Lauren Le

Professor McCarthy
ETEC 580
23 March 2022
Field Experience Lesson
Brief Description
A fourth-grade class at Lafayette Elementary is learning about missions in their social
studies class. I have collaborated with Mrs. Vu, a teacher across the hall of the library. I walked
in to speak with Mrs. Vu about what her students are learning about in social studies and she
showed me the textbook she is using to teach her students. Since the students are coming into
the library this Friday, two days from now, I asked how much content she will have covered. She
mentioned that she would have covered lessons 1-4 in chapter 3, “Exploration and Early
Settlements.” The titles of the lessons are “Explorers Come to California,” “Newcomes to Alta
California,” “Other Kinds of Settlements,” and “Mission Life.”
Mrs. Vu shared that she will ask students to do a report at the end of the chapter. I
mentioned that I would teach students how to explore the Britannica Encyclopedia in their
LBUSD Portal to access information for their report. She thought this was a good idea. The
lesson will only be for 25 minutes on Friday, so the lesson must be brief on how to access
Britannica.
I plan on showing students how to access Britannica using key terms from their readings
to help with their report.

State Standards
4.2 Students describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions
among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and
Mexican rancho periods.
4.5 Describe the mapping of, geographic basis of, and economic factors in the
placement and function of the Spanish missions; and understand how the mission system
expanded the influence of Spain and Catholicism throughout New Spain and Latin America.
4.5 Describe the daily lives of the people, native and nonnative, who occupied the
presidios, missions, ranchos, and pueblos.

Lesson Plan/Materials

Subject Social Studies

Grade-Level 4th Grade

Time 25 minutes

Learning Objective Students will be able to utilize the Britannica Encyclopedia to

 research material and information about missions for their social
studies report.

Equipment/Materials -Chromebooks from their classroom

-Instruction Handout
-Google Slides with Instructions

Modifications The presentation and handout have minimal text and sufficient
images to help guide students. The school is a bilingual school, so
students may not be able to speak English well. The use of images
could help English Learners.

Online Resources -LBUSD Portal

-Encyclopedia Britannica

Instructional 1. The librarian will check students' books in as they walk into
Activities the library.
2. Students will bring their Chromebooks from their classroom
and log in as they sit.
3. Pre-assessment: Librarian will ask students, “On a scale from
1-5, how well do we know how to use Encylopedia
Britannica?”
4. The librarian will start the presentation from the Google
Slides and guide students in using Encyclopedia Britannica.
a. The Google Slides Powerpoint will be projected and
students will all have the handout.
5. After the instruction, students will have time to find books to
checkout.
6. As students are done looking for their books, they may
resume doing research at their Chromebooks.
7. At the end of the lesson, the librarian will assess how much
students have learned by asking, “On a scale from 1-5, how
well do we know how to use Encylopedia Britannica?”
8. Librarian will give the Instruction Handout as students leave
the library as a reference later.

Evaluation At the end, the librarian will ask students with a quick check-for-
understanding if they thought the lesson was helpful and to provide
some feedback. This will be done with a verbal discussion.

Reflection
In regards to the pre and post-assessment, I was able to see an increase in understanding
the skill I tried to teach students. I had asked students to show their fingers on a scale from 1-5
with how much they know about the Encyclopedia Britannica and how to use it. During the pre-
assessment, there were a lot of 2’s and 3’s. During the post-assessment, there were almost all 5’s
with a 4. This allowed me to feel successful as students understood the lesson and were able to
achieve the learning objective which is to be able to access Encylopedia Britannica, browse the
platform, and create “Favorites” that they could access later.
The modifications that I would have done is to model accessing and using the platform
instead of just using a Powerpoint presentation. I did think of doing this before the lesson, but
the technology was complicated. I had to use the computer to open Zoom and allow the professor
to observe me teach the lesson. Then, I had to use the iPad to project the presentation into the
project. Teresa, the librarian, uses an iPad to project. It would not have been easy to use the
iPad to model for students. Using a slide presentation is much easier because all I had to do was
click the iPad to present. I also should have checked in with Mrs. Vu to see where she was with
the social studies material so that I could create more relevant materials in my presentation. As
this is a collaborative assignment, I should have collaborated more. Also, I could have had a
better understanding of the students I was teaching. Again, I could have collaborated better with
Mrs. Vu to discuss which students need which types of accommodations. Although I thought the
presentation was very clear and simple to learn, I forgot about the aspect to accommodate to
students’ social-emotional needs. I am not entirely upset that I did not do these modifications
prior because it is challenging to be that invested in this assignment because of the
responsibilities I have as a full-time teacher and that Teresa is only at this school-site half the
time so that is also an obstacle as there is not a lot of time to build rapport and collaborate with
the teacher and or her students. There absolutely could be more that was done, but it was not as
easy or accessible.
Although there were things that I could have done differently, I feel really grateful that
the lesson went smoothly. There were no difficulties with internet access and students were able
to understand what was asked of them well. Having Teresa there was also helpful because she
provided support for students who had a hard time finding or selecting the buttons on the
website. I frequently checked for understanding and clarified the need of using an encyclopedia
over using Google. It was also significant that I allowed students to explore areas of their
interests. I believe that this helps promotes engagement with the Encyclopedia. The platform is
also extremely student-friendly, especially for 4th graders so it was not intimidating for students
to navigate. I also believe that being a teacher also helped with me teaching the lesson as I have
experience with management and providing the questions to make sure that students understand
instruction. Overall, it was a great experience teaching 4th graders. I will also give Mrs. Vu the
handouts to provide a scaffold for students who may have trouble remembering how to access
Encylopedia Britannica.