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Lesson Plan Critique

The lesson I am choosing to critique is from the Geography 12 course at the school where I
work. I was interested in critiquing a lesson from this course because I was the first to deliver it at
my school, but gave the course up to move into academic advising. I am geography major and
have a particular interest in the subject and course because at one time it was my baby. Jeff Laing,
who teaches Geography 12 and developed this lesson, is one of the stronger teachers at our school
in my opinion, and the Social Studies department head. This particular lesson is from the weather
unit and focuses in particular on wind and air masses. I will be drawing on learning theories of
constructivism, social cognition, information processing and behaviorism to improve and update
the lesson and associated major assignment. Here is the original lesson plan:
UNIT/THEME: Unit 3: Atmosphere
PURPOSE OF THE LESSON: By the end of the lesson, students will be familiar with the different
kinds of winds and air masses. How they begin and why
PLOs and Learning Outcomes
A4, A5, D2, D3

Teaching Strategies and Learning Activities


Day 1:
Agenda: 5 minutes
Attendance and Agenda : Wind and Air Masses
Review Worksheet 20 minutes

Go over answers to the worksheet from yesterday regarding Temperature controls.


Answer any questions that students have.

PowerPoint: Wind 35 minutes

Air Masses Worksheet 10


minutes

Have students copy down the notes from the PowerPoint. Discussion points are also
provided in the PowerPoint for student interaction to break apart the writing sections
of the PowerPoint (use think-pair-share strategy). Visuals are provided throughout
the PowerPoint to encourage different learning styles.

Closure: Quiz Reminder

Air Masses Worksheet: Reading through the textbook, students will identify and
explain how different factors influence the air masses of a location

Day 2:
Day 1: Agenda 5 minutes

Remind students of quiz tomorrow on temperature controls and layers of the


atmosphere.

Review: 15 minutes

Discuss schedule for the day: Quiz, Wind, Air Masses

Quiz: 15 minutes

Discuss key vocabulary and topics from atmosphere and temperature controls on the
board. Re-explain any topics that are unclear.

Wind and Air Masses Review


25 minutes
Video: Coriolis Force 5
minutes
Weather Journal Assignment 5
minutes

Quiz on topics from the past two days. Multiple choice. Separate the desks and then
invigilate during the quiz process. Collect after students are finished.
Discuss key vocabulary and topics from wind and air masses on the board. Reexplain any topics that are unclear.
Show to students will clarify how the Coriolis Force works. Discuss and diagram
on the board.

Introduce and discuss Weather Journal project and expectations


Assessment/Evaluation
-Air Masses Worksheet
-Quiz
-Weather Journal
Informal Observations - students asking questions, following along with the class activities.
Resources/Materials Required
-Air Masses Worksheet

PowerPoint: Wind
-Quizzes
-Coriolis Force Video

Homework: N/A
Due Date: Tomorrow
The lesson begins with a review of the previous days worksheet that addresses new
vocabulary and concepts, where the students are expected to ask questions regarding anything
confusing. This teacher centered approach does not allow for the students to collaborate or choose
how they are learning as constructivist theorists would suggest. One way I thought to improve
this review technique in a constructivist manner would be to set up eight stations throughout the
room, each dedicated to one of the concepts. Groups of three would circulate from station to
station, first coming up with a definition for the station. On the next rotation, students would be
allowed to ask questions they are wondering about that particular concept. On the next rotation,
students would have the option to answer the questions or build on the definition. On the final
rotations, students would write how that vocabulary term affects their lives and can comment on
other students definitions, questions and comments. By the end of the activity students would
have had a chance to work together, learning from each other, which social cognivists and
construcitivsts would appreciate. Further, by allowing students to choose to comment on each
others comments, ask questions or answer them, each station serves as a constructivist station
where the nature of the created knowledge takes on a life of its own. Prompting the students to
comment about how, the tilt of the earth affects their lives, makes the learning process more
authentic affecting the brain in different ways, which would help them recall that information at a
later time.
During the above review activity I would implement a plus/minus system to encourage the
behaviour of speaking English. The school where we work is in China and our students first
language is Mandarin. It is a battle to keep students from speaking to each other in Mandarin, so I
would implement the system where when I monitor the groups, if I hear them speaking English,
they receive a plus and if they are conversing in Mandarin they receive a minus. This behaviorist
approach, using positive reinforcement and punishment would ideally increase the behaviour of
speaking English. This is critical to the class, as it allows the teacher to formally assess how the
students are engaging with the material.
The meat of the lesson plan occurs in the 35 minutes span after the review from the
previous days material. This is a lecture style teacher centered approach again, using a
powerpoint presentation on the topic of wind. There are discussion breaks where students are
encouraged to discuss with each other and share their ideas. While the social cognitive
perspective, would applaud the discussion breaks as they enhance the lecture as they enable the
students to learn from each other as well as from the teacher, I think that tweaks could be done to
expedite learning. To improve the lecture, I would suggest showing a compilation video of crazy
wind storms before the powerpoint. Ideally, this would trigger interest in the students making them
more curious about the upcoming information. After the video, I would have students predict
what they think causes wind. As Judy Willis states on the website teacherthought.com, Making
predictions is a very safe type of risk-taking behavior that can stimulate the dopamine-pleasure
response and encourage fearful or perfectionist students to take chances without the anxiety of
(amygdale stress) of being wrong (Willis, 2013).
Hopefully by making these simple predictions, students will become more invested in the
upcoming material to see if they are right. In giving out the lecture, I would also implement
another strategy that I learned from Willis. Text in the powerpoint would be coloured differently,
green for minor details, yellow for something important, and red for major, most important
concepts. Students would have the coloured pens at their desk and as they take notes, would be
changing their pens with the importance of the information. This creates a signal to the students
on what is important and what is less important, helping them categorize the information they are
processing. Further, by switching the pens, it is increasing activity, which can help maintain

interest levels in an otherwise boring lecture style. Lastly, I would move the Coriolis Force video
that he has scheduled after the quiz to incorporate it into this presentation section.
The lesson concludes with an introduction of a week long Weather Journal assignment. In
part A of the assignment, students are asked to write a paragraph describing the weather they
experienced, and how it affected them. I think that incorporating how it affected the student adds
an element of authenticity which makes the learning more meaningful. To costructivize the
assignment, I would open the task of writing the paragraph to include other options for the
students. Constructivists argue that each learner is different and giving options other than a
descriptive paragraph to represent their observations would be beneficial to the students. I would
allow them to write a song or a poem, draw a picture or make a cartoon, or even do a fake news
broadcast or voice cast that could be uploaded to the class weebly website. Part B of the
assignment has students recording information off of the internet. Instead of students all doing the
same location, I would allow students to choose somewhere from around the world. Since part A
of the assignment has students making observations of the weather of their location, I think it
would be beneficial to allow students to choose a place that they have always wanted to travel to
or live. When the students make the recordings of their chosen location, they would then post
them on the class website. This would give the option to include an open website quiz which
would include questions like Who chose a location that had the most rainfall on a Tuesday? This
would allow the students to go to other classmates pages to see their recordings and engage with
material outside of their own observations. For part C, instead of using their own internet
observations to make the weather station model I would assign each student a different city that a
classmate had made their observations on to complete that activity. By using others data to
produce their weather station model the sense of community in the class would be increased and
the students would be learning, partly, from each other, building on each others work.
No lesson is perfect. In my own practice I find myself constantly tweaking to make them
better, which is something that all educators strive to do. By using looking at a lesson through the
lens of a behaviourist, constructivist, social cognivist and cognitive neuroscientist one can more
easily find where and when to justify those tweaks.
Below is the new lesson plan that I propose to make the lesson more constructivist and
student centered:
UNIT/THEME: Unit 3: Atmosphere
PURPOSE OF THE LESSON: By the end of the lesson, students will be familiar with the different
kinds of winds and air masses.
PLOs and Learning Outcomes
A4
apply effective written, oral, and graphic communication skills to geography topics
-select a presentation form (e.g., written, oral, graphic) appropriate for the communication purpose
-communicate ideas, opinions, and arguments effectively, orally and in written form (e.g., clearly formulate and
support a thesis)
-use geographic terms and concepts accurately in their observations, analyses, and conclusions
explain factors affecting temperature, precipitation, pressure, and wind
D2
explain factors affecting temperature, precipitation, pressure, and wind
-describe processes of heating the atmosphere (e.g., insolation, conduction, convection, absorption, albedo)
- relate aspect to temperature
- explain the processes of the hydrologic cycle (e.g., evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, run-off,
infiltration)
-relate cloud types (e.g., cirrus, altostratus, nimbostratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus) to weather conditions
-describe characteristics of North American air masses (e.g., continental, maritime, polar, tropical)
-explain the causes of air movement (e.g., differential heating causing convection, cyclones, anticyclones)
-explain the patterns of global wind and pressure systems (e.g., Coriolis effect, prevailing winds, jet stream,
monsoons, doldrums)
-compare the three types of precipitation:

frontal/cyclonic (e.g., warm and cold fronts, occluded)


orographic
convectional
D3
analyse specific weather phenomena, including
-fog
-local winds
-extreme events
-compare radiation fog and advection fog
-describe different types of local weather phenomena (e.g., rainshadow, chinook, land and sea breezes, microclimates)
explain conditions that create extreme weather (e.g., severe storms, tornadoes, hurricanes)
Teaching Strategies and Learning Activities
Day 1:
Agenda: 2 minutes
Attendance and Agenda : Wind and Air Masses
Review
minutes

ACTIVITY

30

Set up place mat stations around the room with these vocabulary on them:
Lapse Rate
Aspect
The tilt of the Earth
Land and Water Differences
Warm Ocean Currents
Dust and Fossil Fuels
Convection
Urban Heat Island
Put students in groups of 3
Have them define in their own words, their station. Rotate after 2 minutes.
Students then ask questions and add to the definition at their next station: 3 minutes
rotate
Students answer questions, ask more questions, add to the definitionrotate
Continue until all stations are completed.
Post place mats around the room
Show Crazy Wind Video compliation.
Have students write on a piece of paper what they think causes wind

Video 5 minutes
Prediction:
PowerPoint: Wind 30 minutes

Video 5 minutes

Have students copy down the notes from the PowerPoint. Discussion points are also
provided in the PowerPoint for student interaction to break apart the writing sections
of the PowerPoint (use think-pair-share strategy). Visuals are provided throughout the
PowerPoint to encourage different learning styles. Have students use three different
colour pens, have students match the text colour on the power point to the notes in
their book.
-show video on coriolis effect.
Vocabulary:
Doldrums Calm at the Equator
Horse Latitudes Calm at 30 degrees
NE/SE Trade Winds Winds between 0 and 30
Prevailing Westerlies Winds between 30-60
Polar Easterlies Winds between 60-90
Air Masses Worksheet: Reading through the textbook, students will identify and
explain how different factors influence the air masses of a location

Air Masses Worksheet


(Homework)

Remind students of quiz tomorrow on temperature controls and layers of the


atmosphere.

Discuss schedule for the day: Quiz, Wind, Air Masses


Closure: Quiz Reminder
Day 2:
Agenda 5 minutes
Review: 15 minutes

Discuss key vocabulary and topics from atmosphere and temperature controls on the
board. Re-explain any topics that are unclear.
Quiz on topics from the past two days. Multiple choice. Separate the desks and then
invigilate during the quiz process. Collect after students are finished.

Quiz: 15 minutes
Introduce and discuss Weather Journal project and expectations

Weather Journal Assignment


5 minutes

You will be responsible for creating a weather journal by recording daily


changes in the weather here in Wuhan and explaining how that weather
affects your life.
Each day, from Tuesday, Oct. 15th [today.] until Monday, Oct. 21st [
Days], you will make and record your own weather observations as well
as checking the Internet for more specific weather data.
Part A: Personal Observations
At the end of each day, you could write a paragraph, song, poem, draw a
picture, make a cartoon, post a podcast or broadcast onto the class
website. describing the weather that you have experienced throughout
the day Examples: What do you see? Is it hot or cold? Is there
precipitation? Also, you will describe how that weather affected you
throughout the day.
Part B: Internet Observations
Using an Internet website of your choice, and choosing from a global
location of your choice, I would like you to record the following
information:
a) Time you are checking the website
b) Air Temperature at this moment
c) Precipitation - type and amount in the last 24 hours
d) Dew Point at this moment
e) Wind Speed and Direction at this moment
f) Air Pressure at this moment
g) Humidity at this moment
h) Cloud Cover percentage - at this moment
i) Visibility kilometers at this moment
j) High and Low Temperatures for the day
Post your recordings to the class website for the appropriate day.
Part C: Weather Station Model
After the observations have begun, you will be assigned another students
recordings and using them to accurately include the information in a
weather station model using the method discussed in class. Be sure to
include what day you have recorded so I can compare to the information
you have written in Part B.
Criteria:
/28 marks for Part A: (Accuracy, Amount of detail and descriptive writing)
-2 marks per day for describing the weather that you have

experienced try to use vocabulary that we have discussed in


class.
-2 marks per day for describing how that affected you.
/17 marks for Part B
-2 marks per day for completion
-3 marks total for neatness/organization

/50 marks

/5 marks for Part C: Accuracy and Neatness of the Weather Station


Model
Due Date: Tuesday, October 22nd
Assessment/Evaluation
-Air Masses Worksheet
-Quiz
-Weather Journal
Informal Observations - students asking questions, following along with the class activities.
Resources/Materials Required
-Air Masses Worksheet
PowerPoint: Wind
-Quizzes
-Coriolis Force Video
-Air Masses Worksheet (homework)

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