This lesson plan was a last-minute addition to my Bill of Rights unit. I was doing my second class of this unit when students started asking me questions about search and seizer that I had no way to answer at all. One answer, I later found out was wrong, and I corrected myself after I felt nervous and disappointed by the end of the class period. I felt that their questions were good and should be answered. That is when I remembered recently reading an article about their new resource officer. I approached my host teacher with this idea and she was excited about it, stating that "Officer Tim loves to come and talk with kids! He would be happy to!" She then got in contact with him, we got together and talked about the questions and topics the students wanted to talk about and he led the class like a pro.

 

Despite my role being a  facilitator of questions not actually teaching the students during that class period, I felt this was a great teaching moment for me, and it also helped me grow as a person. I am a very well planned out and structured person and to be flexible in my lesson plans for the benefit of my students was a hard but extremely rewarding experience. 

 

 

What I learned:

When I decided to change my lesson plan, I learned it was okay to let go of my plans. I also learned that it is okay to reach out for help and expertise when you're not sure how to answer something. Lastly, and most importantly, I learned that it is good to admit when you don't know something. When the students asked me questions I felt I didn't confidently know the answers or had not thought of myself I felt as if I had let them down because I did not know, but I was wrong. It opened up an opportunity for the students and me to learn something together. It also allowed the students to have a positive experience with their new resource officer where they could ask questions. I am very happy I decided to trust my gut and change my lesson plan to bring in the resource officer. However, I have been cautioned by a mentor that if I invite too many community members into my classroom it may seem like only the experts can hold the information, not everyday people.  

During my student teaching, I was creating weekly lesson plans from week three to the very last week. I was creating lesson plans for every five separate classes. Every Sunday my lessons for the week were due. By Wednesday, the lessons would look very different. Dates would shift, plans would change, and everything takes longer than expected. 

One example of this is with my freshman Geography class.

 

My time with this class was the shortest and therefore it was harder to get a feel of how they best engaged with the content. Geography is my weak side, I was hesistent to be creative with these lessons because my knowledge of the content was limited. However, I ended up taking the risk in this last unit and prepared it to teach them using various modes of learning and assessment (auditory, visual, written, verbal, etc.) .

 

One lesson in this unit involved learning about the Rwanda Genocide. This was an important lesson for me because it made a large impact on me when I learned it in high school. We watched the movie "Hotel Rwanda" which was the same movie that moved me to tears years ago. Teaching students about the Rwandan genocide is impactful because it teaches them that the Holocaust was not the only genocide. It also shows the students that we can't shy away from the "scary" or uncomfortable parts of history. We have to take on these "scary" parts of history head on. If we shy from our mistakes in history, we risk repeating them.  

 

I got the movie ready and I handed out a worksheet for them to complete as they watched. The movie started and the students asked for subtitles because some of the actors were "hard to understand." Some students broke into side conversations with their peers trying to catch the information, other students were so deeply engaged in the movie that they forgot about the paper. At the end of the first class, I collected the sheets from the students and made the decision to grade them as participation grades. I got ride of these worksheets for the second half of the film.

 

I made this choice because the students who were not engaging with the worksheet tended to be the students having emotional reactions to the movie and I overhear talking about the movie at the end of the period. This to me is more impactful than giving them busy work to ensure that they are paying attention. I supplemented the worksheet with entry and exit questions and a few questions about the movie on their quiz. I found this to be a fair compromise. I was reassured that they were learning, and my students were able to connect with the film on a deeper level.

 

What I learned:

I learned that sometimes it is okay to ask students to watch a film and trust that they are watching it. I believe this to be especially true for emotional films such as this one. This emotional connection is vital to the overall message and lesson of the film. 

A lesson I learned from working on this standard is that every activity has a time and a place. There is no lesson that is perfect for all situations and it is important to recognize when something is not working or when a technique doesn't fit. Therefore I want to commit myself to be reflecting on my lesson plans and unit trajectory during the lesson and after. 

 

It is important to be aware of if your lesson, technique, or unit is supporting every student in meeting their learning goals.  I want to make sure that my units and lesson plans include prior knowledge, experiences, and interests. In order to do that I have to be consistently self-reflecting and asking myself, "Am I doing what is best for the students?"

 

Lastly, I would like to mention that a large part of what allows me to adapt to my student's needs to ensure learning, I need to have a hefty toolbelt of ideas, skills, techniques, etc. that I can turn to when it's time for a change. I have many things that I have learned through my COA classes but I won't be in COA for long, so I need other resources to spark some lesson plan imagination. The button below brings you to my Teacher Board on my Pinterest.  I have gotten many ideas from other educators on Pinterest as well as the Teachers Pay Teachers website.