Economics Lesson Reflection

    In this lesson, fourth graders at Agnes B. Hennessey Elementary School participated in a lesson about economics. This was lesson four of six in ELED 436's Interdisciplinary Unit, co-taught and planned by another TC and myself. While planning this lesson, my partner and I continue to develop our collaboration and communication skills as we pass ideas back and forth and work together to create and execute a new lesson each week. Evidence of this is shown each week through the materials that are created, printed, and laminated each week by both TCs.

    In this lesson, the students did well with staying on topic and remaining engaged with the lesson. They were respectful when working with their elbow partner and participated in the lesson by raising their hands to ask and answer questions. To meet the social-emotional needs of one of our students, my partner continued to sit next to her during the lesson and be a buddy. This is beneficial for the student as there is an improvement in their engagement and willingness to participate throughout the lesson. One in-the-moment instructional decision we made was to move our brain break to the carpet area. Instead of having the students complete their movement break at the table, where there was limited space for free movement, our professor suggested we move to the rug. Students were able to move their bodies freely and fully enjoy the movement break.

    An area of weakness during this lesson was our role-play activity. The activity was fun, and the students seemed engaged. From an educator's perspective, the activity could use fine-tuning. To make this role-play activity more hands-on, I would have the following for the future: printed cue cards and game pieces to symbolize things in the activity. My partner and I had tokens and digital cue cards, which were okay for a small group, but not ideal for larger groups. The activity did help to facilitate a meaningful discussion about town economy, taxes, and making decisions for and as a community.

The objectives for this lesson:

• By the end of the lesson, students will be able to compare and contrast the goods and services available in the country/state now (current times) and long ago (historical context) using the primary source from the Library of Congress.

Above are photos of student work that meets the standard, and work that is developing the standard. Our students were able to understand how the price of goods and services has changed. A few of our students also pointed out how the fashion is different between the past and the future. To help students fully develop the standard, it would be beneficial for them to analyze more primary sources of goods and services from the past. Sources such as newspaper clippings or advertisements from long ago and now would further develop student understanding of how goods and services have changed over time. 

• By the end of the lesson, students will be able to differentiate between human, natural, and capital resources, and concepts of surplus, subsistence, and scarcity

All students were able to accurately complete the worksheet pictured above: "Identifying Natural, Human, and Capital Resources." To help them continue to develop their vocabulary skills, a fill-in-the-blank worksheet would aid them in knowing how to apply the words to a sentence. 

    This experience has helped me learn ways to support students with diverse learning needs. Supporting a student happens before the lesson occurs, beginning during the lesson planning. This experience has developed my thinking process when it comes to considering student abilities and accommodations that can be potentially helpful during a lesson. For example, incorporating hands-on materials to boost student engagement, movement breaks, using visuals to help students understand complex topics, and having sentence starters ready for student use to alleviate writing pressure.

      My professional identity continues to grow as I work on my lesson timing and punctuality. It is always a work in progress to find balance between classes, practicum, and work, while still showing up authentically. This experience has emphasized the importance of reflection after planning and teaching each lesson. In completing an in-depth reflection for each lesson taught, we are required to consider ways we can improve for next time, and find concrete ways/examples of how we plan to improve.