Open the links to see the slides elaborated in teamwork with Maria de los Angeles and Bárbara with Grammar Activities bases on the book "A Rough Guide to Language Awareness"

GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES Part 1 POWERPOINT
GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES Part2 POWERPOINT 

Why Teach Grammar At All?

When a student understands grammar and the patterns in language, he or she is more able to comprehend any type of communication.

In addition, understanding grammar enables a student to write and speak more effectively.

GRAMMAR APPROACH
To see our teamwork ( with Barbara Valenzuela and Maria de los Angeles Rojas) click here: We included the following tecniques: 

• Dictogloss
• Cloze Procedure
• Error detection and correction

Here is my work on the lexical approach. I included it to my original Lesson Plan and decided to replace some activities. Share this link!

The Lexical Approach

In this Lesson Plan various metacognitive activities are included. We used the CALLA Lesson Plan for this  activity. Here can you share it!



            Metacognition Lesson Plan

Strategies for Developing Metacognitive Behaviors

from http://www.education/ .com

1. Identifying "what you know" and "what you don't know."  At the beginning of a research activity students need to make conscious decisions about their knowledge. Initially students write "What I already know about..." and "What I want to learn about...." As students research the topic, they will verify, clarify and expand, or replace with more accurate information, each of their initial statements.
2. Talking about thinking.  Talking about thinking is important because students need a thinking vocabulary. During planning and problem-solving situations, teachers should think aloud so that students can follow demonstrated thinking processes. Modeling and discussion develop the vocabulary students need for thinking and talking about their own thinking. Labelling thinking processes when students use them is also important for student recognition of thinking skills. Paired problem-solving is another useful strategy. One student talks through a problem, describing his thinking processes. His partner listens and asks questions to help clarify thinking. Similarly, in reciprocal teaching (Palinscar, Ogle, Jones, Carr, & Ransom, 1986), small groups of students take turns playing teacher, asking questions, and clarifying and summarizing the material being studied.
3. Keeping a thinking journal.  Another means of developing metacognition is through the use of a journal or learning log. This is a diary in which students reflect upon their thinking, make note of their awareness of ambiguities and inconsistencies, and comment on how they have dealt with difficulties. This journal is a diary of process.
4. Planning and self-regulation.  Students must assume increasing responsibility for planning and regulating their learning. It is difficult for learners to become self-directed when learning is planned and monitored by someone else. Students can be taught to make plans for learning activities including estimating time requirements, organizing materials, and scheduling procedures necessary to complete an activity. The resource center's flexibility and access to a variety of materials allows the student to do just this. Criteria for evaluation must be developed with students so they learn to think and ask questions of themselves as they proceed through a learning activity.
5. Debriefing the thinking process.  Closure activities focus student discussion on thinking processes to develop awareness of strategies that can be applied to other learning situations. A three step method is useful. First, the teacher guides students to review the activity, gathering data on thinking processes and feelings. Then, the group classifies related ideas, identifying thinking strategies used. Finally, they evaluate their success, discarding inappropriate strategies, identifying those valuable for future use, and seeking promising alternative approaches.
6. Self-Evaluation.  Guided self-evaluation experiences can be introduced through individual conferences and checklists focusing on thinking processes. Gradually self-evaluation will be applied more independently. As students recognize that learning activities in different disciplines are similar, they will begin to transfer learning strategies to new situations.

 

Establishing the Metacognitive Environment

A metacognitive environment encourages awareness of thinking. Planning is shared between teachers, school library media specialists, and students. Thinking strategies are discussed. Evaluation is ongoing.
In the creation of a metacognitive environment, teachers monitor and apply their knowledge, deliberately modeling metacognitive behavior to assist students in becoming aware of their own thinking.
Metacognitive strategies are already in teachers' repertoires. We must become alert to these strategies, and consciously model them for students.
Problem-solving and research activities in all subjects provide opportunities for developing metacognitive strategies. Teachers need to focus student attention on how tasks are accomplished. Process goals, in addition to content goals, must be established and evaluated with students so they discover that understanding and transferring thinking processes improves learning.

In this rapidly changing world, the challenge of teaching is to help students develop skills which will not become obsolete. Metacognitive strategies are essential for the twenty-first century. They will enable students to successfully cope with new situations. Teachers and school library media specialists capitalize on their talents as well as access a wealth of resources that will create a metacognitive environment which fosters the development of good thinkers who are successful problem-solvers and lifelong learners.

Metacognition and Three Types of Knowledge 

watch this video about metagognition

To increase their metacognitive abilities, students need to possess and be aware of three kinds of content knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional.

1. Declarative knowledge
is the factual information that one knows; it can be declared—spoken or written. An example is knowing the formula for calculating momentum in a physics class (momentum = mass times velocity).
2. Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do something, of how to perform the steps in a process; for example, knowing the mass of an object and its rate of speed and how to do the calculation.
3. Conditional knowledge is knowledge about when to use a procedure, skill, or strategy and when not to use it; why a procedure works and under what conditions; and why one procedure is better than another. For example, students need to recognize that an exam word problem requires the calculation of momentum as part of its solution.

This notion of three kinds of knowledge applies to learning strategies as well as course content. When they study, students need the declarative knowledge that (1) all reading assignments are not alike; for example, that a history textbook chapter with factual information differs from a primary historical document, which is different from an article interpreting or analyzing that document. They need to know that stories and novels differ from arguments. Furthermore they need to know that there are different kinds of note taking strategies useful for annotating these different types of texts. And (2) students need to know how to actually write different kinds of notes (procedural knowledge), and (3) they need to know when to apply these kinds of notes when they study (conditional knowledge). Knowledge of study strategies is among the kinds of metacognitive knowledge, and it too requires awareness of all three kinds of knowledge