Civics Lesson Reflection

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2. The third lesson my partner and I taught at Agnes B. Hennessey Elementary School was a civics-based social studies lesson. From our unit question of, "How do people, places, and environments of where we live influence how we live?" this lesson was to address how people can influence how we live. The goal was to have students feel empowered by their civic agency and have a better understanding of how they can impact their community. Additionally, we wanted students to grasp how the government impacts people's lives.
   
   
   
   
3. In our instruction, we prioritize student needs by taking our time to answer questions and explain further when needed. At times, this affects how long an activity can take. To adapt our instruction, my partner and I will often make the decision to swap certain activities in the lesson. For example, in this lesson, we had to skip our art activity and OREO writing in order to stay on time and complete our brain break and EXIT ticket. Our students respond well to the EXIT ticket format of answering a prompt with a drawing and two sentence caption. We chose to cut the OREO writing activity from our lesson, as in the past, students have been reluctant to write, and we knew they would not be able to put their best foot forward if they were rushed for time.
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   During our lessons, I have noticed that I struggle with introducing the lesson vocabulary. My partner creates colorful vocabulary cards that include a definition and an image, and I laminate them for student use. I'd like to work on my language when introducing new vocabulary terms and also incorporating the words/definitions more seamlessly into the lesson. One way to improve this is to create a short activity for students to complete, such as a matching activity. It would be more impactful for students to have the opportunity to show their understanding and apply the new vocabulary words.
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The objectives of this lesson were as follows:

1) By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify and describe the function of the three branches of government by completing a sorting activity. 

2) Following a read-aloud of the story, “What Can a Citizen Do?” students will be able to describe the rights and responsibilities of a citizen during verbal discussion and completing a short arts activity.

All four students in our group met the first objective. Each student was able to use the anchor chart provided to complete this sorting activity. Once this activity was completed, we answered our guiding questions in a group discussion.

                                                 

We transitioned to our next activity by reading the story, "What Can A Citizen Do?" by Dave Eggers. We engaged students in the story by asking them questions about what was happening in the illustrations. Due to timing, students did not complete the summative activity for this objective. Instead, they completed an EXIT ticket and answered how they can be a good citizen within their school.

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3. My partner and I are aware that we must work on our lesson timing so that students may complete their OREO writing summative activity. To ensure students have enough time to complete it, we will have to begin the activity with about 45 minutes left in the lesson.
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1. As I continue to learn and grow in the area of teaching social studies, one of my biggest takeaways has been using the Library of Congress website for primary sources and teaching materials. Students really enjoy interacting with primary sources and it allows them to be curious.
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1. My professional identity continues to develop as I practice working with students and begin to anticipate their academic needs and take those into consideration when lesson planning. For example, my partner and I have a student in our group who benefits from 1on1. Knowing this, we plan for one of us to be their "buddy" each lesson.
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