The final project for this course will consist of creating a complete unit that focuses on reading and/or writing (probably both). This will include both a syllabus (in this case background information including the setting, class, etc.) and daily schedule, as well as a rationale for the unit, how it meets the course goals and objectives, etc. In short, it should be a unit that you might actually use in a future class—so make it both useful and realistic!
You can find many samples of final projects on the forum for our course. Many of them are located in the section for complete reading and writing units (currently almost 100) and others are scattered in sections of the forum that fit the theme. Please note that none of these include the grade they received for the course, but look at them from the perspective of a teacher. Is the lesson user friendly? Is it clear who it is aimed at? Are there clearly defined objectives for the lessons? Are their appropriate support materials? In other words, could you take the lesson and use it in a class?
You can find many samples of final projects on the forum for our course. Many of them are located in the section for complete reading and writing units (currently almost 100) and others are scattered in sections of the forum that fit the theme. Please note that none of these include the grade they received for the course, but look at them from the perspective of a teacher. Is the lesson user friendly? Is it clear who it is aimed at? Are there clearly defined objectives for the lessons? Are their appropriate support materials? In other words, could you take the lesson and use it in a class?
Key Point!! Your final project should be designed so that another teacher who finds it online in our forum could copy it and make use of it in their own class. This means that it must be very user friendly, complete, AND polished. That means it should not be like the comic below!!! ;-)
Please type your answer using size-12 Times New Roman font (if you are doing a paper-based project). Your final project should be double-spaced and a minimum of 20 pages long (see footnote 1). Most final projects are quite a bit longer than
that. You do not need to be an "Einstein" to get a good grade
on this project! Make it clear, practical, and useful for your fellow
teachers. As I imply above, you may choose to do your final project in a format other than traditional--Microsoft Word is not required! We can talk about some alternative options in class.
Please note that the use of images in your project is also
allowed (and very likely), if appropriate. In
addition, the inclusion of handouts, etc. is expected. Please use APA documentation style or some other--just be consistent.
I present these two types
of units below in isolation, but it is very likely that the unit you create
will probably be a mixture of reading and writing activities.
If you focus on a
writing unit:
Design a writing unit that
uses the Process Approach (or any other writing approach) for a designated
audience. This audience could be ESL or EFL and any age range or language
level. This could be approached two ways. First, you might take a
narrowly focused unit, such as a unit on teaching documentation style for a
research paper. Your unit should require at least 3 class periods to
complete. In this case, you would want to include things like:
Background Information
a. A
description of the setting and student population (hypothetical, of course).
b. Description
and goals for the course in general (the hypothetical course in which this unit
appears).
c. How
your unit fits into this course.
The actual unit
a. Goals
and objectives for the unit.
b. Detailed
lesson plans—including goals and objectives, the lesson plans, any handouts,
etc. that go with those plans.
c. A
bibliography of resources used to create your unit.
If you focus on a
reading unit:
Design a reading unit
based around a text of your choice for a designated audience. This unit should
include multiple pre-reading, reading, and post-reading activities, and should
again take multiple class sessions to complete. As with the writing unit,
you should include:
Background Information
a. A
description of the setting and student population (hypothetical, of course).
b. Description
and goals for the course in general (the hypothetical course in which this unit
appears).
c. How
your unit fits into this course.
The actual unit
a. Goals
and objectives for the unit.
b. Detailed
lesson plans—including goals and objectives, the lesson plans, any handouts,
etc. that go with those plans.
c. A
bibliography of resources used to create your unit.
Length of your unit
The length of the units
discussed for this project will vary greatly, but I expect that you should have
detailed lesson plans for at least 3 class periods. This means that your
entire unit may be 3 classes (as in the case of the unit on documentation), or
it may mean that your unit is for an entire semester! In this case, you
might give a brief overview of what you would want to do (e.g., use the book Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as your primary book for a semester),
and focus on one sub-unit (maybe one that takes 3 classes!) using that book
(e.g., using passages from the book to focus on the use of present perfect
tense). Most units for the final project are at least 15-20
pages in length, but that includes support materials.
What is it worth? 350 points, or 35% of the total.
DUE DATE: Your project is due in by May 15th. HOWEVER, the due date for those of you taking the Comprehensive Exams AND graduating this semester is earlier—April 23th (kind of...we'll talk about this together).
DUE DATE: Your project is due in by May 15th. HOWEVER, the due date for those of you taking the Comprehensive Exams AND graduating this semester is earlier—April 23th (kind of...we'll talk about this together).
The Comprehensive Exam
If you are not a MATESL
student you don’t have to do this! If you are a MATESL student who will
do a thesis, you don’t have to do this. If you aren’t one of these
groups…read on!
For the
comprehensive exam, you will need to take your unit and have a new section that
connects your unit back to theory. You could either have this as an
additional section to your paper, or you might have a smaller section at the
end, with the connections to theory scattered after each unit. For
example, if you are doing a unit that focuses on reading, you will want to
discuss how your use of pre-reading activities connect to concepts like schema
theory, including what types of schema are being considered and how your unit
activates them. In other words, you will take the practical (your unit)
and connect it to theory. However you organize their theory component of
your paper, it must include an overall theoretical justification of your unit
at the end of the unit. This section should be titled (surprise, surprise) Theoretical
Justification for my unit. I do not expect the theoretical
component to be as large as the unit itself, especially since the unit will
include images, handouts etc., but I would expect that it would be something in
the range of 4-5 pages (or so) [2].
[1] Yes, please do notice that I said “approximately.” I say this because of the types of materials you will include (see the info on the specific units). This means that some of the materials will be handouts, etc. that are not designed to fill a whole page with text (the same goes with your daily schedules, etc.). If you have lots of these, you may end up with more than 20 pages. This does not, of course, include reading materials. In other words, you can’t hand me a 245 page Harry Potter book and say “done”!
[2] Yes, that is in addition to your unit (please note bolding, underlining, and italicizing again). In other words, this doesn’t mean that you can do a 5 page unit and then 5 pages for the comp—no cheating! Please also note that the 4-5 pages is approximate! Keep in mind though, that since most of you will involve both reading & writing in your unit, that means you can pull in theory from either field. Lucky you!!!
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