New Lesson
Technique
Assignment 7
There are a
few methods that I would like to use more often in my classroom. The activity that I chose combines
cooperative learning, role playing, and a project and report. These are all methods that I have not
experimented with as much as I would like to.
The fourth grade Social Studies book that we use has a very difficult
reading level and does not include any Tennessee History. Each year we have struggled to pull in
Tennessee History along with the material covered in the book. The following activity seems as if it would be
a great way to include famous Tennesseans into our Social Studies lessons. I think this lesson would successfully
introduce the famous Tennesseans along with teaching children how to work
together and how to research and present material.
Famous Tennesseans
§
Instructional Objective:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of significant
§
Lesson Objective:
Students, as partners, will be able to discuss famous Tennesseans
through question and answer interviews.
§
Materials:
o
List
of famous
o
Research
materials (
§
Set Up:
o
Assign
students a partner to work with (it will help to go ahead and identify the
person in each pair that will ask the questions and the one who will answer).
o
Assign
each pair the person or event that they will be researching.(One person or
event per each pair of students)
§
Procedures:
o
Students
are in pairs with the name of a person or an event to research.
o
The
pair reads about the famous Tennessean to discover facts to formulate questions
and answers that will be used in their presentation.
o
Partners
or teacher decides who will be the famous person and who will be the
interviewer.
o
Each
pair writes and answers 5-10 “interview type” questions that will allow the
pair to share information about the famous person with the class.
o
Pairs
prepare for and practice the interview.
Options: Use a
microphone as a prop. Students could
create and wear clothing that represents that person or event. Pairs could play or sing music that
represents something about the person.
o
Each
pair performs the interview for the class.
The class could create an
interview area with a table and chairs and the microphone in the front of the
room.
o
Audience
members record important information garnered from the interview. May
also give the audience a chance to ask questions at the end of the interview.
§
Assessment:
o
Observation
o
Collect
each pair’s questions and answers (divide the writing equally between partners
prior to research)
o
Collect
the students’ records of important information from each of the interviews.
Roles:
The teacher’s
role is only as a mediator and director in this lesson, which allows the
students to do their own research and preparations. The students’ roles are to research and
prepare for the interview working as a team with their partners.
Preparations:
The teacher
will have limited preparations that will include:
ü
Preparing
the list of famous people and events
ü
Assigning
the pairs of students that will work well together
ü
Preparing
the research materials
Pitfalls:
The main
pitfall is the noise level that seems to come along with cooperative
learning. Another that may occur would
be that one person of the group may let the other student do most of the
work. One way to try to avoid this is to
divide the writing between the two students.
The teacher should also be monitoring the research to make sure this is
not the case. Another pitfall may be for
the special education students. You may
put them in with another pair or already have the questions that they need to
answer ahead of time.
Conclusion:
I really
feel that this lesson will be a good, fun learning experience for the
students. This also incorporates a lot
of