Sustainability+and+Climate+Change+Rich+Task


 * Subject: ** English
 * Number of Students **: 18 (first lesson)/16 (second lesson)
 * Year: ** 11
 * Number of Lessons: ** 2 (45 minutes per lessons)


 * __Outline __**

In GFS we were given the opportunity to hold a class for two 45 minute lessons. Before designing our Rich Task we surveyed the class to find out what topics they were interested in and how they liked to learn. The teacher also asked that we make it a discussion based lesson. From the results of the survey we developed a Rich Task about sustainability and global warming. For the first lesson we split the class into small groups and asked them to discuss sustainability in their school. For the second lesson we split the class into small groups again and asked them to prepare a short role play debating climate change policies in different countries. The students then performed these in front of the rest of the class.


 * __Lesson 1 __**

At the beginning of the lesson, the students had to leave class to get school photographs taken. This took some time which meant that unfortunately we had to modify and shorten our lesson plan considerably.

To start the Rick Task we gave a brief introduction to sustainability. We gave our own explanation of sustainability and then led a short class discussion on what sustainability meant to them. The class split up into small groups and discussed a series of questions we prepared for them, to help think about sustainability and its presence in their school. We also asked the groups to think of new ways to be more environmentally friendly in their school. Each group presented their ideas to the class.

This was supposed to lead the class into creating an advertising campaign to bring their ideas to the rest of their cohort, however due to the time restraints this was not possible.


 * __Lesson 2 __**

The second lesson was looking at sustainability on a global scale in regard to global warming. We split the class into three groups and assigned each group a different country: Australia, China or Ghana. The groups were given a fact sheet explaining their country’s stance on climate change including the views of the government, industries, environmental groups and the general public. From this information we asked the class to prepare a short role play of a TV debate using the characters of a politician, an industry CEO, an environmentalist and a TV presenter. By performing the role play in front of the class we hoped that this would boost the students’ confidence in speaking English. Some groups chose to write out an entire script whereas others planned the general concept of their role play and then improvised. All the groups were very focused on their task and had great final products.


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Links to Personalised Learning __**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">An important part of Personalised Learning is involving students actively in the learning process. By handing out surveys before planning our Rich Task we got the students to think about which learning styles suit them best, and also what topics they find interesting and engaging. We used this information to plan our Rich Task around the students wants and needs.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Personalised Learning also involves recognising each student as an individual and that how they learn best can be different. To accommodate this we incorporated a large range of teaching and learning strategies in our Rich Task to try and cater to all the individual needs in the class. These included brain storming and group discussion in the first lesson and reading comprehension, writing, group discussion, and drama in the second.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Linking education to the real world and making it directly relevant to students’ lives is another key part of Personalised Learning. We chose our topic for the Rich Task accordingly; both Sustainability and Global Warming are both real world issues that will and are already having impact on the student’s lives.


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Feedback __**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The feedback for our Rich Task was for the most part very positive.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The students rated the lessons from 8/10 to 10/10 with an average score of 9/10.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many of the students responded very positively to our inclusion of group work in the Rich Task, which was a common request in the survey. There was also a lot of positive feedback about the second lesson’s format. Various students said that they enjoyed making their role play and watching others perform in front of the class. Some students said they thought it was a creative and fun way to practice speaking English.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some students found the factsheets we provided a bit difficult to understand, and others commented on how they struggled speaking English in front of the whole class. A few students also wanted us to have more involvement in the class and work that we set them.


 * __<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you __**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">All the members of Learning School would like to thank GFS for letting us stay at your school, the teachers for giving us time with their class to further our research and the students for being such willing and enthusiastic participants.