READING AND WRITING LESSON PLANS

Week 5: Reading and Writing Lesson Plans

Jesse Herriott, M.A.
Walden University

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The initial examples provided in this weeks learning assignments are indicative
of a private tutoring session. Within that tutoring session, as with many tutoring
scenarios, the instructor is faced with the responsibility and the challenge of trying to
help two students that have very different goals. Both students, (Jorge and Natasha)
would have to be tested by the instructor in order to find out what are the specifics of
their learning problems.
On a personal level, I have never approached students that were able to easily
identify the specific problems that they were dealing with in regards to learning a subject
such as ESL/EFL. However, their ability to generally describe what they were
experiencing made my job easier. After testing Jorge and Natasha in a mock test
format to see their weaknesses, I would test them to find out whether they learned best
through auditory, tactile, visual stimuli, or a combination of the three areas in order to
avoid a one-sized fits all approach to helping both of them excel on an individual level.
Mixon (2004) suggested in a study regarding learners that were attempting to learn a
difficult piece of music that nearly all learners of various disciplines fall under the three
categories of being kinesthetic, auditory, visually-inclined, or a combination of all three.
For auditory learners, auditory programs can be more helpful than a strong reliance on
worksheets, but a combination of both audio, visual, and tactile is often the best
approach because students are more likely to retain what they learned when the
students are completely submerged into a sensual experience of what they are learning.

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For Jorge, Natasha, and other students that are having trouble with translating
information from their native language to the current language that the subject matter
they are studying is based in, their lesson plans would have to be built around a slowwriting and slow-reading technique. McGovern (2012) offers ESL/EFL instructors
several techniques for overcoming students roadblocks in their individual learning
processes, but the slow-paced learning module is most effective because students can
evaluate the purpose behind what they are doing. In addition, Deslauriers, Harris, Lane,
Wieman (2012) discovered that in conjunction with increased study time, students that
were able to be prescribed effective study strategies, similar to medical prescriptions for
illnesses, were able to raise their performance in the area that they were struggling with.
Its really tough on non-native English speakers because there arent shortcuts to
learning the language and becoming proficient enough to keep up with some of the
intense studies that are expected of students in the U.S. However, those students that
are in Jorges predicament have to set aside more time to study than other students,
just because they are having trouble with translating the language.

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References
Deslauriers, L., Harris, S. E., Lane, E., & Wieman, C. E. (2012). Transforming the
Lowest-Performing Students: An Intervention That Worked. Journal Of College Science
Teaching, 41(6), 76-84.
Mixon, K. (2004). Three Learning Styles... Four Steps to Reach Them. Teaching
Music, 11(4), 48-52.
McGovern, K. (2012). English language teaching & learning resources. Retrieved
from http://www.eslreading.org/