Overall, I am very satisfied with the unit I was able to conduct surrounding the

foundation of the United States government. I am very happy that I was able to use a number of

different instructional strategies, from civil conversations, oral history lessons, primary source

analysis, station work, and review sessions. It is very unfortunate that I was unable to complete

the unit in its entirety due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which ended my unit one week

prematurely. Furthermore, I was unable to gather formal student feedback on the unit due to the

Coronavirus pandemic.

In regards to the learning goals, I believe that students were most successful in Learning

Goal 1. Learning Goal 1 takes the perspective of examining life from the viewpoint of a common

person, a viewpoint wholely ignored in most textbooks. One reason for student’s success in

regards to this is the level of freedom granted to students in the weekly Diary summative

assessment. Students appeared to latch on to the idea of telling their own historical stories in a

history class. None of the students had ever been exposed to a project such as this. These weekly

diaries allowed students near-complete freedom in the story they wanted to tell. I can recall one

student who stated how much they despised this project and would have rather preferred to take a

test. This student struggled quite drastically with the first entry. But with the assistance of the

resources provided and a general brainstorm the student and I had, the student ended up writing

an outstanding series of diaries.

Another reason for student success would be the instructional strategies used to discuss

the content. I continually strived to experiment with a number of different instructional strategies

in order to diversify the ways in which I delivered content. The oral history lesson allowed

students to engage with a historical event. The simulation exercise allowed students to take on
the role of a politician living during the time period. By continuously altering how content is

delivered, I believe students are more likely to engage with the content because it is presented in

a different manner.

In regards to the least successful learning goal, I believe Learning Goal 2 was the least

successful. One major reason for this limited success would be the way in which content was

presented for Learning Goal 2. Learning Goal 2 specifically dealt with students being able to

analyze and interpret the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the

Constitution. I greatly limited myself because I believed students could only analyze and

interpret a document by reading specific passages and picking apart their meaning. It followed a

very linear and predictable methodology while also not alleviating any specific points of

confusion. This runs directly counter to one of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the

semester. Though as a whole I believed I achieved that goal, I will admit that the instructional

methods I used in regards to Learning Goal 2 were very traditional.

Another possible reason for the limited success in Learning Goal 2 would be the

follow-through of students using the information they were able to interpret. I still believe that

students graduating from an American High School should possess an understanding of the

Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. However, if I

were to redesign the lessons surrounding Learning Goal 2, I would specifically dedicate time for

students to use their interpretations in an authentic and relatable setting. This could be debunking

prominent myths about specific documents or passages, conducting Civil Conversations

regarding how these documents affect their lives today or examining the beliefs of prominent

politicians on their view of each specific document. Anyone of these above examples could be an
excellent application followthrough of interpreting these documents and could very well boost

the overall effectiveness of Learning Goal 2.

At the beginning of the semester, I set for myself the following goals. Goal 1: Design

lessons that incorporate simulations, station-work, discussions, and other non-traditional

instructional formats that encourage active student engagement in the content. Goal 2: Include

daily formative checking for understanding and weekly reviewal. Goal 3: I will expand my usage

of technology in the classroom by incorporating elements into my lessons, activities, and

assessments. In regards to Goal 1, I will always strive to find innovative instructional formats.

That is a goal I will constantly strive for throughout my entire teaching career.

In regards to Goal 2, I was moderately successful in its execution. I stuck with the goal

that I would include weekly review sessions, even despite unforeseen scheduling circumstances.

In the future, I wish to further improve on my daily checking for understanding and formative

assessment strategies. Moving forward, I aim to budget my time in order to include specific

times for collecting data on student understanding. Whether this is setting alarms for myself at a

specific point during class, incorporating an exit ticket routine in my class, or some other

practice that can give me observable and measurable data. I will be exploring MEA resources,

KDP resources, attending conferences and/or events surrounding these topics, and collaborating

with my school and UMF colleagues in order to better my practice as an educator.

Moving forward, I will also be looking to improve my long-term planning abilities.

Though I was able to outline what I wished to discuss on specific days, I found myself

sometimes befuddled on the complete and exact execution of the day’s learning. In order to
develop any long-term plans, I must familiarize myself with the Revised Maine Learning Results

of 2019 as well as the expectations of the school district that I end up working in.