‘Bin liners Lesson Plan

Analysis and
Revision’

By- Arzoo Verma

Student Id-19916301

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102086 Designing Teaching & Learning
Assignment 2: QT Analysis Template

Evaluate the lesson plan according to the following NSW Quality Teaching model elements.

Evaluation score – refer to NSW QTM Classroom Practice Guide for each element
Comments incl. evidence for evaluation score (2 sentences)

1 Intellectual quality
1.1 Deep knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Knowledge is deep because focus is attained on key ideas or concepts throughout the lesson.
Teacher provided the prior knowledge about the topic and concept map was shown, via appropriate
explanations from the very beginning.
1.2 Deep understanding
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Most students provide information, arguments or reasoning that demonstrates deep understanding
for a substantial portion of the lesson. Further, they were responding to the questions asked by
teacher, and were providing reasoned arguments for a point of view, even when constructing more
efficient bin liners by their own.
1.3 Problematic knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Knowledge is seen as socially constructed and multiple perspectives are not only presented, but are
explored through questioning of their basic assumptions. Students were found to be discussing their
opinions with each other and trying to found out the solution of the problem of wastage of poly bags
by making paper liners for bin.

1.4 Higher-order thinking

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Most of the students demonstrated their higher-order thinking in at least one major activity that
occupies a substantial portion of the lesson. Many students even tried to make a new style bin liner
which looks like a shopping bag shows their intellectuality.

1.5 Metalanguage
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
There was no metalanguage as lesson directly proceeds without the teacher or students stopping to
comment on the language being used. Teacher directly emphasised on doing activities without
defining some terms or scientific words used.

1.6 Substantive communication

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Substantive communication, with sustained interactions, occurs throughout the lesson, with teacher
scaffolding the communication. Students were responding actively to the questions and even
interacting with each other about the questions and the activity.

Quality learning environment

2.1 Explicit quality criteria
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Detailed criteria regarding the quality of work are made explicit or reinforced throughout the lesson
and there is consistent evidence of students examining the quality of their work in relation to these
criteria. Students were efficiently working to make the liners as per teacher guidelines and were
helping each other in accomplishing the same.

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2.2 Engagement
1–2–3–4–5 Comments:
Most of the students are on-task pursuing the substance of the lesson, as they were trying hard and
working seriously from the very beginning, though at the end some of the students were not
participating in the self- establishment of bin liners, but before that everyone has participated and
helped each other also.

2.3 High expectations

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Most students were participating in challenging work during most of the lesson, as they were
encouraged to try hard and to take risks. In the end many students tried really hard and accepted the
challenge of the teacher, though everyone has not accepted this challenge.

2.4 Social support

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Social support is strongly shown and supportive behaviours or comments from students and teacher
are directed at all students, including soliciting and valuing the contribution of all. Teacher has
created a mutually working environment and opportunities were given to students to know and value
each other through discussions.

2.5 Students’ self-regulation

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Maximum students demonstrated autonomy and initiative in regulating their own behaviour and the
lesson proceeds without interruption. Teacher encouraged self-evaluation of progress and
achievement of learning tasks and therefore, students collaboratively developed a code of conduct.

2.6 Student direction

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
No evidences of student direction were there, as teacher has explicitly designated by the teacher for
students. Thus, the nature and appropriateness of an activity was teacher-centred.

3 Significance
3.1 Background knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Students’ background knowledge is elicited briefly, and is sometimes linked to the substance of the
lesson, whether to their individual experiences, or out of school learning. Teacher asked some
true/false questions in the beginning, but strong sense of acknowledging background relations was
not there.
3.2 Cultural knowledge
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
No understanding, valuing of other than the knowledge of the dominant culture is evident in the
substance of the lesson. There was no range of resources used within and across the social groups to
understand diversity.

3.3 Knowledge integration

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Very few meaningful connections were made by teacher or students between the topics or subject
areas during the lesson. Teacher just mentioned at the end and little bit in the beginning about the
relation of the activity to the topic of waste management.

3.4 Inclusivity
1–2–3–4–5 Comments:
Students from all groups are included in all aspects of the lesson and their inclusion is both
significant and equivalent to the inclusion of students from other social groups. Cooperative learning
strategies were used as students were paired up, and were encouraged to participate fully in the
lesson.

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3.5 Connectedness
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
Students recognised and explored the connections between classroom knowledge and situations
outside the classroom. They explored the significance or meaning of their work to influence an
audience beyond classroom, as they can promote and share their own designed bin liners with other
members of the community for the sake of saving nature.
3.6 Narrative
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Comments:
No stories are used in the lesson to detract from the substance of the lesson. Teacher directed the
activities to the students without any illustration of any kind of narratives to enhance the
significance of the lesson.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

Identify the four NSW QT model elements you are targeting for improvement.

QT model
1) Metalanguage 2) Student direction
3) Cultural Knowledge 4) Narrative

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 Lesson Plan – Bin Liners

Syllabus: Science Stage: Stage 4 Topic: Earth and Space

Outcomes Assessment Students learn about Students learn to

SC4-13ES Explains how Informal formative ES3 Scientific knowledge Classify a range of the
advances in scientific assessment. influences the choices Earth’s resources as
understanding of people make in regard to renewable or non-
processes that occur the use and management renewable.
within and on the Earth of the Earth’s resources.
influence the choices Investigate some
people make about strategies used by people
resource use and to conserve and manage
management. non-renewable
resources, e.g. recycling
and the alternative use of
natural and made
resources.

Note: Not all activities may be captured by the video. Assume they were covered by the teacher.

Time Teaching and Learning Actions

5 min Lesson Preliminaries/Administration
 Settle students into the classroom.
 Mark the roll.

10 mins Direct Instruction

 Welcome students and remind them of the topic
 Welcome and introduce the topic by using a two-minute clip related to
polyethylene, where people in various countries are shown purchasing
groceries, food items, clothes etc. in poly bags and shown throwing them here
and there after usage, ending up the whole earth with plenty of poly bags
everywhere.
 Ask students about what they learn from the video story.
 Introduce students to high density polyethylene as a non-renewable resource used to
make plastic bags, and defining scientifically the term density and polyethylene.
 Key ideas for this lesson are cause and effect with questions being “why do we use so
many plastic bags in Australia, India, America, China or in any other country?” and “what
is the effect on the environment?”
 Another key idea is solutions with questions being “what have governments done to
solve problems caused by plastic bags?” and “what can citizens do to solve problems
caused by plastic bags?”
 Give overview of activity:
 Designing renewable alternatives to plastic bags using newspapers different type
of items like newspapers, clothes, recyclable waste materials etc . Teacher will

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 show students a design some designs and they will improve that design those
designs.
 Give overview of thinking tools to be used:
 Think-pair-share
 Cause-effect map
 Pros-Cons-Questions

10 mins Think-Pair-Share Activity

 Give students true/false statements worksheet with questions like “the average plastic
bag is used for only 5 minutes but can take up to 1,000 years to break down in the
environment.”
 Students have 2 minutes to individually answer the questions (think).
 Students then have 1 minute to discuss their responses with the student sitting next to
them (pair).
 Teacher will then lead class discussion based on worksheets for 5 minutes (share).
10 mins Cause-Effect Mapping Activity
 Give students cause-effect map worksheets.
 Students have 2 minutes to think of as many reasons for why we use so many plastic
bags in Australia different countries like Australia, China or other.
 Go around the class to check student understanding. Highlight the link between the
causes identified and the production of high density polyethylene bags.
 Students have 2 minutes to list as many sub-effects of the production and use of plastic
bags. Circulate to assist students.
 Teacher leads brief class discussion to summarise the environmental effects identified by
the students.
5 mins Direct Instruction
 Teacher to show students how to construct a biodegradable bin liner by folding 4 sheets
of newspaper or any other kind of sheets. The bin liner will fit into the teacher’s waste-
paper basket.
5 mins Pros-Cons Activity
 Teacher invites students to highlight the pros and cons of the biodegradable bin liners.
15 mins Student-Centred Activity
 Students to identify ways to improve the bin liners using the MAS sheet.
 Students to work in pairs to refine the newspaper paper bin liners. Circulate around the
room to assist students.
 Students demonstrate their improved designs to the teacher, using the teacher’s waste
paper basket as a test.
 Teacher to encourage peer support during demonstrations.
 Summarise and close the lesson.

How am I measuring the outcomes of this lesson?

Learning Outcome Method of measurement and recording

SC4-13ES Informal questioning of student understanding as the lesson
progresses.

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 Academic Justification

A lesson plan is a teacher’s plan for designing a framework which is used for teaching a lesson. It is
kind of a road map or a big picture created by a teacher but includes every single information for
each activity related to the course of one class, and it point outs that how student’s will move
towards obtaining different objectives. Here are the justifications to the changes made in the lesson
plan of ‘Bin liners’ to improve its objectives on the basis of QT analyses.

Metalanguage which means talk about language and texts, though the chosen lesson plan was from
science and literature cannot be added, but if teacher will define the scientific terms used in the very
beginning and relate it to the daily life of students, and will show some symbols in the two minute
video clip, then this element can be very well established in the lesson plan. Supportive materials,
including definitions can make the learning intentions explicit, and can promote constant
reinforcement of the new learning (Geoghegan, 2013). Teacher gets the confidence of helping
pupils to think positively about language so as to produce a learning atmosphere in which grammar
is considered a powerful resource in enabling pupils to recognize and build on their achievements
(Keen, 1997), and teachers must consider how easily accessible the meanings of all categories of
words are to science students for deep understanding and knowledge.

‘Choice is a means to an end not an end in and of itself!’(Anderson, 2016). The freedom to make
choice enhances the student direction which in this lesson plan can be improved by facilitating
students with more than one material to be used while making bin liners, as when they get choices
they will try to meet the challenges and will be more engaged. “When students are more joyfully
engaged, their brains are able to process learning and store it in long-range memory more
effectively” (Willis, 2007). According to Denton, 2005, choice generates a sense of creativity and
helps in making self-differentiation of self which helps in positive student work habits such as
editing and better organization (Denton, 2005). When they will get power and control over the
technique of their learning and they will have variety of lenses and perspectives they can than even
work with students of diversity and practicing empathy for those who learn differently(Anderson,
2016).

Narrative part is essential to make coherence with the whole lesson, as student can refer to it during
their lessons. To make this lesson narrative, a short video clip of two minute is added which depicts
that excess use of polyethylene will fill the earth will polybags as they do not die and has a long life
span. Students can discuss with each other and with teacher about what they have watched and
learnt from it, and will be able to learn more quickly, as we learn more by visualizing and narrating.
The extensive use of multimedia works best for novices. More experienced learners (experts) are
able to create their own mental maps/models/images so they don’t require as much structure from
words and graphics. It may well be that specific instructional supports that assist low- knowledge

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learners may not help (or may even hinder) high- knowledge learners. Videos can be an effective
educational tool (Kay, 2012), it promotes student engagement, generates active learning, and they
can be made more effective by guiding questions or interactive homework assignments. Technology
can enhance learning as said by several meta-analyses, and can make student interpretation better,
so narrative is an powerful tool when either used by teacher or student.

Cultural knowledge in every lesson, when living in a nation of colors, so it can be improved by
formatting the questions like Why do we use plastic bags in countries like Australia, India, China or
just by saying in different countries, because there might be students from different cultures and
social groups and they will feel marginalized or ignored if focus will made on one region only. So,
when students will get diverse perspectives to think, they will feel included in the community. It
will open the door to the knowledge about different cultures, their beliefs and create an awareness
of other countries, and high-interest in the relevant students in the classroom(Garza, 2008).

These are the recommendations made in the lesson plan to improve the four weak points, with
appropriate academic justifications.

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References:

Anderson, M. (2016), The key benefits of choice. In Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn. The
Key to Student Motivationa and Achievement. Retrieved from-https://books.google.com.au/books?
id=gkH2CwAAQBAJ&dq=When+students+are+more+joyfully+engaged,
+their+brains+are+able+to+process+learning+and+store+it+in+long-
range+memory+more+effectively+(Willis,+2006)&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Brame, C.J. (2015). Effective educational videos. Retrieved from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-

sub-pages/effective-educational-videos/

Denton, P. (2005). Learning through academic choice. Turners Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation for
Children. Retrieved
from:https://loriverity.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/1/9/23194988/differentiation_through_academic_ch
oice.pdf

Garza, A. (2018), Teaching Cultural Awareness Using the Four Skills. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/91d6/711a434102e6f2d67b618cdb595652c0ab53.pdf

Improving schools16(2) 119 –129© The Author(s) 2013Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1365480213493707imp.sagepub.com

Kay, R. (2012). Exploring the use of video podcasts in education: A comprehensive review of the
literature. Computers in Human Behavior 28, 820-831.

Keen, J. (1997), Grammar, Metalanguage and Writing Development, Teacher Development, 1:3,
431-445, DOI: 10.1080/13664539700200029. Retrieved from-
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13664539700200029

NSW Quality Teaching Model Classroom Practice Guide

Willis, J.(2007). The Neuroscience of Joyful Education, Educational Leadership, 64. Retrieved
from:https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/4141/the-neuroscience-joyful-education-
judy-willis-md.pdf

Learning portfolio link-

https://arzooverma.weebly.com/