Artifact Reflection

Title of Artifact: Schedule for 6

th
grade Greek Mythology unit
Date Completed: 5/7/14
Artifact Description: This artifact is the unit plan for the Greek Mythology for the 6
th

graders during my second placement of student teaching The plan outlines the steps and
lessons that the students !ent through in order to "uild t!o presentations a"out an
#lympian god or myth in their choice of format This unit !as "ased largely in
independent !ork !ith a touch of guidance and lectures from me and colla"orati$e !ork
amongst themsel$es !hen their myths o$erlapped
WISCONSIN TEACHING STANDARD ALIGNMENT
7 %nstructional &lanning: Teachers are a"le to plan different kinds of lessons 'The
teacher organi(es and plans systematic instruction "ased upon the kno!ledge of su")ect
matter* pupils* the community* and curriculum goals+
% created this unit and the accompanying schedule after talking !ith my
cooperating teacher and learning that the 6
th
grade students had )ust finished a Greek
history unit in Social Studies % personally en)oy the Greek myths and stories not only
from a literature point of $ie! "ut also from a theatrical one as !ell* and % !anted to
share these stories !ith them and e,pand on the historical kno!ledge that they had )ust
gained in another academic discipline
-fter reading the te,t resource that my cooperating teacher had on hand from the
times that she had taught similar units* % decided that % !anted each of the students to
choose t!o of the #lympian gods or myths* research them* and then "uild a presentation
in !hich they !ould teach the rest of the class !hat they had found % !anted to "uild the
unit in this !ay for se$eral reasons The first is the students seemed* as a !hole* to ha$e
pro"lems !ith confidence and self.assurance* and !orking on their o!n* researching*
"uilding* and presenting* !ould ena"le them to make decisions purely their o!n and then
ha$e a sense of confidence and pride* "uilding them up emotionally
/o!e$er* since % kne! that they had these pro"lems % kne! % couldn0t )ust ha$e
them pick their gods and let them go do the pro)ects % !anted to first "uild up
"ackground kno!ledge and gi$e them a sense of !hat % !as looking for "efore stepping
"ack and challenging them to make their o!n decisions Therefore* % "egan the unit !ith
the usual "ackground kno!ledge and upcoming e,pectations of the unit Since % kne!
that they had "ackground kno!ledge % lead a discussion in !hich they told me !hat they
kne! a"out the Greeks and their mythology %n this !ay % reacti$ated their kno!ledge
and then "egan leading them in the direction of e,ploring the mythos of the Greeks
deeper The ne,t day % introduced and handed out the ru"ric for the pro)ect* carefully
taking time to e,plain the $arious aspects of the pro)ects and ans!er any 1uestions they
had
-fter % !as confident that the students understood the pro)ect !ell enough that %
could mo$e on* % shifted gears and read t!o chapters from the te,t These chapters !ere
on the origins of the gods % used these chapters not only to continue to "uild on their
kno!ledge "ase "ut also to sho! the students ho! to use the te,t to dra! out information
for their upcoming presentations -s !e read the chapters % pointed out the information
that !as important and !ould "e useful to include according to the ru"ric for the pro)ect
% paired reading the chapters on the origins of #lympians and 2eus !ith a
presentation of my hand % !ent o$er much of the same information that !as included in
the te,t and some that % had researched or kne! from personal e,perience 3y doing this %
modeled not only ho! to use resources to "uild a presentation "ut also !hat a good
presentation might look like and ho! the student should present the information to the
class 4ue to the small class si(e % !as also a"le to do a couple of other presentations on
some of the other gods including 4ionysus* 4emeter* and &ersephone -long !ith these
presentations % also did a '5hat 6ot to 4o+ presentation that co$ered some of the
common mistakes !hen using &o!er&oint* and some of the mistakes that % sa! !hen
looking at their presentations -gain this modeling helped the student figure out !hat
they needed to a$oid and !hat they had to change !ithout calling out indi$idual students
or fi,ing the pro"lems one "y one
-fter all the presentations !ere o$er % asked the students !hy !e did a unit on
Greek mythology 5e discussed $arious aspects such as 'it0s re1uired+* 'it0s interesting+*
and the stories relating to literature % then lead them to the conclusion that these stories
and myths !eren0t as dead or relegated to the past as it might seem 5e continually
reference and pay homage to these stories throughout our modern day culture % ga$e
them some e,amples such as the eagle for our national sym"ol referring to 2eus0 sym"ol
of the eagle* and cupid* the Greek god of lo$e* !ho !e see e$ery year during the month
of 7e"ruary % then asked them to find either references to #lympians or their sym"ols in
the modern !orld and then !rite me a one to t!o page paper e,plaining !hat they found
and the connection "et!een the old stories and today This !ay not only do they find
$alue in the unit and the information they )ust gained "ut also !ere a"le to e,plore their
community and culture and see connections and reasons "ehind certain aspects of their
life
% then concluded the unit "y e,plaining ho! the Greek gods "ecame the 8oman
gods and the changes in the $arious names -fter this !e ended the unit and the year "y
!atching a 4isney mo$ie* Hercules, and taking notes on some of the things they
recogni(e from the presentations
W!"LATTE#ILLE SCHOOL O$ EDCATION %NOWLEDGE& S%ILL&
DIS"OSITION STATEMENT ALIGNMENT
% "elie$e that this artifact "est aligns !ith 9S1e: DESIGNS COHERENT
INSTRCTION' (The candidate* !ith appropriate student input* has the a"ility to
de$elop rele$ant* goal.directed* engaging* clear* and $aried learning acti$ities that
progress coherently and produce a unified instructional setting that reflects recent
professional research+
T)is ali*nment is appropriate +eca,se d,rin* t)e ,nit t)ere -ere m,ltiple
lessons of .aried t/pes t)at -ere desi*ned to en)ance not onl/ t)e 0no-led*e and
perspecti.e of t)e st,dents& +,t also clarif/ an/ conf,sion on t)e ,nit or
presentations' T)e st,dents -ere 0e/ in c)oosin* -)ic) specific Ol/mpian t)e/ -ere
*oin* to researc) and -)at I presentation form I needed to co.er t)e most' Most of
t)e st,dents c)oose "o-er"oint for t)eir presentations& -)ic) ca,sed me to foc,s
more on proper "o-er"oint eti1,ette& rat)er t)an iMo.ie or Gara*e2and'
Secondary -lignment
9S41c' SELECTS INSTRCTIONAL GOALS
W)at I learned a+o,t teac)in*3learnin*:
-s a teacher the most important thing a"out teaching is gi$ing students the skills that they
!ill need to succeed not only in the classroom "ut also in the !orld outside of school
Sometimes this means gi$ing them the tools they need to succeed and then stepping "ack
and letting them struggle 4espite this "eing particularly difficult for this group of
students at first* to!ards the end of the unit they "egan to make decisions on their o!n
and "ecame a "it more self.assured in general -lthough not a purely academic lesson*
"eing self.sufficient and learning that it is okay to struggle sometimes are things that %
find important and try to include in my teaching
W)at I learned a+o,t m/self as a prospecti.e teac)er:
#ne of my "iggest pro"lems as a teacher is that % don0t !ant to see my students frustrated
or upset* so sometimes !hen students are struggling* !hich happened se$eral times
during this unit* % am al!ays tempted to )ust gi$e the students the ans!er* make decisions
for them* or tell them !hat to do The more % teach the more % find the "alance "et!een
letting the students struggle !ith a challenge and kno!ing !hen to step in and help them
This !ill al!ays "e a process of learning and assessing the situation and student to kno!
)ust ho! for % should push "efore % step in