Critiquing
3-hour lesson in Language and Social Studies designed for an adult audience.
Critiquing employs a variety of teaching models, depending on the content.
Instructional Design:
Introduce the song and its lyrics, using the Vocabulary Acquisition Model to teach Patois in order to facilitate content comprehension. Assess students' grasp of the new language by having them create a working definition for the phrase “capture land”. Ask students to write the definition on a piece of paper. Share the definition of “constructive criticism”. Assess students understanding of the new vocabulary by having them find a line of lyrics that appears to be constructive criticism. Ask students to write their line of lyrics on their piece of paper, under the working definition of constructive criticism. Follow this with an introduction to Socratic Seminar Method by encouraging students to form a question through careful consideration of the lyrics they selected from the song. Ask students to write their question on their piece of paper. Let students know that the lesson will be returning to this question, but is now transitioning to a discussion about additional concepts (good qualities) that further define constructive criticism.
Present new concepts by explaining what they are, and their importance in the communication process. Using the Socratic Seminar Method, ask students to share specific examples, or lack thereof, of each concept. As assessment, pay attention to students' participation in the class discussion, asking students to record their insight about questions on their piece of paper. Using words such as “insight” rather than “answers” communicates that there this lesson is about developing personal perception, rather than providing a correct response. To further emphasize the transition to good qualities of constructive criticism, exemplify objectivity by referring to the song lyrics rather than the name of the artist.
Close the lesson by expanding on the idea of communicating constructive criticism using “I feel...” statements. Transition into the Direct Instruction Model by presenting new material followed by guided instruction about how to construct “I feel...” statements. Introduce feeling vocabulary with an appropriate graphic. Integrate previous material by asking students to reference the question they wrote about the line of lyrics they believe contains constructive criticism while writing an “I feel...” statement. Provide an example. Assess by checking their written work for the three essential components of an “I feel...” statement: behavior, feelings, and effect.
Physical Structure of Page (Design Time = 24 hours, including this analysis):
Box the title and its definition in a relevant color in order to draw attention and highlight its importance. Immediately follow with the song and its lyrics, parallel to each other on the page to indicate equitable importance. i.e. Listen to song and look at lyrics at the same time. Center justify the lyrics in order to most clearly delineate them from instructions. Interactive elements (videos) draw more attention, so begin lesson instructions directly below the video. Left-justify instructions as this is the format most often used in textbooks and, accordingly, most recognizable by students. Start by telling students exactly what you want them to do. i.e. Watch the video and read the lyrics. Clearly delineate each instruction with sequential numbers to make sure students complete assessments after studying the corresponding section of the lesson. Include the text of the first Web link with the hyperlink so that students will recognize the color of any text that is connected to a hyperlink.
Follow the instructions with a sub-definition of constructive criticism (good qualities) and box it in the same color as the title in order to improve the probability that students connect the two. Center the title in order to draw additional attention to the transition in lesson content. Center the hyperlink to the Web page with additional information about the good qualities of constructive criticism in order to draw the most attention. Use entirely lower case letters when something needs to stand out on the page. In the same way that capital letters are understood to be correlated with shouting online, all lower case can be correlated with whispering. Changing volume when speaking (writing) creates a shift in attention and helps keep the listener engaged with the message. Students should now be able to recognize the hyperlink text color, so it should no longer be necessary to make the Website address visible in the body of the document. Hyperlinks can be directly attached to corresponding words. Add a graphic with upward spiraling musical notes near the end of the presentation of concepts that embody good qualities of constructive criticism in order to keep focus on the song and lighten the emotional experience of discussing “I feel...” statements with a reference to uplifting musical rhythm.
Shift from a linear to non-linear page design in order to facilitate the shift from left-brain, logical thought, to right-brain, emotional reactions. Include a background of musical and artistic elements to tie together all pieces of this last section of the lesson: Writing “I feel...” Statements. Divide this section of the lesson into four quadrants: vocabulary, components, example, and instruction. Because we read from left to right, place a color-coded feeling circle to provide vocabulary ideas for the lessons in the upper left-hand corner. The location and dramatic color should draw students' attention to the section vocabulary. Below this, in the lower left-hand corner, provide the essential components of an “I feel..” statement on a white oval that blocks background images in order to most clearly communicate the information. Follow this by providing an example of a properly structured “I feel...” statement in the upper right-hand corner. Place the example on a mid-range semi-translucent white background in order to develop connections between the words, the background music photo, and the students' right-brain. Close the lesson with instructions about writing “I feel...” statements in the lower right-hand corner of the document. Place the instructions on a upper-range, semi-transparent white background in order to communicate balance between the words, music, and feelings.
Critiquing employs a variety of teaching models, depending on the content.
Instructional Design:
Introduce the song and its lyrics, using the Vocabulary Acquisition Model to teach Patois in order to facilitate content comprehension. Assess students' grasp of the new language by having them create a working definition for the phrase “capture land”. Ask students to write the definition on a piece of paper. Share the definition of “constructive criticism”. Assess students understanding of the new vocabulary by having them find a line of lyrics that appears to be constructive criticism. Ask students to write their line of lyrics on their piece of paper, under the working definition of constructive criticism. Follow this with an introduction to Socratic Seminar Method by encouraging students to form a question through careful consideration of the lyrics they selected from the song. Ask students to write their question on their piece of paper. Let students know that the lesson will be returning to this question, but is now transitioning to a discussion about additional concepts (good qualities) that further define constructive criticism.
Present new concepts by explaining what they are, and their importance in the communication process. Using the Socratic Seminar Method, ask students to share specific examples, or lack thereof, of each concept. As assessment, pay attention to students' participation in the class discussion, asking students to record their insight about questions on their piece of paper. Using words such as “insight” rather than “answers” communicates that there this lesson is about developing personal perception, rather than providing a correct response. To further emphasize the transition to good qualities of constructive criticism, exemplify objectivity by referring to the song lyrics rather than the name of the artist.
Close the lesson by expanding on the idea of communicating constructive criticism using “I feel...” statements. Transition into the Direct Instruction Model by presenting new material followed by guided instruction about how to construct “I feel...” statements. Introduce feeling vocabulary with an appropriate graphic. Integrate previous material by asking students to reference the question they wrote about the line of lyrics they believe contains constructive criticism while writing an “I feel...” statement. Provide an example. Assess by checking their written work for the three essential components of an “I feel...” statement: behavior, feelings, and effect.
Physical Structure of Page (Design Time = 24 hours, including this analysis):
Box the title and its definition in a relevant color in order to draw attention and highlight its importance. Immediately follow with the song and its lyrics, parallel to each other on the page to indicate equitable importance. i.e. Listen to song and look at lyrics at the same time. Center justify the lyrics in order to most clearly delineate them from instructions. Interactive elements (videos) draw more attention, so begin lesson instructions directly below the video. Left-justify instructions as this is the format most often used in textbooks and, accordingly, most recognizable by students. Start by telling students exactly what you want them to do. i.e. Watch the video and read the lyrics. Clearly delineate each instruction with sequential numbers to make sure students complete assessments after studying the corresponding section of the lesson. Include the text of the first Web link with the hyperlink so that students will recognize the color of any text that is connected to a hyperlink.
Follow the instructions with a sub-definition of constructive criticism (good qualities) and box it in the same color as the title in order to improve the probability that students connect the two. Center the title in order to draw additional attention to the transition in lesson content. Center the hyperlink to the Web page with additional information about the good qualities of constructive criticism in order to draw the most attention. Use entirely lower case letters when something needs to stand out on the page. In the same way that capital letters are understood to be correlated with shouting online, all lower case can be correlated with whispering. Changing volume when speaking (writing) creates a shift in attention and helps keep the listener engaged with the message. Students should now be able to recognize the hyperlink text color, so it should no longer be necessary to make the Website address visible in the body of the document. Hyperlinks can be directly attached to corresponding words. Add a graphic with upward spiraling musical notes near the end of the presentation of concepts that embody good qualities of constructive criticism in order to keep focus on the song and lighten the emotional experience of discussing “I feel...” statements with a reference to uplifting musical rhythm.
Shift from a linear to non-linear page design in order to facilitate the shift from left-brain, logical thought, to right-brain, emotional reactions. Include a background of musical and artistic elements to tie together all pieces of this last section of the lesson: Writing “I feel...” Statements. Divide this section of the lesson into four quadrants: vocabulary, components, example, and instruction. Because we read from left to right, place a color-coded feeling circle to provide vocabulary ideas for the lessons in the upper left-hand corner. The location and dramatic color should draw students' attention to the section vocabulary. Below this, in the lower left-hand corner, provide the essential components of an “I feel..” statement on a white oval that blocks background images in order to most clearly communicate the information. Follow this by providing an example of a properly structured “I feel...” statement in the upper right-hand corner. Place the example on a mid-range semi-translucent white background in order to develop connections between the words, the background music photo, and the students' right-brain. Close the lesson with instructions about writing “I feel...” statements in the lower right-hand corner of the document. Place the instructions on a upper-range, semi-transparent white background in order to communicate balance between the words, music, and feelings.
