A Lesson Plan Practically Incorporating Instructional Technology for Reading Skills

If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.
-John DeweyLesson plan is believed to be a scheme that sets limits to the extent of teaching in a particular time and place with varying formats depending on any educational institutions’ discretion. This presented lesson plan does not claim to switch any other formats of lesson plans but rather tries to basically introduce how a lesson can be integrated with simple forms of technologies while students engage with activities to efficiently refurbish their macro skills and language awareness for effective interaction. Modern language learning does not only entail macro skills and linguistic skills but achieving the essentials how technologies are used in the classroom among learners is a must in a continuously expanding digital learning environment. This semi-detailed procedural lesson plan that adheres to the fundamental and essential components of a learning blueprint seeks to encourage the creativeness of teachers to incorporate instructional technologies in any method it is possible.Lesson Plan for Level B1′s Reading SkillI. Behavioral ObjectivesAt the end of the reading lessons, the B1 students will be able to:1. scan and predict the content of the passage
2. obtain main ideas of the passage
3. gather details found in the passage
4. create inferences from the text
5. use Microsoft word processing fundamentals
6. immerse and utilize technology-related learning tools
7. Appreciate the use of technology in language learningII. Subject Matter
Reference:
Reading 1: Customs around the world
Unit 2: Customs and Tradition
From Pages 36 & 37
Unlock 3 Reading and Writing Textbook for B1 level
By Carolyn Westbrook
Cambridge Press, Fourth Printing 2016Target Student level: B1 from Common European Frame of Reference (CEFR)
Time Frame: 60 minutesIII. Materials:Soft copies of activities for screen display and downloads
Hard copies and soft copies of activity sheets
Projector for passage displays
Internet to surf pictures and to propel the Blackboard
Students’ Blackboard account to download files
Teacher’s Blackboard account to upload files
Desktop computer for class activitiesIV. Procedurea. PreparationSet all the materials as tools in the teaching and learning process. Create classroom as an atmosphere for conducive learning. It is suggested that the behavioral objectives or intended outcomes may be underscored for students’ prior awareness.b. Motivation• The teacher uses this portion as a springboard that links students’ attention to be engaged with the lesson.
• The teacher presents a globe’s picture from the internet in the absence of a globe. The teacher may further substitute it with a Google map.
• The teacher displays pictures of people around the world with varied customary gestures onscreen in a PowerPoint presentation
• The teacher elicits responses from the students on what do these gestures mean. The teacher indiscriminately collates all possible responses and be able encourage students to write accepted answers through a spider gram and relate their accepted responses to the main word in the graphic organizer.
• The spider gram should have a soft copy enlarged by a projector for the students to complete on the spot. All responses should be transparent for the students’ inquiries.
• Students are requested to fill-in the blanks using the classroom computer.
• The teacher may further ask some customary gestures which they are familiar with and may additionally relate the pictures to that of the globe presented in class.c. Presentation of the lesson• Overview some reading essentials through a PowerPoint presentation
• Provision of a background knowledge regarding passage comprehension
• Delivery of some techniques in answering comprehension questions. These ideas are displayed onscreen.d. Lesson ProperDiscussions are followed by activities displayed onscreen. Answers in every activity will be highlighted, circled, underscored, italicized and painted, respectively by the students. Errors of one students’ may be the errors of others so it is beneficial to display answers done by students individually. This involves teacher roles and students’ roles. The teacher strives to adhere on the principles of facilitation rather than lecturing depending on the students” performance exhibited in the process.• The teacher explains scanning and predicting.
Students will response to activity numbers 1 & 2
• The teacher introduces the meaning of main ideas
Students will perform reading activity number 1.
• The teacher discusses what details are with concrete examples.
The students are going to deal with activity number 4.
• The teacher elucidates inference as a part of reading
The teacher explicates by elaborating what ” reading between the lines” means by providing specific examples and guiding the students on the task related.
The students will perform activity number 5.V. EvaluationThe teacher frames or customizes an example of a passage if there is no available authentic passage as a springboard to test the students’ abilities on scanning and predicting the content, obtaining main ideas, assembling and creating inferences from the customized text.
Answers are deliberated by the teacher for common understandingVI. GeneralizationThe teacher accentuates on the importance of reading and how effective reading comprehension is achieved through learners’ abilities in scanning, predicting, determining main ideas, assembling and creating inferences.VII. HomeworkRead the passage, A British Wedding found on page 40. After reading, open your Blackboard account and download two (2) files related to this text.• The first file contains activity sheets that tasks you to fill-in the gaps regarding the passage.
• The second file entails you to complete the tree diagram for text comprehension.
• You are required to bring these sheets for further discussions about Reading Number 2, tomorrow.Incorporating instructional technology in language teaching doesn’t need to be complex or sophisticated. Through the basic technological materials, the lessons become worth-engaging and worth -exploring. Excerpted film clips, film soundtracks, film opening and closing credits, an excerpted dialogue, digital script, film posters, music video, songs, film biography, film trailers, book reviews from the cyberspace internet graphics, music or sounds, reading passages from the internet, popular speeches, pictures, tables, Blogs, Facebook posts and comments, YouTube clips, live or print varied advertisements, recorded recitals, newscast among others, are materials that trigger practical technology -related instructions. As noticed, these authentic materials are media forms and productions that necessitate the employment of multimedia and technological tools. These phenomena further stress that integration of technology in instructions is always interconnected with the interplay of print and audio-visual media and are absolutely operated by multimedia highlighting the fact that the multiple and prolific growth of multimedia are propelled by rising technology to produce media forms which are now advocated by innovative educators in an authentic learning environment in the design of curricula and instructions. Access to these materials yield the occurrence of students’ technological involvement guided by well-designed lesson plans characterized to be specific, measurable, aligned, realistic or relevant, and time-bound (SMART) just as how their behavioral objectives are keenly observed as students ‘performance indicators. Furthermore, the success of technology integration in lessons is measured through the manipulation of technical tools by both teachers and students to attain a two-way pedagogical process.Finally, the educational world of learners in the contemporary times is digital. It is crucial that students must be brought into authentic learning environment for the creation of a real- world to be explored by by productive learners. “Social tools leave a digital audit trail, documenting our learning journey-often an unfolding story-and leaving a path for others to follow,” as Marcia Conner articulates. Every educator embraces the fact that learners and educators in the contemporary times are called maneuvers of a digital age for a more globally digital world through the academe as the hub of a continuing instructive progression.

National Health Care System In Japan And Taiwan – Would It Be Possible For Us?

Every society is affected by any national changes or new movement introduced; therefore, an issue one may think is unrelated to his environment can very well affect him through chains of cause and effect.Health care is an immediate issue that concerns all of us. We all experience it and need it. Let’s serious ask ourselves if the current health care system is satisfactory and available to everyone. Should health, medicare and treatments be available to only selected groups? Many people are voting for the presidential candidate who can restore the present health care system or who can pioneer a better healthcare distribution for our country. Personally, I hope to see a change that health care is available and affordable to everyone.Being able to receive basic health care is a fundamental need of all people. Fulfilling this fundamental need makes people feel secured, and it makes sense that people with better health can contribute more to the society. A realistic and reachable standard of health should be set for all people. This effort needs a non profit driving entity to establish and to maintain it. People’s life and health should not be compromised for the profit of few organizations.Before moving to Japan, I was covered under my parents’ insurance policy in the United States. Their policy covered children of the family until the age of twenty-four. Upon graduating from university, I moved to Japan and started my first job there. I joined the Japanese national health insurance through the company I worked for. There are basically two types of health insurance in Japan: national health insurance and employer-sponsored health insurance. Usually, under employer sponsored insurance, the insurance premium is calculated according to income, number of dependents, and the company’ subsidies. For someone who is self-employed or unemployed, the national health insurance costs a minimum of 13300 yen, or about $110 per month plus a small percentage of income for those who are self-employed. In other words, everyone can get insurance from around $100 dollars a month. Unlike the Medicaid program in the U.S. which is only available to certain low-income groups with specific requirements for eligibility, the Japanese health insurance is available to every citizen and legal residents. There is a ceiling to what the Japanese National insurance covers, but it covers all the basics and beyond.In most cases in Japan, patients choose their doctor and hospital. There is no limitation to the doctors or hospital they can visit. This is a true competition among the clinics, hospitals, and medical practitioners, not for profit, but for quality. The same insurance that people have in Japan gives them the freedom to get second opinions and naturally eliminates those doctors whose practices are in question. The doctor visits, treatments, and medicine are not free; one is responsible for thirty percent of their medical bills. Japanese health costs are much lower than the costs in the United States. Thirty percent of the medical bill is still a reasonable amount one can afford. There are also special cases or categories of illness for which the insurance would give more coverage. If one is late on his payment, his insurance will not automatically be invalid. The insurance will still cover the person as long as he makes up the missed payments. After all, some people do run into difficulties in life at one point or another. Sounds to good to be true? Well, It’s real.Taiwan, a place with no world recognition politically, has one of the top public health care system in the world. After moving to Taiwan due to my husband’s transfer a year a go, I learned and appreciated the system where universal or national health care is available to all more than ever. When speaking of universal, national, or pubic health insurance, people often turn their attention to the well-debated and discussed health care system in Canada. There are those whose views are negative, claiming that the medical service in a single-payer insurance system may not perform at its ultimate, and those whose views are positive, saying that they do not live in fear of ever having to face bankruptcy for outrageous medical bills. From my informal inquiries, more Canadian I came across favor their national health care system. Most of those who favor their national health care system commented that people of Canada are more secured in having their basic physical and psychological needs met.In Taiwan, there is also government-sponsored universal health care for not only their citizens but also for foreign residents who live in Taiwan. Foreign residents can apply for the government-sponsored insurance after proving their legal status of residing in Taiwan. The insurance fee starts from the basic 600NT, or around $18 a month. For people in higher income brackets, their insurance is calculated based on a percentage of their income over the 600Nt. Fees are waived for retired soldiers, those who are physically challenged, and people who have economic disadvantages.Interestingly, Taiwan’s national health insurance has only been established for little more than two decades, since 1985. The government policy-makers studied health care system from different foreign countries and composes the first Taiwan national health care from the ideas and methods of the system of other countries. It was said that Taiwan’s national insurance system is like a completed puzzle made from pieces of which fit its country and people. This insurance now covers the entire population, including foreign legal residents. According to research funded by Taiwan’s National Health Research and Taiwan’s Bureau of National Health Insurance, the cost of health care did not rise after the universal coverage was established (Jui-Fen & Hsiao, 2003.) What does that tell us?A basic health care program can greatly reduce the consequences of illness left untreated. Basic health care does not mean free of charge or mindless spending without control. To build a healthy nation, we should take a closer look at the current U.S. health insurance. After all, a sound nation starts with the health of its people.

The Art Institutes Offers Educational Assistance For International Students

The Art Institutes (often commercially abbreviated and stylized as AI) is a collection of private, for-profit educational institutions for career preparation in the visual, creative, and applied arts, including design, media, fashion, and culinary programs. Nowadays there are forty five Art Institutes located in major cities across North America, and have over 125,000 graduates. The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, also has online courses available. The AI awards master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, associate’s degrees, and non-degree-program certificates. AI is headquartered in Pittsburgh, and is a division of Education Management Corporation (EDMC). Educational accreditation of The Art Institutes and their programs varies among campuses and programs.At the present day the Institutes announced that they will help to both, the domestic students and the international students from the universities in New Orleans, southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama universities. These universities were closed on the indefinite term after the damaging cause of the Hurricane Katrina. All the students appeared without homes and educational establishments. And the Institutes decided to take care of those students and take them to continue their studying.All the AI will provide for the international students both on-campus and online courses. This will give to students the opportunity to continue their academic studies, even at the distance. They can succeed in their academic careers during this semester of disruption. Students who were to finish their study because of the Hurricane Katrina can be registered at any of the Art Institutes. There are thirty one locations in the country where students can enter. The international students can be enrolled for courses on a space-available basis for the fall semester.This terrible event took place in 2005. That was the beginning of the semester, thus students have paid their tuition. That is why the Institutes will waive tuition for those students who have already registered and paid their tuition at their home institutions for the fall semester. But in the case if they have not yet paid their tuition at their home institution, they will be given the lesser of the current published tuition and fees at the home institution. The school president mentioned that the AI have already published tuition and fees for the fall semester.The president of the Art Institutes Dave Pauldine said that they would try to assist the poor students whose lives and education have been impacted by the Hurricane Katrina. He also said that the AI were the only way for students to continue their studies and to improve their skills. These institutes offered that initiative as the way to reach out to the students in the Gulf Coast region whose lives were endangered by the Hurricane Katrina in the 2005.The Institutes is a group of thirty one (that was the number of institutes in 2005) higher educational establishments which are located throughout North America. They offer a wide range of educational programs among which are audio production, culinary arts, culinary management, fashion design, fashion marketing, graphic design, industrial design technology, interior design, media arts & animation, multimedia & Web design, photography, restaurant management and video production. These are not the all programs which are offered, they are more numerous in number. The Institution offer a lot of programs which are not available in others higher educational establishments.The AI operate in different towns and cities all over the North America. There are representatives of the Art Institutes in Atlanta, Arlington, VA (as The Art Institute of Washington), Boston (as The New England Institute of Art), Charlotte, Chicago and Schaumburg, IL, Cincinnati (as The Art Institute of Ohio – Cincinnati), Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (as The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles and California Design College), Miami (as Miami International University of Art & Design), Minneapolis, New York, Orange County, CA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver (as The Art Institute of Vancouver, York, PA (as Bradley Academy of the Visual Arts) and The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division, is a part of The AI system of schools with more than 40 locations throughout North America. The Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division was launched in 2000.Founded in 1921, The Institute of Pittsburgh supports online programs with more than 85 years of excellence. With 16 academic programs, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division is the leader in online creative arts education. The Institute of Pittsburgh is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). The AI of Pittsburgh is authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to award Bachelor of Science and Associate of Science degrees. It provides courses that are designed using the same curriculum taught at The Institute of Pittsburgh. The big advantage is you can attend class fully online and at anytime to fit your busy schedule. At The Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division, you’re in control. At graduation you will receive a degree or diploma awarded from The Institute of Pittsburgh. You will be invited to attend your graduation ceremony in Pennsylvania where you can walk with your cap and gown. You can also participate in our portfolio review show, where you can present your work to potential employers.From this article you received the information about the creativity and a good organization of the Institutes, which agreed to help those poor students who were endangered by the Hurricane Katrina. They have lost their homes and the places of education, but the Art Institutes gave them the opportunity to continue their education and received the ability to study. These institutes gave those students the ability to build their careers and to make them successful. These institutes made the act of kindness when they present them one more chance to make a successful life and career.