Take a Step forward (November 2017)

It is interesting to see B' class response and reflection on playing the game "Take a Step forward".  Some of the students played this game last year but they had different roles. After the debriefing of their learning experience at the end of the lesson, students wrote their reflection focusing on the following points:

• How I felt taking the role of another person
• The most challenging thing
• Three things I learned

I find students' reflection vital for both parties - students and teacher.  Via their feedback in the form of both oral and written comments, I learned not to take things for granted.  Students' feedback/reflection drives instruction.   I need give them the opportunity to think about their learning, feelings and problems they may have during lesson sessions but also other learning activities beyond the classroom. The Ss' reflection is presented collectively below:

 How I felt taking the role of another person

It was weird and challenging

it was not as easy as it looks

it was an interesting experience because it wasn't easy to think about other people

it made me feel more privileged than I thought I was

weird, it was difficult to take the role

I felt weird, it gave me another perception of life

I felt bad because I was in bad life situation

It was a challenging experience

It was something different

nice challenge

felt happy when I was stepping forward

felt confident about some questions

It was an exciting experience because I had to imagine my current situation and also think about my future.

The most challenging thing

to know the rights of that person

to think how your life is

thinking if he other person had the privileges/rights I was asked

take their role, pretend we were them

it was difficult to understand the rights I had

getting to the mindset that  I am a girl

taking the role of someone you don't know

it was a challenging thing to take the role of another person in society

Three things I learned

some things we take for granted

not everyone has all the rights

everyone is different

not a lot of people are rich

many people have financial problems

There are not many people in the upper class

some people have no rights

whether you are an immigrant or not greatly determines what you are able to do

that I have a better life than others

Fortunately, I have rights.

I learned about other social classes

I learned that what is granted to one may be a luxury for another

I'm more privileged than I thought.

I'm satisfied with what I have

Drugs make you feel in danger

Your future is in danger

There are different social groups

each person face different problems

not all  people have the same rights

some people have the rights but not the money

the majority of the people are at the bottom of social class

everyone has human rights so whatever the situation of a person, you must respect it.

I learned that the majority of people aren't in a good financial and social situation and they don't have a lot of rights in comparison to rich people.

What I want  to learn more about

the rights of each person

what we can do to help them

I would like to learn more about the rights that are age/gender based

I'd like to learn more about inequality of different social classes and ways to counter it

What we can do to help people

the rights for each person

how the people who are at the bottom of social class can have more rights

how many social groups there are

quite easy to get into the situation

I would like to learn more about the statistics for the percentage of people in the upper and lower class in different countries.

workshop based lesson "Take a Step Forward"

My involvement in European and other programmes, which mainly took place while serving in the Public Secondary school sector, was a revelation for me: projects make you more action plan-oriented and creative.  Being involved in the European Parliament Ambassador School Programme led to workshop based lessons or game, play oriented lesson  named Take a Step Forward.  There is so much quality material produced via the Council of Europe that I, as a teacher, strongly feel that it is my responsibility to provide students with material and learning processes that will enable them to adopt positive attitudes towards otherness and  acquire skills and competences.  This game, on the theme of citizenship and related topics Discrimination, Xenophobia, Poverty, Human Rights, got my students to take the role of a member of a different person (social group) and think about his/her rights and feelings. They would discuss their feelings about taking the role of another person and issues that come out such as social inequalities.  At the very end of the lesson, students completed an exit card.  It is interesting to see what students learned, what they want to learn more about and difficulties they had.

Three(3) things I learned	Two (2) things I want to learn more about	One (1) difficulty I had
Collaborate with my classmates (4) -Take the lesson activity seriously -Place myself in someone else’s position(8) -To become this kind of person I learned values I learned my rights How to behave towards my classmates To respect more the people who came as migrants in my country To care more about them Not to judge people by how they act(if they take many steps) There are many social groups (7) I learned new social status Their freedom How to get into someone else’s shoes There are people with difficulties(4) The farmers are happy and rich Some people don’t have the same rights The meaning of refugees People with no financial problems can go further Every people have different human rights Everyone will judge others Money is important in life Life is difficult Appaently I might have committed suicide if I was disabled Farmers are poor Vocabulary Not to discriminate people About other groups of people More English words About other types of people New English words The good and the bad things in life Learning about other groups of people Thinking about other social classes The good and bad in life The way of life that people have The things that rich and poor people can do The problems that poor peoplehave	Financial problems Human problems Financial problems Racism (2) I want to play this game again Immigrants rights in other countries How to connect with any character More details More new words Help people with difficulties (2) Ways to help other social classes who are in need Feelings of other people in other social classes About other cultures Countries which have problems How to fight against racism Why racist people react like this How people can get a better life Learn how to control difficult situations Feelings of people who come from lower social groups Ways to  help these people Poor people People with special needs Other people in other countries and how they live About their life Fact that they have financial difficulties I want to learn how the poor people survive and how they feed their children	I haven’t had any difficulty (5) Some difficult words Difficulty if we stay back or go forward Feel that I am free Understanding some difficulties other people have To understand when to step forward I don’t have the chance to do anything I want Reality problems Considering the life of a disabled person Be able of feel like them Recognize the difficulties of some people English words Recognize the different types of people Recognise different types of people To understand what other people are

Observation lesson 13/12/2016: My Reflection

Lesson Topic: Joining a club (CEFR level B1-B1+)

Thinking about my lesson... it went smoothly.  We had guest teachers.... and considering the relatively big number of observers, my students seemed at ease, just a little uncomfortable at first.  Prior to the lesson, I discussed with the students (Ss) the importance of being confident, feeling comfortable in front of other people, good communication skills all of which are connected with well-being.

  I find the particular cousebook activities (Unit 2d) a good example of integrating the four skills  (listening, reading, speaking, writing). In order for Ss to have an informal discussion with their partner about which club to join based on adverts, they went through a sequence of activities - connecting the topic with prior knowledge/experiences/previous lesson(s), reading adverts and demonstrating understanding by answering questions, having a model conversation on joining a club), identifying useful language to express interests, feelings, suggestions. The topic also connected nicely with social action related to contributing to the well being of teens (Mirror messages campaign in https://www.dosomething.org/). One important question which I make to myself after setting the aims/objectives, in  the selection of activities is: if I leave out one of the activities I choose for the lesson, will the students be able to do the next activity or reach the next step? If they can, then the particular activity should not be included. I must say here that the brain teaser activity functions as a transition activity to give the brain a break (the brain needs it).  This is particularly useful for double period lessons.

 The critical question is: Were the lesson objectives met? What evidence do I have for the lesson objectives being met? I checked the lesson objectives with the assessment I set. I have the evidence (indicated in the assessment section of the lesson plan). The exit cards have given me feedback on Ss’ learning by the Ss themselves. That’s valuable and powerful – it gives me, the teacher, information about student learning that can guide instruction and it also gets students into the habit of thinking about their learning; thus, teacher and students become reflective. I wanted to share Ss’ exit cards with other teachers so I copied them all in the exit card below.  To be honest, I anticipated many of the things that Ss wrote that they learned but some were a nice surprise to me.

Incidentally, in planning a thematic unit and lessons, I use three key resources available to us which are very useful in setting the attainment targets/learning outcomes and lesson objectives:

1. Δείκτες Επιτυχίας/Επάρκειας

2.  Scheme of work(Lycea) – includes «δείκτες επιτυχίας» in English “learning outcomes”, themes/topics.

     3. Correlations with CEFR (Life_Pre Intermediate).

   

3 things I learned	2 things I want to learn more about	1 difficulty I had
To listen to others      Share my opinion      Cooperate      Things about well being      More things about well being      Joining clubs      About clubs      About new clubs      Ways to suggest something      You can join a lot of different clubs      Joining a club can make you sociable      You get active and creative      Adverts      Discuss about clubs      Kinds of clubs      About being a member in  a club      Make friendships      Be active and healthy      Smile can increase your well being      Keywords which I can use to give advice      for example,      Joining a club that you feel happy about is very important      Do what you love and have fun      Increase your well being by making new friends      Importance of joining a club (3)      Things that makes you happy      What do you earn from all this      The variety of clubs      Cooperate with other people      The interests of my classmates      That we can do a lot of things to help other people      Co opearate with my classmates      Why joining clubs is good for being healthy      Hobbies and interests my classmates have      What do you earn of joining to a club	/ (3)      New words      If our school has more clubs to join      Teen clubs at Cyprus      Be more active      Other ways to be sociable      How to make adverts in English      How I can have better relationships      More ways to increase my well being      I would like to know more about clubs. They sound interesting      Be more active      Other way to be sociable      How we can connect this puzzle?      (the student is referring to the picture puzzle used as a brain teaser)      Other ways to be sociable      About life   Some clubs(theatre, fitness)     Clubs our school has      More ways to help others      Actions clubs take      If our school have some clubs	/ (11)      I didn’t have any difficulty      Find the right words(discuss)      Choosing a club (2)

Homework samples:
Discussion forum: 

A club i want to join

a23panayiotis 3 days ago

Hi! In the future i really want to join a football club. By joining a club like this,I will have the chance to meet like-minded people and make new friends,learn new skills,increase my physical and mental capabilities and most importantly to have fun.In addition, I will be spending a part of my time doing something creative and also doing something that i really love.

Art club

a23stefanos 3 days ago

I believe that being a member of a club is very important as you have the chance to do what makes you happy and you are able to practice some particular skills you have! So I thought it would be a good idea to talk about my club! The art club! Most people would probably describe art as a picture, painting or a sculpture. I suppose that would indeed be a very accurate description. However, I believe that art is much more than that. To me, art is more of a creative way to express my deepest passions, thoughts, and emotions. Art allows me the freedom to use my imagination while giving me the confidence to conquer my worst fears. Many people may not even realize how often they actually see or experience art. Art is all around us every day. Art can also be seen in dancing, singing, drama, photography, and literature. Since I was a young child, art has always played a big role in my life.   Art to me is very important as it relaxes me and it makes me more concentrated. Drawing means a lot to me because i can imprit people and nature landscapes on a piece of paper in a slightly different and magical way, giving in this way more energy and power to the drawing. I am specialised on drawings with pencil and charcoal, and I am now practicing on drawings with paint (acrylic). My art club and more generally, art, requires a lot of patience and strength as you could probably work for 10 hours continuousely without having the expected result. But once you've succeeded,the satisfaction you get is just marvellous. Believe me!

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  Some clubs(theatre, fitness)Feel free to leave comments or questions!