3 Putting it into practice

Activity 2: Planning your own lesson

Figure 3 Even if your classroom has desks that are fixed in rows, your students can work in groups.

Think about what you have to teach in the next few weeks. Use the textbook to help you identify a relevant environmental or social issue. Some examples are given in Resource 2.

Plan a lesson similar to the one that Mrs Verma did.

  • Think about how to divide your students into groups.
  • Write a list of questions that they could discuss.
  • Collect some relevant information that you could give to your students, or that you could write on the blackboard. This might involve going to a library or an internet café.

Teach the lesson to Class IX or Class X.

While the students are talking to each other, walk round the room and listen carefully to the discussions. Be prepared to ask a few questions to prompt them if necessary. Note down which students are contributing well and which seem to be quiet. You will be able to use this information next time you organise a discussion in order to decide how to organise the groups.

For more information on this, look at the key resource ‘Planning lessons [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ’.

Pause for thought

  • How well did the lesson go? Did the groups work well together?
  • Were all the students involved? Did they all have an opportunity to speak in their groups?
  • Are you confident that your students learnt about the issue under discussion and now appreciate its importance?
  • If you taught this lesson again, is there anything that you would do differently?

2 Teaching community-based approaches