How to create teaching assignments using Digital Escape Rooms

An escape room is a game in which a group of players work together as a team to uncover clues and solve puzzles in one or more physical rooms with the purpose of reaching a specific goal. They have a limited amount of time to work through different tasks.

A digital escape room is by and large the same, but the rooms are not physical. They are digital or more accurately digital texts. 

Digital escape rooms can be a great pedagogical tool to create variety in your teaching practices. We often talk about varying assessment practices, but in my experience most learners want teachers to create variation in how different subjects are taught as well.

I learnt about this concept when I attended a seminar hosted by Bro AOF which was taught by Eric Torsøe.

Fagfornyelsen or the new curriculum is based on certain policy documents and research that led to the conclusion that future learners need certain skills for success. Of these Critical thinking · Creativity · Collaboration · Communication  are called the four C's of the 21st century. 

Digital Escape Rooms is a pedagogical tool which can help stimulate and hone these four C's.

The idea is that learners will learn/read/ work with different texts but in order to get access to the text they need to solve a puzzle to get a password. They use this password to open the next text/room and so on. They have to be creative, think critically, collaborate and communicate with each other to navigate their way through different rooms.

In order to create a digital escape room you need to able to lock a pdf file. Click here to learn how to protect a file using a password.

In this powerpoint you will find a lesson plan using the concept of digital escape rooms. I have created 4 documents which the learners use as digital rooms. Room 5 is a quizlet, and room 0 is a short text in the textbook book Citizens. We used 45 min x 2  in two different groups of vocational learners and we had enough time.

Here are the different documents that the learners will open using passwords. You will find the passwords on the last slide of the above powerpoint, and clues to figure out the password are also in the powerpoint. 

Tips to create passwords:

1. The passwords shouldn't be too complicated.

2. You can use passwords that lead to interdisciplinary work - for example ask the mathematics teacher what the class has been working with and the password can be a mathematics task that the learners have to solve.

3. Make the learners create their own digital rooms.

4. The password can be revealed a short video that you have uploaded somewhere. If you are comfortable doing that, you can record a video of yourself teaching a certain theme and hide the password in the video. 

Good luck :-)

Digital Narrative Games - The Henry Stickimin Collection

Henry Stickmin Collection  is a 2D Game. In order to play this game, you need to create a user on an online game platform called Steam. The game costs 103,00 kr per user. The garphics are relatively simple so a learner should be able to play it easily on a school pc. 

For the purpose of teaching, and if your school has a limtied budget, multiple pupils can play the game on a pc that the borrow from the IT department at your school. That means that they cannot all play the game at once, but have to wait for their turn. 

You can use this game to teach the competence aim: discuss and reflect on the form, content and devices used in English-language cultural expressions from various media, including music, film and games.

                                      

This game is played as a collection of six episodes where the prologue “Break the bank» is considered as one episode. The other five episodes are:

Episode 1: Escaping the prison

Episode 2: Stealing the diamond

Episode 3: Infiltrating the Airship

Episode 4: Completing the mission

Episode 5: Fleeing the complex

The idea is to help Henry move forward in the story by making the right choice for him. You have many options to choose from like using a laser or a teleporter or calling in your buddy Charles to help you out. Every time you make a wrong choice, the story move forward just a little bit, but then it ends in a «Fail» and you are back to where you could make other choices. The game is peppered with funny comments when you fail.

Here is a teaching assignment for this game. I have made questions that can be used to ensure that the learner has understood eacg episode.There are also questions that might hopefully evoke reflection on the learner's part, and there are questions that are directly related to the competence aims i.e. questions related to analysis of the form, content and literary devices used. Teaching asignment.

Digital Narrative Games: A Fisherman's Tale for VR / Dataspill i undervisning i engelskfaget

A Fisherman's Tale is a narrative-driven puzzle game created by Vertigo Games. 

You can use this game to teach the competence aim: discuss and reflect on the form, content and devices used in English-language cultural expressions from various media, including music, film and games.

The game is available on Oculus Rift, Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, PlayStation VR  and Oculus Quest. It can be bought for 130 kr on Steam. 

A Fisherman's Tale is the story of Bob, a tiny fisherman puppet who lives alone in a lighthouse without any connection to the world outside. The reason for his self-inflicted isolation is revealed later in the game. One morning Bob wakes up to the radio blasting warnings of a storm outside and information that a lone boat is out struggling and needs help. He also finds that his windows have been boarded up. He is given a task to climb to the top of the lighthouse and turn on the light before the big storm. But as the story unfolds, you find out that the storm is a metaphor for an inner storm.

For teaching purposes, I suggest that you as teacher:

1) Know the gameplay. You can watch the game being played at game walkthrough on You Tube. Just search for the name of the game and add "walkthrough" in the search box.

2) It can take a long time to play through an entire game. Many role-playing games take from 3-5 hours to play if you are an experienced player. You do not have to use the game in its entirety. A good alternative can be to play  only a few chapters and watch the rest of the game on walkthroughs on YouTube.  When it comes to A Fisherman’s Tale, I suggest that you skip chapter 2 if necessary.

Spoiler Alert: Click here to get the plot of the game. 

Here is a teaching assignment for this game. I have made questions that can be used to understand each chapter. There are also questions that might hopefully evoke reflection on the learner's part, and there are questions that are directly related to the competence aims i.e. questions related to analysis of the form, content and literary devices used. Teaching asignment.

Læreverket Citizens YF - Stolt forfatter

Her kan du se filmen om læreverket Citizens YF, der jeg er medforfatter. Filmen viser innholdet i ulike kapitler i boken. Vi har jobbet hardt, og jeg er så stolt!

Her kan du se en presentasjonsfilm om dybdelæring. 

Her kan du se en presentasjonfilm om språklæring.

Bestil gjerne ditt gratis vurderingseksemplar. Les mer her.

Læreverket CITIZENS -Studiespesialiserende

Endelig er den her! 
Læreverket CITIZENS SF der jeg er medforfatter. 

Du kan bestille ditt gratis vurderingseksemplar her.

Se en presentasjonsfilm om ulike kapitler i boken her.

Læreverket Citizens

Læreverket Citizens, der jeg er medforfatter, lanseres 20.03. Vi har jobbet hardt, og jeg er så stolt!

Velkommen til seminar og lansering. Du kan også bestille gratis eksemplar. Les mer her.

Delvis elevstyrt utviklingsstamtaler på videregående skole

En delvis elevsstyrt utviklingssmtale kan gi eleven mulighet til å reflektere over sin innsats, sine mål, sine forutsetninger, sine læringsstrategier og hvordan skoleåret har vært så langt. 

En delvis elevstyrt utviklingsamtale kan være et godt verktøy for selvvurdering og refleksjon hos eleven, men det er viktig med tydelige rammer. Eleven skal IKKE ha alt ansvar for hele samtalen. Både kontaktlæreren og foreldre (om de er med) skal delta i samtalen. 

Kontaktlæreren skal ha en dialog med eleven med utgangspunkt i det elevene sier og presenterer.

Her er en mal for delvis elevstyrt utviklingssamtale på videregående skole.

NOEN RETNINGSLINJER: 

Formålet med samtalen:

Å opplyse  om hvordan det går med eleven på skolen både faglig og sosialt, og hva som er veien videre, og herunder ansvarliggjøre alle parter.

Presisering:

Dette er ikke en presentasjon, men en mulighet til selvvurdering og refleksjon. Det er viktig med tydelige rammer. Eleven skal ikke ha alt ansvar for hele samtalen.

Forberedelser og forutsetninger:

Elevene skal ha fått tilbakemelding i noen fag om hvordan det går enten i form av en vurdering eller uformelle samtaler med faglærere.

Kontaktlæreren har også fått denne informasjon fra andre faglærere.

Foreldrene skal ha fått innkalling.

Kriteriene for samtalen modelleres for elevene, slik at en oppnår felles forståelse av hva som er forventet av dem, og elevene får god tid i forkant (og underveis) til å vurdere/reflektere over eget ståsted.

Form og innhold:

Elevene: kan vise power point om de vil, eller snakke fritt om de vil om følgende punkter:

  Fravær

·     Orden og atferd

·     Vurdering i ulike fag

·     Trivsel og sosialt miljø i klassen og på skolen

·     Eleven sin innsats

Kontaktlæreren: – Tar utgangspunkt i det elevene sier og ha en naturlig en samtale ut av det eleven presenterer.

Foreldrene  (om de er med): Kommenterer og eventuelt bringe egne temaer på banen.

Det praktiske: Elevene kan vise power point om de vil, eller snakke fritt om de vil. Om de har en power point, må den ikke vises på et stort skjerm. Eleven, kontaktlæreren og foresatte kan se det sammen på datamaskinskjerm. På den måten, kan utviklingssamtale foregår på rom der prosjektoren ikke er tilgjengelig også.

Fordeler: 

1) Dette kan være den gode samtalen, en der eleven kan få snakke om seg selv, sine gode og mindre gode sider, hva han/hun vil forbedre, og å fortelle hvordan forbedringen kan skje. Det setter i gang mange prosesser hos elevene og ansvarliggjør dem i forhold til egen utvikling.

2) Opplæringsloven stiller store rettighetskrav til elevenes medvirkning til egenvurdering og løpende underveisvurdering.

3)  En mer aktiv elevmedvirkning

Ulemper:

1) Elever kan pynte på sannheten fordi de tror de må prestere og vise seg som perfekte. 

2) Foreldre kan bli redusert til et passivt publikum.

3) Det genuint ekte kan forsvinne i slike modeller.

(Fordeler og ulemper har jeg hentet fra en diskusjon på Facebook om elevstyrt utviklingssamtale)

How to Analyse a Political Speech

Here is a power point which can be used to teach the topic "How to Analyse a Political Speech". Link.

You can find some tips/pointers on what to look for when analysing a poltical speech. 

Some of these are: 
1)Most speeches are a reaction to something.

•So, it is important to understand the historical context about why the speech was made

2) Most speeches are arguments for a point of view.

• If you can find out what the speaker is arguing for, then the rest of the content is easier to follow

3) Most speeches use rhetorical devices to influence opinion

         •Look for the use of logos, pathos and ethos

4) Most speeches use stylistic features

         •Look for repeitition, slogans, imagery, alliteration, antithesis

I have also included some links to videos where you can see political speeches being analysed. You fill also find a link to worksheet that learners can use to analyse speeches. I have posted the document as a pdf file. Send me an email at jaspreetgloppen@gmail.com if you need it as a power point which you can edit. 

Best,
Jaspreet

Sample of a well-written text (with teacher comments) that shows how you can answer the long – answer part of the written exam.

The following text is written by my 16-year old student Camilla Lønningen, who is a student of general studies/studiespesialiserende.

She has kindly agreed to let me share her text for teaching purposes. She answered this task during her whole-day test / written mock-exam this semester. The whole-day test consisted of two tasks: one short answer task, and one long-answer task. Given that she only had 5-hours at her disposal, the ideas presented by her are very well-executed. I have placed the text into a table to show how the content has been organized. On the right-hand side, I have made some comments to provide an insight into what I think works in the text.

Here is the link to the text that Camilla Lønningen created, and which includes my comments.

The text that she wrote was a response to the following task which is what the students enrolled in Vg1 or Vg2English typically get for their written exam in English.

In literature and films, the main characters often take on a challenge. Compare and contrast two such characters you have studied in your English course and reflect upon the challenges they have met and how their actions and choices help us understand them and the world around us.

In your text, you should

·         in short, introduce the texts you have chosen and how you will answer the task

·         present the challenges of character one with examples

·         present the challenges of character two with examples

·         compare and contrast the two characters’ challenges in a discussion

·         conclude by summing up the main differences between the characters

    Give your text a suitable title.

If you are interested, you can check out this post here about how to prepare for you written whole-day test or written exam. 

On the blog you can also find an example of a well structured argumentative text with teacher comments.

Some sample tasks for oral exams in English Literature and Culture.

Here are a few sample tasks that can be used for the oral exams in the subject English Literature and Culture. Assessment criteria are included in the tasks. 

Teachers can use these as a point of departure to formulate their own tasks and the students can use these to prepare for the exams. 

Here is a task about:
1) Literary Devices: Link
2)Book analysis and discussion: Link
3) Literary-historical period: Link
4) Satire: Link
5) Character analysis: Link

Becoming a critical consumer - Advertisement Analysis/Reklameanalyse

How do companies persuade you to buy their products? Learn how to reveal the manipulations at work.

It is important for the youth of today to understand how advertising manipulates their choices and their spending. This can help them develop their powers of critical observation and reflection, and help them eventually become a more aware consumer.

Check out this article I wrote for Cappelen Damm about how to be a critical consumer. 

You can also read it on the website for the book Tracks here. 

Here is a task related to the article and images learners can analyze. Here is an assessment form which can be used by the teachers to assess the analysis. It can also be used by the learners for self-evaluation.

Working on this topic fulfills the following competene aims for Vg1 and Vg2 (both vocational and general studies):

• discuss and elaborate on English language films and other forms of cultural expressions from different media
• evaluate different sources and use contents from sources in an independent, critical and verifiable manner
• evaluate different digital resources and other aids critically and independently, and use them in own language learning

In International English, it fulfills the following criteria:

• analyse and assess the role of some English-language media in international society ( How do advertisements in English affect our daily choices.)
• analyse linguistic tools in different kinds of texts (rhetorical tools like logos, pathos and ethos)
• give an account of fundamental principles for constructing texts in a variety of genres (princilpes for creating an advertisement)

In Literature and Culture, the following competence aims are fulfilled:

• analyse and assess a film and a selection of other artistic forms of expression within English-language culture 
• elaborate on and discuss the relationship between form, content and stylistic register in sentences and texts

Task: Short story about communication breakdown due to challenges related to intercultural communication

Pupils taking general studies at my school have been writing a short story about the communication breakdown to challenges related to intercultural communication. Here is a document where you will find the task along with the assessment criteria. Here is the assessment form we used to correct the short stories. A big thanks to my colleagues Hanne Bjerke Vasshaug og Linn Therese Jostem for collaboration, and critical input in development of this task. 

These are the texts that we worked with:

1)  The movie Outsourced. You can find the study guide for outsourced here.  

2)  This brilliant text about Intercultural Communication on NDLA here. Explains in a wonderful way the difference between deal focused cultures and relationship-focused cultures. It also includes a text that outlines a Mr. Halliwell’s business trip and the intercultural challenges he encounters in Mexica, Japan, Saudi Arabia and France.

3) A very professionally put-together video here about certain American habits that are offensive in other countries.

4) A video here that shows habits from all over the world that can be considered offensive by different cultures. 

5) A text about tips for doing business in Japan here.

6) How culture imapcts the way we think and speak here. 

A literary essay: The Maltese Falcon and White Teeth - A Derridean Reading

Here is a Derridean Reading of the books The Maltese Falcon and White Teeth.

I wrote this essay when I took the course "Ways of Reading" (ENGMAU642) as part of my master's degree at the University of Bergen.  

Enjoy!

Teaching Assignment on the topic "The American Dream."

Here is a teaching assignment on the topic: The American Dream - is it dead or still alive?

The learners read an article and watch a movie which supports the view that the American Dream is still alive.

They also watch videos and read an article which claims that the American Dream is no longer a reality.

After reading and watching these texts the learners write an essay where they write their opinion on this topic. They HAVE to incorporate information from all these texts in the essay they are writing. This way we can teach them how to refer to sources and show arguments from both perspectives. I think this is a great assignment to work with at the beginning of the school year. 

Here is an action plan for the task. This includes the articles and videos the learners will work with. The competence aims are also included. In order to practice the concept of "tilpasset læring" or "adapted eductaion", I have included some extra texts that learners who need extra challenges can work with.
Here is the task and it includes assessment criteria as well. 

Thank you Hanne Vasshaug and Linn Therese Jostem for helping me develop this task. 

Hand-out: How to Prepare for Your Written Whole-Day Test/Mock Exam/heldagsprøve i engelsk

Students these days are preparing for a written whole-day test/mock exams. Here is a hand-out I give to my students as an aid to help them prepare before the exam and during the exam. The hand-out is a modified version of a text that I got from Anette Haugen, who teaches English at Kristiansand katedralsokole. 

My blog has reached 100,000 hits.

My blog has reached 100,000 hits. It is a niche blog mostly for educators, so I am extremely humbled that so many find it useful. Thank you for following me and sending me your questions on email and your comments on the blog posts.

Best,

Jaspreet

The links are working now

Hi,
The links to different files in all the blog posts should be working now. Please let me know if there are any issues.
Best,
Jaspreet

Problemer med lenker til filer på bloggen / Issues with links to the files on the blog

Hei,
Dropbox har plutselig gjort noen endringer i går 15 mars 2017 slik at alle lenkene jeg har i innleggene mine på bloggen er blitt ugyldige og må legges inn på nytt. 
Jeg skal prøve å ordne opp i dette så fort som mulig. Hvis det er noen filer dere trenger umiddelbart, kan dere sende meg en epost på jaspreetgloppen@gmail.com, så sender jeg dokumentene.
Mvh
Jaspreet

Hi!
Dropbox made some changes in their sharing policy yesterday March 15, 2017 rendering all the links to files on my blog unusable.
I will update the links as soon as possible. In the meantime, send me an email at jaspreetgloppen@gmail.com if you need any files and I will send them to you right away.
Best,
Jaspreet

Oral Presentation - Occupational Health and Safety.

In this video, you can see Chris Mestre present the topic of Occupational Health and Safety. Chris is a studying Automation at Sotra Vgs. The task can be found here.

In my opinion, this presentation stands out:

·        Because of the high quality of content as Chris covers the topic in its complexity.

·        Chris covers all parts of the task which can be found here.

·        Chris uses different tools to convey his content: he uses body language and  he writes and draws on the blackboard to emphasize parts of the content.

·        He is poised under pressure, uses formal language and maintains eye contact with the audience throughout the presentation. 

·        He does not read from a script which shows that he has understood the content and can produce sentences in English language on the spot.

·        His language is fluent as he communicates his content well using right technical vocabulary and the presentation flows well.

·        His language is also pretty accurate, and even though one can see some concord issues, they do not hinder communication and are not very frequent.

Here are some tips to improve the presentation even more.

·        Chris could have told the audience what exactly “long term health risks" mean. This is because it is easy to confuse long term health risks with long-term consequences. The former indicates a health issue that can come up if the working conditions are not optimal. For example, loss of eye sight over time due to poor lighting. The latter refers to a consequence of a health related issue and can also occur from a safety hazard. For example, you can break your leg if you slip and fall because of wet floor. The consequence is long-term even though it does not take place over time.

·        Chris should also discuss the prevention of the risks in-depth.

·        It is a good idea to say something more about the sources than just “here are my sources.” One can, for example, comment on why a certain source was used . One can also comment on the reliability and the credibility of the sources.

All in all, this is a brilliant presentation by Chris  which I am proud to share with you, with his permission of course. 

Satire - Task for Literature and Culture Vg3

Gin Lane by William Hogsworth

Satire is a brilliant literary technique with often a noble vision – to highlight issues in a society using wit, intellect and sarcasm. Satire showcases intelligence, both by the one who uses it and the one who it is directed at. This is because to get the subtleties of a satirical text, you need to be engaged and aware of the current social and political issues.

The following task about satire covers the following aims in the English Literature and Culture subject at the Vg3 level.

Competence Aims

• elaborate on and discuss distinctive linguistic features of texts from different genres, from different periods and regions
• interpret literary texts and other cultural expressions from a cultural-historical and social perspective
• elaborate on and discuss the cultural position of the United States and Great Britain in the world today, and the background for the same
• use a nuanced, well-developed and precise vocabulary to communicate on literature and culture
• use suitable language, appropriate to the situation, in oral and written genres

Here is the task.

Task: Choose “Gin Lane” or “Gulliver Travels” and a satirical TV show from the United States or Great Britain and illustrate (present, discuss and analyze) how satire is used to comment on current issues. Your presentation should begin with a clear thesis statement and should include relevant facts and examples. You may include a very brief video not more than 2 minutes).

Criteria for Evaluation:

1) You will be evaluated on the content (the strength of your argument, if you use examples and quotes, if you are you critical, do you discuss or just present) of your presentation, and how it is communicated (if your points/ideas come across, if you connect with the audience).

2) The structure of the presentation will also be assessed (introduction, conclusion and the transitions between the different topics).

3) Your language (including vocabulary, grammar, idiomatic usage, technical terms, use  of formal language) will also be evaluated.

4) There needs to be a clear thesis statement which declares the main point or controlling idea of your presentation.

5) You will also be evaluated on how you use your sources so remember to use and refer to your sources in a proper way. You need to also comment and reflect on the sources you used.

6) You cannot read from a script. Key words are OK.

7) Length of the presentation: The presentation should last at least 10 minutes or more.

Make sure you make a power point for this project.