Essential understanding:  

Students will be able to understand how culture develops and how

different cultures compare and contrast through developing an understanding of what culture is,
differences between rural and urban cultures, and how where we live influences who we are

Essential Question: How do we develop a culture?

Lesson 3: How does where we live impact who we are

Date: 11/30                                                                            Teachers Name: Patricia Wright

Subject: Social Studies                                                   Grade Level: 3
Class Setting: General Education Class                                Length of Lesson: 45 min

Central Focus: The purpose of this lesson is to evaluate how your geographic location impacts
your culture. Students will apply their previous knowledge of what culture is and how to classify
a town as either rural, suburban or urban. They will be able to classify their own town as either
rural, suburban, or urban and evaluate how factors of their daily life like transportation,
activities, what their town looks like, etc. vary.

Lesson Title: How does where we live develop our culture and sense of identity?

For Unit Plan/Plan Segment: 3 out of 3 of How Culture Develops Segment

Essential Question: How do we develop a culture?

Learning Standards:
NY SS 1.2.1 gather and organize information about the traditions transmitted by various groups
living in their neighborhood and community   
NY SS 1.4.2 explore different experiences, beliefs, motives, and traditions of people living in
their neighborhoods, communities, and State  
NY SS 3.1.4 : identify and compare the physical, human, and cultural characteristics of different
regions and people
NY SS 3.1.5 investigate how people depend on and modify the physical environment.

Pre-Assessment: Student will all take part in a kahoot. In the kahoot they will be given different
descriptions of a person's town and asked to identify whether the person’s town is considered
urban, suburban or rural.
 Learning Objectives:
·       Students will be able to identify their
own town and classify it as rural, urban or
suburban
·       Students will be able to give a physical
description of their town
·       Students will be able to identify their
town’s culture through seeing if the town
has activities and how people get around
·       Student will compare and contrast
their town’s defining characteristics and
culture to the other groups to see how
rural, urban, and suburban communities are
similar and different
Assessment:
·       They will originally verbally share what type
of community they feel they live in through class
discussion, after that they will take the quiz and
verbally explain what aspects of their town gave
them those results
·       Through the brochure students will be able
to demonstrate their ability to describe the
physical description
·       Through the brochure students will be able
to demonstrate their ability to describe activities,
transportation, and common items
·       Through circle time students will compare
and contrast how their brochures differed in
content and their for how it was advertised by
discussion and cold calling if necessary

Differentiation:
 Visual:
o Students who have trouble seeing from a particular distance will be given
handouts of the information questions in the kahoot, everything else is already a
handout so they can see it up close
o I will also be reading over all of the questions in the worksheets, kahoot, and
Venn diagram to ensure students will be able to either see or hear the information
 Auditory:
o will be given handouts of the information questions in the kahoot, everything else
is already a handout so they can see it up close
 Struggling:
o Students will have multiple means to review rural urban and suburban
communities in the kahoot, quiz and reflect on their thinking to build a stronger
prior knowledge
o Students will be working in groups so students who are struggling are able to
bounce ideas and hear the thought process of other students to better understand
the material as well as gain a new perspective of learning besides the one I have
offered
o The brochure provides multiple ways of expressing information including by
pictures and words so students struggling with writing skills can still do the
assignment
 ADHD:
o The students will have a checklist of today’s tasks
o Students will have paper taped to their desk reminding them to think before they
raise their hand (question vs comment) and index cards to write down their
questions (to ask at an appropriate time)
Academic Language:
 Rural
 Urban
 Suburban
 Persuasive
 Transportation
 Skyscraper
 Communities

Procedure:

Anticipatory Set:

 Students will sign into Kahoot to answer questions about “scenarios” of where people
live
https://kahoot.it/answer/result?_ga=2.248263751.1177187463.1540307086-
677201705.1540307086&deviceId=e9b0829c-9799-4302-9d2a-
a08e5dc04951R&sessionId=1540307086319
o An example question would include Phillip lives in an apartment in a skyscraper
and takes the subway to work. Does Phillip live in A an urban area B a suburban
area C a rural area
o This is meant to be a refresher for segment 2 of our lesson and make sure the
students really understand the categories of rural, suburban and urban
communities
Initial Phase:

 Student will then get out of their chairs and gather to the center of the room so they can
answer a series a questions about their neighborhood while they take note of their
answers
o So everyone get out of your chairs and come to the center as we answer some
questions about each of your towns. If you answer A you will stand near the
podium. If you answer B you will stand by the smartboard. If you answer C you
will stay in the center. Once you go to your spot write either A,B, or C on your
piece of paper. Any questions? Great let’s get started “If you were to describe
your neighborhood would you describe it as A having a lot of tall buildings and a
lot of people out and about, B I have a lot of houses in my town, I also have a
school, park and places to eat or C there are a lot of farms and open land where I
am”
o This task serves two purposes, first off it allows the students to get an idea of
what characteristics to look for when classifying a neighborhood as rural, urban or
suburban and it allows them to reflect and be given ideas as to how to classify
their own town
 Once done with the multiple-choice questions students will be asked to tally up their
answers to see how many A’s how many B’s and how many C’s they got student with all
A’s will be classified as the urban group, B’s will be classified as in the suburban group,
C’s will be classified in the rural group.
  Students will then write underneath the paper they wrote their previous paragraph on
which group they ended up in after the test and if their answer did not match their
previous answer which do they feel is correct their original answer or the test.
o This provides me with feedback as to whether or not students are now fluent in
what a suburban, rural and urban town are. It also gives me perspective about
whether the test I constructed was effective or need improvement and allows my
students to be critical of either their own previous opinions showing growth or
shows higher level thinking to disprove a test based on other evidence
Middle Phase:

 Students will be asked to become a group of “travel agents” randomly assigned to either
the rural, urban, or suburban group with their goal to convince the visitor to come to their
kind of community
o Now that you are all in your groups I must tell you vacation is coming soon and I
need a place to visit but I can't figure out where to go. I want to get a travel
brochure from each one of your kind of communities. (travel brochure will be
provided one for each group with questions on it) I must know what your kind of
town looks like (either picture or words), what kinds of activities I could do
(pictures or words), how I would need to get around (pictures or words), what I
should pack (pictures or words) and what is your groups favorite part of where
you live is. Now you will have 20 min to work on a first draft and we will continue
to revise it in the next couple of lessons now get started!
o This allows the students to think of what makes were they live unique and why
people would want to go there. The questions on centered in a way where they
must evaluate the physical beauty of their town, the culture through looking at
activities, the ways of mobility varying, what you need to live in this kind of area
and why people would like it.
 After the completion of the brochure I will ask each group one of the questions from the
brochure to see if they get the concept of what is being asked through whip around
o This allows for a brief assessment of if the students grasp the cultural aspects of
their town
Conclusion:

 I will draw a three circle venn diagram with labeling the circles rural, urban and suburban
 After the completion of the brochure I will ask each group the questions from the
brochure to see if they get the concept of what is being asked through whip around
o This allows for a brief assessment of if the students grasp the cultural aspects of
their town
 As the students are providing me with their answers I will be putting what they say as
notes into the venn diagram.
 I will then ask the students to take a look at the venn diagram and ask Why are all your
answers about looks, activities, transportation different?
o This gets students to begin to evaluate why the 3 groups have such variety
 Let's take a good look at your last part “what do you think is the number one reason
someone should come visit your town?” how would your answer be different if you were
in a different group. (let students share) This is because where you live impacts your
 daily life. Geography and culture go hand in hand with one another. There is a good
chance that if you lived in a different town with different characteristics none of your
answers in your brochure would be the same.

Follow-up:
·      For Homework, students will either write a list of 10 things that would change in their life if
they grew up in a different type of town.

Materials:
 “What type of town do I live in quiz”
 “brochure template”
 whiteboard with markers
 projector or smartboard
 computer phones or ipads for students to use kahoot
 Pencils
 Markers

Assessmen Brief Informal/Forma Modifications/Accommodations Provides

t Title Description l * evidence of
what learning
objective?

Do Now/ Students informal A series of scenario questions SWBAT

Kahoot will answer will be placed on the board. review past
about 5 Students will be given a sheet of material from
questions a copy of the question and lesson two as
using multiple choice answers in a well as
kahoot a worksheet if they so choose demonstrate
website that because the board is hard to see. they have the
requires Questions and answers will also prior
technology be read aloud so students can knowledge to
and pre follow by seeing and hearing go on to the
assigned the information next lesson  
answers.
“What Students Informal I will being walking around the SWBAT
type of will take the room to assess students writing have a more
town do I results from as well as help struggling concrete
live in the “quiz” to students understand the knowledge
quiz?” see how material. I will help those who I on what
reflection their quiz know either tend to be makes their
results struggling or have little written town its
differs or down by asking guided particular
supports questions or asking them if their classification
their answers changed or remained and express
original the same verbally instead of their findings
classificatio having them write in writing
n from their
town they
had made
for hw

Travel Students Formal Students will be working in SWBAT will

brochure will be groups so students who are be creating
expected to struggling are able to bounce brochure that
come ideas and hear the thought demonstrates
together as a process of other students to that they
group and better understand the material as know the
create a well as gain a new perspective characteristic
travel of learning besides the one I s that make
brochure for have offered up their
me to visit a The brochure provides multiple towns
particular ways of expressing information classification
kind of town including by pictures and words
so students struggling with
writing skills can still do the
assignment
I will be walking around the
room to check in on each group
to provide guidance to the
groups who need it most

Whip We will Informal I will have my students back in SWBAT be

around of then be their assigned seats so i will able to
brochure doing a have a list of questions that answer
whip around match what a particular students questions
answering ability level should be able to about
the answer characteristic
questions s of their
 from the town and she
brochure on they
an individually
individual know the
student material not
basis just as a
group

Think pair Students informal Students will be working in Students will

share will answer pairs so students who are be
“what do struggling are able to bounce verbalizing
you think is ideas and hear the thought their
the number process of other students to understandin
one reason better understand the material as g of how the
someone well as gain a new perspective type of town
should come of learning besides the one I they live in
visit your have offered impacts their
town?” how culture
would your
answer be
different if
you were in
a different
group

List Students Formal Students who are struggling will This gives
will create a be given guided questions to students a
list of 10 spark ideas about how their chance to
things that culture would change if they show they
will change lived in a different kind of town truly
in their life understand
if they lived the impacts
in a of geography
different on culture
town
References
https://kahoot.it/answer/result?_ga=2.248263751.1177187463.1540307086-
677201705.1540307086&deviceId=e9b0829c-9799-4302-9d2a-
a08e5dc04951R&sessionId=1540307086319

Teaching Cycle Assignments and Rubrics

1. Begin by describing the purpose for the content you taught during your lesson.
The purpose for our unit could be summed up by three goals. The first was to establish
what culture means and what are the aspects that create a culture. The next lesson was
about teaching types of geographic locations that we see in our daily life. The last lesson,
the one I taught served the purpose of bringing those two lessons to together and seeing
how the place we grew up in impacts our sense of identity and culture. During the 3rd grade
students are beginning to understand a sense of self and can begin to critically think and
develop their own opinions and beliefs. It is important for students to recognize what
influences those aspects of themselves even if they are not outwardly apparent at first.
2. Describe how the standards and the learning objectives for your lesson are related.
I used multiple standards and with these standards I was able to create the lesson
objectives listed below
1. NY SS 1.2.1 gather and organize 1. This standard is the backbone for
information about the traditions the objectives “Students will be able
transmitted by various groups living to identify their town’s culture
in their neighborhood and through seeing if the town has
community    activities and how people get
2. NY SS 1.4.2 explore different around” The standard is
experiences, beliefs, motives, and encouraging student to gather
traditions of people living in their information from their area and by
neighborhoods, communities, and participating in group work for this
State   assessment of creating a travel
3. NY SS 3.1.4 : identify and compare brochure they were able to get that
the physical, human, and cultural information about the traditions in
characteristics of different regions each group from multiple
and people perspectives
4. NY SS 3.1.5 investigate how people 2. The second standard listed is all
depend on and modify the physical about reflecting on your own
environment. upbringing which occurs from the
initial phase with the “What kind of
town do you live in quiz” causing
them to reflect on their own
upbring and continues into the
conclusion were students compared
their towns to the ones on the
brochures. This inspired “Students
will be able to identify their own
town and classify it as rural, urban
or suburban” “Students will be able
to give a physical description of
their town” and “Students will be
able to identify their town’s culture
through seeing if the town has
activities and how people get
around”
3. This next standard is about
gathering information and using
that information to compare it to
other types of communities. They
 begin the lesson after the pre-
assessment by gathering
information about their own town
to classify it as rural, urban or
suburban covering the objective
“Students will be able to identify
their own town and classify it as
rural, urban or suburban” and
“Students will be able to give a
physical description of their town”.
The second part of this is
comparing characteristics which
happens in the conclusion with
comparing the types of communities
to one another with their
characteristics covering “Student
will compare and contrast their
town’s defining characteristics and
culture to the other groups to see
how rural, urban, and suburban
communities are similar and
different”
4. The last objective is asking students
to take a look at how the
environment shapes people’s daily
life this happens during the quiz
when discussing why their
transportation is the way it is (6:20-
7:00) is a clear example. We
discussed why in their town some
places had to use different modes of
transportation in comparison to
others. This shows the student how
even in their own communities their
town adapts to its physical
environment in order to work more
efficiently covering the standard
“Student will compare and contrast
their town’s defining characteristics
and culture to the other groups to
see how rural, urban, and suburban
communities are similar and
different”
 3. How did you consider what you know about the students you will be teaching in the class
profile?
The question about considering what you know about the students you will be teaching in
the class profile is not applicable to this particular assignment
4. Describe your instructional strategies and justify why they were appropriate for the
students.
I used multiple kinds of instructional strategies throughout my lesson. The first was to
begin with a direct informal assessment. This was presented in the form of a kahoot that
would keep the students engaged, give me direct feedback and allow me to give corrective
feedback to the students for perquisite skills insuring the students were ready for the next
task. (0:00 – 4:40) The second major strategy came into play in the middle phase when I
modelled how the travel brochure should be done by doing a think aloud of creating the
brochure (10:40-12:30) and gave an example of how I did it for the students to refer to.
This gave students a model to look to and made them feel more comfortable to complete the
assignment and allowed them to ask questions before the assessment began. I also used the
instructional strategy of group work after explaining the task in this phase (12:30-21:00).
This allowed for collaboration to help struggling students be guided in the task as well help
all students here different perspective of what to look for as aspects of a rural, urban and
suburban communities. The last instructional strategy was implemented in the last phase
when I decided to create a visual for the students while asking them to explain to me their
thoughts on culture (21:00-end). This allowed for me to take a step back and see If the
students were really grasping the concepts of the impacts of their home on who they were
and apply that knowledge to different communities.
5. Describe how you assessed the effectiveness of your teaching and what evidence would
indicate to you that the students have achieved the objectives stated for the lesson.
I gave multiple assessments throughout my lesson that allowed me to see if students are
grasping the learning objectives
1. Do Now/ Kahoot 1. The Kahoot gave me direct insight
2. “What type of town do I live in into how many people grasp the
quiz?” reflection previous lesson and what needs
3. Travel brochure reviewing before we continue
4. Whip around of brochure through physically seeing the correct
5. Think pair share and incorrect answers beginning
6. List chosen based on the results (0:00 –
4:40)
2. This did not occur in the actual
lesson do to time being adjusted and
the audience being adult college
students but the idea in my lesson
plan was to be walking around the
room to assess students writing as
well as help struggling students
understand the material. I will help
those who I know either tend to be
struggling or have little written down
by asking guided questions or asking
 them if their answers changed or
remained the same verbally instead
of having them write
3. By creating a brochure student were
able to demonstrate that they know
the characteristics that make up their
towns classification. I will see directly
if they understand the different
component of rural, urban and
suburban communities through their
response in all of the categories of the
brochure (12:30-21:00)
4. the brochure gave me insight to the
groups progress of understanding the
components in their assigned
classified town but the whip around
allowed me to hear if they
understood the concepts on an
individual basis and if they
understood why those answers
belonged in that category (21:00-
27:00)
5. Think pair share was not
implemented again do to time but if
it was Students will be verbalizing
their understanding of how the type
of town they live in impacts their
culture with a partner allowing me to
listen in to exactly who is getting the
concepts and who isn’t and allows me
to provide guiding questions to help
struggling students with what to look
for when classifying their town
6. The list was stated for homework
(30:20) this would allow me to see if
students are fluent in the topic of
understanding how geographic
changes would impact their life
through their responses with what
would change about their life if they
grew up in a different community

6. Explain how your instruction engaged students in achieving the objectives. What
participation strategies did you use? How did you connect with students’ interests,
cultures, and daily lives?
I feel I tried to make the lesson very personal to engage student interest and achieve the
objectives while asking them about their own town and experiences. As Willingham’s Why
Don’t Students Like School states part of your job as a teacher is to engage the students
learning. By giving the quiz I was able to have the students use some aspects of their own
lives into the lesson making them connect to the material presented to them making the
material meaningful. I also gave the students fun activities like using the kahoot to make a
quiz and game and the travel brochure to make the students create as well as answer
questions. For participation I used just standard asking questions and picking on someone
raising their hand to answer up until the whip around (21:00-27:00) that gave everyone in
the class to get a chance to participate and be informally assessed.
7. What changes, if any, would you make to your instruction to better support students in
achieving the objectives? How do you think these changes would improve student
learning?
I feel there are some definite changes I could make to my lesson to better support the
students objectives. The first would be to add a culture review as well to the pre-
assessment. When I asked, “Who remembers what culture is?” (28:50) only one student
had their hand up and that was Lexi who gave the culture lesson. That is an extremely
important part of this lesson that students need to know, and it is 100% my fault. I did not
review culture until the end of the lesson when the lesson is supposed to be 50% culture
and 50% geography. Also I think I could provide better feedback during the pre-
assessment. I did not really go over why the other answers were wrong as much as I could
have for the ones students picked another answer so I would want to approve upon that.
(0:00 – 4:40)
8. What did you notice about your planning and teaching experience?
One of the major things I noticed about planning and my teaching experience was practice
makes perfect. I felt as I was watching the video I could see myself get more comfortable
and adapt to circumstances and student’s responses more cohesively. I think I have a long
way to go before I am considered a good teacher, but I think that through practice I will
get there a lot faster.
9. Did you observe anything on the video that you weren’t aware of prior to viewing video?
When watching the video, I saw a lot of things I needed to improve upon that I did not
notice I was doing while presenting. First off was my body language. I was standing like a
presenter particularly in the quiz segment (4:40-10:40) I looked closed off to my students
which I think will be somewhat intimidating and kind of boring to my students if I don’t
look engaged. Also when explaining the next unit I could not hear myself clearly at all
(30:22- end) so I doubt my students could hear me either. But as a plus I think the lesson
flowed a lot better than I thought it did in my head. I though my transitions into the next
activity were good and the lesson did not look rushed or too staged which was my biggest
fear so that was a nice surprise.
10. What did you learn about classroom management and the establishment of a positive
learning environment?
I learned the importance of getting students engaged and participation in creating a
successful lesson. I think the personal angle had in my lesson gave students a lot of lee way
to share their experiences on the topic. It made them feel more comfortable and like they
knew what they were talking about. When students feel more comfortable on the topic and
like they have something to contribute they participate more. This establishes an open and
comfortable classroom environment. I also think I was able to lead good conversation
through asking students questions during activities to get good feedback on what they knew
and what connects they were making to the previous segments as the lesson progressed. I
think this lesson would fall flat if students did not participate because it so centered around
personal experiences.
11. Review the ST Observation rubric, select two criteria from that rubric: Write about one
criteria that you think you successfully met and why. Write about one criteria that proved
challenging and you do not think you successfully met, and why. In the case of the
criteria you did not meet, what could you do differently next time to improve?
I think I did well on the organization and pace to create a cohesive lesson part. This
personally makes me feel good because it was my greatest fear going into the lesson. I got a
positive comment on the transitions and flow of the lesson at the end of my presentation
and it seems like no one felt rushed or like activities were taking too much time and they
were getting bored during the lesson. However, I can approve upon adding multiple models
and varies of instructional strategies. Because this was my first presented formal lesson I
do not know a lot of instructional strategies yet. I merely just gave commentary when I
thought it was needed, gave instruction and allowed the students to come to the conclusions
about their location related to their culture. I think by educating myself on more
techniques and observing more teachers and can gain insight into more instructional
strategies to use in the future.