Lesson Plan #1 Reflection

Teacher Candidate: Caitlin Teetor

School: Stonewall Jackson Middle School
Principal: Jessica Austin
Teacher: Sonja Davison
Grade and/of Content: 6th Grade Social Studies
Date: October 27, 2014
PLANNING
The most helpful part of my planning was having a set procedure for
the students to follow. After watching Channel One News and then
introducing the material, students were to get into groups and then work on
the assignment. This helped me to be organized as I presented the
information to the students. Being my first lesson, nerves set in, and having
a clear plan of what I was to do was helpful in relieving some of the
nervousness. In planning my lesson I tried to think of an introduction to the
assignment that promoted critical thinking and activated prior knowledge.
The lesson was on the involvement of totalitarian governments in the start of
World War II. I wanted to see what students remembered from World War II
and if they were able to make connections between the two wars.
I would definitely change the size of the activity. Students were not
able to finish on the day that I assigned the activity. My cooperating teacher
ended up having to give students ten minutes on the next day so that
students could finish the assignment. Cutting down the size of the
assignment may be more productive so that all students have the ability to
finish. Another aspect that I would change about my lesson would be figuring
out what to do about students that were absent on the day that the
assignment was given. Since I was going to give the students a grade on the
assignment, I needed to figure out what the absent students were to do. For

future lesson plans, I will definitely have a back-up plan for students that are
absent.
The WV CSOs directly fit into my lesson plan. The first listed CSOs in
my lesson plan states that students will summarize the rise of totalitarian
governments in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union. My entire
lesson plan focused on the topic of totalitarian governments and their
influence on the start of World War II.
IMPLEMENTATION
The introduction of my lesson went well. Presenting the instructions for
the assignment though did not go as well. Students were confused and I had
to go back and clarify what I wanted them to do with the assignment. My
organization of how I presented the instructions definitely needs to be
revised for future lessons. My objectives, strategies, and assessments I felt
were all appropriate for a sixth grade level. Students were allowed to use
their textbooks, which are definitely on a sixth grade level. Students had to
critically think about the answers for the questions, but all content could be
found in their textbooks. Each of my objectives directly fit with the
assignment and with the WV CSOs.
Timing was an issue with this lesson. The assignment seemed to be too
large for the time limit. For future lessons, I would look more closely at the
timing of how long each activity could take for the students to complete. As
far as the procedure of my lesson is concerned, I would not change the
sequence. Every day students are to complete sponges first thing. I had to
introduce the topic and then came the assignment, so I would definitely not
change the procedure of the lesson. Passing out the papers to the students

did not take really any time at all, so I feel that aspect of time management
went well.
For future lessons, I would change how the students are grouped
together. Next time I think that placing students into groups rather than
letting them choosing groups will be better. I believe that some of the time
management problems were due to the fact that some students distracted
one another and caused a delay in the completion of the assignment. Due to
the fact that students were working right up until end of class, I was not able
to have a proper closure to class. For future classes, closing the class will be
my focus. Throughout class time, I moved around the room and answered
students questions. I was not stationed in one part of the room for the entire
class time. I think that the pace of lesson was steady, but not too fast for the
students. The majority of the class the students worked on their own in
groups at their own pace.
CLARITY OF PRESENTATION
My voice was loud, but not booming, for all students to hear. I used
Standard English throughout the lesson and tried to keep a louder volume
with my voice when addressing the class and a more toned down volume
when addressing individual students. For future lessons, I will definitely need
to work on speaking to the class. For my first time teaching a lesson, I
believe my voice to be consistently effective. I referred to the class as
guys. This might be a name that needs to be avoided in the future. I may
have talked too fast at first as a sign of being nervous, but I became more
confident as the lesson went on. I did have to go back and clarify parts of the

lesson. Having to clarify some aspects of the lesson though did not distract
the overall atmosphere of the classroom.
ATTENTION TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
When planning my lesson, I tried to make sure that all students were
able to learn effectively. I presented the instructions in a visual (on the
SMART board) and in spoken manner (for auditory learners). Students that
learn best by doing hands-on projects were able to fill out the paper handout
and work with the material themselves. For the three hearing impaired
students, I used the microphone when addressing the students. I also put
subtitles on the Channel One News video and the instructions were on the
board so that they could have a visual representation of what I wanted the
class to do. These adjustments made for the three hearing impaired students
were listed in my lesson plan. As with adjustments made for different types
of learners, I also made sure to include in my lesson plan an activity for
students that finished early.
FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS AND STUDENT RESPONSE
The students seemed to respond fairly well to my lesson. In my
introduction, some students remembered what had happened with the Treaty
of Versailles, whiles others did not remember what had happened at all.
Some students paid attention while others had difficulty paying attention to
my instruction. If students did not response to any question that I asked, I
would ask another similar question to see if it would gain a response. The
students worked together on the entire assignment. For the most part, many
of the groups worked well together. The only problem that occurred was that

the students distracted each other. All students had the ability to answer
questions in the introduction, but many chose not to say anything.
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS
The assignment allowed students to use their books, but they also had
to think about what they were putting down for some of the answers. This
area is where I think that I need to improve most with my lesson plans.
Students were able to critically think about some of the answers, but there is
also room for additional higher order thinking skills in the classroom.
Students could not necessarily add their own experiences to this assignment
and they had very little consideration of ethical implications. This assignment
did not have a student focus on technology. While technology was used, the
students were not the ones directly using it.
ASSESSMENT- MEASURE STUDENT LEARNING
Diagnostic evaluation was completed during my introduction when
asking students what they remembered happened at the end of World War I.
Formative assessment was completed by walking around the classroom,
correcting student behavior, and making sure that students stayed on task.
Summative assessment was to be completed at the end of the lesson, but
the students ended up taking longer on the assignment than I had previous
anticipated. Assessment is another area where I need to improve in my
future lesson plans. I am not sure whether or not students truly mastered the
material. The students did receive my feedback on the assignment. I do not
believe that all students learned what I wanted them to learn. Some students
did not follow instructions on the assignment and did not complete the sheet
properly. I

I have learned that I need to improve on my assessment within my

lesson in order to be an effective teacher. Assessment is an important part of
a lesson as it tests the student to see what they have learned. By not having
better assessment within my lesson, the students may not truly master the
information.