(Lesson DESIGN)
(Final Version)
What?
In this lesson, we will review the previous class and small group discussion about different people, roles, and places in the community. We will talk about how we are members of many different types of communities- Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, University City, Powel School, and Room 102. I will let the students know that we will be focusing on Room 102, our classroom community, in this lesson. We will talk about people in our classroom community first. As a group, we will identify the members of our classroom community and talk about their roles. During the brainstorm session, students will practice identifying and describing aspects of their classroom community, including the physical aspects of the room. We will talk about different places in our classroom. After we brainstorm, I will tell the students that they will get to make their own map today. Each student will use the people and places from our brainstorming session and incorporate them into a classroom community map.
How?
We will begin our lesson by talking about what students know about communities. I feel like this is an important way to introduce the lesson because I know that the topic is familiar to them since it builds off a previous lesson with their whole class and a small group read aloud that I facilitated. I also wanted to start by assessing their prior knowledge so that the students feel like they know something about the subject to build their confidence. After our review, I will show the students a map of Philadelphia. I will zoom in to show students that within the larger Philadelphia community, there are smaller communities. I wanted to show students this because I have learned that some students are more visual learners. I noticed that some of my students were visual learners specifically during math class when some students were only able to find a solution when they drew objects to directly model the problem. My classroom mentor also tends to rely solely on giving instruction verbally. I started writing the instructions on the board with picture symbols in conjunction with her directions. After doing this, when students came to me with questions, I was able to direct them to the board with my instructions and diagrams. The students were able to help themselves by following the steps listed on the board.
After I introduce the lesson, the students will work collaboratively to identify the people, roles, and places in our classroom community. I think that it is important for students to learn how to brainstorm ideas together in a small group. I chose to compile this list in a group rather than independently, because I think that the students will benefit from hearing their classmates’ ideas. I am hoping that they will build off of each other and come up with more ideas than they would individually. I also did not want to make this into a formal pencil and paper type assessment.
When the students have compiled a list of people, roles, and places in their classroom community, each student will choose different materials to create their maps. I thought that individual work would be the best way to approach this because students may have different ideas about how to display each aspect of the classroom. I did not want students to have to compromise, so they will be given their own opportunity to depict the classroom the way that they wish. Since I am also interested in student choice, I wanted to make sure that a variety of materials are available to create the map. Although I cannot identify the source of this concept explicitly, I have written about the importance of giving students choices as many “Teacher Tips” in my notebook. We have talked about student choice in my science methods course as well as my field seminar.
I also thought that it would be important to show my students an example of what a map looks like before they start to create their own. Although my Penn mentor suggested that I use my own classroom map as a model, I do not want to show them an example of the project because I do not want students to feel like there is only one way to draw their map. For instance, I am worried that if I show them an example of a carpet made from fabric swatches, all of the students will think that they have to represent their carpet with fabric. I will provide the students with a range of examples of maps of other classrooms. By showing them a variety, I hope to give them an idea of what they will be doing without being prescriptive.
Why?
My classroom mentor told me that the first grade students at our school are expected to learn about communities in social studies. Although there are no Common Core State Standards for first grade social studies, I was able to find the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and Geography. The standards talk about ensuring that students are able to recognize people and physical characteristics of communities. Through this lesson, students will learn that communities can come in different sizes and types. This lesson is also intended to help students recognize that they fit within many different communities. Specifically, they will be able to see that they are a part of larger communities that encompass many other people and places.
I chose to include very little teacher-led instruction because I believe that students should be the ones creating their own experiences with minimal guidance from a teacher. I will introduce and facilitate the discussion about prior knowledge about communities and show them images that represent communities, but I will encourage the students to provide the bulk of the information about people, roles, and places in our classroom community. Since I am not sure how familiar the students are with maps and creating their own maps, I thought that it would be important to scaffold the activity by asking the students to work together to identify what they will include on their maps before creating the maps. This way, the students will not be expected to both come up with the parts of the map and represent them without guidance. I also will show them examples of classroom maps that others have created.
I wanted to include the creation of a classroom map because I feel like the students in my classroom are very creative, but they are rarely given an opportunity to express this creativity. I have seen students take advantage of unintentional opportunities for creative expression such as illustrating math word problems and illustrating their personal narrative writing with elaborate pictures. Therefore, I wanted to give students an intentional outlet for their creativity as well as an introduction to maps. Additionally, my classroom mentor told me that the students would also be learning about maps soon. I also saw that there was a compass drawn on their whiteboard, which suggests that my classroom mentor was talking about maps or direction.
In this lesson, we will review the previous class and small group discussion about different people, roles, and places in the community. We will talk about how we are members of many different types of communities- Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, University City, Powel School, and Room 102. I will let the students know that we will be focusing on Room 102, our classroom community, in this lesson. We will talk about people in our classroom community first. As a group, we will identify the members of our classroom community and talk about their roles. During the brainstorm session, students will practice identifying and describing aspects of their classroom community, including the physical aspects of the room. We will talk about different places in our classroom. After we brainstorm, I will tell the students that they will get to make their own map today. Each student will use the people and places from our brainstorming session and incorporate them into a classroom community map.
How?
We will begin our lesson by talking about what students know about communities. I feel like this is an important way to introduce the lesson because I know that the topic is familiar to them since it builds off a previous lesson with their whole class and a small group read aloud that I facilitated. I also wanted to start by assessing their prior knowledge so that the students feel like they know something about the subject to build their confidence. After our review, I will show the students a map of Philadelphia. I will zoom in to show students that within the larger Philadelphia community, there are smaller communities. I wanted to show students this because I have learned that some students are more visual learners. I noticed that some of my students were visual learners specifically during math class when some students were only able to find a solution when they drew objects to directly model the problem. My classroom mentor also tends to rely solely on giving instruction verbally. I started writing the instructions on the board with picture symbols in conjunction with her directions. After doing this, when students came to me with questions, I was able to direct them to the board with my instructions and diagrams. The students were able to help themselves by following the steps listed on the board.
After I introduce the lesson, the students will work collaboratively to identify the people, roles, and places in our classroom community. I think that it is important for students to learn how to brainstorm ideas together in a small group. I chose to compile this list in a group rather than independently, because I think that the students will benefit from hearing their classmates’ ideas. I am hoping that they will build off of each other and come up with more ideas than they would individually. I also did not want to make this into a formal pencil and paper type assessment.
When the students have compiled a list of people, roles, and places in their classroom community, each student will choose different materials to create their maps. I thought that individual work would be the best way to approach this because students may have different ideas about how to display each aspect of the classroom. I did not want students to have to compromise, so they will be given their own opportunity to depict the classroom the way that they wish. Since I am also interested in student choice, I wanted to make sure that a variety of materials are available to create the map. Although I cannot identify the source of this concept explicitly, I have written about the importance of giving students choices as many “Teacher Tips” in my notebook. We have talked about student choice in my science methods course as well as my field seminar.
I also thought that it would be important to show my students an example of what a map looks like before they start to create their own. Although my Penn mentor suggested that I use my own classroom map as a model, I do not want to show them an example of the project because I do not want students to feel like there is only one way to draw their map. For instance, I am worried that if I show them an example of a carpet made from fabric swatches, all of the students will think that they have to represent their carpet with fabric. I will provide the students with a range of examples of maps of other classrooms. By showing them a variety, I hope to give them an idea of what they will be doing without being prescriptive.
Why?
My classroom mentor told me that the first grade students at our school are expected to learn about communities in social studies. Although there are no Common Core State Standards for first grade social studies, I was able to find the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and Geography. The standards talk about ensuring that students are able to recognize people and physical characteristics of communities. Through this lesson, students will learn that communities can come in different sizes and types. This lesson is also intended to help students recognize that they fit within many different communities. Specifically, they will be able to see that they are a part of larger communities that encompass many other people and places.
I chose to include very little teacher-led instruction because I believe that students should be the ones creating their own experiences with minimal guidance from a teacher. I will introduce and facilitate the discussion about prior knowledge about communities and show them images that represent communities, but I will encourage the students to provide the bulk of the information about people, roles, and places in our classroom community. Since I am not sure how familiar the students are with maps and creating their own maps, I thought that it would be important to scaffold the activity by asking the students to work together to identify what they will include on their maps before creating the maps. This way, the students will not be expected to both come up with the parts of the map and represent them without guidance. I also will show them examples of classroom maps that others have created.
I wanted to include the creation of a classroom map because I feel like the students in my classroom are very creative, but they are rarely given an opportunity to express this creativity. I have seen students take advantage of unintentional opportunities for creative expression such as illustrating math word problems and illustrating their personal narrative writing with elaborate pictures. Therefore, I wanted to give students an intentional outlet for their creativity as well as an introduction to maps. Additionally, my classroom mentor told me that the students would also be learning about maps soon. I also saw that there was a compass drawn on their whiteboard, which suggests that my classroom mentor was talking about maps or direction.
Term III Social Studies Lesson | |
File Size: | 84 kb |
File Type: | docx |