A Lesson Plan Practically Incorporating Instructional Technology for Reading Skills
If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.
-John DeweyLesson plan is believed to be a scheme that sets limits to the extent of teaching in a particular time and place with varying formats depending on any educational institutions’ discretion. This presented lesson plan does not claim to switch any other formats of lesson plans but rather tries to basically introduce how a lesson can be integrated with simple forms of technologies while students engage with activities to efficiently refurbish their macro skills and language awareness for effective interaction. Modern language learning does not only entail macro skills and linguistic skills but achieving the essentials how technologies are used in the classroom among learners is a must in a continuously expanding digital learning environment. This semi-detailed procedural lesson plan that adheres to the fundamental and essential components of a learning blueprint seeks to encourage the creativeness of teachers to incorporate instructional technologies in any method it is possible.Lesson Plan for Level B1′s Reading SkillI. Behavioral ObjectivesAt the end of the reading lessons, the B1 students will be able to:1. scan and predict the content of the passage
2. obtain main ideas of the passage
3. gather details found in the passage
4. create inferences from the text
5. use Microsoft word processing fundamentals
6. immerse and utilize technology-related learning tools
7. Appreciate the use of technology in language learningII. Subject Matter
Reference:
Reading 1: Customs around the world
Unit 2: Customs and Tradition
From Pages 36 & 37
Unlock 3 Reading and Writing Textbook for B1 level
By Carolyn Westbrook
Cambridge Press, Fourth Printing 2016Target Student level: B1 from Common European Frame of Reference (CEFR)
Time Frame: 60 minutesIII. Materials:Soft copies of activities for screen display and downloads
Hard copies and soft copies of activity sheets
Projector for passage displays
Internet to surf pictures and to propel the Blackboard
Students’ Blackboard account to download files
Teacher’s Blackboard account to upload files
Desktop computer for class activitiesIV. Procedurea. PreparationSet all the materials as tools in the teaching and learning process. Create classroom as an atmosphere for conducive learning. It is suggested that the behavioral objectives or intended outcomes may be underscored for students’ prior awareness.b. Motivation• The teacher uses this portion as a springboard that links students’ attention to be engaged with the lesson.
• The teacher presents a globe’s picture from the internet in the absence of a globe. The teacher may further substitute it with a Google map.
• The teacher displays pictures of people around the world with varied customary gestures onscreen in a PowerPoint presentation
• The teacher elicits responses from the students on what do these gestures mean. The teacher indiscriminately collates all possible responses and be able encourage students to write accepted answers through a spider gram and relate their accepted responses to the main word in the graphic organizer.
• The spider gram should have a soft copy enlarged by a projector for the students to complete on the spot. All responses should be transparent for the students’ inquiries.
• Students are requested to fill-in the blanks using the classroom computer.
• The teacher may further ask some customary gestures which they are familiar with and may additionally relate the pictures to that of the globe presented in class.c. Presentation of the lesson• Overview some reading essentials through a PowerPoint presentation
• Provision of a background knowledge regarding passage comprehension
• Delivery of some techniques in answering comprehension questions. These ideas are displayed onscreen.d. Lesson ProperDiscussions are followed by activities displayed onscreen. Answers in every activity will be highlighted, circled, underscored, italicized and painted, respectively by the students. Errors of one students’ may be the errors of others so it is beneficial to display answers done by students individually. This involves teacher roles and students’ roles. The teacher strives to adhere on the principles of facilitation rather than lecturing depending on the students” performance exhibited in the process.• The teacher explains scanning and predicting.
Students will response to activity numbers 1 & 2
• The teacher introduces the meaning of main ideas
Students will perform reading activity number 1.
• The teacher discusses what details are with concrete examples.
The students are going to deal with activity number 4.
• The teacher elucidates inference as a part of reading
The teacher explicates by elaborating what ” reading between the lines” means by providing specific examples and guiding the students on the task related.
The students will perform activity number 5.V. EvaluationThe teacher frames or customizes an example of a passage if there is no available authentic passage as a springboard to test the students’ abilities on scanning and predicting the content, obtaining main ideas, assembling and creating inferences from the customized text.
Answers are deliberated by the teacher for common understandingVI. GeneralizationThe teacher accentuates on the importance of reading and how effective reading comprehension is achieved through learners’ abilities in scanning, predicting, determining main ideas, assembling and creating inferences.VII. HomeworkRead the passage, A British Wedding found on page 40. After reading, open your Blackboard account and download two (2) files related to this text.• The first file contains activity sheets that tasks you to fill-in the gaps regarding the passage.
• The second file entails you to complete the tree diagram for text comprehension.
• You are required to bring these sheets for further discussions about Reading Number 2, tomorrow.Incorporating instructional technology in language teaching doesn’t need to be complex or sophisticated. Through the basic technological materials, the lessons become worth-engaging and worth -exploring. Excerpted film clips, film soundtracks, film opening and closing credits, an excerpted dialogue, digital script, film posters, music video, songs, film biography, film trailers, book reviews from the cyberspace internet graphics, music or sounds, reading passages from the internet, popular speeches, pictures, tables, Blogs, Facebook posts and comments, YouTube clips, live or print varied advertisements, recorded recitals, newscast among others, are materials that trigger practical technology -related instructions. As noticed, these authentic materials are media forms and productions that necessitate the employment of multimedia and technological tools. These phenomena further stress that integration of technology in instructions is always interconnected with the interplay of print and audio-visual media and are absolutely operated by multimedia highlighting the fact that the multiple and prolific growth of multimedia are propelled by rising technology to produce media forms which are now advocated by innovative educators in an authentic learning environment in the design of curricula and instructions. Access to these materials yield the occurrence of students’ technological involvement guided by well-designed lesson plans characterized to be specific, measurable, aligned, realistic or relevant, and time-bound (SMART) just as how their behavioral objectives are keenly observed as students ‘performance indicators. Furthermore, the success of technology integration in lessons is measured through the manipulation of technical tools by both teachers and students to attain a two-way pedagogical process.Finally, the educational world of learners in the contemporary times is digital. It is crucial that students must be brought into authentic learning environment for the creation of a real- world to be explored by by productive learners. “Social tools leave a digital audit trail, documenting our learning journey-often an unfolding story-and leaving a path for others to follow,” as Marcia Conner articulates. Every educator embraces the fact that learners and educators in the contemporary times are called maneuvers of a digital age for a more globally digital world through the academe as the hub of a continuing instructive progression.
SEO Marketing Services – Things to Consider When Hiring an Organic Internet Marketing Company
Being the owner of your business, you are already aware that without a focused Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign, your corporate website may not be able to draw the attention of sufficient number visitors. This in turn might prevent you from building a sufficiently large customer base in future. These days, when every business enterprise – small or big, has a web presence, it is a highly competitive task to make your site easily searchable by visitors. The SEO marketing industry thrives on this requirement. There are a lot of SEO marketing service providers in the market, practicing different SEO techniques. In this article, we will explore the points you should consider before hiring an organic SEO company.Organic SEO PracticesThe current trend in the SEO industry is organic SEO practices. What is organic SEO practice anyway? Organic SEO practice makes high-quality content as the weapon to beat competition. The high quality content is supplemented by meta-tag and title tag enhancements. Organic SEO service providers should be able to follow the workings of search engine algorithms closely. Researching for appropriate keywords and their distributed usage across the content is the key to success. Organic SEO service providers take step-by-step approach in dealing with your site’s SEO needs. The results, though it takes some time to trickle in, are usually long-lasting and cost-effective.Things to Consider Before You Sign upChoosing an organic SEO company from the market place teeming with SEO providers is not easy. You should take every precaution so that your hard-earned money is not wasted. Take care of the following points while evaluating an SEO provider:• The competition these days demands that your SEO provider should be a vertical expert. This means that the SEO provider should be sufficiently experienced in your industry domain.
• Secondly, the SEO company should practice clean SEO techniques. It should not indulge in gimmicky techniques like black hat SEO that are dubbed illegal by the search engines.
• Apart from focusing on high quality content, an organic SEO marketing company should be knowledgeable about advanced SEO techniques like keyword researching, optimization of internal website links, incorporation of SEO-friendly images etc.
• Your SEO service provider should be able to provide you with the following deliverables – a Website Status Report, and periodic status reports. The first report gives you a comprehensive analysis of your current search engine positioning, what you lack and where your competitors might gain. It also puts forward the SEO plan for your site. The periodic status report is a sort of progress report. It is very important in case of organic SEO campaign where results trickle in stages over a long period of time.At the end, I will like to reiterate a few things, which should be your take from this article. Firstly, you should subject your website to SEO techniques. Secondly, opt for organic SEO practices. Lastly, evaluate the credentials of shortlisted SEO companies well, before selecting one.
High Risk Car Insurance: Everything That Canadians Need to Know!
HIGH RISK AUTO INSURANCE: WHEN DO YOU NEED IT?Not all drivers are the same: some drive within speed limits and others consider the highway to be a racetrack. Some drive carefully, others rarely make use of blinkers and disregard any use of winter tires. This type of activity poses a greater risk to all drivers on a road.Insurance companies consider high-risk drivers those who are more likely to get into an accident according to statistics. There are several aspects that can indicate a driver is such a case e.g. age, driving/ticket history, etc. Very often insurers will consider somebody to be a high-risk driver who fits to the following profile:
2 at fault-accidents in the last 10 years or,
2 or 3 tickets in the last yearsAuto insurance itself is not cheap in Canada, with Ontario having the highest price, an average of $153/month. Being a risky driver can result in far more expensive insurance premiums.HIGH RISK CAR INSURANCE PREMIUMS: WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?Auto insurance costs vary significantly across Canada, depending on the province. On average drivers with 2 or less violations in the last 3 years will pay ~25% more than someone without any violations. For example Auto insurance drivers in Ontario with extensive auto insurance coverage (including liability, collision, comprehensive damage, and increased accident benefits) pay on average $150/month whereas those who have a maximum of 2 violations in the last 3 years need to consider an average of $184/month meaning an increase of 23% for the same coverage.In many cases the premiums of “dangerous” auto insurance drivers can be doubled or even tripled depending on your driving history and other factors. Premiums also vary depending on if a driver already has insurance with a particular company or applies for a new policy with another company. Your existing company is more likely to simply push you to the higher level of premiums if you become a high-risk case. The requirements for a new policy are higher – insurers normally do not like high-risk drivers leaving a limited choice of companies for those who have bad driving records.WHAT INSURANCE COMPANIES OFFER AUTO INSURANCE PROTECTION FOR SUCH DRIVERSAs soon as you fall into the category of high-risk driver, many companies will refuse to insure you, especially if you decide to apply for a new policy at a different company. The companies that will insure you will do so at a higher premium. There are also some insurance companies specializing in this type of car insurance, called specialty insurance companies. Here are some insurance companies that provide insurance for high-risk drivers:
Pafco
Jevco (Kingsway)
Coachman InsuranceThere is also an organization called Facility Association which is “funded by the private property and casualty insurance industry that makes insurance available to “higher risk” drivers who wouldn’t otherwise be able to get insurance”. This association does not issue insurance policies but works with specific insurance companies that issue policies and handle claims on its behalf.REDUCING YOUR PREMIUMS AS A RISKY CAR DRIVERYou can become a safe driver again, if you change your driving behaviour and your risk profile improves. It takes 3 years for any tickets to come off your record. It takes longer to get rid of demerit points – here accidents will affect your driving record for up to 6 years. Also if you have a history of not paying your auto insurance premiums, it can impact your ability to get a policy and possibly the price you have to pay.We hope you will avoid becoming a high-risk driver: it is safer for everybody on the road and helps out your wallet too. Drive safely!
Accounting Made Quick and Easy With Personal Financial Software
To achieve financial goals, the first recourse people often take is mapping out a budget plan that outlines all their financial activities, from fund resources, to expenses, to loan payments, to bills, to contingency savings accounts, and a host of other related issues. More often than not, this process involves a ton a paperwork, a lot of time spent pencil pushing, and a ton more numbers to deal with.A clear and totally transparent budget plan is a challenge to build without the help of an accounting professional, especially if you are involved in several fund sources or businesses at the same time. However, having a professional on your payroll is an expense that would benefit you more to be without. To deal with matters effectively yourself, you can enrol in an accountancy course to get oriented with the process, or you can go the convenient route via a personal financial software.How Do You Benefit From Financial Software?A PDA financial software or any financial tool on any mobile device affords you the convenience that you cannot get by hiring someone to do your accounting by doing the work yourself. You can say goodbye to manual funds accounting and say hello to automatic calculations with just a push of the button or a tap on the screen. In addition, a personal financial software is a one-time expense which you can use for a long time, as opposed to getting a professional and placing him or her on your payroll.Companies and individuals alike stand to benefit from this handy tool. If you’re looking to meet financial goals, a personal financial software will give you not only detailed information on where your money came from and where it has gone, it can also provide you an overall picture of your money situation at the moment. Some software equipped with predictive capacities can also even help you manage your accounts in the future.Can You Afford It?Most of the PDA financial software available today are sold at an average price of $30. This is considered a small one-time expense given the amount of work it can take away from your hands. Determining whether a product or service is expensive depends on whether it exceeds your expectations from the day of purchase. A product that costs $5 but does not perform well is expensive, while a product that costs $100 but does more to make your life easy is worthwhile buy. You can rest assured that a personal financial software will not disappoint.
How to Create a Thriving Economy by Using the Law of Attraction
A couple of my students recently made it their personal intention to help the U.S. economy to thrive once again and to be better than ever by using The Law of Attraction to imagine the economy as they wish it to be. By using Feel It Real! techniques, they both quickly manifested positive news media stories regarding the U.S. economy within a few days of their initial intention. They have since turned this Thriving Economy Intention into a project of theirs. Every day they intend for the economy to thrive and shine better than ever before.
Feeling It Real! is a form of Law of Attraction that says we attract our reality to us by how we’re focusing/feeling. If we’re focusing on what we want and getting into the feeling place of having what we want, we’ll attract it. We create our entire reality, including how the economy is showing up in our lives, by the feelings and thoughts we focus on all day long. So if you believe in The Law of Attraction and you want to help create a thriving economy once again, here are six tips to help get you started.
Tip #1- Stop Watching/Listening/Reading Any Negative Economy News Stories For Thirty Days Straight: In order to get a clear vision for imagining what we do want (In this case a thriving economy), we need to take our focus off of what we don’t want long enough to imagine our desire fulfilled. If we do a bunch of visualizing and feeling like the economy is flowing with abundance and then we turn around and watch a lot of negative news stories, it’s like drinking a diet soda after eating an entire pizza by ourselves. The soda isn’t going to do much good. We need to “un-stimulate” ourselves from the negative outcomes so that we have a more fertile imagination for the desires we want to manifest. You can watch and read other news stories (if you want) but when it comes to the economy, you’re on a diet from all the negative stories!
Tip #2-Think of a Time in U.S. History When Our Economy Was Thriving and Flowing With Abundance. If you don’t remember a time like this (because You were too young, etc.) then ask others who do remember a time like this what it was like for them to live with this kind of economy. Think about how it felt to have such an abundant economy with so much surplus and more than enough. Really try to activate those emotions in your body of what that kind of economy felt like or would feel like had you lived at that time.
Tip #3- Vividly Imagine A Positive News Story Using Currently Popular Newscasters Where They Announce Over And Over Again How Well The Economy is Doing/How Things Have Turned Around For the Better/etc. Do this three minutes a day for thirty days in a row. The more vividly you imagine this scenario and the more often you do it, the more powerful an effect you will have vibrationally on the economy. Try to see the outfit that Diane Sawyer is wearing as she speaks of the ‘best economy the U.S. has ever enjoyed.” See Katie Couric’s excitement as she talks about the newly booming economy, etc.. Do this for three minutes a day every day for thirty days.
Tip #4- Get into the Feeling Place of Already Living in The Best Economy Imaginable right now. Ask yourself What Ten Emotions You Would Feel if You were Living In The Best Economy of All Time. Many Law of Attraction teachers don’t focus as much attention on the feelings you would have if your desire had manifested, but at Feel it Real we believe it’s the most important aspect of manifesting our desires. When we can vividly imagine the feelings we would have when our dreams have come true, we not only activate new chemical responses in our bodies, we also send off new vibrational signals that attract our desires to us more quickly. The more powerful our emotional intensity, the faster we will attract our desire to us. Write down the ten emotions you would feel if the economy was booming (i.e. abundant, safe, ease, flow, security, wealthy, freedom, etc.) and then imagine things that help you to feel these feelings all day long for thirty days straight.
Tip #5- Be Grateful For What is Going Right With the Current Economy/Government/Flow of Abundance in The United States. Notice every little and big thing that makes you smile or gives you hope about our economy and government. It’s an epidemic in our country to focus constantly on what’s wrong with everything. What’s wrong with our bodies, what’s wrong with our health, what’s wrong with our mates, what’s wrong with our finances, and, of course, what’s wrong with our government. This unfortunately only attracts more things not to like since the Law of Attraction says “Whatever you focus on expands.” Even if there are many things about the current economy or Government that you would like to change, by dwelling on the problem, you are not a part of the solution. We need to plant our desires in the fertile ground of gratitude. When we find something that is going well with our economy, our government, our country, we flow abundant and healing energy to the entire system. So every day for the next thirty days, write down three things you appreciate about your economy, your economic structure, your political structure or your country in general. You will notice a shift in your own frequency and moods first and then you will notice the economy reflecting your positive energy back to you.
Tip #6- Put a Positive Spin On Why The Economy Was Challenged In The First Place So Your Improved Attitude Raises The Vibration of The Situation. Shakespeare once said, “Nothing is good or bad. But thinking makes it so.” It’s not the events of our lives that maks us happy or sad so much as our interpretation of those events. When we can put a positive spin on a challenging situation, we immediately bring a higher vibrational frequency to the table, thus positively influencing the outcomes. There’s always a gift to be found, even in negative situations. Can you find the gift in the current challenge? Write out three possible positives that could come from this current Ecomomic Challenge. For example, you could say, “I never really appreciated how prosperous our country was until it felt challenged. I can really appreciate the good times in a whole new way now!” etc.
Our Digital Economy: The Cold Hard Truth
The word “economy” seems to be a very common word in many vocabularies. Many people use the word to complain about their current economocial situation, and many people complaining in particular about their employment status. Whether having a job that one does not like, or simply not having a job at all, for those in today’s world who want change, the ability to live the life of one’s dreams has never been more abundant than now, and that abundance is only getting greater as technology progresses, however, the question is, are you ready to transition to the digital economy?
The traditional economy which many people are shifting from is now beaten up, run down, and is a “thing of the past” for many people who are taking control of their life to make their dreams come true. Those who are making that change and are switching from the conventional and beaten-up economy which we had lived in are now shifting to the digital economy which is thriving like never before, and offers opportunities to anyone, regardless of a degree or experience. The only thing holding those people back from converting to this digital economy is themselves.
The Four Basic People in Our World
There are four basic categories of people in the world which we all live in. The four groups of people in our world are as follows:
Employees – The largest group of people. Being an employee in 2013 is not a good position to be in, and that positioning will only get worse for people in this group as time goes on, and as more of our world coverts over to the ways of our thriving digital economy. First off, big businesses are going bankrupt and people are being laid off. The second reason is that all of the big businesses, and even small businesses, are migrating to the digital economy. The thought of self-checkouts never became a reality until lately. For example, since nearly one quarter to one half of all supermarket checkout lanes are now these self-operational machines, that same respective amount of people were laid off, simply because they were replaced by our digital world. This group of people are a part of our traditional economy.
Specialist – These people typically work for themselves. Because they typically work for themselves, have it a little better off, however, there is very little leverage for specialists, as there is so much competition (competition consistently lowering prices, etc.). This group of people are yet again part of the traditional economy.
Digital Experts – This group of people is our first category within the digital economy, and these people start online businesses. The appealing part of being a part of this group of people is that you have huge leverage. Once you learn a few new business principles, it is far easier to start a business in the digital economy than it ever was in the past. Most digital experts who start businesses and are successful were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth and did not spend thousands of dollars to get their business off the ground and profitable. Businesses in the digital economy can most often be started on a shoestring budget.
Publishers – Product owners or creators who create these products in our digital economy are a part of this group. Because of the internet, they are able to grow at an astonishing speed. These people get more and more success, and more and more leverage. These people have much more freedom (financial, time, and geographical). People in this sector can work where they want, when they want, and how they want, and usually work just a couple hours per day to create and sustain a six, seven, or eight-figure income. The flexibility of time, money, and geographics is the most appealing aspect of being a part of this group.
The key to merging to the ways of, and becoming a part of, our digital economy is to first realize the opportunity in the digital economy, then learn the ways of it, and simply put those ways to succeed in the digital economy into practice.
The reason why it is essential to convert to our digital economy is because the traditional economy has no freedom. There is so much competition and the businesses in the traditional economy are in a constant battle of trying to cut each other’s throats to make ends meet and gain little leverage. Because of the lack of leverage in the traditional economy, there is little room for advancement. The other reason why the traditional economy is so inefficient is because everyone within is trading their time for money, and because there is only so much time in a day, most people do not want to work from 9-5 every day.
With regards to the digital economy, it is in the end much more efficient because you are able to put your business on autopilot, and do not have to be there to manage it, as you can leave all of the management to technology for the most part. The other appealing aspect to it is that with leaving all of that work for technology, the internet allows you to sift through people to find those who are searching for exactly what you are offering instead of cold-calling and other similar means of selling in the traditional economy.
More and more people are moving/migrating to this digital economy which allows all of these appealing benefits to become a reality. There is no reason why you should not migrate to the digital economy unless you are simply not motivated enough or do not have a strong enough want for that change to take place.
What are anti-ligature blinds?
Anti-ligature blinds are becoming increasingly popular in a range of different settings. The way these blinds differ from traditional blinds is that they are designed to prevent suicide by hanging.
Initially, uptake for this type of blind was largely restricted to high-risk environments such as psychiatric hospitals and prisons, where suicide is common. In mental health environments and detention centres, suicide via hanging is common and preventative measures must be implemented. A huge range of objects could be used to create a ligature point, meaning anti-ligature systems are highly important.
Over the years, anti-ligature blinds have been supplied to hospitals, schools, student accommodation and even hotels.
How do they work?
There are a range of different systems on the market, but the most reliable could well be the magnetic anti-ligature system. YewdaleKestrel® products utilise load release magnets which separate when a downward force is exerted on the product. This means that the product falls to the ground safely and prevents suicide via hanging.
The magnetic systems used in Yewdale’s products are highly reliable because magnets don’t lose their strength for hundreds of years, guaranteeing a lifetime of lifesaving functionality.
Anti-ligature blinds usually have a magnetic connection point above the blind’s barrel. The blind is easy to reconnect to the magnetic bracket after it has fallen to the floor.
If you are considering an anti-ligature blind, Yewdale is a highly recommended company. Based in the UK, Yewdale produce a wide range of anti-ligature products, commercial blinds, and healthcare products including hospital cubicle tracks and medical curtains.
Yewdale produce other anti-ligature products too including a soft, lightweight en-suite door and other accessories such as soap dispensers, toilet roll holder, shelves and artwork. You can see the full range on the website using the link below.