Identifying Key Terms Lesson Plan

Time	Year Level	Prerequisites	Materials [This lesson plan is supported by the Identifying Key Terms Teacher Resource.]
1 - 2 lessons	9 - 10	Before undertaking this lesson students will have demonstrated: an understanding that written texts come in different forms; the ability to read complex texts; a beginning level of critical discussion; and a beginning level of self-directed learning.	Overhead display or whiteboard. Lucas Clothing Factory wiki page. Word processor or workbook and pen. A small selection of books for demonstration purposes.

Description

Key terms underpin the ability for researchers to perform effective searches. In this lesson students will explore this notion by: individually identifying key terms in a given text; sharing their choices; engaging in critical discussion in order to generate an agreed set of key terms from the text; then responding to set questions and prompts to produce their reflection on learning.

Curriculum Connections

At Year 9 level students engage with historical terms and discuss their contestability in the context of Australia's history. At Year 10 level they continue to build on their understanding of the concept of 'contestability' through using their Year 9 experiences to help create their own definition of 'contestability'.

Program

This lesson is part of the Create a Publicity Brochure for the Lucas Clothing Factory in 1919 program.

Theme

This lesson is part of the Skill Builder theme.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson students will: understand that written texts use particular conventions to convey key terms; be able to apply these conventions to identify key terms in a wiki page; be able to sort terms from a wiki page into 'key' and 'other' categories; understand that classification of the terms involves the use of evaluation criteria; be able to apply evaluation criteria to the classification of terms in a wiki page; and be able to express judgment of their own and fellow learners' value of information and ideas.

Activity Type

Students will engage in activities that allow them to build their knowledge (through reading texts, group discussions and data-based inquiry) and to express their convergent knowledge (through answering questions).

Thinking skill developed

This lesson will involve students in higher level thinking involving analysis (through comparing and classifying terms within given texts) and evaluation (through decision making about which are the key terms in the text, becoming familiar with the standards through critical discussion of their choices and creating and applying standards of coding through agreement of which choices are key terms).

Assessment Type

Students will be assessed on their demonstration of complicated skills, including: information processing skills; their ability to find relevant information; their ability to compare and classify information; their ability to develop evaluation criteria; their ability to apply evaluation criteria and their ability to express judgment of the value of information and ideas.

Lead in

Introduction to the project that will follow on from this lesson. e.g. Create a Publicity Brochure for the Lucas Clothing Factory in 1919.

Brief explanation that before starting the project the group needs to ensure that everyone has the right key terms to search for useful information.

What do students know?

Teacher-lead discussion using the following questions...

• Question 1: What are key terms?

• Question 2: How do we know what the key terms are when we are reading from source material? (Use your small selection of books to demonstrate the key concepts: contents page; chapter heading; sub-headings; index.)

Activity

Introduction and motivation

[Students need to be able to see the Lucas Clothing Factory wiki page - an overhead display would be preferable, but individual computers will work.]

Briefly - have students call out the key terms on the Lucas Clothing Factory wiki page, using the ideas demonstrated with the selection of books.

Introduce the secondary concepts - the hyperlink (blue, purple or red) text are usually also key terms on a wiki page, but not all of these key terms are as useful for searching for information as some. Also, some other terms on the page may be useful for searching, but are not hyperlinks.

[This list needs to be saved - unaltered - for inclusion with the reflection on learning.]

On their own, students are to identify and record what they believe are the key terms on the Lucas Clothing Factory wiki page. That is, key terms that would be useful for searching for more information about the Lucas Clothing Factory.

Exposure to conflict situations

[Before beginning to list the key terms identified by the students, prompt students to think about whether they agree with all of the suggestions and why they are right/wrong. (Be clear that at this point there is no feedback on the suggestions.)]

On an overhead display or whiteboard record every term identified by all students - including a count of how many times the same term is suggested.

Construction of new ideas

[Be sure that students know that questions are to be answered without interruptions from other students - that opportunity for discussion will occur after the questions.]

Students to paricipate in a structured critical discussion of the key terms.

Discuss all of the terms that haven't been suggested by all students. Begin with those suggested by only 1 student and work up to the most common. (This will allow you to 'trim' the lesson if time is short and still get the most valuable learning experiences for the students - through discussing the most contestable terms.)

• Question 1: (To the students who suggested the term.) Why did you choose this as a key term?

• Question 2: (To the other students.) Why did you decide this wasn't a key term?

• Question 3: (To all students.) Has anyone's opinion of whether this is a key term changed? Why?

Repeat for all terms - or as many as you can in the time you've allowed for the lesson.

Evaluation

[Students to add this agreed list of terms to their document/workbook - to be submitted with their reflection on learning.]

Agreement on key terms - development of a coding system for further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory.

• Question 1: Are there any terms that all students agree are key terms?

• Question 2: Are there any terms that have only been suggested by one student?

• Question 3: What is the minimum number of students suggesting a term is key before we all agree to it?

All key terms identified by these rules to be written into a list.

Application of new ideas

Students to use the agreed key terms and use the 'search' function of the wiki to identify and record other wiki pages that may be used for further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory.

Reflection on learning

[Recommended to be used as a homework task.]

Students to write a reflection on learning by responding to the following questions and prompts...

• How did I identify key terms during the first activity?

• What categories did I use to sort the terms on the wiki page into key terms and other terms?

• What ideas did other students express about the key terms with which I agree? Why?

• What ideas did other students express about key terms with which I disagree? Why?

• How is my original list of key terms different from the final list? What ideas were expressed throughout the lesson that help me to understand why the lists are different?

• My understanding of key terms has changed in these ways...

• The group discussion has helped my understanding of key terms by...

• My understanding of other peoples' values and ideas has changed in these ways...

• The group discussion has helped my understanding of other peoples' values and ideas by...

Closure

Explain how the work done in this lesson will be used in the project - and briefly introduce what will be happening in the next lesson.

Individualising learning

Remedial

For students with low reading and comprehension abilities, it is suggested that the individual exercise be modified in the following way...

Before you lead the lesson make a print-out of the Lucas Clothing Factory wiki page and create a cloze passage (fill-the-blank) sheet - so that students are finding key terms as identified by you.

Prepare them for the critical discussion with this question...

• Why is [insert term] a key term? (Hint: Is it part of a heading, sub-heading or other obvious part of the text?)

(Be sure to choose something from within a heading, etc. - so that the student can make a direct link back to the key concepts introduced at the beginning of the lesson.)

Extension

Have students look at the new wiki pages the agreed list of key terms has helped them to find and generate a new list of key terms for each subsequent page they read.

• Question 1: How do the new key terms change the way you think about researching the Lucas Clothing Factory?

• Question 2: Do the new key terms help you think of other sources for researching the Lucas Clothing Factory? (Other than the Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project, that is.)

Assessment

The assessment for this lesson is based on the written reflection produced by the student after completing the entire lesson.

	4	3	2	1
Information processing skills	Demonstrates observation and recall of all key concepts discussed – where to find key terms in conventional texts. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.) Demonstrates observation and recall of secondary concepts discussed – that key terms occur throughout the text and may/may not be highlighted.	Demonstrates observation and recall of all key concepts discussed – where to find key terms in conventional texts. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.)	Demonstrates observation and recall of 2-3 key concepts discussed – where to find key terms in conventional texts. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.)	Demonstrates observation and recall of 1 key concepts discussed – where to find key terms in conventional texts. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.)
Find relevant information	All key terms identified and recorded would be useful for further searches of the Lucas Clothing Factory. Uses categories discussed (contents page, chapter heading, etc.) to organise the key terms.	8 key terms identified and recorded would be useful for further searches of the Lucas Clothing Factory. All are useful.	4 key terms identified and recorded would be useful for further searches of the Lucas Clothing Factory. Includes key terms that would not be useful.	Less than 4 key terms identified and recorded would be useful for further searches of the Lucas Clothing Factory. Includes key terms that would not be useful.
Compare and classify information	Draws key terms from all categories discussed (contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index, hyperlinked words, non-hyperlinked words) and shows clear evidence of adapting new categories in further key term choices.	Draws key terms from all categories discussed. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index, hyperlinked words, non-hyperlinked words.)	Draws key terms from 3-5 categories discussed. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index, hyperlinked words, non-hyperlinked words.)	Draws key terms from less than 3 categories discussed. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index, hyperlinked words, non-hyperlinked words.)
Develop evaluation criteria	Identifies development of their understanding of key terms. Identifies elements of the group discussion that have prompted this development in all instances.	Identifies development of their understanding of key terms. Identifies elements of the group discussion that have prompted this development in most instances.	Identifies development of their understanding of key terms. Identifies elements of the group discussion that have prompted this development in some instances.	Identifies development of their understanding of key terms. Fails to identify elements of the group discussion that have prompted this development.
Apply evaluation criteria	Identifies changes in their list of key terms. Arguments that promoted change identified in all instances.	Identifies changes in their list of key terms. Arguments that promoted change identified in most instances.	Identifies changes in their list of key terms. Arguments that promoted change identified in some instances.	Identifies changes in their list of key terms. No arguments identified.
Express judgment of the value of information and ideas	Identifies ideas with which they agree and disagree. Arguments relate to key concepts (contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index) and secondary concepts (hyperlinked terms) discussed. Arguments for and against inclusion of key terms are persuasive and suit the purpose (further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory).	Identifies ideas with which they agree and disagree. Arguments relate to the key concepts discussed. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.) Arguments for and against inclusion of key terms suit the purpose (further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory).	Identifies ideas with which they agree or disagree. Arguments relate to the key concepts discussed. (Contents page, chapter heading, sub-headings, index.) Some arguments for and against inclusion of key terms suit the purpose (further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory.	Identifies ideas with which they agree or disagree. Arguments for and against inclusion of key terms do not suit the purpose (further research of the Lucas Clothing Factory).

Review Suggestions

Student Engagement Did time management allow for proper communication between students and teacher? Did activities allow students to practice critical skills?

Student-centred teaching Did the lesson cater for the needs of all students? Could feedback and assessment have been improved?

Links to next lesson

Identifying Key Facts Lesson Plan

Internal Links

Identifying Key Terms Teacher Resource

Understanding the Activity Types

Understanding the Assessment Types

References

External Links

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--Beth Kicinski 13:56, 12 June 2012 (EST)