EDN2101 Task 4 – Rhiannon Huston

1. Note several points of what can go wrong if instructions are ineffective?

 Students can become confused and some will be left behind in tasks which makes
catching up later on very challenging.

 Students may become disinterested due to confusion.

 Students can act inappropriately and misbehave.

 The results during assessment (formal or informal) may be poor.

 Students work ethic, confidence an performance in class can be negatively

impacted.

2. Explain what you feel are particularly good suggestions and why.

 Pausing in between instructions to ensure students are following the most recent
instructions and no students are left several instruction tasks behind.

 Thinking methodically about what instructions need to be given first to last to

make the most sense for students and avoid instructions being misunderstood or
missed.

 Checking in with students and making sure they understand each instruction
before moving on. This can be done by asking questions such as…

o “Does everyone have that page?” or “Does anyone need help?”

 Avoiding long lists of instructions and instead making these into lots of smaller
instructional tasks.

3. Explain any suggestions you disagree with and why?

 I don’t disagree with any of the suggestions listed. However, I think as students age
and progress into more advanced levels (such as upper secondary education or
earlier depending mostly on the ability of students) it is possible to give instructions
with less pausing in between. Additionally, some instructions could be left out such
as asking students to get out their pen and paper as at this level of education
students should be familiar with this.

4. Explain what you would do differently to the recommendations given in the

YouTube clip, when you are teaching and why.

 I believe the use of an instructional objective or reference to the curriculum topic

being discussed is useful information to students and allows them to keep
themselves accountable for what they have learnt and what needs more work. I do
think that lessons flowing on from one to another though don’t necessarily have to
go into specifics each lesson, something as simple as “Following on from our last
 lesson…” will be effective enough for most students and is easily clarified if it needs
to be later on.

 Telling the students whether they are working alone or in pairs/groups is necessary
when giving instructions and doesn’t take much time. However, from my experience
in primary and secondary schooling most lessons focus on individual work for the
majority of class and this can be assumed for most students. So in my teaching I
would most likely only mention whether I wanted students to work in pairs, groups
or individually if they asked or if the lesson involved collaborative learning.

 When telling students what they are expected to do within a lesson I would, like the
previous video discussed, go into specific details and break the instructions down
into more easily understood sections. This would allow me to ensure no students
were misinterpreting my instructions and everyone was kept up to date.

 It is important to disclose with students the time parameters around specific

activities. This video was unclear whether this was referencing the total time
(meaning number of lessons, days or weeks the topic will take) or individual timing
of tasks (instructing students to spend 10 minutes on individual work then 15
minutes in small groups etc.). Personally I think both are important to disclose but
total time should be referenced when beginning a topic and potentially brought up
again if the tasks are taking longer than expected. Whereas, individual timing of
tasks is important to discuss in most lessons.

 I think adding instructions to a PowerPoint or word document is a good idea

depending on age group and the lesson type. If the lesson was focusing on note
writing from a video and PowerPoint presentation the instructions would be
extremely basic, telling students to get note taking resources and to write down
throughout the lesson what they think is key information. Most students can
understand these instructions without it being explicitly written.

 Finally, not aiding students during class is suitable in some lesson plans and
classroom situations and not others. This should be considered by the teacher
before the lesson begins.

e) Now write instructions you would give your students, so that they know how to do
the task you have planned.

Using these points from my Task 3 document:

“Language definition and English

 Start the topic off by breaking students into groups of 3 or 4 (whichever the class number is most closely
divided by) and perform a placemat exercise.
o This is when students each have a section on the perimeter of butchers paper to brainstorm
their ideas during an allocated period of time (I would suggest 5 minutes).
o Once this time has passed and every member of the group has written something on their
section of paper they pause and individually each member will share their ideas with the group.
o A member will then scribe for the group and in the centre of the butchers paper and write down
what the groups central and interesting ideas about the topic are.
 For this specific topic the groups will be asked in their final central section to provide a definition for the
word language and also relate this to what language means to them as well as some information they
know about the English language. Each group will also be asked to introduce their ideas and own
 definition to the class so any ideas that were not thought of by some groups can be added for greater
learning.
 As a teacher I will come prepared with my own notes and definition and if any key concepts were not
directly addressed by students I will discuss these ideas before we move on to the next topic.”
1. Today’s we will be beginning a new topic surrounding language variation and change. More
specifically todays focus will be on defining what language means and what the English
language means to you and others around the world.
2. Firstly I will be separating you into groups of 4.
o I would have written a prepared list of what students I would like in each group
based on pairing a range of capabilities and personalities together in groups that I
am confident would work well with one another. So at this stage I would call out the
4 student names in group 1 and tell them to assemble together in a designated area
and continue doing this until all the groups are arranged.
3. Now that we have you groups you each need to get out a pen or marker to write with.
4. One group member from each group needs to come and collect a single sheet of butchers
paper now.
5. I will now demonstrate on the board how I want you to set up the paper using a marker.
Please copy this.
o I would draw a diagram of how I want the placemat to be arranged. This would
consist of an oval shape in the centre taking up approximately 1/3 of the page and
then the surrounds outside of this oval would be divided into 4 quadrants.
6. Each of you will write in one of the four quadrants on your piece of paper.
7. I want you to individually define what language is and how you use language in these
sections, I will write this on the board. You have 5 minutes to complete this task. Begin
o Additionally, I would dot point that I want the students to individually define
language and how they use it on the board to ensure they do write about these
specific points in their quadrant.
BREAK
8. Now time is up. I want you to spend 4 minutes discussing what you each wrote in your
section. This gives you each one minute to speak. Please do not interrupt your group
members during this time.
o These one minute sections can be timed and I would tell the students when to move
onto the next group member to ensure everyone gets equal opportunity to speak.
BREAK
9. Now you have heard every group members ideas, I want you to collaborate to address those
same questions about defining what language is and how people use the English language.
10. As a group you need to cooperate to agree on answers to these questions. These need to be
written in the centre oval section of the paper by a nominated scribe. You have ten minutes
to complete this task.
o Again, I would time this and let students know two minutes prior to their time being
up.
BREAK
11. Okay. Now each group has their paper with their individual and group responses I want each
group member to pick a number between 1 and 4.
12. Do we each have a number? Each group member number 3 will now come to the front of
the class and give a very brief account of what their group answer was. So please come up
and you each have one minute to present your ideas.

13. Thank you everyone. Now I have a very brief presentation I will show with notes about what
language is by definition, what English is and where it came from and what language can
present as.
 14. You are welcome to write your own notes as I go through this, it will only take 10 to 15
minutes and you can ask questions as we go through the slides.
BREAK
15. Okay. Now we are almost done with the lesson; does anyone have any questions they would
like to ask? (answer as needed)
16. I will upload the presentation slides onto connect so you can access them from home or
using the school library computers when needed. Thanks everyone, enjoy the rest of your
day…