Running head: MINI LESSON

PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools

Mini Lessons
Session 6:1 Assignment
Amber Barlow
Dr. Miller
October 18, 2015

MINI LESSON

Name of Activity: Ancient Greece Goose Chase

Class/Grade Level: 10th Grade World History
Formation: Students go out on campus and do a scavenger hunt on Ancient Greece
Equipment: Smartphone/tablet and the Goose Chase app
Rules/Directions: The students will get in groups of four to five, only one member needs a
phone or a tablet with the Goose Chase app. Download the app and join the Ancient Greece
scavenger hunt. Each student will wear a lanyard pass. Once chosen a team, the teacher will
take team pictures on the school tablet. Each team will earn points in the app by finding certain
Ancient Greece items such as something that represents democracy or the theatre masks on
campus. They will take a picture of everything they find and post it on the app for points, there
are options for them to act out certain events such as the Peloponnesian War. Administration and
all staff was notified beforehand and if they did not wish to participate they hung a sign on their
door. Students are informed to not bother them. Students are still to be quiet when hunting and
to return to class ten minutes before class ends.

Teacher participates in one group and makes sure students are on task.

Safety/Management:

The team photos lets the teacher know which group had which students so if a group

came back without someone we will know.

Most of the events that needed to be acted out only need 2-3 students so they are

instructed if they cannot do something to not do so.

If a student cannot be mobile period they can stay behind and work on other classwork or
help groups when they need to research things in the classroom.

Modifications:

MINI LESSON

For students with cognitive disabilities:

All instructions are written on the board.

They will have group members who can be support and the activity is primarily them

acting out certain events like Olympics.

If needed, they can stay behind and work on other classwork or help groups when they
need to research things in the classroom.

For students with physical disabilities:

Most of the events that needed to be acted out only need 2-3 students so they are

instructed if they cannot do something to not do so.

If a student cannot be mobile period they can stay behind and work on other classwork or
help groups when they need to research things in the classroom.

MINI LESSON

4
Reflection

This lesson and activity went really well. The students were really excited and involved
in the activity and got really competitive to win. Nearly all of the students participated in the
activity, maybe one or two groups out of 5 classes did not participate. They still walked around
campus which kept them active but they did not participate in learning about Ancient Greece.
The students were respectful of teachers requesting no students disturb their class during the
Goose Chase. The safety precautions were successful and no student was injured. Overall the
students are excited to do this again.
The mentor teacher modified this lesson by having students behind in classwork not
participate and work on missing assignments. In the future the intern teacher will prepare the
students for this activity so they can have make up work turned in and all students can
participate. The students did not get in trouble or hurt but next time stricter rules will be in place
on where they can go because it felt a little out of control without knowing where they all were.
One of the groups the intern teacher tagged along with kept whipping each other with their
lanyards so they were told to stop or that they would have to go back. Later on feedback was
sought from the mentor teacher and she gave some insight on student behavior. She said to
make a choice and to expect some mischief with teenagers but if they still participated that you
would have to pick your battles. The teachers participated in the activity with the students so the
students felt more obliged to stay on task and it did not feel like busy work while the teacher did
other work.
The students were sent out on campus after their team photo was taken, but taking the
team photo was hard to organize. After they were dismissed to leave they were told multiple
times to line up and were not able to leave until their photo was taken. Five minutes was burned

MINI LESSON

instructing them to choose their teams, line up, and take their photo. The mentor teacher let them
choose their own teams but next time it would be more time efficient to assign teams beforehand.
That way no time is wasted picking teams or taking photos since there is a list of which groups
the students were in. With that all students start at the same time.
Positive praise was included at the end of the class where we viewed the pictures of the
students and complimented them on what they did. The winning team with the most points won
extra credit.

MINI LESSON

Name of Activity: Hindu Meditation on Weight Management/Stress Relief

Class/Grade Level: 10th Grade World History
Formation: Students sit at their desk or on the cushions and listen to a meditation tape
Equipment: Weight management tape, tape player, cushions
Rules/Directions: This is a health lesson on weight management using the Hindu practice of
meditation when the class covers world religions. The teacher will teach the students how
meditation can be used for many ways including stress relief. In order for students to enjoy the
whole tape which is about 22 minutes long they were prepared the day before on being in their
seats and being ready for class to begin when the bell rings. The students will listen to the tape
and be quiet and respectful.
Safety/Management:

The students are given plenty of time to finish the meditation tape so they dont stop

halfway through and feel groggy.

The students have a choice to relax on the cushions during the tape.

Modifications:
For students with cognitive disabilities:

All instructions are written on the board.

For students with physical disabilities:

The students can stay in their chairs or wheelchairs, moving to a cushion is not
mandatory.

Reflection

MINI LESSON

The lesson went well, the students at first were giggling and not taking the tape seriously
but after a few minutes they all settled down and paid attention to the tape. The majority of the
students took it seriously and claimed they felt it worked and felt less stressed. Students claiming
it worked and having them learn Hindu practices hands on was the best part of the lesson.
This type of activity is primarily covert active participation and next time there would
need to be an overt active participation activity assigned such as at the end of the meditation
segment the students will write a brief summary on what meditation is and does and if they
believed it worked or not. Announcements or other people entering the classroom set the lesson
off, some would come out of the trance and would not continue to participate and it did not
make any sense to re-start the tape. These situations are hard to control and cannot stop the
phone from ringing or the announcements to go off. The only thing that could have been
prevented would be putting up a sign informing any guests to come during break.
In order to not disturb the students and ruin the meditation the students were taught
beforehand that if there were bad attitudes or disruptive behavior they would be addressed after
the lesson. If things got too way out of hand the lesson would be stopped because meditation
cannot be successfully done if there is too much noise and distractions. Luckily, it did not have to
come to that.
The teacher is not going to be walking around the classroom during this lesson to
minimize distractions. If someone is walking around the students they may not focus or enjoy the
meditation as much, so the teacher jut observed the classroom. The teacher did not participate in
anything else since it would distract the students.
All the students were able to start the activity at the same time, although as mentioned
above some students were giggly at first. Next time maybe give the students a preview of the

MINI LESSON
tape to get the goofiness out of the way so all the students utilize the entire tape time.

Criteria

Exemplary (5)

Instructional plans
Modificatio
MINI
LESSON
include:
n of Sample
Physical
All modifications
Activity
are grade/subject
Break

SCORE:
x2

SelfReflection
SCORE:
x2

appropriate.
Safety issues for
physical activity
break are well
thought out and
described in
detail and
highlighted
appropriately.
Classroom
management
techniques for a
physical activity
break are clearly
defined and
highlighted
appropriately.
There is evidence
that the plan
provides regular
opportunities to
accommodate
students with
physical and
cognitive
disabilities in the
physical activity
break and are
highlighted
appropriately.
Self-reflection
was well thought
out and included
at least 5 specific
examples from
the teaching
experience on:
managing
classroom
behavior, teacher
movement,
response latency,
using student
names, and
providing
positive praise

Proficient (3)
Instructional plans
include:

Needs Improvement (1)

Instructional plans
include:

Most
modifications are
grade/subject
appropriate.
Safety issues for
physical activity
break are
somewhat well
thought out and
described in detail
and not
highlighted
appropriately.
Classroom
management
techniques for a
physical activity
break are
somewhat defined
There is evidence
that the plan
provides some
opportunities to
accommodate
students with
physical and
cognitive
disabilities in the
physical activity
break, or only
address one type
of disability

Self-reflection was
somewhat thought
out and included 3
specific examples
from the teaching
experience on:
managing
classroom
behavior, teacher
movement,
response latency,
using student
names, and
providing positive
praise
Self-reflection was

Few modifications
are grade/subject
appropriate.
Plan activities
include vague or no
descriptions for
safety concerns for
performing a
physical activity
break
Classroom
management
techniques for a
physical activity
break are vague
There is little
evidence that the
plan provides some
opportunities to
accommodate
individual student
needs in the
physical activity
break
The aforementioned
information was not
highlighted
appropriately.

Self-reflection was
not well thought out
and did not include
less than 3 specific
examples from the
teaching experience
on
Self-reflection was
too short for the
assignment
Document was not
saved with last
name, course # and
assignment number
Rubric was not
attached at the end