Creating Lesson Plan Using the DID Model

Lesson planning is at the heart of being an effective teacher. It is a creative process that allows us to synthesize our understanding of second language acquisition and language teaching pedagogy with our knowledge of our learners, the curriculum, and the teaching context. It is a time when the teachers envision the learning they want to occur and analyse how all the pieces of the learning experience should fit together to make that vision a classroom reality.

Now here is all about the use of technology is classroom teaching. I had come across many technology tools that can be used in teaching and learning to have more effective learning. ISTE has suggests that it is important to engage students in learning experiences that require them to communicate using variety of media and formats. Despite the traditional method of teaching using whiteboards, markers and exercises, the teachers would enhance their teaching method to Flipped Learning. Nowadays everything is found in the internet, and the students are also known as the i-Gen (Internet Generation) in this era. Moreover, the students have variety ways to access and exchange their information using applications, such as Schoology Forums, tweets in Twitter and much more. Besides, they will be also self-directed learners. Students nowadays are so into technology and there would not be a problem for them to find their own when it comes to completing their port folios or school project.

In order to use technology tools in the classroom, as a teacher I need to plan a perfect lesson and also choose the precise technology tools to be used in the class. I must be also aware of the advantages of using the technology tools chosen. Example of technology tools that I can use in my class is first, Kahoot. I find it interesting because, students of my age group love learning English Language by playing games. This is the accurate application that I would choose for them. Hence, I have to plan my lesson accordingly. There by, I will apply the DID Model in my lesson planning. I have already known my learners well, and my objective is I want my students to acquire English in a fun and innovative manner. I have to also provide them a stable internet connection and gadgets in order for them to play this game. The lesson planning process also allows teachers to evaluate their own knowledge with regards to the content to be taught (Reed & Michaud, 2010). If a teacher has to teach, for example, a complex grammatical structure and is not sure of the rules, the teacher would become aware of this during lesson planning and can take steps to acquire the necessary information. Similarly, if a teacher is not sure how to pronounce a new vocabulary word, this can be remedied during the lesson planning process and it can be found in the internet. The opportunity that lesson planning presents to evaluate one’s own knowledge is particularly advantageous for teachers of English for specific purposes.

After few days of understanding the notes from Chapter 2, I did a plan a lesson to use one the technology learned. I choose Pinterest. I took my students on virtual field trip. My students can find images of places they’d like to visit or have visited. They were find it interesting and the whole class was excited using this application. They are many advantages of using it in learning English. Students can improve their reading skills, once they find their topic; they are assigned to come in front the class to share their ideas to their friends. Here, they improve their speaking skills and presentation skills. Moreover, other advantage is they can map a trip around the world with visual and stunning images from remote locations around the globe. In a nut shell, I learnt a lot from this chapter, to design a perfect lesson plan using DID Model and selecting the accurate technology tools for teaching and learning for my students.