Laron Thomas
Ed 632
Individual Education Project
Lesson Plans
The
first part of my Individual Education Project explores the site Quizlet. I was first introduced to Quizlet four years ago by a colleague of
mine. He found the site and started using it in his social studies classes for
vocabulary learning. He appeared to like it, and his stories indicated that the
students liked the site as well. However, at the time, I could not use it for
my math classes as I was focused on other, more important aspects of the class.
I did not want to spend the time on vocabulary development, so I continued to
teach the vocabulary informally making sure to use the words all the time in the
classroom. The site intrigued me, but the time was not right to use this
particular tool.
So,
when I came across Quizlet again
during my Internet Resources project, I decided to explore it further and think
how I could incorporate the features and tools of Quizlet into my lesson plans. That is the first aspect I endeavored
to do for this project. I did it because I believe that Quizlet is an engaging site for vocabulary development, which can
be modified specifically for the classes needs. So, I show a number of ways I
could incorporate the site into my past lessons.
The
first lesson is really focused on learning mathematical vocabulary. This is the
same vocabulary we’d start with in Algebra 1. Incidentally, my goal is to introduce the
class to an engaging, powerful vocabulary tool that we’d use all year long. I
designed the lesson in such a way so that my students could become completely
adept at using the site. So, I focus on using each and every tool for a short
bit of time to work on the vocabulary words. This whole lesson works with and
on the Quizlet website. Other
important things to consider are usernames and passwords for the class and the
students, and the procedures to be continually used to use the site throughout
the school year.
The
second lesson is the following lesson for Lesson 1. It emphasizes the many ways
that Quizlet can and will be used in
my math classroom. First, I can use the site as a standalone warm-up exercise.
Second, it can be used for a filler during down time for faster students. It is
an especially great way to have students finish class if they are done with all
their work. The site also gives me a tool to assess my students’ vocabulary
development without having to give formal assessments related to the vocab during
the actual quizzes and tests in class. Finally, I think that it would offer a
great homework assignment because it would be on the computer and it would be
something the students could definitely be successful with.
The
second set of lesson plans I provide come from
the beginning of a second week of study of Alaska Native groups in a 9th
grade Alaska Studies class. The basic goal of the lessons was for the students to
learn enough about the Alaska Native cultures that they could intelligently
discuss them and their key differences and similarities. The way we tackled
this goal was through reading and discussion. On the previous Friday, I had
introduced them to all the Alaska Native cultures by showing a video and having
them locate each group on a map. Now, the reading I gave them was tough, well
above their grade level. (The students were freshmen and the reading was
college level.) We read together and I had them read individually looking for
key ideas and concepts to fill into a worksheet. Things went great but I can
see that using Quizlet could have
immensely enhanced the learning experiences. I could have frontloaded (i.e.,
pretaught) the vocabulary for the day’s reading. As it was, I taught that
lesson in one day but I think I would have had to slow down a bit and do it as
a two or even three day assignment using Quizlet
to aid in vocabulary development and hence in better understandings of the
reading.
Thus, we see how Quizlet can serve a multitude of functions both inside and outside
the classroom. Further, it can be incorporated within almost any part of a
lesson to enhance the students’ understanding and grasp of the subject. Given
enough computers, ipads, smart phones, etc., I would definitely use Quizlet in my classroom in the future.
Here are links to the 4 lessons I have written that use Quizlet.
Here are links to the 4 lessons I have written that use Quizlet.
- IEP Lesson 1-Using Quizlet
- IEP Lesson 2-Evaluating Expressions
- IEP Lesson 3-AK Native Cultures 1
- IEP Lesson 4-AK Native Cultures 2
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