An interactive video-based lesson plan to bridge performance gap in body language
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Body language, defined as nonverbal communication such as posture, mannerisms, and gestures, is critical in public speaking. In this case study, my clients, fifth-grade English teachers, observed deficient use of body languages among their students during class presentations, including inadequate eye contact, nervous mannerisms, and a lack of awareness in addressing the entire audience. Therefore, the learning problem is the fifth-grade students' inability to apply effective body language in school presentations.
To ensure my solution is effective, coherent, and relevant to our stakeholders, I followed the following p:
Performance Analysis: Analyzing body language in public speaking to understand the essential competencies underlying its effective use
Learner Analysis: Breaking down the various cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors contributing to the learners' current underperformance
Learning Target Analysis: Pinpointing learning targets needed to bridge the gap between learners' current states and the desired competencies
Learning Activity Design: Designing the learning content and activities centering around on the identified targets
Assessment Design: Integrating formative and summative assessment into the lesson plan
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Based on research on effective public speaking, the goal of a presentation is to influence the audience’s perspective or emotions through an engaging delivery of information and ideas. To master body language, a speaker must develop the following competencies:
Content Knowledge and Emotional Awareness: A thorough understanding of the content being presented, including both the informational and emotional impacts intended for the audience
Body Language Understanding: Knowledge of various types of body language and the meanings and emotional connotations they convey
Confidence and Familiarity for Application: The ability to comfortably and confidently use body language in one’s presentations to support the intended content and emotions
Through observations of student presentation recordings and interviews with teachers about their performance levels and prior knowledge, I identified four key performance gaps:
Lack of Content Familiarity: Limited understanding of the information and emotions they aim to convey
Lack of Body Language Knowledge: Insufficient knowledge of different body language cues and how they influence the audience's perception
Lack of Self-awareness: Limited understanding of their appearance and performance on stage due to difficulties in seeing themselves as their audience
Lack of Confidence: Emotional barriers such as lack of confidence and fear of making mistakes or receiving negative feedback from peers
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To bridge the gap between the desired performance and students' current skill levels, I utilized the Schwartz & Hartman Wheel, a framework categorizing 16 types of learning into four performance categories. It provides a clear structure for aligning performance outcomes with learning objectives, assessment methods, and instructional strategies.
Overall, the main target is the Skill for student to "confidently use appropriate body language to convey information, meanings, and emotions in presentations". I further broke it down into three sub-targets:
Discernment: Differentiate between various types of body language
Explanation: Understand the communicative effects of different body languages and how they relate to the intended emotions and information, and develop an awareness and familiarity with their content and performance on stage.
Attitude: Develop confidence in using body language in presentation.
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Using the Schwartz Wheel, I created focused assessments targeting each of the learning goals:
Formative assessment for Discernment -- Noticing: Assessing students' ability to identify and recognize different poses and gestures displayed by public speakers.
Formative assessment for Explanation -- Inference: Evaluating students' capability to interpret the meanings behind different gestures and connect them to their own content.
Formative explanation for Attitude -- Manner: Measuring the extent to which students exhibit confident manners in using body language
Summative explanation for Skill -- Performance: An overall evaluation of students' proficiency in applying their knowledge of appropriate body language during formal presentations
The following graphs summarize the connections between different parts of the analysis and how they contribute to effective learning activities and assessment development.
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Learning Target Identification
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Assessment Development
Integrating insights from the analysis, I developed a two-part, video-based lesson plan that integrates teacher-led group activities and individual practices. The key design principles include social-emotional learning, gamification, metacognitive theory and scaffolding, focusing on fostering active learning and collaborative meaning-making.
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The following graph illlustrates how the activities offer targeted support to address the identified learning gaps.
This project was recognized by stakeholders and learning designers for its strategic depth, engagement, and precision in meeting target objectives. It highlighted my ability to apply scientific and theory-based design principles to create effective, cohesive, and stakeholder-driven solutions.