TESOL Methods Final Action Plan

Name:

Rosmery Ribera Ferrier

Country: Bolivia

1. Course Description
1. Course title: Blended Learning Debate
2. Course Goals: Get students to perform an informed debate.
3. Age/number of students: Teens and adults.
4. Linguistic level of students: Advanced
5. Number of class hours per week and duration of course: 7.5 hours a week.
6. Classroom set up: We have individual desks and a teachers desk with a
high stool.
7. Access to materials and technology: We are blessed to have fifty two
Techno Classrooms each equipped with a Lenovo desktop computer, a 55' LG
television used as a monitor, a digital surround system and we have Internet
access! They are called TechnoAulas.
8. Other important information about students or setting: Students have
access to computers and internet at home.

2. Issue or Challenge to be Resolved

Class issue or challenge to be resolved: Fluency is the big issue that I would
like to tackle. Even though my students are 5 months short to graduate, they
find it challenging to express their ideas fluently. According to my
experience, students perform better when they had time and to read about
what they have to talk; like any of us, we can only give an opinion if we had
read and had the time to be informed.
My goal is to help students to prepare themselves to debate about issues by
researching about the topic online so they can write their arguments. I will
set up an Edmodo class to provide them with links to relevant websites,
written materials and videos. Once they read and write, their arguments will
be first peer corrected and then I will make final corrections. Students will
later record their arguments online, and we will follow the same procedure as
with the written arguments using an online recording tool. Finally, they will
debate in the classroom.

3. Innovations
Innovation #1: The use of an Edmodo class to provide them with links to
relevant websites, written materials and videos.
How will you use it? I will divide the class into two teams: One of the teams
will be Pro and the second team will be Con. Students in each team need to
decide who defends which point. For example, if the debate is about Chinas
one child policy; then the Pro team might want to defend various issues like:
it is cheaper to raise only one child, or that the child will have the undivided
attention of the parents and so on. At the same time, they need to be
prepared for the rebuttal phase of the debate, so they will have to be aware
of the cons as well. Once they research and write their arguments, these will
be first peer corrected and then I will make final corrections.
How will it help to solve your class issue? It is a fact that who reads, knows.
So, if students have the chance to read in advance and know their topics,
they will be able to have an informed opinion before the debate and they will
as well be able to argue their points of view during the debate.
Innovation #2: The class will use an online recording website named
VoiceThread.
How will you use it? Here students will record their arguments online, and we
will follow the same procedure as with the written arguments using an online
recording tool. First, they will record their arguments. Then, a student from
the same team or from the opposing team will make corrections on the
pronunciation by leaving a note on the sites cloud.
How will it help to solve your class issue? By using VoiceThread and Edmodo,
I am fostering independent learners by giving students the chance of
practicing peer correction.
Innovation #3: Rubrics. The use of alternative assessment.
How will you use it? I will create three rubrics: one to guide students on their
arguments writing process, one to help them assess their classmates
recordings, and the last one to assess pupils during the debate.
How will it help to solve your class issue? Given that this will be a blended
type of debate, both students and the teacher need to make ongoing
adjustments in order to ensure students achievements. The alternative
assessment will provide the information needed to adjust teaching and

learning while they are happening. In this way the actual debate will be a
success.

4. Plan of action
How: Description of change and Resources. By using a Blended Learning
Debate, my classroom will be turned into a battlefield of well informed
arguments and rebuttals. The class will be divided into two teams: the Pro
Team and the Con Team.
The first step is to write a proposition on the board, for example: The
one child policy in China is wise. Right after that the teacher needs to divide
the teams taking into account that he or she should include both, talkative
and shy students into each group.
The next step is to present the students the Edmodo class containing
the links and documents with the pertinent information about the
proposition. Students will be given a class code to enter the virtual
classroom.
Finally pupils will be introduced to the VoiceThread site.
5. Timeline for making the change.
Terms at my institution last three weeks to teach and two extra days in
order to test students and turn in grades. Here is the timeline:
First week: Students should sign up to Edmodo and read all the information
already posted by the instructor. After they have read, they must decide on
what arguments to use in order to support either the Pro or Con position on
the debate. Each student must present only ONE argument and give three
reasons to defend his particular choice. In order to write the arguments
students must be guided by the rubric posted at Edmodo.
Second week: Pupils must post their arguments on Edmodo and they must
also read ALL the other postings. Then, they should choose one argument of
the opposing team and do the peer-correction. A final correction will be made
by the educator.
Third week: After having perfectly written arguments, students are ready to
record them on VoiceThread. The same procedure used at Edmodo will be
used on this step. Pupils must listen to ALL the arguments and choose one of
the opposing team in order to correct the pronunciation by leaving a voice
note with the word or words they will correct.
Day of the debate: A PowerPoint presentation with several images about the
topic needs to be prepared by the teacher. This will serve as the background
images during the debate. The classroom will be set by arranging the desks

facing each other in order to accommodate the opposing teams. Now we are
ready for the debate!
Debate procedure: First the Pro Team exposes all their arguments and the
student facing the pupil speaking at that time, must take notes to talk during
the rebuttal phase. When the Pro team finishes, it is time for the Con Team to
expose their arguments; again the student across the exposing pupil must
take notes to build his or her rebuttal. Finally the rebuttal phase starts. This
might happen like this example:
Con student: You just said that having one child saves the parents money. I
must respectfully disagree with you on that one. To my mind an only child is
generally spoiled and wants the best clothing brands, the latest technology
gadgets, and going out to the best places. All this means spending a lot of
money.
Pro student: I see what you mean, but an only child can not always be
spoiled. In my opinion, that depends on how well parents educated the child,
and since they have plenty of quality time with him, he will turn out to be a
good kid.
Note: During the exposition of the arguments and the rebuttal phase, the
teacher will be assessing students using a rubric that will also be posted on
Edmodo.

6. Benefits.
The benefits of the Blended Learning Debate will be several and they
will include many of the skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening,
vocabulary and even extended knowledge of another culture.
Students need to read the provided materials in order to be informed.
They need to write their arguments and peer-correct the arguments of other
classmate. They also get to speak when they record their voices on
VoiceThread and of course during the debate itself. Pupils need to listen to all
the online recordings and correct the pronunciation of at least one of them.
As you can see, after all this guided and self practice, there will be an overall
improvement in the students English proficiency.

7. Challenges.
The main challenge I expect to encounter is the use of the new online
education technology. Some students are not very savvy with computers or
the internet.

8. Solutions.
I plan to thoroughly explain and show how to access and use both of
the sites we will be using by making instructive videos and posting them on
Edmodo. Nevertheless, if it becomes necessary to give personal guidance to
some of my students that is not a burden at all.

9. Assessment.
I plan to use two main tools to assess my students degree of success
of the change. To begin with, I plan to use collaborative work through peercorrection as well as teacher correction and feedback. To continue, I will use
rubrics for oral and writing assessment.
Other tool that I consider really useful is recording the debate. This
practice will allow my pupils and me to see the improvement achieved with
the use of our Blended Learning Debate. Another advantage is that later on I
will be able to show new students how exciting it is to have this innovative
kind of activity in the English classroom.

Class Debate : Blended Learning Debate

Teacher Name: Ms. Ribera

Student Name:
CATEGORY
Understanding
of Topic

________________________________________
4
The students
fully
understand the
topic and can
fluidly talk
about his or
her argument.

3
The student
understands
most of the
topic and can
fluidly talk
about his or
her argument.

2
The student
understands
only some of
the topic and
can not fluidly
talk about his
or her
argument.

1
The student
understands
only a little of
the topic and
can not fluidly
talk about his
or her
argument.

Use of
Facts/Statistics

The student
can present
clearly his or
her argument
and support it
with logical
examples, facts
or statistics.

Rebuttal

The student
listened
carefully to his
or her
opponent, took
notes, and
sustains an
excellent
rebuttal.
The student
waits until his
or her
opponent stops
talking in order
to talk.

Respect for
the other team
members

The student
can present
clearly most of
his or her
argument and
support it with
some logical
examples, facts
or statistics.
The student
listened to his
or her
opponent, took
just some
notes, and
sustains an
good rebuttal.
The student
sometimes
interrupts his
or her
opponent in
order to talk.

The student
can present
clearly most of
his or her
argument but
only support it
with few logical
examples, facts
or statistics.
The student
listened to his
or her
opponent, took
just a few
notes, and
sustains an
mediocre
rebuttal.
The student
often interrupts
his or her
opponent in
order to talk.

The student
can not present
clearly his or
her argument
and can not
support it with
logical
examples, facts
or statistics.
The student
listened to his
or her
opponent, took
no notes, and
sustains a bad
rebuttal.
The student
always
interrupts his
or her
opponent in
order to talk.

Persuasive Essay : Argumentative Debate Paragraph

Teacher Name: Ms. Ribera

Student Name:

CATEGORY

________________________________________

4 - Above St
andards

3 - Meets St
andards

2 - Approaching
Standards

1 - Below St
andards

Score

Evidence and
Examples

Sequencing

Grammar &
Spelling

Transitions

Information
clearly relates
to the main
topic. It
includes
several
supporting
details and/or
examples.
Paragraph
includes
introductory
sentence,
explanations
or details,
and
concluding
sentence.
No
grammatical,
spelling or
punctuation
errors.

Information
clearly relates
to the main
topic. It
provides 1-2
supporting
details and/or
examples.

Information clearly
relates to the main
topic. No details
and/or examples
are given.

Information
has little or
nothing to do
with the main
topic.

One of these
elements
missing.

Two of these
elements missing.

Almost no
grammatical,
spelling or
punctuation
errors

A few grammatical
spelling, or
punctuation errors.

Paragraphing
structure was
not clear and
sentences
were not
typically
related within
the
paragraph.
Many
grammatical,
spelling, or
punctuation
errors.

Student
always uses
connectors
and
conjunctions
at the
beginning
and in the
middle of
sentences.

Student
sometimes
uses
connectors
and
conjunctions
at the
beginning
and in the
middle of
sentences.

Student rarely uses

connectors and
conjunctions at the
beginning and in
the middle of
sentences.

Student does
not use
connectors
and
conjunctions
at the
beginning
and in the
middle of
sentences.

Final remarks
I have already created the Edmodo class, and uploaded the documents
and posted a link to a video. Here is the link to my class:
https://www.edmodo.com/home#/group?id=7747539
Class Code: fk7mvd
I have also created a VoiceThread account, and here is the link:

https://voicethread.com/#u4368299
https://voicethread.com/share/5514283/