My Social Studies Lesson Reflection

Hi everyone! Last week I implemented my first lesson in my clinical classroom. We did an activity on global trade and created a web using yarn to represent how global trade connects the different communities/countries around the world. Here is my reflection on the lesson!!

Upon reflecting on my lesson, I felt as though it was strong and went well with the first class. However, I did not feel that way with the second time I did it with my class. With the first class, the activity flowed nicely and we were able to make a deeper connection with what the students have previously learned. The students were able to create a visual representation and describe how the world is connected through global trade without much problem. With my class, when Kira was there, I felt as though the activity was a disaster. We were to create a web to represent global trade and many of the students were pulling at the yarn or letting go of their piece. By the end of the lesson I did not feel as confident that the students met my objectives for this lesson.

            I personally thought that the hook that I used grabbed their attention. Once I showed them the yarn and asked them what they though we were going to do with it, many of the students had some great ideas and some were even correct about what we were going to be creating. After I hooked the students’ attention, I was able to link the lesson to prior knowledge of what they have done the week before as well as the days leading up to my lesson. Looking back at my implementation, I wish I had made more connections to what they had been learning about global trade the days leading up to my lesson.

            While presenting the students with the new information that I was really explicitly teaching, I went very fast. I should have slowed down a little more and added more information to the matter. I am glad that I added pictures that represent global trade into my explicit instruction. I hade two small pictures that I presented to the class; if I were to do this lesson again, I would either enlarge the pictures or provide multiple copies.  After I showed the students the pictures I had them turn to a partner to talk about what they thought they represent. While they were talking with a partner, I was very pleased with what the discussions I was hearing going on, although I did find it hard to really be able to listen to multiple. I know that as I become more experienced I will be able to listen to multiple students at once. I am pleased with the way I was able to use attention getters to gain back the students’ focus. I used an attention getter that the class was already familiar with and they responded very well to it.

            While reflecting on my chosen assessment strategies I had planned to use during my lesson, I found that they are also something that I am going to need practice using. I had originally planned to use a checklist during my lesson but while I was implementing it I felt rushed, which I did rush, and unable to even think of the students name quickly.  

            I felt that my informal assessments throughout the lesson were very helpful and very strong; I was asking the students to raise their hand if they agreed with another student’s answer as well as checking to see if the students were turning appropriate cards over and using the correct words and prompt. It was very easy to see the students understanding of buying a good from another community and selling of their communities good through the use of the cards. In the future, I would have the students explain why they are doing what they are a little more. The active application took longer than I expected. If I were to do this lesson again with the same amount of time, I would only give the students 1 trade card. This would help with the struggle I had to keep things moving during the activity as well as students trying to buy another item/good when they had already bought one. I am glad that I provided the students with a prompt that said “My community produces _________, who would like to buy my community’s item?” I felt as though this prompt helped me to see and identify the students where were struggling with the activity and their understanding of global trade.

            Another formative assessment that included was through the use of the yarn/web. This web helped me to know that the students were able to work together to create a web that would represent global trade. After the activity, I asked the students several questions related to the activity. With my class, I felt rushed during this part because I felt as though I was loosing the students’ attention and focus. I should have paused and gotten control over the students again before moving on with the questioning. I realized throughout this lesson that time is something that is very hard to manage.

            In the future, I will definitely consider adding more guidelines for the yarn use and provide more practice and examples ahead of time. I will also think of more ways in which the activity could go wrong and strategies I can use to fix those problems. I now know that in lessons to come I need to really add more into my explicit instruction because that is really where the teaching of the content takes place. Throughout the implementation of my lesson with my class I was losing energy and did get a little frustrated with the way things were flowing. In the future I need maintain a high energy level and examine what it is that is making the activity or lesson get a little bumpy and fix the problem right then.  This lesson implementation helped me better understand my students and also gave me insight to how I should plan future lessons for this class. 

Thanks for reading!! :)

Social Studies in 3rd Grade

What have you noticed about social studies instruction and assessment in your setting?

• When does it take place? Does it take place? Think critically.
• What does it encompass?
• During social studies instruction, what does your CT do/ say?
• What do students do/ say? How do they respond?
• What are your opinions/ feelings about this?
• How does what you observe about social studies at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or social studies practices you have been learning about at ISU?
• How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing social studies (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)?

In the 3^rd grade classroom at Oakland Elementary that I am placed my CT teaches two classes social studies. At 1:30 my class goes over to the other 3^rd grade classroom for science while the other comes in for social studies. At 2:00, the classes switch back to their homeroom for the other subject. It is definitely interesting to see the differences of the two classes during social studies instruction. The lessons are scheduled to last 30 minutes. Since I have started clinical, I have really only had the opportunity so see social studies instruction once because of my CT being gone one week, ISAT preparation, and ISAT testing.

The one lesson that I had the opportunity to see was about activists.  To introduce the lesson, my CT talked with the class about the different activist. While talking about each individual in history when a student would raise their hand, she would allow them to talk or make a comment because typically the students had questions or either additional information about the activist. Even if the students were wrong or not too sure about the information, my CT did not shut them down instead she would say things like “oh wow, I did not know that”. She would also thank them for their information or ask them questions about the information they were presenting. I liked that she also took those opportunities as a learning experience for herself.

Once she was done giving the students instructions, she gave the students the option to choose which activist they wanted to study and thank the students who changed groups because there were either too many people in a group or not enough. Once the class was split into groups and assigned an activist to study. Within their groups they were to discuss which job each person was going to have whether it be the leader, sculptor, recorder, or reader. The students were to read about their activist, present information to the rest of the class, and create a sculptor based off of information they learned to represent their activist.  I was unable to see the students present the information, but I think that it would have been interesting to see.

 I personally love the way my teacher provides the students with an active learning experience rather than just direct instruction. During read aloud time, I had the opportunity to read a story about an activist to the class. When I had finished reading the book to the class, my CT keeps the books on display in the classroom for the students to be able to look at and also provides them with additional books regarding the same topic. My CT does a good job with incorporating and cross-cutting content across the subjects. Cross-cutting content is something that I have been learning about at ISU.  

In my future classroom, I want to be sure to also incorporate social studies throughout the day an integrate it into other subjects as well. I also want to provide the students with hands on activities during my social studies lessons. Today, March 19, I am actually teaching my social studies lesson to the students about global trade and the affect it has on our community. Although I am nervous to teach it and about how it will go, I am excited to be doing an activity that will provide the students with an active role in their learning as well as creating a visual representation of the content being learning.

Here is a link that provides you with a video of the activity I will be performing with the students.

Click on 9. How Does Global Trade Affect Our Community?

Enjoy!!