Readers response 4: Content-based Learning Technologies Portfolio (HOTS)

In this blog post I will focus on the higher order thinking skills (HOTS). In Bloom´s Taxonomy these are the last six categories: analyzing, evaluating and creating. The higher order thinking skills are the more complex ways of thinking and learning. I would do the upcoming activity in a 7^th grade classroom.

I have chosen an activity that is based on the following higher order thinking skill: creating. Creating is about putting elements together to create a whole (Anderson, et.al, 2001, p. 84). The students will be asked to produce, videotape and edit a short commercial for a product chosen within the group. This activity requires that the students work together to create a good story that is obtainable when it comes to production. They need to bring out their creativity and ideas so that their end product can become as imaginative and fun as possible. When they have finished their planning and producing of the commercial, they will get the opportunity to borrow a camera owned by the school to videotape it. When each group are finished videotaping the commercial, they will have some time to edit their work. When it is all done, we will show each commercial in class, and the students will get the opportunity to provide feedback. The activity will be too extensive to finish in one class, so this will probably be a project the students will be able to work with within several English lessons throughout a month (given that they have four (or more) English lessons in a month).

The second language and content objectives of this task are the following:

-       “To initiate, continue and finish up conversations about own interests and current topics”

-        “To express oneself in a understandable manner with a varied vocabulary and courtesy expressions adapted to the recipient and the situation”

-       “Explore and use pronunciation patterns and words and expressions in play, singing and role play” (Udir, 2020)

The students will be accessing cameras and computers (with a simple editing program) as the technological resources for this activity.

A step-by-step outline of the learning activity using the into-through-beyond framework:

1. The into phase (one English lesson)

The teacher introduces the students to the upcoming activity. The students are explained what is expected of them and what frameworks they need to stick to. They are told where they can find the different equipment for the project and how to use everything. For what is left of the lesson, the students can go together in their groups and start planning for the commercial

2.    The through phase (two English lessons)

Now the students will start videotaping the commercial. When they have the material they need, they need to edit it into the commercial they wish to show the rest of the class.

3.     The beyond phase (one English lesson)

When everyone´s finished with their commercial, it´s time to show each video in plenary. After each video, the groups can express how they felt about making the videos and some thoughts around the project. The others can then provide feedback on the groups commercial ideas and say something about their thoughts on the end results (bear in mind that the teacher should mention that the pupils feedback should be kind and positive in advance). 

The teacher will see the videos together with the groups when they have all finished. She/he will be able to assess the student based on the content of the videotapes. Were the language -and content objectives achieved?

The focus of this task is mainly the students´ English skill development. However, it is worth mentioning that a lot of other points could also be assessed by the end of this task (for instance social skills). How do the children cooperate within their groups, how do they distribute different tasks and how well do they communicate with each other?

To be able to do this task, it is important that the teacher gives the students a proper introduction to the use of the equipment. In addition, the children need to feel confident enough about their writing skills and vocabulary so they can write a full manuscript for the commercial. Orally, they should be able to speak freely and clearly.

References:

-       Utdanningsdirektoratet (2020) Engelsk (ENG01-04) Kompetansemål og vurdering. Found 29.01.20 on: https://www.udir.no/lk20/eng01-04/kompetansemaal-og-vurdering/kv3

-       Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., & Bloom, B. S. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. London: Pearson.

Reading Response 3: Content-based Learning Technologies Portfolio (LOTS)

Bloom´s taxonomy is a hierarchical system which categorize learning within a cognitive process dimension. In the new version of Bloom´s Taxonomy, there are six existing categories:

1.     Remembering

2.     Understanding

3.     Applying

4.     Analyzing

5.     Evaluating

6.     Creating

The first three categories are called the lower order thinking skills (LOTS), and the last three categories are classified as higher order thinking skills (HOTS). The lower order thinking skills are the basic skills needed for learning, while the higher order thinking skills are the more complex ways of thinking and learning. In this blog post however, I will be focusing only on the lower order thinking skills.

I will be presenting an activity which corresponds with the first of the lower order thinking skills: remembering. Remembering involves bringing back relevant knowledge from one’s long-term memory (Anderson, et.al., 2001, p. 66). This means that the activity used in this context needs to involve something the students are already familiar with. They should not be introduced to new information or anything they haven´t heard of before. The activity I am about to introduce can be used on a second grade, or in other words; young language learners.

The activity I am referring to is word-recognition. The teacher may show a couple of photos of items or animals (a tree, a house, a flower, a car, a chair, a cat, a lion, a monkey, an elephant, etc.) on a whiteboard. Each photo should represent a word that the students have already been taught. Next to the photos there should be just as many words and all the words should be placed next to the photos they match.

The second language and content objectives of this task is for the students to show that they are able to recognize simple words they are already familiar with. As Utdanningsdirektoratet writes in their competence goals and assessment for English language learning by the end of the second grade, this activity matches the following competence goal: “oppdage høyfrekvente ord og fraser i ulike type tekster” (Udir, 2020) which translates to “discover high frequency words and phrases in different types of texts”.

The technology used in this activity is the whiteboard. This is because the activity is exercised in plenary, and because the whiteboard is a useful resource when it comes to activities done in a larger group of students.

A step-by-step outline of the learning activity using the into-through-beyond framework:

1.     The into phase (approximately 15 minutes)

The teacher gathers the student group around the whiteboard. They are reminded of the activity that originally taught them the words that is about to come in the upcoming activity.

The group repeat some of the words they learned in the previous class. Finally, the teacher explains the upcoming activity.

2.     The through phase (approximately 15 minutes)

The teacher performs the activity with the student group. One voluntary student at a time gets to go up to the whiteboard to place one of the words next to one of the photos. The rest of the class should sit and follow.

3.     The beyond phase (approximately 15 minutes)

When all the words have been placed next to a photo, the teacher talks to the students about the activity they just finished. They assess if this was a good activity, but also what was hard about it. Afterwards they can have a plenary assessment of the activity. The teacher can ask the students if everything looks correct. If not, what looks wrong and why? The words that were placed incorrectly should be corrected along the way.

My assessment of this activity will be as mentioned in the beyond phase above. At the end of the activity, we will look at the whiteboard together to see their placement of the words up against the photos. In other words, the students are partly going to assess themselves. Did they learn the words properly in the activity when the words were first introduced to them? Did they learn those words well enough so that they were able to accomplish the task with the photos? If there were any or many mismatches on the whiteboard, I (the teacher) will get an indication of how well the first learning-activity went. Maybe we need to repeat the words a couple of times? Or maybe I need to try a different kind of approach to teach the students the words more efficiently?

To be able to do this activity, it is crucial that all the students were present when they were introduced to the upcoming words, or that they already know with them. If they are not familiar with them, they have poor condition for following the class.

References:

-       Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., & Bloom, B. S. (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. London: Pearson.

-       Utdanningsdirektoratet (2020) Læreplan i engelsk (ENG01‑04). Found 28.01.20 on: https://www.udir.no/lk20/eng01-04/kompetansemaal-og-vurdering/kv1