1. Instructional Dream II
Nevin Kamal
CEP 816
Instruction rubrics
Global Warming unit
Problem and solution
The aim for designing activities for a writing unit is to help students to develop their writing skills in
English. Students need to develop their writing skills to pass the University Entrance exam (listening,
speaking, writing and writing). I believe that by integrating literacy skills with technology students will
show more interest and engagement in the course content. Using technology will help ESL learners
enjoy learning English in a stress free class.
Students are encouraged to use the web to find resources and that is why they are asked to use the web
present their findings. Students are given open questions to answer with guided instructions but at the
same time the door is left wide open for their creativity. The unit will extend to five weeks to allow
students the necessary time to reflect and synthesize the information they are getting. The activities in
this unit are based on the project- based method that allows students to be facilitators and excerpters at
the same time.
Instructional Dream
Learning Objectives:
Students will make connections to the course content by using oral, written language, media
and technology.
Students will apply different critical thinking skills to create oral, written and visual texts.
Students will use a variety of technologies to communicate information effectively.
Instructional Plan:
The main technology tools that I would like to incorporate into my unit are:
Blogging
Podcast
Videocast
Edmodo
Google sites
Youtube
Voice Thread
Web searching
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2. Technology requirement and Instructions:
It is assumed that students have their own personal laptops, IPads or desk computers.
It is assumed that students have access to high Internet speed.
It is assumed that students will be introduced to blended learning.
It is assumed that downloadable instructions will be posted on the class website. There will be
instructions to create: blogs, Voice Thread account, upload YouTube videos, Google docs and
Presentations.
These technologies are chosen because I want students to share their ideas, thoughts, and respond in
different ways to a variety of written texts and assignment to develop their critical thinking skills.
Through blogs, students can post their reflections and share their discussions with their classmates.
Blogs help students develop their critical thinking and allow them to express their ideas in writing.
Because students know that their work will be published on the web, they work hard to produce good
pieces of writing that would give them pride of their work.
Podcasts are great tools for ESL learners. Students will be asked to read different topics related to the
unit taught and create oral presentations to share with their classmates. Posdcasts allow students to
feel safe and confident when sharing their presentations with classmates as they lift the fear of public
speaking away from the classroom. By asking students to use different podcasts for their presentations,
teachers are giving them chances to exert every possible effort to produce a good piece of work.
Students share their podcasts with their class and would ask their classmates to give their feedback in a
written form.
Free web resources are great tools for all teachers and different learning context that teachers and
schools need to make use of. Edmodo- free course management system- is a highly recommended
application for teachers to organize post and archive their work. Google tools are great for collaboration
and publishing. In addition, free web tools allow students to develop their e-portfolios over a period of
time. They can access their work at any time and keep updating and adding to it.
To achieve this, I will break the unit down to different stages and activities. Each activity will focus on a
different stage. Prior to asking students to start writing their problem and solution reports, the
necessary grammar and vocabulary related to problem and solution essays are introduced to the class.
In addition, the teacher will create a class website to allow students to download all the assignment
instructions. Students will be given a code to access their group on Edmodo to post links to their
assignments in their blogs.
Activities:
Language skills: Integrated skill with special emphasis on writing- problem and solution essays.
Students will create blogs to serve as their e-portfolios for this unit. Students will post all their
assignments on their blogs
Students create presentations using Voice Thread and YouTube.
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3. Students will make use of YouTube and other online resources to respond to different
assignment related to the problem of global warming.
Eventually, after a significant number of assignments that progress in difficulty, students will be
able to write a 250 word report about the problem of global warming and suggest some
solutions to this problem.
Lesson Plan:
The unit lesson plan for problem and solution essays progresses in difficulty. First, students will
familiarize themselves with blogs and postings. Then, students will be engaged in different activities-
listening, reading, and speaking. Finally, students will write reports about global warming and will
To begin this unit, student will create personal blogs that be will the corner stop for the rest of the unit.
Every time students respond to an assignment on their blog, they have to post a link to it on Edmodo.
The aim of using Edmodo is that it helps teachers organize their assignment in one place and grade
students’ work directly without going through the hassle of moving from one site to the other. In
addition, teachers can post all their assignments on Edmodo and thus students will receive notifications
about assignments and deadlines. A class website using Google Sites was used to post all the
assignments required to be shared by teachers at my work place. It is necessary to clarify that Edmod
and Google Sites serve different purposes though they them similar. Edmodo allows teachers and
students keep track of assignments and notifications.
Students will go to www.blogger.com where they will use the teacher’s username and d password. The
teacher will guide them to the dashboard link and instruct them step by step to create their own blogs.
Instruction to create a blog will be posted on Edmodo and Google Sites. Students are required to
download all the assignments from the class website or Edmodo.
The teacher tells students that good projects will have to include all the tasks posted on Edmodo or
Google sites, with related links, videos, reports and comments on their classmates’ blogs. Students’
work must be creative and original which means they cannot copy and paste from the web.
Global Warming for intermediate ESL students at the University of Sharjah
This set of assignments will be introduced over a period of five weeks. The aim of the activities in this
unit is to help student write well structures problem and solution reports about a very controversial
topic worldwide. It is a unit that integrates different language skills including grammar and vocabulary
and allows students to familiarize them with the topic of global warming, renewable energy, and fossil
fuel.
Sharing student’s work:
Good samples of students’ work will be pulled up and shared with the class.
Before every assignment, the teacher provides examples of former student’s work so students
can see what the teacher is aiming at.
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4. Task one: My Profile
Technology used:
Blogger
Edmodo
The first stage in this unit will introduce students to www.blogger.com, Google Sites and Edmodo. The
teacher will use the classroom blog- Global Warming Problem and Solution Writing Unit to post
assignments and record conversations. Students will also have their personal blogs to post their work
and the teacher will monitor their blogs using RSS feeds. At an earlier stage, students have been trained
to use Edmodo to post their assignments, ask questions, and receive posts and announcements from the
teacher. Assignments will be posted on Edmodo as well as the classroom website because Edmodo
allows teachers to send e-mails to students and announcements to different groups in different
sections. In addition, the grade book in Edmodo allows teachers to grade students’ work and post a
grade directly without going through paper work hassle.
To start this unit, students will create their personal blogs. They will go to www.blogger.com where they
will log in under the teacher’s username and password. The teacher then will guide them through the
“Dashboard” link and instruct them to create their own blogs. Students will be able to download
instructions to create their own blogs from the classroom website or Edmod. Blog posting and etiquette
will be discussed with the class. To practice publishing their work, students have to create their own
blogs and write a short summary talking about themselves. They have to name the first blog assignment
“My profile”. Instructions will be posted on the class website and Edmodo. By the end of the deadline,
the teacher will post a page will all the links of the students’ blogs on the class website so that they can
click on and comment. Students have to post a link of their blog on Emdodo by the dead line.
Furthermore, they have to choose two postings from the class and comment on them. They also have to
post a link to their postings on Edmodo for their teacher to check and grade their work.
After the deadline, the teacher will use the class time to ask students about the blogging experience and
respond to different questions about posts and comments. The teacher will present samples of posts
and discuss with the class what made them good or helpful.
Task two: Introduction to Global warming
Technology used:
Blogger
Edmodo
YouTube
Free web resources
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5. The main focus of this unit is to help students express their ideas on global warming. By the end of the
unit students should be able to answer the following questions:
What is Global Warming and what are its causes?
What are the consequences of Global warming if nothing is done about it now?
What can we do to make sure that Global Warming doesn't become a disaster for the future?
The second blogging assignment will start in class and students will be given some time to complete
their work and comment on each other’s blog posts. Students have to write a short report of 150 words
on global warming. Their posts should mention some of the causes of global warming and why this could
be a problem. They have to name their second post “Introduction to global warming’. Once they post
their report on in their blogs they have to post a link on Edmodo.
Students are advised to write their reports in a word document to run grammar and spelling check
before posting them in their blogs. After summiting their posts and emailing their links on Edmodo,
students will be asked to visit two other blogs from the class and comment on them. They have to post
links to their posts on Edmodo after responding to two comments at least. Their response should
include their point of view about global warming and mention the major aspects to this problem.
Students need to use different web resources to search this topic. They may use the following:
Natural resources
Global Warming And Melting Glaciers
Global warming Frequently asked questions
Global warming thinkquest
Students can watch a YouTube video on global warming for further information.
After the deadline, the teacher will use the class time to share with students some of the good reports
and discuss the topic in details with the class.
Task three: Global Warming
Technology used:
Blogger
Edmodo
YouTube
Free web resources
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6. For the third blogging assignment, students need to watch a video on Global warming- Discovery
Channel. They have to summarize the documentary in 100 to 150 words and post the summary along
with relevant pictures on their blogs. Students are reminded to write their summaries in a word
document and run spelling and grammar check before posting them. They have to post a link to their
summaries on Edmodo.
The second stage of this assignment will be asking students to record their review as a Voice Thread and
post their audios in their blogs. Again they have to post their links on Edmodo by the dead line given.
The teacher will guide students to register in Voice Thread and will provide a step by step handout to
help them register. Students have to visit at least two blogs and comment on the audios.
The day after the dead line, the teacher will make use of class time to discuss the video, reports, and the
audio reviews of the students and share some of the good posts.
Task 4: Renewable Energy
Technology used:
Blogger
Edmodo
YouTube
Free web resources
Video recording (videocasting)
For this assignment, students need to write 200 to 250 words problem and solution essay about cool
cities and renewable energy. Students need to mention how modern cities contribute to global warming
(problems) and suggest some ways to save energy and reduce green house effect (solutions). Students
need to use the links below to help them write the report. They have to name this post “Renewable
Energy”.
http://ibrahim83.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-cities-sdcj.html
http://milan5665.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-cities-sdcj.html
http://174alharithi.blogspot.com/2008/11/sdcj-cool-cities.html
http://adshark.blogspot.com/2008/06/sdcj-cool-cities.html
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1712863_1712864,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIaz61zpLfs
Students need to post heir reports in their blogs and post a link to their blogs in Edmod. Students have
to visit two more blogs from the class and comment on the posts. They have to email links to their posts
to their teacher using Edmodo.
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7. For the second part of this assignment, students have to work in pairs and create their own videos and
upload them on YouTube. They have to click on “private” before uploading their video and post links on
Edmodo and their blogs. Students have to comment on two more videos and post links to their
comments on Edmodo. They have to name their videos “Renewable Energy”.
After the deadline, the teacher chooses some exemplary work and shares them with the class and
discusses some of the good aspects of the reports and the videos.
Task 5: Fossil Fuel Speaking
Technology used:
Blogger
Edmodo
YouTube
Free web resources
Google Docs
Google Presentations
Google Images
Students will be creating presentations using Google Docs presentations and document. The teacher will
guide students to the basics of the presentation program using the following YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG0etmnwuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elk0I-mjSZ0
Students will be guided how to invite the teacher to be a collaborator on their files and how to or
Emodo publish them to post links on their blogs and Edmodo. Students have to refer to the class
website for the assignment details. They have to respond to the following prompt:
Fossil fuels, such as oil, carbon or coal have been used for many years as a source of energy. However,
fossil fuels are a non-renewable source of energy and also have serious environmental issues.
What are some of the problems of being dependent on fossil fuels as an energy source and what
alternatives are there?
Students need to use different search engines and web resources to search this topic. The PowerPoint
presentations should include information about fossil fuel, problems, and suggest some solutions.
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8. Students need to include pictures and videos related to the topic. Students need to use Google Docs to
take notes keep track of their resources. The teacher will use that document to monitor their progress
and suggest different track of thinking when needed. Students are given a week for this assignments and
the teacher will check this document three days before the presentation day. Students need to links to
their presentations in their blogs and Edmodo and present their work on the presentation day to the
whole class.
For the final part of this assignment, once the presentations are finished, students have to choose two
presentations and comment on them. They have to email links to their response on Edomdo.
Final Thoughts
I think that this serious of progressive assignments allow students to learn about things in challenging
ways. For every assignment, students are expected to new different technological tools as well as
synthesizing what they have read. There is no right or wrong for these projects, but students are always
encouraged and pushed to their maximum effort in the assigned work. Working with technology,
reflecting on their work, commenting on each other’s work provides a new learning experience for ESL
learners- Arab learners in my context. The assignments are designed to provide students with stress
free leaning opportunity where they share their anxieties, worriers and fears. Most importantly, by
publishing their work and commenting on each other’s, students develop their sense of ownership and
in turn are pushed to their give their utmost effort.
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9. Appendix
Task 1: My Profile
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10. Task 2: Introduction to Global Warming
Task 3: Global Warming
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11. Task 4: Renewable Energy
Task 5: Fossil Fuel
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12. Class Blog as a Sample
Edmodo account: You may access Edmodo by using the e-mail and password below:
E-mail: ngazzar@sharjah.ac.ae
Password: lolokoky
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