Lesson
Students will complete a lesson that will help them continue
to build their skills of comparing and contrasting.
Students will:
- View two versions of stories online that are takes on the “Three Billy Goats Gruff” story, viewing each twice if necessary for more complete comprehension.
- Complete a “double bubble” thinking map to compare and contrast the elements of each story.
Directions
- Talk briefly with students and give them the directions for the project. Tell them that one of the websites (Storyplace) will require some typing and will provide them with written words and spoken words. Tell them that the other website (Youtube) will only provide spoken words and will require them to be attentive listeners. Also inform students that in the Storyplace story, some of pages have sentences that are spoken aloud but some of the pages will have sentences that are only written and will require them to read them independently.
- Tell students to have a notebook or piece of paper with them to jot down one-word “key words” from each story as they are listening and reading. Students already understand the concept of key words, but remind them that key words are the words that are most important in the story, the words that help define with the story is about. Instruct students to write only about 6-8 key words for each story, so that they do not get bogged down in note-taking while they are trying to listen to the stories.
- Students will view the story (twice if necessary) “Dinos Rock” from the Storyplace website - http://www.storyplace.org/eel/other.asp
- Students will then view the story (twice if necessary) “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” from YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-5KgcfHmI
- Following the completion of listening to each story, students will complete a simple “double-bubble” thinking map in their notebook or on a sheet of paper. Students will be told to limit their maps to between 8-12 bubbles. Students will have previous experience with “double-bubble” maps, but remind them that the purpose of these maps in to compare and contrast two things. Students will be told to use their key words in their bubbles, if appropriate, or just as a way to jog their memories.
Review of Website
Resource
Story Place is an adequate, but not excellent, resource for
online interactive stories. I do not find it terribly easy to navigate,
especially from its home page. When I use this resource I link students to the
specific stories rather than to the home page because I have found that
students often cannot find the specific stories easily on their own.
One of the best things about Story Place that makes it
unique and sets it apart from other subscription sites like Tumblebooks, is the
interactive features that ask students to type in names of characters and to
choose which characters will participate in the stories. I have found this to
be a big selling point of this website because students feel like they are
helping to create the stories.
A potential problem with the Story Place website is the fact
that stories alternate between words on the screen that are spoken out loud by
a narrator and words on the screen that are not spoken aloud. I feel this leads
to some confusion for students because they often sit and wait for all the
words to be spoken aloud to them or think that the website is not working
properly. Another frustration with this is I believe many students can
comfortably understand the portions of the story that are read aloud to them,
but then struggle with the portions that are not. It creates a sort of odd-ball
leveling process, making the stories not really perfect for students at any
level.
The content is appropriate for my lesson because it tells a
simple story to students who are readers, but who still need help comprehending
stories. It does this by presenting students with pictures, printed words and
spoken words. I also love how the story Dino Rocks is like a fractured fairy
tale in that it tells the Billy Goats Gruff story but in a modern fashion that
kids will relate to and have fun with. It makes for perfect compare and
contrast material.
Hi Chris!
ReplyDeleteTrue to our readings for this week, the storyspace link in your lesson plan didn't work. You probably checked it a dozen times, too! Sorry about that!
Your lesson plan is an interesting take on an activity that focuses on listening and reading that also integrates a critical thinking component. I appreciate that you were able to address this often over-looked skill within the "traditional" skills we focus on with our ELLs.
Did you develop this lesson plan with elementary-aged students in mind? I teach college level students (ages 18 and up) and a 5 minute (YouTube, Billy Goats Gruff story) focused listening activity would be very challenging for them not only to actively listen, but also take notes (key words) at the same time (the British accent might be an issue for some too, though many of my students can't differentiate between Baccents and Aaccents). Of course this really depends on the fluency of your students, as only you would know.
Also, I'm wondering if you would be able to add in a writing component that would be an extension of the double bubble critical thinking activity such as a writing expressing an opinion as to which story they preferred and why (using the bubble information), or developing a short list (3-5) questions based on the double bubble info so that they could interview a fellow student to learn his/her opinion (speaking component added as well)? Would this lesson plan be a supplemental lesson to a larger unit or would it be a "stand alone" lesson plan?