Analysis on the strengths, limitations and suggestions to improve the lesson plans.

Analysis (Lesson Plan 1 by Nurdiyana)

Strengths

            There are a few strengths that can be identified in this lesson plan. The first strength is this lesson plan has two interesting Learning Objective 1 and 2. Both learning objectives are detail and clear and the verbs used are correct. 

            Other than that, in the lesson plan, there is allocation of time for students to do their tasks. For example, in Production stage, teaching and learning description number 2 and 5, and also in the Extended activity. 

Weaknesses

            There are certain weaknesses to. For example, Learning Objective 3 “select suitable information from the article to answer 8 comprehension questions, students have to answer 5 out of 8 question correctly”. Next, another weakness is Teaching and Learning Activity description, in Presentation stage number 2 “teacher picks 3 answers which students answer in set induction form to present simple past tense”. Lastly, in the closure stage, there are no activity whereby teacher able to evaluate the students’ understanding. 

 

Improvements

            In making a lesson plan, it has to be ensured that the sentences used are precise and direct to the point. The instructions given to the students must be direct and do able. Teacher also has to make sure that each stage in the lesson structure plays its different roles from time to time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis (Lesson Plan 2 by Lye An Jie)

Strength

            There are a few strength in this lesson plan. The first is, it has a good Learning Objective, precisely, number 3, “justify three importance of saving endangered animals by using three modals and providing reasons in a role-play. Meaning, the role-play will be done with its own purpose, since it is a continuation it will not be a burden to the students. It also as short and interesting activity description in the Set Induction stage. Teacher shows a poster and let the students to give the feedbacks. By doing so the teacher is able to grab the students’ attention even from the very beginning of the lesson. Next, in the Production stage, when the performing students are doing the role play, the teacher will discuss the modals used with the non-performing students. This will prevent wasting of time during the lesson. Teacher has good time management skill. Apart from that, the Closure stage also has interesting activity, whereby the teacher will show a video to capture the whole essence of the lesson. One of the materials is interesting too. For example, like the Script Task Sheet, it is student-friendly as it is nice and easy to understand. 

Weaknesses

            In my opinion, the topic is not suitable “I Want My Right Too”. My first impression is the lesson is about claiming individual citizen right or anything that was similar. The topic is too big and rather deviated than what is intended. Learning Objective 1 is too easy to be put in the Learning Objective. Apart from that, the Extended Activity is rather easy, it should be more than what it is written. Teacher should be given task where students can gain input from it for the Extended Activity. Regarding the materials used, the poster is not suitable to be used because it has too much words. 

 

 

 

 

 

Improvements

            Teacher has to ensure that they choose the right and suitable topic to be used in a lesson because it will give impact and first impression to the students. Next, teacher has to make sure that anything to be put under Learning Objective is something that is evaluative and significant in the lesson. Next, teacher has to make sure that activity conducted or wanting the students to do them must be suitable to their learning objective and topic as a whole. Last but not least, the materials used must be interactive and interesting so that the dynamic from the teaching and learning activity in class can be maintained. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are several weaknesses in this speaking lesson plan. First of all, the learning outcome is not related to the activity conducted. Overall, the lesson plan is focusing on teaching grammar aspects but not speaking skill. Besides, brainstorming is not a thinking skill. 

            In set induction, it is not appropriate to ask students “what is this poster about?” Students may not know how to answer the question. Instead, teacher can change her questions to “What you can see from the picture?”, “how many sentences in the pictures?” 

            There is no input of speaking in presentation stage. Instead of giving the word search, teacher can teach students about how to create the sentences using modals in different situation. This will help them to get ready to speak in practice stage. 

            In practice stage, I think there is too hard for Form 1 intermediate students to fill in the dialogue without any option. My suggestion is teacher need to provide a list of key words on the worksheet. This will guide students to fill in the dialogue. 

            I think the video in closure is more suitable to set induction. Teacher should recap the information that students have learned in the lesson by asking questions or share a pictures or quotes that related to the lesson. 

            Formative assessment is not stated clear. Teacher should state the aspects of assessing students’ performance in role play. For example, the pronunciation, the gestures or the word choice used in role play. 

            The strength of this lesson plan is the task sheets are well-designed. Students will love the task sheets and be motivated when they are doing the task sheets. Besides, preparing a script for students to role play is a good idea. Students will know how they are going to speak. However, a few options of words need to be provided in the task sheet for students to fill in the dialogue. 

            

 

Strengths 

1.      The usage of graphic organizer is good. 

2.      Feedback is one of the aspects of effective teaching. Therefore, asking for feedback at the end of the lesson is both beneficial for the teacher and students as a guide for future improvement. 

Limitations 

1.      The number of learning outcomes is too much. 

2.      Learning objectives seems too demanding for form 1 intermediate students. 

3.      A lot of teacher’s sentences for the teaching and learning activities explanation are grammatically incorrect. 

4.      Work sheet seems too plain. 

Suggestions 

1.      Teacher should lessen the number of learning outcomes, so the lesson will have a clear focus. 

2.      Teacher should revise the learning objectives. 

3.      Teacher may use fun grouping technique to sort students into groups. 

4.      Teacher should improve her grammar. 

1.      It is stated that the students already have the knowledge regarding skimming and scanning. In my opinion, this skill should be exclude from this lesson plan. 

 

2.      The third objective should be written clearly. For example, “ By the end of the lesson, the students should be able to answer 5 out of 8 comprehension questions correctly” 

 

3.      The focus of the lesson is learning present tense. This is a reading lesson plan so reading skills must be highlighted. Plus, it is mentioned in the learning outcomes. 

 

4.      The overall description need to be written specifically. For example, during set induction it is written that Teacher and the students discuss together. The topic of the discussion should be mentioned. Plus, in presentation stage, there is an unnecessary description of the activity because it is not coherent to other description. Teacher picks 3 answers which students answer in set induction form to present simple tense. There is no further explanation regarding the description. It does not suit well with the rest of the activity. 

 

Limitations:
1) The 3^rd learning objectives is not clear, should have state it more specific. 
2) Time allocation for the closure part is not relevant with the activity.

Suggestions: 
1) State the learning objectives clearly and parallel with the activity provided.
  2) The activities should be more interactive especially during set induction.
3) Set the time allocation relevant to the activity prepared. 

 

Strengths 

1.      Teacher’s explanations for the teaching and learning activities are clear. 

2.      Extended activity is good. 

Limitations 

1.      Learning objectives seems too ambitious for form 1 intermediate students. 

2.      Font of the poster (teaching aid) used in set induction is quite illegible. 

3.      Some of the activities designed are not suitable for a speaking lesson. 

Suggestions

1.      Teacher may use fun grouping technique to sort students into groups. 

2.      Teacher should design actives that are suitable for a speaking lesson. 

In set induction, the picture is not attractive. This will not grab the attention from students. In set induction, it is not appropriate to ask students “what do you think about the picture?” Students may not know how to answer the question. Instead, teacher needs to ask more specific questions to lead students, so students will get some brief ideas about what they are going to learn in the lesson.

In production stage, I think that 7 minutes is not enough for students to finish five reading comprehension subjective questions. Instead of summary writing, teacher may extend the time for students to complete the questions. Besides, summary writing is not an interesting activity. Teacher may change the summary writing to designing a simple poster that consists of the main ideas from the article. This will be more meaningful activity in production stage.

In closure, I think if teacher only give students stickers and ask them show the stickers will not make a meaningful closure. As a suggestion, teacher can give students some questions for them to recap the input that gain in the classroom or showing them some quotes that related to the importance of preserving the environment. 
Besides, the input in presentation stage is not appropriate to learning objective. The learning objective of the lesson is identifying main ideas and supporting details of the reading text. However, teacher only teaches students the grammar aspect instead 
of showing students on how to identify main ideas and supporting details. 
The strength of the lesson plan is teacher always give feedback to students after students finish every task. This is good since students will learn and improve from the feedback of teacher.

1. Too much focus in one lesson. 

For the learning outcomes, the lesson plan should have focused only on one reading skill, which are either skimming and scanning or identifying main and supporting details. This is because too much focus will make the students confused easily, especially with intermediate students. 

2. Learning objectives. 

The learning objectives do not cater to the learning outcomes. From the three objectives, only one of the objectives is about identifying main ideas. The other two are focusing on grammar and also comprehension questions 

3. Gramma mistakes in lesson plan. 

There are some grammar mistakes in the lesson plan. For instance, the second question in the set induction should have been what are the effect on you? Other than that, the questions are too general and not focusing so much on the topic. 

4. Input 

The input given is about simple present tense while the learning outcomes state that the teacher wants to teach skimming and scanning and identifying main ideas and supporting details. The input does not satisfy the lesson needs. 

5. Materials 

The paragraph that is given to the students does not suit the level of students in form 4. The paragraph should have been longer. Other than that, the task sheets are too linear and not so interactive for the students to do as an activity. 

Strengths:  
1) The learning objectives stated are relevant with the activities. 
 2) The teacher explains the instructions clearly for the activities. 

                  

Limitations: 

 1) The activities         prepared during presentation stage is a bit too much if compared to the students’ level of proficiency. 
  2) The thinking skills- brainstorming, stated is not really suitable and does not reflect critical thinking. 

Suggestions: 
 1) The activities should be adapted with the students’ level.
 2) Teacher should involves students’ interaction between one another to increase the class participation and make it more interactive, especially during presentation stage. 

1. Lack of speaking activity 

As this is for a speaking activity, I don’t see it as so. This is because according to lesson plan, the script is given to the students for the roleplay. With scripts given, students will tend to just read it instead and that won’t be a speaking activity since speaking skills require the students to answer spontaneously with their own thought and ideas. If script is needed, the students need to come up with it with some guidance from the teacher. However, the ideas shall be from the students. 

 

2. Learning outcomes 

The learning outcomes do not match the activities. The learning outcome is about discussing plans whereas the product is all about how to save endangered animals. Hence, the learning outcome is not fulfilled with the activities. 

1.      The set induction used is not suitable as the materials used actually focuses on environment which is a little broad. The improvement that can be done is the teacher should just focus on the topic which is regarding the endangered animals. The teacher may use some pictures of endangered animals as the materials. 

 

2.      The extended activity does not emphasis on the knowledge they have learned in the lesson. Maybe the teacher should ask the students to come out with a mini flyer for awareness campaign. Here, they can apply their knowledge regarding modals n the caption section 

There are several weaknesses that I have found in this lesson plan including the presentation of the lesson plan and the content of the lesson plan. 

Firstly, there are a few of weaknesses that I noticed from the lesson plan in terms of its presentation. There are so many grammar mistakes including incorrect use of vocabularies. Consequently, it makes it so hard for me to comprehend the gist of certain sentences which lead to confusions. Then, the table of the learning activity has no border which makes it looked like as if the contents in it are continuous. The purpose of borders are simply to separate the stages of the lesson to make it easier for people to read and distinguish which stage is which. The lesson plan could be improvised by the teacher by checking and correcting the grammar mistakes and vocabularies, and by being a little bit meticulous with the details such as borders of table. 

Other than that, I also noticed some of the limitations in the lesson plan. The flow of the lesson is not clear as there was no continuity between stages. It is so confusing even to a normal person, what more our students. The students would be so confuse as to think of what actually that they are supposed to learn. By saying this, the lesson has no focus. According to the learning outcome provided, the focus of the lesson plan is on skimming and scanning for specific information and ideas. However, the activities are mostly focusing on how to identify verbs in an article. Referring to the presentation stage, there is no input on skimming and scanning as the teacher explained on simple present tense, verbs and how to identify them. This is not a good presentation stage as the teacher should be giving input on skimming and scanning skills. Accordingly, the formative assessment is not parallel to the learning objectives set by the teacher. The objectives were to enable students to identify main ideas and not to understand the functions of simple present tense by reading an article. The lesson could be an effective lesson if the teacher could set a focus on the lesson – skimming and scanning or verbs – and to provide the right input accordingly to the focus of the lesson.

Next, in the set induction stage, the teacher asked questions that are too broad. The teacher did not specify on what the students should focus on the picture. Broad questions will not help our students to think critically. Moreover, one of the materials is not parallel to the learning objective Number Three set by the teacher. According to the learning objective Number Three, students have to answer five out of eight comprehension questions, however, there were only five questions in the task sheet. By saying this, referring to the learning outcome, the target skills are skimming and scanning for specific information and ideas. But, suddenly in the production stage, the teacher asked the students to write a summary based on the article given in the practice stage. One reason for the conflict here could be because the lesson has no focus. The confusion could be avoided if the teacher set a focus on the lesson and to always check the credibility of the task sheet provided.

1.       Detail time allocation stated “Teacher gives 10 minutes for the students to complete the graphic organizer”, “Students need to complete task sheet in 7 minutes.”.

2.       Irredundant instruction- Teacher uses the answer from set induction stage into presentation stage to show the example of simple present tense. 

Limitations

1.       Unclear learning objectives “select suitable information from the article to answer 8 comprehension questions, student have to answer 5 out of 8 questions correctly.”

2.       The description in closure stage is too simple

Suggestions

1.       The learning objectives must be straight forward and clear so that it would be easy to refer when it comes to the real teaching.

2.       The closure stage can be simple but not as just ask for the feeling. Teacher can ask some questions regarding their understanding along the lesson.

1.       Clear set induction- students will get the view of the topic on that day

2.       Good instruction in production stage “ . While the role-play is performed in front of the class, other students who are not involved in the role-play have to identify the modals used in the role-play.´which make the uninvolved students to stay focus on the role-play. 

3.       Simple but beneficial closure stage.

Limitations

1.       incomplete learning objectives 2 and 3.

2.       The word “use”  in the second learning objective is not in Bloom’s Taxonomy

3.       Wrong way of writing learning outcome.” (x) Discussing plans with others - to go somewhere - to do something (taking into account date, time, place for meeting, what to bring, duties given to each team member,etc.)”

Suggestions

1.       Learning objectives is the goal of the lesson. Teacher must make sure the learning objectives are complete.

2.       The Bloom’s Taxonomy is the guidance for the teacher to stay in right path when teaching the topic. It shows the level of the lesson. Teacher must use it as a reference to identify the level of every task.