Sample Lesson Plan Using a Discussion Forum

 

(You may substitute any text for the one given.)

 

 

Lesson Topic:

 

The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales

 

Lesson Goals/Objectives:

 

To help students understand the General Prologue by asking them to write thoughtful responses to a prompt and to other students’ responses to that prompt.

 

 

Readings/Preparation Materials:

 

Students should have already read the General Prologue.

 

 

What is Required of the Instructor Before the Class Meets:

 

  1. The instructor should have set up discussion forum software for the class and should understand how to use it.
  2. Also, the instructor needs to understand the limitations of the software he or she is using.  How quickly will posts appear and be updated?
  3. With that understanding in mind, consider the time frame for this assignment.  How quickly should the assignment be completed?  This consideration is especially important if you want students to respond to other students.  You have to allow time for the first round of responses in order to achieve the second.
  4. Ideally, you will have an easy way for your students to find and access the discussion forum.  If you have a course home page, create a link to the discussion forum.  Otherwise, be sure to write down the URL and bring it to class.  Because URL’s can be lengthy, it might not be a bad idea to create a handout for this assignment, which lists the URL as well as the instructions on how to use the forum.
  5. Consider whether this assignment will be completed in or out of class.  If you don’t have computer access in your classroom, you’ll obviously need to make this an out-of-class assignment.  Plan ahead for technical difficulties that might arise from students having to work on this independently.

 

Segment #1 of the assignment:  Begin with a general introduction to the Prologue.

 

Segment #2:  Design a prompt that you would like your students to respond to.  The nature of a discussion forum permits thoughtful, but not lengthy, reponses.  An essay question format would translate well here.  Post that prompt on the discussion forum.

 

Segment #3:  Demonstrate how to use the discussion forum.  This instruction may be more difficult if you have no computers in your classroom.  A written instruction sheet, including how to access the forum would then be necessary.

 

Segment #4:  Have students log on to the discussion forum and respond to the prompt.  Ask them to then respond to the ideas of one or more of their classmates.  When asking students to do so, however, consider the size of your class.  Students may not wish to read fifty responses to the prompt and may simply choose to respond to a randomly chosen classmate’s response.  Consider also how the volume of writing increases in general.  Will you as the instructor want to read one hundred responses to a prompt?  If you are grading their participation in this assignment, you’ll have to at least have a look at them all.

 

Segment #5:  Ask for student feedback.  Did they feel that this helped them understand the General Prologue and to engage in a discussion about it?

 

 

 

For next time, students will need to:

 

  1. Complete the assignment
  2. Consider how completing the assignment affected their reading of Chaucer.

 

For next time, the instructor will need to:

 

  1. Check up on the students’ progress.
  2. Be available for questions, should they arise.