Lesson plan form : Information Gap Name: Wiebe J.

Palstra Class: TEIP Teacher: Christina Goodknight Year and level to be taught: Onderbouw HAVO Duration lesson: 20-30 minutes (depending on level of english)

Starting situation

The students receive a handout about a murder mystery. They receive a mix of events concluding in the arrest of a man. Their job is to find out how the murder mystery came to this conclusion. What happened before? Who is involved and how? The teacher can relate this kind of abstract thinking and working off of clues by relating it to the game Clue (in Dutch, Cluedo). The teacher can then read it out loud for the entire class and explain the game rules: only closed questions that deal with a yes or no answer.

Teachers objectives

Pass out handouts Explain the objectives of the mystery Explain the rules (only closed questions) Try and get everyone involved in the class activity. Read over and help students comprehend. Help students form simple and closed questions to gain more information and extra clues. Students try and use/activate their existing knowledge or logic in order to fill in the gaps. Students learn to work in teams/groups. Students learn to use different tenses (past, present and future) Students are motivated to thinking more abstract. Students learn different perspectives in problem-solving. While activity Students formulate questions. Listen to everyones input. Analayze the story as it unfolds. After activity We analyze key questions that helped fill in the gaps. Make a selection of the best questions. Reflection.

Learning objectives:

Student activities:

Pre activity Look over the handout: The story and the keywords. Ask questions relating to the objective/exercise. Start thinking of closed

questions that result in a yes or no response. Work forms + indication duration activity Independent reading. Group discussion or questions. Materials for teacher: Teacher activities: Anticipated difficulties & possible solutions

Formulate questions independently or as a group. Class participation Independently or as a group. All verbal, no writing.

Webmap to show the best questions that gave the best results.

Materials for students:

Handout featuring key words and the main story. Below it are several guiding questions that students may use when stuck. The teacher: will help guide the investigation. Will also provide the story, when he/she reads it out loud. Their own imagination and abstact thinking. This will take some creative thinking on their part.

The teacher will have the solution page. Rely on the keywords given to the students.

Help guide the investigation and clue searching. Try and get every student to participate and work together. Make sure that students listen to one another. They can gain insight from each others success. Give examples of closed questions that they can ask.

Several examples may have to be given to get the ball rolling. Some students may prefer working in smaller groups and may be able to participate more in doing so. Perhaps it would be an idea to bring a practice mystery with me that the students have already seen how it works, what we are looking for and how it can be found.

Evaluation of the learning effect:

Did they all participate? Did they work together and learn from one another? Did they use each others ideas to fill in the gaps?

Teacher script:

Hello Class! Today we will be dealing with a mystery! While passing out the student handouts

On the sheet of paper that I am passing out, you will find a story. You only get a summary and several key words. Using these two things, I want you to question me, as a detective, to find out what exactly happened to the person in question. I will only be allowed to use yes or no answers. Are there any questions before we begin reading? Answer possible questions

Alright, lets all read this together! Does anyone have any questions about the story and/or the keys words? Can anyone give any examples of closed questions that provide a yes or no response?

Give several of my own examples if necessary...

Alright, now in teams of three detectives, start brainstorming! Allow each other to share your own interpretations of the story and the key words. Once you have (slightly) agreed on a direction, I would like you to start formulating questions to ask!

Allow the teams to start asking qustions and in the meantime I visit with every group to see how they progress

Student Handout: The Story

A man boards a plane in South America headed to Europe. At the check-in he reports that he has packed his own bag and that there are no illegeal substances in it. After check-in, while sitting in the airplane the local authorities board the plane and arrest the man promptly. They grab his personal belongings making sure they have everything and escort him out of the plane. The man ends up being guilty and is sentenced to jail for thirty years. KEYWORDS: FREE VACATION, MONEY PROBLEMS, CONTACT, DEALER

The students are given the gist of the story. They also receive several key words. They have to act like a detective and question I fill in the gaps of the story (according to their questions). I only answer with a YES or NO response.

Teacher Handout:

Solution The great part about this activity is that students will not be discourage as they have to use their imagination and there is no real wrong answer. I hope that in the end they get the idea that this man may have been involved in some sort of (drug) smuggling. Although they make come up with some other creative ideas based on the story and key words.