Teaching Strategies: Lesson Plan Critique Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

In the majority of cases, teaching English as a second language class involves the preparation of the students for the upcoming job interviews. Moreover, the majority of such lessons are concentrated on the professional language exploited during an interview. This lesson is very helpful in terms of assisting the students in getting acquainted with the structure of job interviews and utilizing an appropriate professional vocabulary. The notes taken by the students are intended to help them in the future and provide them with relevant information concerning the insights of an interview. After this lesson, the students will be able to develop their skills in three diverse ways.

First, the teacher will make them aware of the events that the students should expect during a common job interview. Second, the teacher will provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on the actions and outcomes of the interview. In perspective, this is a perfect way to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the students’ interview skills and approaches. Third, the teacher is responsible for helping the students to develop their practical English skills. These skills include the use of an appropriate vocabulary, correct grammar, and the ability to develop at least basic resumes and cover letters. The note-taking activity is considered to be an effective instrument within the framework of this lesson as it allows the students to critically evaluate their real-life job interview skills and look at the interviews from the spectator’s point of view so as to gain useful insights concerning job interviews.

Structure

There are several major elements that are absent in the existing lesson plan:

• The teacher’s name is not specified.
• The class’s name is not indicated.
• No connection to the curriculum is shown.
• No requirements regarding lesson plan resources are indicated.
• No demographic information is presented.
• No connection with other subjects.

Nonetheless, the format of the lesson is clear to the reader, and the schematic representation of the lesson plan really helps to understand the lesson plan better. This structure is also called tabular. On the left-hand side, there are time intervals that are intended to help the teacher to plan the activities more efficiently. The lesson plan lacks several basic elements when it comes to the design, but the information in its major sections is relevant and concise.

Contents

Subject

The subject of the lesson is moderately stated, but it is impossible to identify the topic of discussion without addressing the lesson plan right away.

Lesson Duration

The time frame of the lesson is stated explicitly and the time intervals are correctly allocated. It is clear to the reader that this lesson plan only covers one lesson and does not require any planning for the future.

Objectives

The WALT is correctly indicated in the lesson plan, but it does not specify all the necessary skills and knowledge. The WALT only provides info concerning the fact that the students will improve their job interviewing competency. Even though the age of the students complies with the contents of the WALT, the objective is not all-inclusive and does not reflect all the specifics of this particular lesson. The teacher has to re-evaluate this section of the lesson plan so as to come up with a new objective/ set of objectives intended to provide a brief (but vibrant) explanation of the WALT and what is expected from the students. Bloom’s Taxonomy is missing from the lesson plan, and there is no evident cognitive structure aligned with the teacher’s plan.

Learning Environment

One of the major drawbacks of this lesson plan is that it does not specify any safety requirements. The use of the Internet hints at the fact that most probably the lesson is taken within a computer class or with the use of computerized devices. The ten-graders understand the basics of safety measures when interacting with a computer, but a safe environment should be an important aspect of the lesson plan regardless of the students’ age. Nonetheless, the application of 21^st-century technologies in class is creditable and inevitable.

Lesson Activities

The activities numbered in the lesson plan are aligned to the core lesson objective. Despite the overall weakness of the latter, the lesson plan displays a rich connection to vital learning skills. The issue of job interviews and different outlooks on this particularity of real-life experience is fully covered by the lesson activities. The students are to realize the importance of reflecting on their involvement in the lesson and providing feedback. Nevertheless, the activities implicitly indicate that the teacher does not impose any of the personal or common outlooks on the students (Orlich et al. 2013). Quite contrarily, the teacher is interested in eliciting the core aspects of the job interview process and allowing the students to work in groups on their own.

Even though the lesson activities at the beginning of the lesson are clearly stated, the remaining part of the lesson plan is not so detailed. There is no clear evidence concerning the ways in which the so-called job interviews should be conducted and how the notes should be taken. On a bigger scale, there is a number of clear and concise directions concerning the activities that should be performed by the students. This major contributes to the overall impression of the lesson plan.

Another serious advantage of this lesson plan is the group-work type activity. Therefore, this lesson plan allows the teacher to implement collaboration in the learning process and help the students to develop their interaction skills. This approach is in line with Slavin’s ideas (2014) concerning the effect of collaboration on the overall student performance. On the other hand, the evaluation method is described very briefly and does not correspond to the complexity of the task completed by the students. No individual planning needs are specified in this particular lesson plan.

The plenary activity is organized correctly and matches the objective of the lesson. It is conducted in the form of a discussion after the students are done noting their experience. The reflection is consistent with the lesson activities and the real-life context of job interviews. The importance of the chosen GEMS core value is not explained and does not align with the lesson plan. Homework was not assigned due to the fact that this was a reflection/ self-assessment lesson. In the feedback section, there are no comments concerning the accomplishment of the lesson objectives. This may be considered a weakness of the current lesson plan because there was an evaluation of the lesson outcomes and the ultimate conclusions should have been made on the basis of these outcomes.

Conclusion

This lesson plan has its strengths and weaknesses. There is no doubt that this design lacks flexibility and a number of important details. Nonetheless, the usefulness of this lesson cannot be disregarded, and the impact of this lesson on the ten-graders should be noticeable straight away.

References

Orlich, D, Harder, R, Callahan, R & Gibson, H 2013, Teaching strategies: A guide to better instruction, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.

Slavin, R 2014, Educational psychology: Theory and practice, Pearson, Boston, MA.