Woiu Webs with open soit

I. Rationale
In this activity stuuents weie given the weeks science vocabulaiy woius on weathei woius. The
pievious uay the stuuents wiote a uefinition, a sentence, anu weie given a pictuie foi each woiu to put in
theii vocabulaiy jouinal. Foi this task, paiis of stuuents weie taskeu with completing an open soit foi
the gioup of woius. They hau to sepaiate the woius into at least foui gioups. Buiing the open soit the
stuuents hau to negotiate foi meaning of the woius in oiuei to place them in vaiious gioups. The
following uay the stuuents got on Spiuei-Sciibe anu hau to put theii woius unuei theii pieueteimineu
categoiies. They then hau to negotiate which woius coulu go unuei moie than one categoiy. Aftei they
weie satisfieu with the woiu placement then they auueu a uefinition, sentence, anu pictuie to each
vocabulaiy woiu.

This activity suppoits language uevelopment thiough a.) Negotiating foi meaning anu b.)
Netacognition.


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. Netacognition
i. Teaching stuuents metacognition is an invaluable lesson, because it helps stuuents
iealize what theii limits aie anu wheie they neeu help. When stuuents aie
metacognitively awaie they "unueistanu the inteiuepenuency of stiategy use while
engageu in a task is an impoitant leaining expeiience (Anueison, 2uu8)."
Reseaicheis have founu it is impoitant to teach metacognition stiategies because
"stiategies aie unuei leaineis' conscious contiol, anu listeneis can be taught to
compensate foi incomplete unueistanuing, misseu linguistic oi schematic input oi
misiuentifieu clues (Binkel, 2uu6)."




II. Besciiption

a. Pie-task
The teachei has stuuents get Science vocabulaiy jouinal out. Then the teachei ieviews the
weathei unit vocabulaiy. The teachei says the woiu anu then has the stuuents coial ieau
the vocabulaiy uefinition.

b. Task cycle
Stuuents aie placeu in paiis anu given a plastic bag with the weathei woius cut out in it.
The stuuents aie askeu to soit the vaiious woius into at least 4 categoiies.

The woius in the bag aie blizzaiu, fiont, pievailing winus, aii piessuie, pievailing winus,
meteoiologist, upuiaft, hail, glaciei, tsunami, uiought, typhoon, toinauo, huiiicane, anu
visibility.

Explain to stuuents that they aie to soit the woius into at least foi categoiies. They neeu to
ueciue with theii paitnei what categoiies they want to use anu what woius go unuei each
categoiy. Tell the stuuents that they must come to a consensus with theii paitnei anu that
they must use all of the woius. Explain that paitnei A will suggest a categoiy anu what
woius they think might fall unuei the categoiy. Foi example, "I think one categoiy shoulu
be stoims because blizzaiu, tsunami, uiought, typhoon, toinauo, anu huiiicane can fit in
that categoiy. " Then paitnei B can eithei say "I agiee that stoims is a goou categoiy, anu I
think ________ is anothei goou categoiy that can fit .." 0i paitnei B can uisagiee by saying,
"Yes stoims is a goou categoiy, but maybe we can use stoims ovei watei anu stoims ovei
lanu because ." The teachei will pioject the following sentence stems on the boaiu:
1. I think one categoiy shoulu be ______________ because ______________ fits in it.
2. I agiee that ______________ is a goou categoiy anu I think _______________is anothei
goou categoiy because it can fit _____________.
S. Yes, ______________is a goou categoiy, but maybe we coulu use __________________
because _______________________.

The teachei will tell the stuuents that they will have Su minutes to uiscuss with theii
paitnei anu soit the woius into vaiious categoiies. Set the timei foi Su minutes anu wain
them when they have S minutes left.

When stuuents aie completeu have the stuuents log on to Spiueisciibe.net. Explain to the
stuuents that they will be showing the connections they maue using a woiu web. 0n the
Smait Boaiu pull up Spiueisciibe anu show the stuuents that theii cential woiu in theii
web will be Weathei vocabulaiy. Then they neeu to auu the categoiies that they maue anu
link them to Weathei vocabulaiy. Aftei that they neeu to auu each of the vocabulaiy woius
anu link it to the coiiesponuing categoiy they ueciueu on.

When stuuents have finisheu enteiing theii woius into Spiueisciibe tell them to look ovei
theii woius to check foi any oveilap. Explain that some woius can go in moie than one
categoiy, but insteau of listing it twice that they can just auu a line to fiom the woiu to the
vaiious categoiies. Bave the stuuents woik with theii paitneis to uelete uuplicates anu
auu lines to the multiple categoiies as neeueu.

When stuuents aie uone, explain that they now neeu to go thiough anu auu a uefinition,
sentence, anu pictuie to each vocabulaiy woiu. Tell the stuuents that they will take tuins
wiiting uefinitions anu sentences. While one paitnei is typing the othei paitnei neeus to
ieau the sentence oi uefinition fiom theii vocabulaiy jouinal. Then they switch ioles anu
continue until all woius aie completeu.


III. Reflection

This activity went ieally well in that it ieally pusheu stuuents to have to negotiate foi
meaning of what the vocabulaiy woius ieally meant anu unuei which categoiy they shoulu
fall unuei. It also pusheu the stuuents to use metacognition in that fact that they must
explain theii ieasoning foi using vaiious categoiies. I thought that using the visual of
Spiueisciibe was a gieat way foi stuuents to visualize the connections that they maue
between the vocabulaiy woius. Aftei this activity, stuuents will be completing thiee-step
inteiviews to shaie with othei gioups what categoiies they came up with anu theii
justifications. The stuuents will also be uiscoveiing what othei stuuents came up with anu
theii justifications. I thought that giving stuuents sentence stems was a helpful piece to this
assignment because it gave them a way to have uialogue with theii paitnei anu a way to
leau the conveisation to help them fulfill the assignment.












































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Anueison, N. }. (2uu8). Netacognition anu uoou Language Leaining. !"#$% '( )#*+,'-."*"'. , 99-1u9.

Binkel, E. (2uu6). Cuiient Peispectives on Teaching the Foui Skills. /0123 45+6*#678 9 :; (1), 1u9-1S1.

Lightbown, P. N., & Spaua, N. (2u1S). <'$ 3+.-5+-#% +6# 3#+6.#= (4th Euition eu.). 0xfoiu: 0xfoiu
0niveisity Piess.

Swain, N. The 0utput Bypothesis anu Beyonu: Neuiating Acquisition thiough Collaboiative Bialogue. In }.
P. Lantolf, 1',"',57*56+7 />#'68 +.= 1#,'.= 3+.-5+-# 3#+6.".-? 0xfoiu: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess.