This lesson plan walks students through the wording and meanings of the Ten Amendments. Starting off with a diagnostic assessment, I ask the students to answer the basic following questions to get them to think about the Bill of Rights and the Ten Amendments. 

• What is the Bill of Rights? What does it consist of? Which document is it part of?

• What is an amendment?

• What are examples of important rights and freedoms that Americans have because of the Bill of Rights?

This then leads into a mini-lecture from me about what the Bill of Rights and the Ten Amendments are and how to legally change them. For the formative assessment, I give two options. Students can write an opinion letter which would explain a right or freedom and why they think it is important to have that right or freedom. Alternatively, they can address some scenarios that I have provided and write in which amendment is being used or abridged and their reasoning behind their answer.  This is to ensure that students understand what rights are and how the Ten Amendments or Bill of Rights affects people's everyday life. For their summative assessment, students will be asked to give a new answer to the same questions used in the diagnostic assessment. This is for me and the students to see growth in their own knowledge and understanding of the content. 

 

What I learned:

What I learned while doing this lesson plan is that when doing diagnostic assessments, don't give them the correct answers until you have collected the original answers. When doing this diagnostic assessment I realized that the students had changed their answers to the right answers once we had gone over them. This created an assignment that only showed their ability to regurgitate information I have just told them, not assess their current level of knowledge. I think I am still unclear as to the most effective way to do a diagnostic assessment. I also don't know when it should be revisited. Whereas I feel I have a strong grasp as to what and when to use formal and summative assessments, diagnostic still puzzles me. This is something I plan on working on in my student teaching.

During my student teaching, I was tasked with teaching the Government class about Machiavelli and reading his book "The Prince." During this very long unit, I was able to assess students in various ways from worksheets, group work, stations, and class discussions. I would often ask the students feedback about the class and how they felt about different assignments. 

One specific example of the students influencing the class's decisions is when we were deciding which version to read. To ensure that all students could reference page numbers and sections in class discussions and assignments every student was given a printed out version of the book. The first text that we read was as close to the accurate translation as I could find. This was an advanced read and included some old English and many words they did not know. After a few weeks of working through the text, we as a class had an open discussion about whether to change the text or not and we discussed the importance of accurate translations and challenging ourselves with hard reading. Then discussed the benefits of having a more modern translation. We decided to go with a more modern but not simplified version to ensure the content remained the same but we were able to understand easier. 

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What I learned:

Within this unit, I was able to try out many different types of lesson plans but the one I am most proud of is a Halloween themed scavenger hunt. This lesson was so much fun! I learned that being able to try out new things was so much fun and I have fallen in love with doing stations. 

I enjoy asking the students their opinions on new assignments. This feedback goes directly into the planning of my lessons. During our independent meetings, we also check in about things that students have enjoyed and would like to do more or what has been a challenge or activities they haven't liked. This gives students some ownership over their own learning and the classroom. This is empowering to students!. 

 

I enjoy using a variety of assessment types because it makes learning fun for the students and the teacher. Also, it recognizes that people show their mastery of content best in different ways. This is why I have fallen in love with stations. In my stations activity, I am able to assess students in various ways to try and get a holistic view of the student's knowledge and growth. 

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I have been able to practice using stations with a lesson created by Miss.Lyndsay and myself for the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment class at College of the Atlantic. Students had previously read Locke and Hobbes' writings about the State of Nature. In their small groups, the students rotated through three stations. 

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Station 1: Walk and talk: What are the differenced between Locke and Hobbes?

Time to discuss with your small group and Miss.Lyndsay! We recognize that larger class discussions are not the best for everyone to talk through their thoughts and questions. Now is your opportunity to walk outside and discuss your thoughts and questions about “How is Locke different than Hobbes?” You may also talk about how they are similar. 

Station 2:Drawing the State of Nature: Now that we have had discussions, readings, and activities about Locke and Hobbe’s views of what the State of Nature is. Now it’s your turn, with images or words make a mind-map or visual representation about what your current understanding of the state of nature is. 

Station 3: T-Chart:  On the T-Chart, write down the ideas of Locke and the ideas of Hobbes and may put similar ideas in the middle.