POWERFUL SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program: ELED 434 ALL SECTIONS

• Christina Zapatero
• Keister Elementary (2nd)
• Mrs. Hissong
• Date lesson plan implemented: March 16th 2017 at 9:30am
• Date submitted to CT: March 9th

A. TITLE OF LESSON: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON

When creating this lesson I took into account the pacing guide my CT created, so I will be leading a 30-minute whole group introductory
lesson on diversity and the meaning of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The objective of this lesson is to show students that although the
United States, and Harrisonburg in specific, are very diverse places, all people are equal and deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. After the introductory lesson the students will break off into small group rotations. In one station the students will draw a family
portrait. In the second station the students will be asked to draw a visual representation of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. The
activities the students complete during these stations will act as my assessment. I know from previous lessons that the students in my class are
used to and respond well to hands-on activities. I pre-assessed my students (in multiple small groups) a few days before the lesson. I asked them
questions such as “is there ‘one kind’ of a person who is an American citizen?” and “Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness?” “Do you know what it means?” I also asked students to go home and talk to their parents about their heritage (this was in
order to prepare them for a map activity during the lesson). Most of the students in the classroom agreed that there is not a single kind of
American citizen. They said that all Americans were different because “they speak different languages and have different colored skin”. Only one
of the students in my class knew about the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, so I want to focus on how life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness applies to all American citizens, even though we may all be different. In order to teach an effective whole group lesson to all
the children in my class, I plan on using a read aloud and a visual representation during the introduction part of the lesson. I will also ask
comprehension questions throughout the read aloud. The second grade SOL 2.12 states that the student will understand that the people of the
United States of America and that all people have the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as well as equality under the
law. Learning this information will prepare them to learn the importance of the government in the community, Virginia, and the United States in
3rd grade.
 C. RATIONALE:

I feel very passionately about teaching students the importance of diversity at a young age. The Virginia Department of Education merely

mentions the contributions of minority historical figures. It’s sad that our curriculum praises and dedicates weeks of learning to white historical

figures like Christopher Columbus, who killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,

who claimed they believed in equal rights, but still owned slaves. What is worse, however, is that our curriculum spends very little time teaching

about minority historical figures who faced immense hardships, but still managed to make contributions to our country change it for the better.

Based on how our system of education praises white people for their wrongdoings and doesn’t even recognize achievements from minorities, our

teachers are setting up all minority students for failure.

As a future educator, I would hope that the education system was setting up all students for success, but it’s obvious that this is not the

case. The fact that our education system ignores minority historical figures in America is subtle racism. For example, white historical figures are

celebrated all year, while minority figures receive only one month of recognition. This is subtly implying to all students that white people are the

norm and white historical figures should be our point of reference. I never want any of my future students to feel like their race isn’t relevant to

society or that they aren’t good enough to contribute to society. Other than parents and caregivers, teachers are often the most influential in

shaping the minds of young students. As a future educator it is my job to help students understand what is right and wrong and what emotions

should or should not be acted upon. Children this age are highly influenced by the way they see people interact and resolve conflicts. As a future

educator I want my students to learn about history truthfully, with all of its flaws and complexities. I want my future students to be social activists

and engage in meaningful conversation that challenges and develops society. Although my lesson isn’t very complex, I want it to act as a

successful introduction to the importance of diversity and show that all people are equal under the law and are all equally able to succeed.
STANDARD 2.12a, b, c, d
The student will understand that the people of the United States of America
a) make contributions to their communities;
b) vote in elections;
c) are united as Americans by common principles; and
d) have the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as well as equality under the law.

Essential Understandings Essential Knowledge

The people of the United States
contribute to their communities by
practicing the responsibilities of good
citizens.
People contribute to their communities by practicing the responsibilities of good citizens.
Voters in the United States elect officials to make decisions for them in the national government.
People share the principles of respecting and protecting the rights and property of others, participating in school and community
activities, demonstrating self-discipline and self-reliance, and practicing honesty and trustworthiness.

The American people have different ethnic origins and come from different countries but are united as Americans by the
basic principles of a republican form of government, including the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness as well as equality under the law.

C3 Framework: D2.Geo.5.K-2. Describe how human activities affect the cultural and environmental characteristics of places or regions.
D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – what are the broad
generalizations the students should
begin to develop? (These can be
difficult to assess in one lesson.)
Students will understand that the
American people have different
ethnic origins and come from
different countries.
Know – what are the facts, rules,
specific data the students will gain
through this lesson? (These
“knows” must be assessed in your
lesson.)
Students will be able to define
the concept “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness”
(holistically).
Students will be able to define
the word “immigrant”.
Do – what are the specific
thinking behaviors students will be
able to do or practice as a result of
this lesson? (These will also be
assessed in your lesson.)
Students will be able to draw an
artistic representation of the
concept “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness”.
(holistically)
The students will draw a family
portrait and talk or write about
their families on seesaw
(classroom app).

Big Idea Essential Question

Students will understand that everyone living in the Is everyone entitled to the pursuit of happiness?
United States are united as Americans by the basic
principles of a republican form of government,
including the individual rights to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness as well as equality under
the law.
E. ASSESSING LEARNING:
What will your students do or say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your objectives? Remember—every
objective must be assessed for every student!

Task: Diagnostic features: Support:

• Comprehension • Students will be actively engaged • Most of the activities in this

questions to gauge in the lesson. They will lesson are open-ended, meaning
understanding of participate in the activities and the students are able to
read aloud answer comprehension questions. participate and answer questions
I will know students have met the in a way that best suits them.
objective if their answers to the My goal is to create a safe space
comprehension questions are so that everyone feels welcome
correct/on the right path. For to participate at his or her own
instance when I ask “what does it pace.
mean to be an immigrant?” I want
the students to answer along the
lines of “Immigrants are people
who come to a new land to make
‘ their new home.”
• Some questions, especially during
the introductory discussion will
be more open-ended and students
will be doing more predicting.
• I will informally observe their
answers during discussion

• Map activity • The point of this activity is for

students to recognize that
everyone in the class comes from
a different background (different
languages, countries, cultures,
religion). After all of the students
place their dot, I will ask the
question “what can we gather
from this?” I’m looking for the
responses along the lines of “even
 though we live in America, we all
come from different places and
should all be treated equally.”
• Life, liberty, pursuit
of happiness • I will collect their “life, liberty,
activity and pursuit of happiness activity”.
This activity will not be graded. I
am more interested to see how
they were able to represent their
understanding of these concepts.
Also, having a visual
representation to connect their
understanding to will better their
learning.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED

• “We Came to America” by Faith Ringgold (Ringgold, F. (2016). We Came to America. Alfred A. Knopf: New York.)-
provided by CT
• Smartboard map- provided by CT
• Directions sheet (English & Spanish)- provided by me
• Family Portrait worksheet (English & Spanish)- provided by me
• Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness worksheet (English & Spanish)- provided by me
• Crayons/Colored pencils (create and research station)- provided by me
• Pencils (create and research station)- provided by CT

G. PROCEDURE
Activity Element Procedures and management
& Time (in minutes)
Introduction A few days ago I talked to you all during Students will be sitting on the carpet.
small group and asked you “is there Students will discuss with their talking
(7 min) ‘one kind’ of person who is an American
citizen?” Most of you responded that
no, there isn’t because even though
people live in the same country, they can
speak different languages and come
from different countries.
The United States, as well as Virginia, is
made up of people from countries all
over the world. We all have our own
cultures, customs, and traditions. We all
wear different types of clothes and eat
different kinds of food, listen to different
types of music, and that is OK because
we are all humans and we should all be
treated equally.
In the United States, we all have the
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. Does anyone know what that
phrase means “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness?”
Well, let’s break it up. What does life
mean? Liberty? What do you think
Pursuit of happiness means?
Life means you have the right to live!
Liberty means freedom. What does it
Students Academic, physical, social
& linguistic
differentiation, resources,
and support
I’m hoping to create a safe
space environment in which
partners and be able to call out their all the students will feel
responses. comfortable participating
and answering my
questions. I do not plan on
calling on students, seeing
as this might cause anxiety
for some students. Instead, I
will wait for students to
respond. For those who are
comfortable responding out
loud I will give use an
appropriate amount of wait
time so that students do not
feel rushed. While most of
the kids in the class speak
English, some students
come from households that
do not speak English, so
they need more time to
respond usually. For the
final comprehension
question the students will
talk to their talking partners
(similar to think-pair-share).
There are also 4 students in
my class that do not speak
any English. Because I am
in a dual language
classroom, all of the kids
 mean to be free?
The pursuit of happiness is defined as a
fundamental right mentioned in the
Declaration of Independence to freely
pursue joy and live life in a way that
makes you happy, as long as you don't
do anything illegal or violate the rights
of others.
The phrase is found in the Declaration
of Independence. It says that all people
are created equally and deserve these
rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
Read Aloud Now, we are going to read a story
called “We came to America”.
(10 min) What do you think this story will be
about?
This story is all about the immigrants
who came to this country over the past
few hundreds of years.
Does anyone know what “immigrant”
means?” Immigrants are people who
come to a new land to make their new
home.
“What do you think are some reasons
that immigrants came to America and
Virginia, whether they came on their
own or they were forced to?”
Let’s read this short story and find out.
Students will be sitting on the carpet
Students will discuss with their talking
partners and be able to call out their
responses.
speak Spanish. The students
who do not speak English
will discuss with their
partners in Spanish.
I will talk about this more in
depth with the Spanish
speaking group when they
come to the research center.
I’m hoping to create a safe
space environment in which
all the students will feel
comfortable participating
and answering my
questions. I do not plan on
calling on students, seeing
as this might cause anxiety
for some students. Instead, I
will wait for students to
respond. For those who are
comfortable responding out
loud I will give use an
appropriate amount of wait
time so that students do not
feel rushed. While most of
the kids in the class speak
English, some students
come from households that
do not speak English, so
they need more time to
 respond usually. For the
Comprehension questions to ask during final comprehension
the read aloud: question the students will
talk to their talking partners
What does the book mean when it says (similar to think-pair-
“some of us were already here” who do share).There are also 4
you think it’s talking about? students in my class that do
not speak any English.
What do you think the book means when Because I am in a dual
it says “and some of us were brought in language classroom, all of
chains, losing our freedom and our the kids speak Spanish. The
names” who do you think it’s talking students who do not speak
about? English will discuss with
their partners in Spanish.
What are the different things that people
can bring from their culture? (food,
dance, religion, music, traditions)

Why do you think the author wrote this

book?

Get with your talking partners and

discuss for 1 minute!

To show that even though we came to

the United States from different
circumstances, we all still deserve to be
treated equally. And we should be able
to keep and celebrate all of our different
cultures, religions, traditions, and
languages.

Transition Call students attention to the smart Students will be sitting on the carpet ______________________
board
(1 min)
Map Activity
We just finished talking about how the
United States is full of people of every
(10 min) color, race, and religion, from every
country in the world.
A few days ago we talked about ancestry
and heritage in our small groups. We
talked about how some of your families
might have been born in the United
States and some of your families might
have been born outside of the United
States.
Mrs. Hissong has told me how many
countries your families are from. As I
mention a country that YOUR family is
from can you raise your hand? Then I
will choose one person to place a dot on
the country on the board. I’m sure for a
lot of you your parents might be from 2
different countries, so it’s ok if you raise
your hand for more than 1 country.
Senora Hissong me ha dicho de donde
sus familias vienen... Cuando yo
menciona un pais de donde su familia
es, vas a levanter tus manos. Si tus
padres son de dos paises diferentes,
podes levanter tus manos por mas que
un pais.
Let’s count the different countries. Wow,
that is a lot! What can we gather from
this?
Transition Okay friends, now we will be going to
I will call on students one by one to
place a dot on the map where there
families come from.
Students will be sitting on the carpet.
For this activity my CT
provided me with a sheet of
information from where all
of the students are from. I
initially wanted to call each
student up to the board to
have them place a dot on
their country, but my CT
thought they would lose
their attention. She
suggested I call out the
countries we know the
students are from and have
them raise their hand, then I
will pick on one student to
place a dot on the map.
I’m hoping to create a safe
space environment in which
all the students will feel
comfortable participating in
this activity. This might be a
sensitive topic for some
students, but I’m hoping that
they are all excited to share
a little bit about themselves
and their families. I will
make sure at the beginning
to say that students don’t
have to participate in the
activity if they do not want
to.
I will translate this part in
Spanish for the students
who do not speak English.
My CT uses small group
 our stations. At the create station you
(5 min) will be creating a family portrait. There
will be paper and writing utensils for
you to use. You can draw any of your
family members that you would like. You
will also write a sentence about your
family. The sentence frames say “My
family is from ________.” You will
write the name of a country. The second
sentence says “To live in America
means ______.” For this sentence you
will write what it means to your family
to live in America. What do you and
your family like about living here? You
will take a picture of your family
portrait and record your sentence. Then
you will upload it to SeeSaw. I will have
sentence frames for you to follow on the
worksheet. There will be directions for
you to follow on the table!
stations everyday and I
think it’s a wonderful way
to break up learning in the
classroom. Students,
especially younger ones,
can’t hold their attention for
long periods of time, so
switching up the learning
every 20 minutes is very
helpful for students.
I will give the directions in
Spanish for the students
who do not speak English.

At the research station you will be

working with me. We will talk a little bit
more about life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. Then you will draw a
picture of what you think that phrase
means. When you come to that station
we will review everything again, so
don’t worry!

Bueno amigos, ahora vamos a nuestras

estaciones. En la estación de crear se
va a crear un retrato de la familia.
Habrá papel y utensilios para su uso de
la escritura. Se puede dibujar cualquier
miembro de su familia que le gustaría.
También se escribe una frase sobre su
familia. Los marcos de pena decir "mi
familia es de". Se escribe el nombre de
un país. La segunda frase dice
"para"vivir en medio de América. Para
esta oración usted escribirá lo que
significa que su familia vive en Estados
Unidos. ¿Por qué usted y su familia
como vivir aquí? Realizará un cuadro
de su retrato de la familia y registrar su
sentencia. Luego lo subes a balancín.
Voy a tener marcos de oración para
que siga en la hoja de cálculo. ¡Habrá
instrucciones para seguir en la mesa!

En la estación de investigación
trabajará conmigo. Vamos a hablar un
poco más sobre la vida, la libertad y la
búsqueda de la felicidad. Luego se
dibuja una imagen de lo creo que esa
frase significa. Al llegar a esa estación
vamos a revisar todo otra vez, así que
no te preocupes!

After the whole group lesson, the

students begin their small group
stations. There are 5 stations
(independent, technology, create,
research, and guided instruction). Each
station lasts 20 minutes. Assessments
for my lesson will only occur at research
and create station. The other 3 stations
are a part of my CT’s regular classroom
day.

The students will be completing

assessments at the research table with
me (worksheet on life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness).
 The students will be completing their
family portraits at the create station by
themselves.

The students have already been assigned

to each station.

I will provide directions and model what

the students will be doing at both
stations.

Stations At the research station the students will
be working with me. We will discuss the
concept again. They will draw an artistic
(20 min) representation of the phrase “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
They can write a few sentences down if
they would like to explain. They will be
able to use each other for help. I will
collect their papers at the end.
Hi friends, let’s go over the concept
we just learned. Can anyone remind
me what it is?
Students will be at their small group
stations. Students will be conversing
with me as well with the other
students in the group.
This station is rather open-
ended, which I think will be
good for students. They also
aren’t expected to write
anything. Their final
product is an artistic
representation, which will
be helpful for those students
who struggle to read and
write. However, students are
allowed to write sentences
and explain their reasoning
if they’d like.

En los Estados Unidos, todos tenemos

el derecho a la vida, la libertad y la
búsqueda de la felicidad. ¿Alguien sabe
lo que esa frase significa "vida,
libertad y la búsqueda de la felicidad?"

Bien, vamos a romperlo. ¿Qué es la

vida? ¿Libertad? ¿Qué crees que la
búsqueda de los medios de felicidad?

Vida significa que usted tiene el

derecho a vivir!
 Libertad significa libertad. ¿Qué
significa ser libre?

La búsqueda de la felicidad se define

como un derecho fundamental
mencionado en la declaración de la
independencia a libremente perseguir
la alegría y vivir de una manera que te
hace feliz, como no hacer nada ilegal o
violar los derechos de los demás.
Edit

We will talk about the concepts for

a few minutes.

Remember, life is the right to be

alive, liberty means freedom, and
pursuit of happiness is the ability to
do things that make you happy! Let’s
think of some things we can draw to
represent this concept…

Vamos a pensar en algunas cosas

que podemos dibujar para
representar este concepto

Closure: Today we learned about

diversity and how everyone in the
US is different and comes from
different backgrounds. We also
learned about life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Can everyone
at the table tell me one thing they
learned today?

Cierre: Hoy aprendimos acerca de

la diversidad y cómo todos en los
 Estados Unidos es diferente y viene
de diferentes orígenes. También
hemos aprendido sobre la vida, la
libertad y la búsqueda de la
felicidad. ¿Todos en la mesa me
pueden decir una cosa que
aprendieron hoy?
Stations At the create station, the students will be
working by themselves. Each student
will get a piece of paper with sentence
(20 min) frames and different kinds of crayons
that represent multiple skin tones. The
students will have the opportunity to
take a picture and upload it to the class
seesaw account and write/talk about. I
will provide written directions at the
table.
H. DIFFERENTIATION:
Students at small group stations.
Students will be working
independently and I will intervene if
they start to lose focus on the task.
This station is also open-
ended and involves a visual
representation. Again, this is
hopefully something that
will spark my students’
interest. From what I have
gathered in class the
students love talking about
their families and what they
do at home, so this should
be a fun activity for them.
They will write sentences,
but will have sentence
frames to help them. They
will also talk about their
pictures when they upload
them to SeeSaw. For the
students who do not feel
comfortable speaking, they
can simply upload the
picture.
I will provide the directions
in Spanish.
 Write a narrative explanation of two to three paragraphs describing how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your
classroom with varied learning styles and abilities, English language proficiency, health, physical ability, etc. How will you support
the learning of children struggling with your objectives or those who find the content only minimally challenging? Draw from the
examples you described in the final column of the chart in the procedures section of your lesson plan.

I am in a dual language program so half of the class are heritage English speakers and the other half are heritage Spanish speakers. There
are 4 students in my class who do not speak English. For those students, I will translate the major points of the discussion and the story. I chose to
do a read aloud because it has a lot of visuals that my heritage Spanish speakers will understand. I will also explain beforehand that students can
respond to my questions in Spanish if they are more comfortable with that. They can also talk to their classmates in Spanish as well. The map
activity is also very visual. The objective of that activity is to show that students in the classroom come from all over the world, and I think my
EL’s will understand that from watching everyone participate. I’m hoping to create a safe space environment in which all the students will feel
comfortable participating and answering my questions. I will give use an appropriate amount of wait time so that students do not feel rushed.
The stations after the introduction are rather open-ended. The final product at both stations will be artistic representations. At the create
station the students will be working independently, but I will be assisting students in the research station. I will make sure to go over the concepts
in English and Spanish for those who need me too. At the create station I will provide sentence frames as well as explicit, written directions (in
English and Spanish). There will also be crayons that represent multiple skin tones. The students will upload their final work to SeeSaw, but they
will be able to record their sentences in Spanish if they would like to. Having my support during the research station will make learning the
concept of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” easier for all of the students. For my Spanish speaking group I will talk in Spanish the entire
time, as well as review the concept more times (seeing as I can’t do that during the 30 minute intro). For both the research and create station I
created a set of worksheets in Spanish for those who need them.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation. Look over the choices you’ve made for teaching this lesson.
What extenuating circumstances (based on what you know if your students, their schedules, and the context in which you teach)
could potentially derail your otherwise excellent plan? Identify at least 4 potential problems and thoughtfully describe your plan
for addressing them when they arise? IN other words, what are your “contingency plans?’

There are a lot of things that could potentially go wrong with this lesson. First of all, students might not be engaged or interested in the lesson.
The content might be too simple or too difficult for some, which would also lead to a disinterest in the lesson. This might also lead to students
acting out or not paying attention to the lesson. I’m hoping this isn’t the case, but if it is I will continue to ask more questions about students
experiences. The students in my class love sharing their life experiences during homeroom, so I’m sure they’ll love to talk about their families.
The introduction part of my lesson (which is the more direct learning) will take about 20-30 minutes, so students might not be able to hold their
attention for this long. I am implementing a read aloud to break up the time. Throughout the book I will ask comprehension questions to engage
the students. If the students aren’t receptive to the read aloud I am going to ask the students to share (if they are comfortable) about their
families. Students might not be receptive to the map activity I have planned. For this activity my CT provided me with a sheet of information
from where all of the students are from. I initially wanted to call each student up to the board to have them place a dot on their country, but my CT
thought they would lose their attention. She suggested I call out the countries we know the student are from and have them raise their hand, then I
will pick on one student from the group to place a dot on the map. This might be a sensitive issue for students who come from adopted families or
are refugees and immigrants. However, I think calling out countries and have students raise their hands might ameliorate the situation because
students do not have to raise their hands if they do not want to. At the end of the activity I will ask students if there are any countries we missed.
After the introduction the students will break up into small groups and will complete work in 2 stations (research and create). Students will have
my support during the research station, but not in the create station. Students might not focus at the create station if they do not have an adult
with them, but I will intervene if they need me. I will make sure to model well beforehand and there will be written directions (in Spanish and
English) at the table. My students who don’t speak English might become distracted since majority of the lesson will be in English. For right now
I have designated times in the lesson plan where I will speak in both Spanish and English. It’s difficult to translate the entire lesson and speak in 2
languages the entire lesson, but I will do that if need be.
 Directions:

1) Draw a family portrait.

2) Write 2 sentences about your family.

3) Take a picture of your family portrait.

4) Record yourself reading the sentences.

5) Upload to SeeSaw.
 Direcciones:
1)Dibuja un retrato de la familia.

2) Escribe 2 oraciones sobre su familia.

3) Toma una foto de su retrato de la familia.

4) Grabarte leyendo las oraciones.

5) Subir en SeeSaw.

Name:
 My Family Portrait

"My family is from ______________________________.

To live in American means my family can

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Nombre:
 Mi familia

"My familia es de ______________________________.

Vivir en America es importante para mi familia porque…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Name:
 Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Nombre:
 Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
(La vida, La libertad y La búsqueda de la Felicidad)

Lesson Implementation Reflection

 I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why you made them.

The most notable change in my lesson is that I shortened the whole group part. I still followed all of the procedures and said what I needed to say, but I realized

at the beginning of the lesson that the students would not be able to sit on the carpet for more than 20 minutes (I originally had 30 min in my lesson). The

assessments I planned at the small group stations went well, but not as well as I had hoped for. Some students were very excited to partake in my activities and

were engaged the whole time. However, there were a handful of students who only completed half of the worksheets because they were talking with friends. I

initially wrote in my lesson that I would not intervene in the create station, but I had to get up a few times to remind the students to remain on track with the

objective. A lot of students didn’t finish their work at the create station, so I helped all of the students finish their work the day after the following day.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did they learn? Who learned?

What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?

During the research station the students were supposed to draw a visual representation of the concept “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We talked

about the concept before they drew pictures, but a lot of students were able to connect the concept “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to symbols they

had learned the previous week. A lot of students drew a bald eagle, the American flag, the statue of liberty, and the liberty bell as their representations. Other

students drew themselves doing things that they enjoyed (reading a book, playing at the playground). When planning my lesson I hadn’t of really thought of

specific pictures the students could have drawn, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! I loved that they were able to connect their learning from my

lesson to what they had learned the week before. I think my students had a solid grasp of the concept “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. During the

whole group part of the lesson, the students answered all of my comprehension questions the way I had hoped. They really seemed to understand that all

American citizens come from different backgrounds (born in different countries, speak different languages, practice different religions, celebrate different

traditions).
 III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more thorough way if you were to

teach this lesson again.

If I were to teach this lesson again I would incorporate more developmentally appropriate practice into the create station. My students didn’t seem to be

that engaged in the station and they did not follow most of the directions or finish their work. I helped all of the students finish their work the day after I taught

the lesson. However, I now know that I shouldn’t have left the students alone for a station like that. Although I wrote directions, I’m not sure they were explicit

enough. I should have spent more time going over the directions at the beginning of class. I also think I assigned too much work at the create station. In the 20

minutes I had hoped that they would have drawn a picture, wrote sentences, and uploaded their creation to the classroom SeeSaw account. Looking back most

of the students only completed their picture and didn’t even start their sentences. One way I could have ameliorated the situation was to give the students time

warnings so they knew how much time they had left to work. I also could have split the activity up into two days. I could have had the students draw their

picture one day and the sentences the next. I would also have more academic resources available for the students (books English and Spanish, Spanish-English

dictionaries, pictures, etc…). Since a lot of the students in my class are English language learners, they need extra support from the teacher.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom teacher?

From the assessment that I gathered the students seemed to understand the concept of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” fairly well. However, if I were

to have asked them that same question the next day I’m not sure they would have remembered. I would teach a follow-up lesson on the concept. I would review

the concept and possibly create a more authentic assessment, rather than just have them draw pictures. For example, I could put the students into small groups

and create a scenario in which those groups of students constituted a government and they were in charge of coming up with laws to protect their people. How

would they make sure their laws protected life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This activity could act as an introduction into the declaration of

independence. I could also have the classroom write a letter to a local political figure asking how their rights are protected in Harrisonburg.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young children as learners?

As a result of teaching this lesson I have learned that students are eager to learn and participate, but only if you teach developmentally appropriate practices. For

example, my whole group lesson was very interactive and the students seemed to have really enjoyed it and understood what I was teaching them. They
answered all of my comprehension questions and were very thoughtful. They got a lot out of the read aloud, and I think the map activity was an authentic way

to show students the diversity that is all around them. The students did well at the research station, but only because they had my support to guide them. Before

I explained explicitly what they were supposed to, the students were confused and disengaged. With my support they were able to complete their work and a lot

of students were able to connect their learning to previous lessons. The create station, however, was pretty chaotic and a lot of students only completed half of

their work. This shows me that the activity I planned for that station wasn’t engaging enough and I wasn’t explicit enough. Students need clear, explicit

instruction, and I gave them too many directions at once! Students, especially younger ones, lose their attention span fairly quickly. Assigning multiple tasks at

a 20-minute station might be too much work for some students. I’ve learned that it is crucial to differentiate for every single student in the class. An activity that

might be simple for one student, might cause another student a lot of anxiety, and as a future educator I never want any student to feel that way!

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I’ve learned that teaching requires a lot of work and patience, and it’s very difficult to create a lesson that is

fun, engaging, and developmentally appropriate for all students. Within each classroom there are students with differing learning abilities, behavioral issues,

English proficiency levels, etc… and all of these factors play a role in student learning. It is the teacher’s job to know their students on an individual basis and

keep track of everything that is going on. It is the teacher’s job to differentiate learning for each student and cater to individual needs. Teachers also need to be

very explicit about what is expected in the class (behavior wise and work wise). It’s also very useful when teachers work together to create lesson plans. My CT

gave me a lot of very useful feedback that made my lesson run a lot smoother than it would have if I hadn’t of asked her for advice.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, I have learned that I have a lot of patience, but I have tendency to get anxious if my students aren’t doing

exactly what I asked. I don’t get angry, I just feel as though I’m not doing my job if students aren’t listening to me 100%. After having observed my practicum

for the past few weeks, however, I know that students are full of energy and they need to be able to move around and talk to their peers. If a student isn’t

engaging or paying attention in class, it is the teacher’s fault. I have also learned that I need to spend more time thinking about how to differentiate for each
student. I get overwhelmed when I think of all the individual needs a teacher has to cater to, but it’s my responsibility to make sure all students feel safe and are

learning in a way that best suits them. It is worth it and necessary to spend the extra time planning a lesson to make sure I am meeting the needs of all students.