respect other viewpoints. Furthermore they will discover that respecting another view point doesn’t just mean waiting their turn to express their view, but to engage with that view, and challenge it to discover just how robust it is (Gardner, 1999). Therefore, through vocalizing the thinking together, and using the language of enquiry students learn how to think ‘reasonably’. Students are critically engaged in important social and co-operative experiences that develop listening, empathy, respect, friendship and the ability to truly work and think co-operatively. |
Core Principles of Effective Teaching. Describe two or more core principles in each lesson.
| Core Principle 1: Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically. **How is the inquiry focused on building disciplinary knowledge and understandings? | The inquiry approach possesses great potential to benefit learners‟ English language skills. It integrates listening and speaking skills, with learners getting the opportunity to practise their listening and speaking through sharing their views in the classroom. In addition, the approach has the capacity to enhance learners‟ confidence to listening effectively and speak more with the approach. |
| Core Principle 2: The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live. *What makes this inquiry valuable, meaningful, and “alive” for the students and teachers? | The activities engage both teacher and students to collaborate with each other and understand the world around by exchanging ideas and by forming groups. Engages students in learning and exploring ideas, improving critical thinking skills, affective skills and collaborative skills. The participants are thinking together, and if they want their view to be respected, they will learn that they need to respect other viewpoints |
| Core Principle 3: Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions. *How do I define learning and success in this inquiry? How is learning expressed and articulated in peer, self and teacher assessments? | Formal and informal observations, Discussions, learning conversations, questioning, conferences, Tasks done in groups, Demonstrations, performances, Peer and self-assessments, Self-reflections |
| Core Principle 4: Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning. *How do I connect students with each other, with experts in the field, with larger communities and nature, and across disciplines? | Through group activities and discussions, they connect with each other and by inviting elders they are exposed to the knowledge, information and experience shared through the meetings. |
| Core Principle 5: Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers. *How do I reflect on the inquiry together, and/or collaborate with others? | Constantly working on the design that makes the class more active and asking opinions from the elders and collogues and through self-reflection. |
BC Curriculum Core Competencies
| Communication | Thinking | Personal & Social |
| Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives. This facet of communication is closely linked to the building and sustaining of relationships at home, at school, in the community, and through social media. | Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world. | Students who are personally aware and responsible have a sense of self-worth and a growing confidence in a variety of situations. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments. They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves. |
BC Curriculum Big Ideas (STUDENTS UNDERSTAND)
| Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works. Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens. |
BC Curriculum Learning Standards
| (STUDENTS DO) | (STUDENTS KNOW) |
| Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies | Learning Standards – Content |
| Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing) Access and integrate information and ideas from a variety of sources and from prior knowledge to build understanding Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of text Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts Apply a variety of thinking skills to gain meaning from texts | Students are expected to know the following: Story/text • forms, functions, and genres of text • text features • literary elements • literary devices evidence Strategies and processes • reading strategies • oral language strategies • metacognitive strategies • writing processes Language features, structures, and conventions • features of oral language • paragraph structure • sentence structure and grammar • conventions |
BC Curriculum Indigenous Connections/ First Peoples Principles of Learning
| How will I incorporate Indigenous knowledge and principles of learning? Wherever possible seek to involve local Aboriginal community in class room activities as they are the best equipped and most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge Engages students in both hands-on and minds-on learning experiences. People learn best when they can take in information using a variety of sensory inputs. Prior knowledge and experiences are primary factors in a person’s ability to learn new information. This is true because prior learning creates a bridge that helps learners link what they already know with what they need to learn. These connections help learners store, retrieve, and transfer new learning. |
Respectful Relations: Inclusion, Personalization and Diversity
| How will I invite students of all backgrounds, interests and skills into the inquiry? \ By devoting time to the students and by giving them individual attention. Designing activities that children from all the backgrounds can follow. For example, playing, singing etc. The aim of the teacher is to orient the children in discovering the world and the environment around. With the help of storybooks, playing and singing, and need to give the students a wonderful learning experience. |
Lesson Activities
| Time Allotted | Teacher | Students | Assessment Activities | |
| Invitation: Ask | 10 minutes | Teacher plays a music and asks the students to listen. Teacher asks general questions to check the listening ability of the students In general. Questions: How you listen? What are the things to be taken care of while listening? What are the matters they listen to in a daily life? What they like to listen? | Listens to the music and enjoys the music, Participate, answer the questions using their existing knowledge, | Teacher checks whether the answers are appropriate. |
| Investigate | 15 minutes | Teacher introduces the topic ‘Whole body listening’ Encourages students to ask questions. Discusses various types of activities and allows interactions that connect them with the topic. Activity 1; Teacher makes the students play the game ‘adjective draw’. Teacher gives instructions and gives a list of descriptions with adjectives. Eg. Draw a big black elephant without tusks. Gives some time after each question for the students to draw. Allows the students to show their pictures after the activity. Activity 2; Teacher explains the story telling activity. Divides the class into 5 to 6 groups and make them sit face to face. | Students ask questions related to the topic. What is whole body listening? How it improves listening skill? How can the whole body listen? Students participate in the discussion and interact with each other. Students listen to the instructions given by the teacher and follow them. They complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the group. Students listen to the instructions given by the teacher. Students sit in groups for the activity. | Ensures the participation of all the students. Checks the interaction within the class. Whether ideas are shared and the listening ability of the students. Assures the expected outcome at the end of the activity. Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. Checks the continuity of the activity, ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students to their respective groups. Whether they are using the whole-body listening techniques in between. |
| Create | 15 minutes | Activity 1. Gives 8 to 10 descriptions for the students to draw. Gives additional clues whenever needed. Activity 2. Teacher starts the story line and assign each group their turns. Acts as a moderator for the activity at the same time active participation is also provided. | Listens carefully. Students complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the group. Create their own ideas, share it within the group. Practices whole body listening to complete the activity. Students put forward their ides to the group members. They realizes the challenge within the activity and act accordingly. They make necessary changes within the game and identify that their role in story completion and feel responsible as a group member. | Assures the expected outcome at the end of the activity. Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. Checks the continuity of the activity, ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students to their respective groups. Whether they are using the whole body listening techniques in between |
| Discuss | 5 minutes | Teacher discusses the outcome of the activity about the challenges and various perspectives of the same. Allow students to contribute their thoughts. Summarize the activity and introduces possible alternate endings. | Students participate in the discussions and contributes their ideas and thoughts. They discuss the challenges faced by them during the game. Students shares their ideas. Students try to render their ideas after understanding the concept. | Ensures the participation of the students. Checks whether they have understood the concepts and are replying accordingly. |
| Reflect | 10 minutes | The participation of the students whenever needed. Observes and reacts when the students pause or they are confused. Asks about the whole body listening, How they used the same during the activities? The challenges faced during the activity? | Students participates in the discussion. They asks questions and pauses in between. Listen carefully and share their ideas and thoughts. They discuss as groups and give their opinions. | Ensures the participation and analyses the answers given by the students. |
Materials and Resources (use APA citation format)
| Story books Writing Materials Drawing Sheets |
Organizational Strategies (Optional)
| Activity 1-Individual work and they will be seated in their respective seats. Activity 2-Students will be divided into 5-6 groups and seated face to face. |
Proactive, Positive Classroom Learning Environment Strategies (Optional)
| Students have the privilege of drawing picture as they like, no perfection is demanded. They can discuss and share their views. |
Extensions
| During activity 2 they speak according to their imagination and they are allowed to make changes and twists in the story which makes them curious, happy and daring. |
Reflections (to be completed after the Lesson Demonstration ONLY)
| Overview The lesson demonstration session was a really good experience. The first thing was that I had to cut short my lesson into 40 minutes. There were restrictions on doing this lesson online as the platform prevented me from doing many things that would contribute to the real essence of the content of the lesson. Secondly my peers had to act as 4th grade students, which was fun at the same time challenging for them. The reason why I choose this lesson for the demonstration is because this particular one was the very basic of the lessons which I had prepared under the topic ‘Listening comprehension’. This was easy to execute as it starts with simple concepts and gradually addresses the complex concepts. Positive aspects. The lesson was fun and interactive. My peers rendered their maximum participation and made the activities fruitful as I expected. They shared their ideas and thoughts. They were enthusiastic while doing the drawing activity and were happy to share their works and even curious to see the works of others. The main concept was conceived very well by my peers and the really implemented the whole body listening throughout their activities where they need to listen and act accordingly. Needs improvement: While introducing the concept ’whole body listening a ‘step by step strategy would be more useful and the students could really understand and gain knowledge regarding the topic in a better way. As the questions from my peers were thought provoking and relevant, I wish to modify the introduction session in a little different way which would be a bit more engaging and challenging for the students. Feedback of peers Most of my classmates gave an excellent feedback for the lesson. The idea to start from a simple activity like drawing a simple picture according to the adjectives and gradually moving to the complex activity of story completion were really appreciated by my peers. One of the classmates suggested to use audio which is not in any way complicated along with Activity 1 to get a different experience for the students to explore. Conclusion. There is a huge difference in preparing the lesson plan and implementing it in the class I realized many of the practical difficulties while doing the activities in the class and decided to make change in the lesson plan accordingly. The feedback from my peers were really helpful and thought provoking and made me think in a different perspective. |
Inquiry Demonstration Plan
| Lesson Title: | Three modes of Listening | Lesson # | 2 | Date: | 6/4/2021 |
| Name: | Anjali Amjad Zaheer | Subject(s): | English Learning Arts | Grade(s): | 4 |
Lesson Rationale & Overview
Why does this topic matter to students? Most of what we do or don’t do (the way we act and respond to others) is based upon our understanding of the messages that have been conveyed to us. In “real world” terms, misunderstanding can cost us time, money, credibility, and even relationships. Conversely, accurately received messages create comfort, confidence, and appreciation in the minds of others, from friends to coworkers to customers. Effective listening has three modes: attentive listening, responsive listening, and active listening. Understanding these modes will help students increase their listening accuracy and reduce the opportunity for misunderstanding. Attentive Listening Attentive listeners focus on the speaker and work hard to eliminate distractions (such as ambient noise or poor delivery skills). They are also patient and let the speaker finish their thoughts without interruption. While not easy, attentive listening is essential for effective communication. Responsive Listening Responsive listeners demonstrate to the speaker that they are listening and understanding what is being said, which encourages the speaker to continue. Encouraging responses may include both nonverbal and verbal cues: Nonverbal Responses Smiling, Appropriate facial expression, an affirmative nod of the head, Good (appropriate) eye contact, minimizing distractions (turning off cell phones, etc.), Taking notes (under-utilized way to broaden the depth of learning), Leaning slightly towards the speaker. Verbal Responses “Uh-huh”, “I see”, “Yes”, “Really?”,Occasionally repeating or paraphrasing short phrases to show what you’ve heard Active Listening Active listening is probably the most important listening skill. It is “active” because it combines the skills of listening and responding without invalidating the speaker’s comments, giving the speaker personal opinions, advice, or trying to draw ownership of the conversation away from the speaker. An active listener monitors the communication of a message at both the content and feeling level. They pay attention to what people say, how they say it, and why they’re saying it. Then, once the listener feels they understand the sender’s message, they paraphrase it back to the speaker to ensure understanding prior to responding with their own answer or message. The listener’s goal is to first understand the messenger’s thoughts, feelings, and needs and then send them back for verification of accuracy before proceeding. When paraphrasing, it is important to use your own words; don’t just simply parrot back what the messenger said. Utilizing these three modes of listening will make the learner a more effective listener and, in turn, a more effective communicator. How does this lesson fit within the larger inquiry project? The aim of this lesson is to make students aware about the three important modes of listening which help them to communicate well. By introducing this lesson, students are taken to the next level of learning, moving from a simple to complex classroom learning activities. These activities will affect their listening ability and make a big difference in what they get out of and put into a conversation. Once they understand how these impact their listening, most likely it will stay in their mind and keep them on their toes when it comes to the times they need them the most. How does this lesson incorporate the inquiry cycle? When the learners apply the three basic skills of listening that they learned about, they should be able to find that they are right where they need to be in order to effectively listen. Learners should be at a point where they actively listen to and reflect on what they hear. At this point, they may be thinking that they want to have a better attitude, pay more attention, and be more flexible and adjusting, but they are not sure how to do that. |
Key Questions For Inquiry About the Topic of Study
| Core Question for Inquiry Project | Supporting Question(s) in This Lesson |
Why are effective listening skills important? How the three modes of listening help in effective communication? | How to listen attentively? What is active listening? How to use nonverbal responses? |
Inquiry Approach/Style and Rationale
This Inquiry-based lesson provides a learning process makes real-world connections through exploration and high-level questioning. Through design-thinking method students are encouraged to engage in problem-solving and experiential learning. There is so much happening in our world that is worth our learners discovering and experiencing. With the right provocations, real authentic learning can happen. That’s exactly what these inquiry-based learning activities will provide. Each one provides a scenario with real-world flavor, a set of discussion questions, and resources for further exploration and knowledge expansion. In today’s world, teaching students to be effective, active listeners, is a vital task. In an environment of quick click, constant scrolling, pithy soundbites, the ability to be fully present to the people speaking around us is a significant skill to develop. But that is just it: it is a skill to be mastered and constantly worked on; it requires plenty of practice to fully develop the effective habits of a good listener. As teachers, we need to provide students with opportunities to discuss, exchange ideas, and listen meaningfully; we also need to give them the tools to do so effectively. |
Core Principles of Effective Teaching. Describe two or more core principles in each lesson.
| Core Principle 1: Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically.**How is the inquiry focused on building disciplinary knowledge and understandings? | The students use their critical-thinking and investigation skills in learning how the three modes of listening work effectively for better communication. Students pose original questions they investigate through their own methods, presenting their results to expand their knowledge base through discussion.Students gather in groups to design investigation methods and reinforce problem solving skills to reach a conclusion. |
| Core Principle 2: The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live.*What makes this inquiry valuable, meaningful, and “alive” for the students and teachers? | The classroom listening activities focus on investigating and use evidence-based reasoning and creative problem-solving to reach a conclusion, which they must defend or present.From a teacher point-of-view, inquiry-based teaching and the provided classroom activities focus on moving students beyond general curiosity into the realms of critical thinking and understanding. Teacher must encourage students to ask questions and support them through the investigation process, understanding when to begin and how to structure an inquiry activity to achieve desirable outcomes. |
| Core Principle 3: Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions.*How do I define learning and success in this inquiry? How is learning expressed and articulated in peer, self and teacher assessments? | The observations during the learning activities, questioning sessions, group tasks, assessments both self and peer and reflections. |
| Core Principle 4: Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning.*How do I connect students with each other, with experts in the field, with larger communities and nature, and across disciplines? | The discussion sessions, group activities help students to connect with each other. This adds much to the learning environment. Resourceful people are being invited to share the knowledge. |
| Core Principle 5: Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers.*How do I reflect on the inquiry together, and/or collaborate with others? | Improvising on the design in a way that makes the class more active and by asking opinions from the elders and collogues and through self-reflection. |
BC Curriculum Core Competencies
| Communication | Thinking | Personal & Social |
| Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives. This facet of communication is closely linked to the building and sustaining of relationships at home, at school, in the community, and through social media. | Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world | Students who are personally aware and responsible have a sense of self-worth and a growing confidence in a variety of situations. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments. They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves |
BC Curriculum Big Ideas (STUDENTS UNDERSTAND)
| Using language in creative and playful ways helpsus understand how language works.Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens |
BC Curriculum Learning Standards
| (STUDENTS DO) | (STUDENTS KNOW) |
| Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies | Learning Standards – Content |
| Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of textConsider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts | Strategies and processes• reading strategies• oral language strategies• metacognitive strategies• writing processesLanguage features, structures, and conventions• features of oral language• paragraph structure• sentence structure and grammar• conventions |
BC Curriculum Indigenous Connections/ First Peoples Principles of Learning
| How will I incorporate Indigenous knowledge and principles of learning? Wherever possible you should seek to involving local Aboriginal community in class room activities as they are the best equipped and most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge Engages students in both hands-on and minds-on learning experiences. People learn best when they can take in information using a variety of sensory inputs. Prior knowledge and experiences are primary factors in a person’s ability to learn new information. This is true because prior learning creates a bridge that helps learners link what they already know with what they need to learn. These connections help learners store, retrieve, and transfer new learning. |
Respectful Relations: Inclusion, Personalization and Diversity
| How will I invite students of all backgrounds, interests and skills into the inquiry? By devoting time to the students and by giving them individual attention. Designing activities that children from all the backgrounds can follow. For example, playing, singing etc. The aim of the teacher is to orient the children in discovering the world and the environment around. With the help of storybooks, playing and singing, and need to give the students a wonderful learning experience. |
Lesson Activities
| Time Allotted | Teacher | Students | Assessment Activities | |
| Invitation: Ask | 5minutes | Holds a discussion discussing the lessons of the last class. | Participates and recalls what they have learned. | Two or three relevant questions from previous lesson. |
| Investigate | 20 minutes | Teacher introduces the topic The three modes of listening. Encourages students to ask questions. Discusses various types of activities and allows.interactions that connect them with the topic. Activity 1; Teacher makes the students sit in pairs and start the activity ‘spot the change’. Read the class a short story. Then read it again, making some changes. Each time children hear a change they discuss with their pair and clap or raise his or her hand. Activity 2; Teacher provides a paragraph to the students with many new words. After silent reading students ask questions. From their gathered information they form their own meanings. Students discuss the answers. (Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives.) | Students ask questions related to the topic.Why are effective listening skills important? How the three modes of listening help in effective communication? Students participate in the discussion and interact with each other. Students discuss and raises/claps hands to give answers. Students give their answers, the meanings that they understood after listening to the paragraph. | Checks the continuity of the activity, ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students to their respective groups. Whether they are using the three modes of listening techniques in between. |
| Create | 15 minutes | Activity one- After using the modes of listening students find out the answers and then discuss and create the ideas. Activity two-Students create their own ideas as they listen carefully. | Listens carefully. Students complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the group. Create their own ideas, share it within the group. | Assures the expected outcome at the end of the activity. Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. |
| Discuss | 10 minutes | Teacher discusses the outcome of the activity about the challenges and various perspectives of the same. | Students participate in the discussions and contributes their ideas and thoughts.They discuss the challenges faced by them during the game. | Checks whether they have understood the concepts and are replying accordingly |
| Reflect | 5 minutes | The participation of the students whenever needed. Observes and reacts when the students pause or they are confused. Asks about the whole body listening, How they used the same during the activities? The challenges faced during the activity? | Students participates in the discussion. They asks questions and pauses in between. Listen carefully and share their ideas and thoughts. They discuss as groups and give their opinions. | Ensures the participation and analyses the answers given by the students |
Materials and Resources (use APA citation format)
| Writing materialsStory books |
Organizational Strategies (Optional)
| Activity one-Students will be sitting in pairs.Activity two-Students will be sitting in their respective seats. |
Proactive, Positive Classroom Learning Environment Strategies (Optional)
Activity one- informal settings where students can share their ideas, discuss and voice out the opinions.Activity two-Encourages students to bring out the right answers by clapping for their best responses. |
Extensions
Students can share their imagination as well in activity 1. This creates a free environment and builds confidence in the learners. |
Reflections (to be completed after the Lesson Demonstration ONLY)
Inquiry Demonstration Plan
| Lesson Title: | Barriers of Listening | Lesson # | 3 | Date: | 6/4/2021 |
| Name: | Anjali Amjad Zaheer | Subject(s): | English Language Arts | Grade(s): | 4th |
Lesson Rationale & Overview
| Why does this topic matter to students? Common Barriers to Listening There are many things that get in the way of listening and should be aware of these barriers, many of which are bad habits, in order to become a more effective listener. Here we will explore how environmental and physical factors, cognitive and personal factors, and bad listening practices present barriers to effective listening. Barriers and bad habits to effective listening can include: Trying to listen to more than one conversation at a time, this includes having the television or radio on while attempting to listen to somebody talk; being on the phone to one person and talking to another person in the same room and also being distracted by some dominant noise in the immediate environment. Students find the communicator attractive/unattractive and pay more attention to how you feel about the communicator and their physical appearance than to what they are saying. Perhaps simply don’t like the speaker – may mentally argue with the speaker and be fast to criticize, either verbally or in your head Not interested in the topic/issue being discussed and become bored. Not focusing and being easily distracted, fiddling with hair, fingers, a pen etc. or gazing out of the window or focusing on objects other than the speaker. Feeling unwell or tired, hungry, thirsty or needing to use the toilet. Identifying rather than empathizing – understanding what you are hearing but not putting yourself in the shoes of the speaker. As most of us have a lot of internal self-dialogue we spend a lot of time listening to our own thoughts and feelings – it can be difficult to switch the focus from ‘I’ or ‘me’ to ‘them’ or ‘you’. Effective listening involves opening your mind to the views of others and attempting to feel empathetic. Sympathizing rather than empathizing – sympathy is not the same as empathy, you sympathize when you feel sorry for the experiences of another, to empathize is to put yourself in the position of the other person. You are prejudiced or biased by race, gender, age, religion, accent, and/or past experiences. You have preconceived ideas or bias – effective listening includes being open-minded to the ideas and opinions of others, this does not mean you have to agree but should listen and attempt to understand. You make judgements, thinking, for example that a person is not very bright or is under-qualified so there is no point listening to what they have to say. Previous experiences – we are all influenced by previous experiences in life. We respond to people based on personal appearances, how initial introductions or welcomes were received and/or previous interpersonal encounters. If we stereotype a person, we become less objective and therefore less likely to listen effectively. Preoccupation – when we have a lot on our minds, we can fail to listen to what is being said as we’re too busy concentrating on what we’re thinking about. This is particularly true when we feel stressed or worried about issues. Having a Closed Mind – we all have ideals and values that we believe to be correct and it can be difficult to listen to the views of others that contradict our own opinions. The key to effective listening and interpersonal skills more generally is the ability to have a truly open mind – to understand why others think about things differently to you and use this information to gain a better understanding of the speaker. How does this lesson fit within the larger inquiry project? The aim of this lesson is to make students aware about the three important modes of listening which help them to avoid distractions and communicate well. By introducing this lesson, students are taken to the level of learning where they can refine their learning and move to more complex and meaningful classroom learning activities. These activities will influence their listening ability and make a big difference in what they get out of and put into a conversation. Once they understand how these impact and influence their listening, most likely it will stay in their mind and make them prepared to listen with much alertness. How does this lesson incorporate the inquiry cycle? When the learners are aware of the barriers listening, they should be able to find that they are right where they need to be in order to effectively listen. Learners should be at a point where they actively listen to, avoid distractions and reflect on what they hear. At this point, they may be thinking that they want to have a better attitude, pay more attention, and be more flexible and adjusting. |
Key Questions For Inquiry About the Topic of Study
| Core Question for Inquiry Project | Supporting Question(s) in This Lesson |
| What are the main barriers of listening? Are we really listening? What is not a barrier to listening? | How to overcome the barriers of listening? How can listening barriers be reduced? |
Inquiry Approach/Style and Rationale
| Barriers to effective listening are present at every stage of the listening process. At the receiving stage, noise can block or distort incoming stimuli. At the interpreting stage, complex or abstract information may be difficult to relate to previous experiences, making it difficult to reach understanding. At the recalling stage, natural limits to our memory and challenges to concentration can interfere with remembering. At the evaluating stage, personal biases and prejudices can lead us to block people out or assume we know what they are going to say. At the responding stage, a lack of paraphrasing and questioning skills can lead to misunderstanding. We will explore how environmental and physical factors, cognitive and personal factors, and bad listening practices present barriers to effective listening. The method of inquiry is design-thinking as engaging students in activities that help them develop ideas for particular listening tasks. This inquiry lesson fosters student engagement, critical thinking, collaborative, and affective skills development. Inquiry-based activities are with clearly defined objectives. The inquiry – based activities allow for collaborative work between students. The activity engages the participants, both teacher and students in collaborating with each other to grow in understanding of the world around them, forming a group. This inquiry model lesson has been designed to be very effective at engaging students in learning and exploring ideas, improving critical thinking skills, affective skills and collaborative skills with related to the tasks. The process engenders affective and collaborative skills and attitudes as well. Since the participants are engaged in thinking together, and if they want their view to be respected, they will learn that they need to respect other viewpoints. |
Core Principles of Effective Teaching. Describe two or more core principles in each lesson.
| Core Principle 1: Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically. **How is the inquiry focused on building disciplinary knowledge and understandings? | The inquiry approach possesses great potential to benefit learners‟ English language skills. It integrates listening and speaking skills, with learners getting the opportunity to practise their listening and speaking through sharing their views in the classroom. In addition, the approach has the capacity to enhance learners‟ confidence to listening effectively and speak more with the approach. |
| Core Principle 2: The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live. *What makes this inquiry valuable, meaningful, and “alive” for the students and teachers? | The inquiry approach possesses great potential to benefit learners‟ English language skills. It integrates listening and speaking skills, with learners getting the opportunity to practise their listening and speaking through sharing their views in the classroom. In addition, the approach has the capacity to enhance learners‟ confidence to listening effectively and speak more with the approach. |
| Core Principle 3: Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions. *How do I define learning and success in this inquiry? How is learning expressed and articulated in peer, self and teacher assessments? | Formal and informal observations, Discussions, learning conversations, questioning, conferences, Tasks done in groups, Demonstrations, performances, Peer and self-assessments, Self-reflections |
| Core Principle 4: Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning. *How do I connect students with each other, with experts in the field, with larger communities and nature, and across disciplines? | Through group activities and discussions, they connect with each other and by inviting elders they are exposed to the knowledge, information and experience shared through the meetings. |
| Core Principle 5: Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers. *How do I reflect on the inquiry together, and/or collaborate with others? | Constantly working on the design that makes the class more active and asking opinions from the elders and collogues and through self-reflection. |
BC Curriculum Core Competencies
| Communication | Thinking | Personal & Social |
| Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives. This facet of communication is closely linked to the building and sustaining of relationships at home, at school, in the community, and through social media. | Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world. | Students who are personally aware and responsible have a sense of self-worth and a growing confidence in a variety of situations. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments. They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves. |
BC Curriculum Big Ideas (STUDENTS UNDERSTAND)
| Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works. Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens. |
BC Curriculum Learning Standards
| (STUDENTS DO) | (STUDENTS KNOW) |
| Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies | Learning Standards – Content |
| Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing) Access and integrate information and ideas from a variety of sources and from prior knowledge to build understanding Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of text | Students are expected to know the following: Story/text • forms, functions, and genres of text • text features • literary elements • literary devices • evidence |
BC Curriculum Indigenous Connections/ First Peoples Principles of Learning
| How will I incorporate Indigenous knowledge and principles of learning? Wherever possible you should seek to involving local Aboriginal community in class room activities as they are the best equipped and most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge Engages students in both hands-on and minds-on learning experiences. People learn best when they can take in information using a variety of sensory inputs. Prior knowledge and experiences are primary factors in a person’s ability to learn new information. This is true because prior learning creates a bridge that helps learners link what they already know with what they need to learn. These connections help learners store, retrieve, and transfer new learning. |
Respectful Relations: Inclusion, Personalization and Diversity
| How will I invite students of all backgrounds, interests and skills into the inquiry? By devoting time to the students and by giving them individual attention. Designing activities that children from all the backgrounds can follow. For example, playing, singing etc. The aim of the teacher is to orient the children in discovering the world and the environment around. With the help of storybooks, playing and singing, and need to give the students a wonderful learning experience. |
Lesson Activities
| Time Allotted | Teacher | Students | Assessment Activities | |
| Invitation: Ask | 10 minutes | Teacher asks general questions to check the development in the listening ability of the students. | Participate, answer the questions using their existing knowledge, | Teacher checks whether the answers are appropriate and checks the influence of the previous activities. |
| Investigate | 20 minutes | Teacher introduces the topic ‘Barriers of Listening’ Encourages students to ask questions. Discusses various types of activities and allows interactions that connect them with the topic. Activity 1(continuation of adjective draw). Teacher makes the students draw some pictures according to the instructions. Teacher gives instructions and gives a list of descriptions. Gives some time after each question for the students to draw. Allows the students to show their pictures after the activity. | Students ask questions related to the topic. What are the main barriers of listening? Are we really listening? What is not a barrier to listening? Students participate in the discussion and interact with each other. Students listen to the instructions given by the teacher and follow them. They complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the group. Students listen to the instructions given by the teacher. Students sit in pairs for the activity. | Assures the expected outcome at the end of the activity. Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. Checks the continuity of the activity, ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students. |
| Create | 15 minutes | Gives 10 descriptions for the students to draw. Gives additional clues whenever needed. | Listens carefully. Students complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the class. Create their own ideas and share it. Practices to overcome the barriers of listening to complete the activity. Students put forward their ideas in pairs. They realize the challenge within the activity and act accordingly. They make necessary changes within the game and identify that their role in story completion and feel responsible as a group member. | Assures the expected outcome at the end of the activity. Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. Checks the continuity of the activity, ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students to their respective pairs. Whether they are able to overcome the barriers of listening. |
| Discuss | 5 minutes | Teacher discusses the outcome of the activity about the challenges and various perspectives of the same. Allow students to contribute their thoughts. Summarize the activity and introduces possible alternate endings. | Students participate in the discussions and contributes their ideas and thoughts. They discuss the challenges faced by them during the activity. Students shares their ideas. Students try to render their ideas after understanding the concept. | Ensures the participation of the students. Checks whether they have understood the concepts and are replying accordingly. |
| Reflect | 10 minutes | The participation of the students whenever needed. Observes and reacts when the students pause or they are confused. Asks about the barriers of listening, How they overcame the same during the activities? The challenges faced during the activity? | Students participates in the discussion. They asks questions and pauses in between. Listen carefully and share their ideas and thoughts. They discuss as groups and give their opinions. | Ensures the participation and analyses the answers given by the students. |
Materials and Resources (use APA citation format)
| Writing Materials Drawing Sheets |
Organizational Strategies (Optional)
| Individuals work in pairs and they will be seated in pairs. |
Proactive, Positive Classroom Learning Environment Strategies (Optional)
| Students have the privilege of drawing picture as they like, no perfection is demanded. They can discuss and share their views. |
Extensions
| During the activity they speak according to their imagination and they are allowed to make changes and twists in the story which makes them curious, happy and daring. |
Reflections (to be completed after the Lesson Demonstration ONLY)
Inquiry Demonstration Plan
| Lesson Title: | Techniques of effective Listening | Lesson # | 4 | Date: | 6/3/2021 |
| Name: | Anjali Amjad Zaheer | Subject(s): | English Learning Arts | Grade(s): | 4th |
Lesson Rationale & Overview
| Why does this topic matter to students? Listening is the key to great relationships and good understanding. It’s important in today’s society, with all of our high-tech communication capabilities, to tune in and really listen to one another whenever possible. In today’s high-tech, high-speed, high-stress world, communication is more important than ever, yet we seem to devote less and less time to really listening to one another. Genuine listening has become a rare gift—the gift of time. It helps build relationships, solve problems, ensure understanding, resolve conflicts, and improve accuracy. At work, effective listening means fewer errors and less wasted time. At home, it helps develop resourceful, self-reliant kids who can solve their own problems. Listening builds friendships and careers. Focus on the Speaker Meetings and project reports always have small distractions that can lessen your attention span. For example, a vibrating phone can distract you long enough to miss an important point. Avoid distractions by putting all your focus on the speaker. Make eye contact and face the speaker directly. Sit in an upright position to demonstrate attentiveness. A laser like focus helps drown out the distractions around you. Management Strategies emphasizes the importance of synthesizing what is being said and considering your own feelings and viewpoints about the topic. Look at Body Language Like words, body language plays a key role in communication. Pay attention to the speaker’s posture and hand gestures to determine emotion and emphasis. Stay focused on the speaker. Nod your head to indicate that you understand what is said. Maintain an open body position. Keep a clear view of the speaker. Lean forward as you’re listening. Ask for Clarification by Rephrasing Techniques of effective listening include participating during the meeting by asking pointed questions. Allow the speaker to open up the meeting to questions or wait for a pause. Ask your question by rephrasing the main point. The repetition gives you another chance to go over the point before the speaker clarifies. Additionally, going into a meeting expecting to ask questions gives you another incentive to listen carefully. How does this lesson fit within the larger inquiry project? The aim of this lesson is to make students aware about the Techniques of Listening, which help them to communicate well. By introducing this lesson, students are taken to the advanced level of learning, doing complex classroom learning activities. These activities will help their listening ability and make a big difference in what they get out of and put into a conversation. Once they understand how these impacts their listening, most likely it will stay in their mind and keep them on their toes when it comes to the times, they need them the most. How does this lesson incorporate the inquiry cycle? When the learners apply the three basic skills of listening that they learned about, they should be able to find that they are right where they need to be in order to effectively listen. Learners should be at a point where they actively listen to and reflect on what they hear. At this point, they may be thinking that they want to have a better attitude, pay more attention, and be more flexible and adjusting, but they are not sure how to do that. |
Key Questions For Inquiry About the Topic of Study
| Core Question for Inquiry Project | Supporting Question(s) in This Lesson |
| What are the techniques required for effective listening? How to listen effectively? | What is effective listening? Why to listen effectively? |
Inquiry Approach/Style and Rationale
| Listening is a significant part of communication process. Communication cannot take place until and unless a message is heard and retained thoroughly and positively by the receivers/listeners. Listening is a dynamic process. Listening means attentiveness and interest perceptible in the posture as well as expressions. Listening implies decoding (i.e., translating the symbols into meaning) and interpreting the messages correctly in communication process. This Inquiry-based lesson provides a learning process makes real-world connections through exploration and high-level questioning. Through design-thinking method students are encouraged to engage in problem-solving and experiential learning. There is so much happening in our world that is worth our learners discovering and experiencing. With the right provocations, real authentic learning can happen. That’s exactly what these inquiry-based learning activities will provide. Each one provides a scenario with real-world flavor, a set of discussion questions, and resources for further exploration and knowledge expansion. |
Core Principles of Effective Teaching. Describe two or more core principles in each lesson.
| Core Principle 1: Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically. **How is the inquiry focused on building disciplinary knowledge and understandings? | The students use their critical-thinking and investigation skills in learning how the three modes of listening work effectively for better communication. Students pose original questions they investigate through their own methods, presenting their results to expand their knowledge base through discussion. Students gather in groups to design investigation methods and reinforce problem solving skills to reach a conclusion. |
| Core Principle 2: The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live. *What makes this inquiry valuable, meaningful, and “alive” for the students and teachers? | The classroom listening activities focus on investigating and use evidence-based reasoning and creative problem-solving to reach a conclusion, which they must defend or present. From a teacher point-of-view, inquiry-based teaching and the provided classroom activities focus on moving students beyond general curiosity into the realms of critical thinking and understanding. Teacher must encourage students to ask questions and support them through the investigation process, understanding when to begin and how to structure an inquiry activity to achieve desirable outcomes. |
| Core Principle 3: Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions. *How do I define learning and success in this inquiry? How is learning expressed and articulated in peer, self and teacher assessments? | The observations during the learning activities, questioning sessions, group tasks, assessments both self and peer and reflections |
| Core Principle 4: Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning. *How do I connect students with each other, with experts in the field, with larger communities and nature, and across disciplines? | The discussion sessions, group activities help students to connect with each other. This adds much to the learning environment. Resourceful people are being invited to share the knowledge. |
| Core Principle 5: Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers. *How do I reflect on the inquiry together, and/or collaborate with others? | Improvising on the design in a way that makes the class more active and by asking opinions from the elders and collogues and through self-reflection. |
BC Curriculum Core Competencies
| Communication | Thinking | Personal & Social |
| Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives. This facet of communication is closely linked to the building and sustaining of relationships at home, at school, in the community, and through social media. | Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world | Students who are personally aware and responsible have a sense of self-worth and a growing confidence in a variety of situations. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments. They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves |
BC Curriculum Big Ideas (STUDENTS UNDERSTAND)
| Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works. Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens |
BC Curriculum Learning Standards
| (STUDENTS DO) | (STUDENTS KNOW) |
| Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies | Learning Standards – Content |
| Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of text Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts | Strategies and processes • reading strategies • oral language strategies • metacognitive strategies • writing processes Language features, structures, and conventions • features of oral language • paragraph structure • sentence structure and grammar • conventions |
BC Curriculum Indigenous Connections/ First Peoples Principles of Learning
| How will I incorporate Indigenous knowledge and principles of learning? Wherever possible you should seek to involving local Aboriginal community in class room activities as they are the best equipped and most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge Engages students in both hands-on and minds-on learning experiences. People learn best when they can take in information using a variety of sensory inputs. Prior knowledge and experiences are primary factors in a person’s ability to learn new information. This is true because prior learning creates a bridge that helps learners link what they already know with what they need to learn. These connections help learners store, retrieve, and transfer new learning. |
Respectful Relations: Inclusion, Personalization and Diversity
| How will I invite students of all backgrounds, interests and skills into the inquiry? By devoting time to the students and by giving them individual attention. Designing activities that children from all the backgrounds can follow. For example, playing, singing etc. The aim of the teacher is to orient the children in discovering the world and the environment around. With the help of storybooks, playing and singing, and need to give the students a wonderful learning experience |
Lesson Activities
| Time Allotted | Teacher | Students | Assessment Activities | |
| Invitation: Ask | 5 minutes | Holds a discussion discussing the lessons of the last class. | Participates and recalls what they have learned. | Two or three relevant questions from previous lesson |
| Investigate | 20 minutes | Teacher introduces the topic The techniques of effective listening. Encourages students to ask questions. Discusses various types of activities and allows. interactions that connect them with the topic. Activity 1-Teacher asks the students to form groups and starts the qiz. The questions start from simple to complex forms. | Students ask questions related to the topic The techniques of effective listening. What are the techniques required for effective listening? How to listen effectively? Students participate in the discussion and interact with each other. Students discuss and raises/claps hands to give answers. Students give their answers. | Ensures the contributions of each group, observes the individual contribution of the students to their respective groups. |
| Create | 15 minutes | Students hear the questions and discuss the answers and form their ideas and opinions. | They share their work with the group. Create their own ideas, share it within the group. | Checks the how the students are concentrating and responding to the matters after listening. |
| Discuss | 10 minutes | Teacher discusses the outcome of the activity about the challenges and various perspectives of the same. | Students participate in the discussions and contributes their ideas and thoughts. They discuss the challenges faced by them during the quiz. | Checks whether they have understood the concepts and are replying accordingly. |
| Reflect | 5 minutes | The participation of the students whenever needed. Observes and reacts when the students pause or they are confused. Asks about the whole body listening, How they used the same during the activities? The challenges faced during the activity? | Students participates in the discussion. They asks questions and pauses in between. Listen carefully and share their ideas and thoughts. They discuss as groups and give their opinions. | Ensures the participation and analyses the answers given by the students |
Materials and Resources (use APA citation format)
| Questions for Quiz |
Organizational Strategies (Optional)
| Students will be sitting in groups. |
Proactive, Positive Classroom Learning Environment Strategies (Optional)
| Activity one- informal settings where students can share their ideas, discuss and voice out the opinions. Encourages students to bring out the right answers by clapping for their best responses. |
Extensions
| Students can share their imagination as well in activity 1. This creates a free environment and builds confidence in the learners. |
Reflections (to be completed after the Lesson Demonstration ONLY)