Tag: lessonplanning
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Think ACTION in the Classroom for Great Student Response
Please, don’t get me wrong. In a blog post I wrote about the trap of asking too many questions in the classroom, I make a point in avoiding the many questions we ask, mainly to our teens. However, I know that many educators are now questioning it because, in fact, inquiries in the classroom can…
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Making Homework Assignments Smarter for your Students and their Brains
One of my favorite bloggers, Annie Murphie Paul, has written a post about homework that every educator should consider as a guideline for better learning opportunities. Her claim, based on Neuroscience and Psychology research, entails making better use of strategies that are effectively proven to have an impact on learning. Annie mentions three strategies…
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Facebook Collaborative Efforts Strike Again with Fridges Around the World
Once again, the power of Facebook connections and the willingness of generous educators to share a bit of themselves became a wonderful resource that is now available for teachers to explore with their students. I asked a simple question, “What’s in your Fridge?” I got 21 fridges from around the world, an unbeatable multicultural…
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Love Stories Around the World
Some years ago, I was working on a Unit about Love. First, my students read about how I met my husband to give the lesson a personal touch.http://top21.blogspot.com.br/2006/06/how-we-met-each-other-we-were-from.html They listened to a story of how a teacher met her husband. Then, they wrote about their own love stories. I realized the lesson plan could be…
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Stereotypes – Controversial Topic to Raise Cultural Awareness
Much has been said about the dangers of generalization and stereotypying a certain group of people. Now, how do we approach it in the classroom? Here’s a lesson plan I’ve used it in the past with my groups. The first part is adapted from http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/stereo1.html Choose two adjectives that you think describe different nationalities. punctual tolerant…
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Guinness Superlatives
Though a common way to teach Superlatives, I felt like sharing this Power Point I prepared for my class to practice the superlatives in a fun and lively way. Feel free to use it. Superlatives View more presentations from Carla Arena. After introducing the topic, I’ll have this quick superlative quiz with students. First, they…
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Explosive Present Perfect Collaboration in POPPLET
Present perfect or Past Perfect are not phrases that reflect the thrilling lesson planning moment I had in collaboration with Tweet mates and my Facebook network. Collaboration is part of my perfect world of learning mixed with a bit of chaos and fun in which everyone involved has a lot to contribute to the whole,…
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The Art of Critical Thinking with Store Receipts
Today, after being back from the TESOL Conference in Philly, I was organizing things, throwing out papers. Though I’ve been trying to be less and less attached to my old teacher voice that reminds me of keeping all the papers, recipes, booklets, brochures when I travel abroad, I simply can’t resist it! When I get…
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Talking about Pets
My class tomorrow is about pets. This is a topic that arouses lots of interest and interaction as there are many people attached to their pets. A while ago, I recorded this simple video with a friend. As voicethread is a dynamic tool to create learning objects, now I can use it with my students…
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Excellence Lesson Plan
The topic is one that can inspire anyone and re-enligthen our understanding of what makes us unique, special, excellent human beings. It is a reminder of not just doing average, but really excelling and being thankful for the ones who helped us succeed. It is an opportunity to inspire our students and ourselves to go…
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DESIGN Series – Uniqueness and Beauty in a Lesson Plan
Teachers are generally so overwhelmed by the load of information they have to deal with, be it pedagogical or bureaucratic, papers, tests, lesson planning that we tend just to go with the flow using the repertoire we already have to make things more time-efficient. In this bulldozing routine, common place is what our lessons become.…