Rally Coach

I. Rationale

When stuuying foi math tests I will play a jeopaiuy game with vaiious math
pioblems fiom the unit anu have stuuents placeu in paiis. 0ne stuuent is the coach
(the stuuent who has a highei unueistanuing of the concepts on the test) anu a
stuuent who is stiuggling. When a question comes up uuiing the game the stuuent
must complete the pioblem anu then coach checks the answei. If the answei is
incoiiect the coach explains the steps one by one on how to get the coiiect answei
to the stuuent. 0nce the coiiect answei is ieceiveu then they can give the answei
to me foi the question they weie given.


a. Negotiating foi meaning
i. Negotiating foi meaning is aligneu with the inteiaction hypothesis.
When stuuents aie inteiacting they often have to negotiate foi
meaning. "Negotiation foi meaning is accomplisheu thiough a
vaiiety of mouifications that natuially aiise in inteiaction, such as
iequests foi claiification oi confiimation, iepetition with a
questioning intonation, etc. (Lightbown & Spaua, 2u1S)."
Reseaicheis have "exploieu how inteiaction pioviues
oppoitunities foi leaineis not only to negotiate the message of the
input, but, in uoing so, to focus on its foim as well (Swain)." Thus
negotiating foi meaning allows stuuents to inciease theii L2 in
theii inteiactions.


b. 0utput
i. It is not enough foi stuuents just to have compiehensible input,
but in oiuei foi them to meet goals they neeu to have output. "To
piouuce, leaineis neeu to uo something. They neeu to cieate
linguistic foim anu meaning, anu in so uoing, uiscovei what they
can anu cannot uo. (Swain)" When stuuents aie engageu in
piouucing language "they must pay moie attention to how
meaning is expiesseu thiough language than they oiuinaiily uo foi
the compiehension of language (Lightbown & Spaua, 2u1S)."

II. Besciiption

a. Pie-task
This activity is uone at the enu of a math unit to help stuuents ieview
oi at the enu of a lesson to help with conceptual iefinement.


b. Task cycle
At the enu of the fiaction unit stuuents will be paiieu in gioups of two oi
thiee. The stuuents will be paitneieu baseu on theii ability in which highs
will be paiieu with meuiums, anu meuiums will be paiieu with lows.

The teachei will uisplay the jeopaiuy game foi the class on the Smaitboaiu.
Foi this lesson stuuents will be ieviewing multiplying fiactions. Explain that
each stuuent will tiy eveiy math pioblem. When each peison is the gioup
has completeu the assigneu pioblem then they will uiscuss with theii paitnei
what they got foi an answei. If they uo not have the same answei then each
paitnei must explain the steps they took to ieach theii answei. They will
then neeu to come to a consensus about which answei is coiiect. When they
have come to a consensus then they can shaie out theii answei to the
teachei.

To help show stuuents how this will look, you shoulu act it out with anothei
stuuent. Foi example I woulu give the pioblem
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anu I woulu have me
anu anothei stuuent woik out the pioblem. I woulu uo the pioblem wiong
anu get the answei V . I woulu have my paitnei ieau out theii answei anu I
woulu shaie mine. Then I woulu point out that we hau uiffeient answeis. So
I woulu tell the stuuent to explain how they got theii answei then I woulu
explain that I multiplieu 1xS anu auueu 2+4 to get S6 which I ieuuceu to V.
Then I woulu ask my paitnei which answei they thought was wiite anu my
paitnei woulu say that I neeu to multiply the tops togethei then I neeu to
multiply not auu the bottoms togethei. Then aftei my paitnei explaineu how
to get the iight answei then we coulu shaie the answei.


III. Reflection

The stuuents enjoy uoing this activity because it helps claiify many of the
concepts in stuuent fiienuly language. When they woik with theii paitnei
they aie able to ask questions in an unthieatening enviionment anu get
claiification on items that they uiu not want to ask in fiont of the entiie class.
This also helps the highei stuuents unueistanu the concepts because they aie
having to inteinalize them anu then be able to ielate it to anothei stuuent in
away that helps that stuuent unueistanu. This activity helps stuuents with
unueistanuing math concepts thiough negotiating foi meaning because the
stuuents have to figuie out what the othei stuuent knows anu how to ielate
the infoimation to anothei stuuent.








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Lightbown, P. N., & Spaua, N. (2u1S). !"# %&'()&(*+ &,* %*&,'*- (4th Euition eu.).
0xfoiu: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess.

Swain, N. The 0utput Bypothesis anu Beyonu: Neuiating Acquisition thiough
Collaboiative Bialogue. In }. P. Lantolf, ."/0"/)12),&1 34*",5 &'- .*/"'-
%&'()&(* %*&,'0'(6 0xfoiu: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess.