Class Observation #1

Lesson Objective:
In preparation for their Chapters 11 & 12 Quiz this Friday on The War of 1812, James

Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, and other topics within that time period of history, the students

will be participating in a ‘Quizlet Live’. The goal of this game is too not only excite the kids

with healthy competition and teamwork, but help them to review the content for their

upcoming assessment. From this evaluation, students will be able to recognize and evaluate

the topics that they need to familiarize themselves with to get ready and succeed. Prior to the

Quizlet, Mr. Ranger goes over a review sheet that the class completed the day prior in order

to familiarize them with the content.

Mr. Ranger starts class by settling the class down, as they had just come from lunch.

He does so by making conversation with them in a controlled manner. Once the focus is on

him, he addresses the test tomorrow and encourages students to prepare themselves if they do

not do well on the Quizlet Live today. He then tells the class that if they’d like, tomorrow for

this quiz, they will have access to one flash card tomorrow with any information that they

may think they would need. He gives them to a student to pass out and once the class starts

to lose focus, he gains control by getting stern but not yelling. Mr. Ranger then passes out a

notes paper that was collected as a 100 on a homework grade for completion. Getting into the

work portion of class, Mr. Ranger begins going over a worksheet on Chapters 12 & 13 that

was completed yesterday at the end of class. He puts on a Power point with each of the

questions and allows students to answer the question, then see the correct response that will
be on their quiz. When he asks the students one will raise their hand and respond. If they get

it right, he will encourage them, reveal the review answer, and go into more detail as to why

that is the correct answer. If they get it wrong, he helps lead them to the correct answer,

instead of just revealing what it was. He encourages students to write down what he has on

the Power point if they do not have it, so that they can study the material and be prepared for

their quiz. As he moves on from question to question, he teaches a mini lesson on what the

answer is. This practice consists of having them finish his sentences, answering mini

questions about the content, and having the class give more in detail answers to more

focused questions. He mentions that the class hasn’t taken a test in a long time but has rather

been working on projects and different assessment level assignments. Because of this, he is

trying to get the students back into the rhythm of test taking and bring back helpful habits in

order to prepare. When questions that relate to modern day examples arise, he explains the

relationship between the two and relates it back to the material that will be on the test.

Through out the lesson, when focus is lost Mr. Ranger encourages the class. He tells them

that a lot of them are working really well, but too many of them are not focused. In efforts to

make him proud and excited to teach, the class instantly refocuses and gets back to its fun

but productive environment. As he finishes the review, Mr. Ranger has the class start their

laptops so that they will be ready to get into their Quizlet Live Activity. The activity quizzes

the students in an exciting way and ranks them based on performance. After a question, Mr.

Ranger explains it quickly and moves on. Many of the questions on the Quizlet are

reiterations of the prior worksheet. Mr. Ranger does this in order to train their brains through

the process of repetition.