Jennifer Escobedo

Teaching & Learning 413

Learning Activities

Language Objectives:

SWBAT Use compound sentences to compare and contrast any two contrasting physical
features of a volcano (i.e. aa and pahoehoe lava, pumice and basalt rock, ash and smoke,
volcano with a peak and a volcano with a rounded top).

SWBAT Orally describe the physical features of their volcano model using sensory adjectives,
with the aid of a content vocabulary list.

Rational & Creative Assessment:

In my lesson I am having my students create their own model volcanoes that must include
essential physical features of a real volcano. In creating the model, students need to understand
and be able to orally describe the different physical features they include. I plan to use these
language objectives as a guide to assess my students ability to orally describe the features of
their model volcano. I could do this by having students perform:
1. Oral Presentations of their Volcano Models - I have students making the model volcanos
in groups, therefore each group will orally present their model volcanos in front of the
class. I believe having the students present as a group reduces the stress and pressure.
When presenting the students will need to identify the physical features of their volcano
by using the content vocabulary taught for the unit (aa and pahoehoe lava, basalt rock,
ash, etc.). Each student will be assessed by myself using a rubric and assessing their
ability to work in a group.
2. Gallery Walk of Volcano Models A gallery walk is a great way to reduce stress and
pressure for students who have public speaking anxiety by allowing them to orally
present to a smaller group of their peers at a time. There will be four 5min rotations that
will allow groups to rotate from table to table. Each group will place their model volcano
on a table and will designate a different representative from their group to present their
model during each rotation. When each group member presents the model volcano they
will need to identify the physical features of their volcano by using the content
vocabulary taught for the unit (aa and pahoehoe lava, basalt rock, ash, etc.). Each
student will be assessed by myself using a rubric and assessing their ability to work in a
group
3. Video Presentation of Volcano Models Students get excited anytime they have the
opportunity to use technology in their academics. Having students record their oral
presentations of their volcano models using a video camera makes the presentation much
more exciting and engaging. This form of assessment will also reduce the stress of oral
presentation for students who struggle with public speaking. Instead of talking in front of
all their peers, they will be talking to a camera. Once every group has created their video
presentation of their volcano model, we can watch all the videos as a class. The students
can rehearse their presentation before recording and make sure are describing and
comparing the physical features of their model volcano. Having the students watch the
 recording of themselves also allows for self-reflection of their oral performance. After
watching the video presentations. Aside from my assessment of their performance and
their self-assessment of their ability to work in a group, I would like to give students the
opportunity to assess their actual presentation performance. This is a new twist on oral
presentations that I believe students will truly enjoy and will benefit from.

Adapted Strategy:

After evaluating my objectives and assessment, I decided to include vocabulary role-play as an

activity to enhance vocabulary comprehension. Vocabulary role-play is total body response

language learning, which is an engaging strategy to get kids moving and active while they learn.

This is also great for kids to visualize word meanings and help store information into long-term

memory through word association.

My lesson is created for a 5th grade class so I felt that just having the students act out words was

too simple. One of the language objectives asks students to compare and contrast the physical

features of a volcano landform. Therefore, I thought I could use the vocabulary role-play activity

to provide students with additional practice for comparing and contrasting. This will be a whole

class activity where I will call out content vocabulary and students will then create a body

movement to represent and define the word. For example if I was to say aa lava, the students

will create a motion for a fast moving lava flow, probably by rapidly swaying their arms in a

flowing motion. Following this I would call out the contrasting feature of aa lava, which is the

pahoehoe lava, students will make the same motion as they did for aa lava but much slower in

order to demonstrate that pahoehoe lava is a slow moving lava flow. This will be a visual

representation of the contrasting characteristics of the two types of lava. After creating the

movements for a pair of contrasting features, I will have them repeat the motions a couple times

to emphasis the differences between the two features through the motions they created. If I notice

that my students are not making connections, I will explain how the features are different and
similar while using the motions they created. I will continue to do this for the other volcano

feature vocabulary.

This is aligned to the comparing and contrasting language objective because the students are

doing just that through the motions they use to demonstrate the features. This activity also aligns

with the second language objective because it is helping students describe the features but by

using body motions, which is especially helpful for visual learners. In the assessment the

students are describing the features they have included in their volcano models, this activity will

help the students begin describing features aloud and will help them better understand the

features they include in their model volcano. Vocabulary role-play can also be a little silly which

lightens up the mood in the class and may make the students feel more comfortable to present

their model in front of their piers.

This activity is great for a variety of proficiency levels and all students can participate. Prior to

doing this activity the students will have been introduced to the vocabulary and the definitions as

well as shown examples of the physical features. They will have prior knowledge from the

previous activities and should be able to create motions to describe the features. I will have

labeled photos that show the physical features of a volcano hanging around the room for students

to reference in case they forget that vocabulary. Vocabulary role-play is one of my favorite

strategies because anytime kids can get active and use their bodies in an educational setting, it is

bound to be a fun and memorable learning experience.