What is PAL?

The Planning a Lesson website — PAL for short — is a lesson planning companion that’s a little like a conversation with a teaching peer—a peer who has already thought about planning engaging lessons that flow. 

The ideas and materials in this digital space stem from thoughtful questions, robust discussions and the collaborative efforts of the PAL working group.  Thus, PAL is a space to engage with the insights from front-line LBS practitioners just like you, and to garner some handy tips. 

PAL could  also be used as a place to return to for inspiration or to spark discussions around learner-centred approaches and strategies with LBS colleagues.

PAL is

• A new way to look at lesson planning 
• An opportunity to reflect on your practice
• A space for front-line insights, tips and resources

You will find a blended-learning lesson planning flow developed for and by literacy practitioners grounded in research and research-in-practice. It is kitchen tested but flexible enough that you can add your own flavour and refine the process to meet the needs of your evolving practice.

PRE-LESSON:
Anticipating challenges

• Challenges to lesson flow present themselves before the lesson even begins. Technology issues and day-to-day class logistics can impact a lesson.
• Consider the most common pre-lesson challenges that can become bottlenecks to flow and try to turn them into learning opportunities.

THE LESSON:
Planning for learning and lesson flow

• Skills are honed not only through discrete tasks, but through active learning strategies and lesson components that build upon each other for connections to be made. 
• Take a look at planning a lesson where adult learners work with digital tools and each other by way of activities that are purposefully planned.

POST-LESSON:
Taking the learning beyond the class session

• Taking the learning and newly acquired digital skills into the real world, post-lesson, is a way for adult learners to solidify their learning.
• Explore some simple ways to encourage learners to think about their digital wins and reflect on how to apply their new skills beyond the LBS classroom in a meaningful way.

Differentiated learning is an approach that offers opportunities for learners to customize a learning pathway to meet their learning needs, aspirations and preferences.

It can also empower learners to show what they know in different ways.

Learners are provided with multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn.

Flexible learning is at the heart of differentiated instruction. Instructors design activities to meet the needs and capabilities of each learner or group of learners. If learners are working in groups, they might not be in the same group for every part of the lesson.

In differentiated instruction, instructors can support learner agency, confidence and independence by:

• scaffolding instruction so that all learners experience success.
• building on learner interests and skills to increase motivation.
• providing opportunities for appropriate learner choice and independent learning.
• helping learner to build a personalized repertoire of strategies to organize information, make sense of ideas, communicate clearly, and retain and retrieve information, concepts and ideas.
• providing frequent opportunities for learners to set goals, reflect on their own learning and develop self-monitoring and self-assessment skills.

Disinformation is false information or information that distorts reality. Disinformation is intended to manipulate public opinion. Most of the time, it is transmitted through mass media or social media. There are several causes for the spread of false information and these can have serious consequences. Disinformation can affect citizens of all ages and education levels. There are ways to reduce the spread of disinformation.

We often hear questions from literacy practitioners about how to embed digital skills in literacy learning when working with learners who have emergent literacy and/or digital skills. They are looking for ways to support learners who may find it challenging to “catch up”  on digital skills independently.

We recommend an integrated, blended learning approach. We recommend the learning cycle that we use to teach other literacy skills where making meaning is the primary goal.

When we refer to foundational digital skills or computer basics, we are not talking about skills people need to learn before they engage in technology-rich learning environments and blended learning but the skills and strategies that people might need at different places in the learning cycle in order to complete communication, collaboration and creative tasks and to access resources and services.

Download this resource to reflect on a digital-skills learning cycle and find a collection of places that support learners with beginner literacy skills who want to learn more about using digital devices and connectivity for learning.

After searching over 100 resources collections and lists from Canada, the U.S., U.K. and Australia, we have developed a fully vetted collection of workbooks, modules and activities that address a range of instructional topics in our Open Educational Resources and Instructional Materials Collection.

To build the collection, Christine and Guylaine assembled a group of instructors from school boards and community groups, representing urban and rural communities across the province. Members work in program areas ranging from workforce development to academic, with diverse learner groups. They provided guidance to ensure the materials are

• Free and ad-free
• Shareable and reproducible
• Mostly modifiable for use in different formats and to change content
• Ready-to-use with instructional activities
• Accompanied by tips, ideas and strategies for educators to implement.

Take some time to explore the collection. You’re sure to find some gems that you can use right away.