Name of School: South Charleston High School

Principal: Mr. Michael Arbogast

Teacher: Mr. Charles Hamer
Grade Level &/or Subject: 10th Grade/U.S. History
Date: 10/22/2014
Lesson Plan #3 Reflection
1.) Planning:
The most important aspect of my planning for this lesson plan was the materials we were
going to use today. Due to our last lesson not going as smooth as I wanted I decided to use arts
and crafts to help reinforce the amendments to the constitution. I settled on the students making
a graphic illustration of their assigned amendment and then they would present it to the entire
class. The graphic illustration will initiate their critical thinking skills and the presentation will
help me assess what theyve learned.
2.) Implementation:
The part of my lesson that went well was when I realized that the lesson wasnt going
well and I adjusted the lesson midway through to hopefully recover some of the time lost due to
the ineffectiveness of the beginning of the lesson. To compound the problem I also had a tempo
that was faster than Mr. Hamer which led to the students stress levels, because they were trying
to write down every word on the PowerPoint and did not realize that the discussion was the part
of the instruction that I wanted to emphasize.
3.) Clarity of Presentation:
My abilities speaking in front of a group are above average. Due to my experience of
being a leader in the military I am use to speaking in front of groups. I am use to leading in a
classroom, office environment, or on the battle field. I do at times talk a little fast which does

lose some students. The materials that I used were appropriate for the lesson. My instructions
were clear and followed very well.
4.) Attention to Individual Differences:
I planned a variety of visual, oral, and written types of instruction to engage all learners
with the lesson. I did not have any inclusion students in this classroom. Because I knew that I
did not have any students that required any special needs I did not plan special instruction for
them. I did prepare for students that finished early, the unit finished early, or if technology had
failed.
5.) Student Response:
The students and I do relate well especially during this lesson. The class had fun while
learning the amendments. Most, but not all of the students liked to draw, color, and write about
the amendment. It allowed them to express themselves and relate their amendment to their peers
by presenting their findings and drawings for their classmates.
I did not place any restrictions on collaboration between students. Some did collaborate.
Others took time to help their peers that werent as talented in drawing as some other students.
They were very respectful to me and to each other. It was a very good classroom experience
today.
6.) Planning & Implementing Higher Order Thinking Skills:
In todays classroom the higher order thinking skills are very important. My goal was to
initiate this thought process by having the students draw an amendment and present their
findings to their classmates. During the presentation they would explain the amendment in their
own words and while explaining a scenario for comparison. A lot of students used their

cellphones to research their amendment in order to fully understand their amendment in order for
them to explain it to their peers.
7.) Assessment:
During the drawing process of the lesson I walked around the classroom using diagnostic
assessment to understand their prior knowledge. At the end of the lesson I used summative
assessment by calculating the data from the pre-test and the post-tests. The findings were very
positive.
By comparing the differences of the pre-test and post-test you can see an improvement as
a class of 27%. The male students improved by 19%. The females improved their scores by
29%. I also broke the data down to view the numbers correct by each individual question on the
test. For example, I decided to analyze the questions that students answered only 5 correct or
lower. There were 10 questions that students only scored 5 or below. Because most of the
students missed those questions I might think about a way to change the wording of the question
or even spend more time on that subject regarding that question.
Analyzing data on tests can provide a great tool for the teacher to see how or what he or
she can do to improve students test scores by taking an inner look at your individual teaching
methods. If we can communicate better with our students, try, and understand why they are
missing certain questions we can do our job to the fullest extent of our abilities.
8.) Special Addition: Areas Needing Improvement:
The two areas that I worked on during this lesson are as follows:
1.) Introduction/Objectives/Goals: I took my time and fully explained the lesson in detail.
Because I took my time the lesson went really smooth. The students enjoyed this lesson and
learned a lot of amendments.

2.) Calling Student by Name: Mr. Hamer helped me with student names by providing post it
notes with students names on them. He would shuffle them like playing cards. Then he would
pick one at a time and ask that student the question. Mr. Hamer has developed this way of
calling on students without showing any preferential treatment for any student. Its purely
random, plus he gives them an opportunity to pass if they arent sure of the answer or are
embarrassed to attempt an answer.