The class I observe is a World History class for the 9th grade students on Friday March

17 in Northwood High School. The classroom setting consists of my former history and social
studies teacher in high school Mrs. Emily Renner-Rhodarmer, and a number of about 25 stu-
dents. Mrs. Rhodarmer used power point slides through a smart board. The day’s objective is to
let students able to identify the long term and short term causes that led to World War I. The es-
sential question is “What leads nations to engage in total war?”. Some questions that led through
class discussion are “Who were the main belligerents?”, “Where and when?’, and “What were
the significant battles during World War I?”. The students in the class listened very carefully and
opened up through class discussions. There was not a single student in the class who did not lis-
ten carefully. They wrote down the notes for the class and then engaged very well with Mrs.
Rhodarmer. She also answered every student patiently who asked questions with some confu-
sions about the topic during the class. Every student was attentive, engaged, and respectful to
Mrs. Rhodarmer and their peers. She lectured the lesson slides by slides with a detailed explana-
tion and asked some interesting and open ended questions to guide the students for World War I.
In order to make the subject matter comprehensible to students with diverse learning styles, Mrs.
Rhodarmer used various instructional strategies such as showing a funny cartoon about World
War I and handed on worksheets to the students. There was a homework assignment for them to
do when they go home.
To engage students in learning, Mrs. Rhodarmer used a variety of teaching strategies and
techniques. She drew some connections in real world right now to connect with people’s life and
behaviors during World War I. This lesson definitely builds some discipline specific skills of
California’s History-Social Science Common Core Standards. It let the students compare the
present with the past, evaluating the consequences of World War I and decisions and determin-
ing the lessons that were learned. The students will be able to analyze how change happens at
different rates at different times; understand that some aspects can change while others remain
the same; and understand that change is complicated and affects not only technology and politics
but also values and beliefs. Students also used some past documents to interpret World War I.
Additionally, students are able to show the connections between particular historical events and
larger social, economic, and political trends and developments. The lesson had a well balanced
structure by having a clear learning direction and pacing that allows enough time for learning,
practice, and assessment. The lesson was aligned with content standards and learning objectives.
Students are meeting the content standards by being able to understand and talk the topic confi-
dently.
Overall, I felt the lesson was very effective. Mrs. Rhodarmer has never been relying on
power point slides to speak, she is very knowledgeable about the subject of the class, and speaks
freely in class. She also created a positive learning environment where students feel safe and mo-
tivated to learn about the subject. As I asked some questions to her about teaching history or so-
cial science, Mrs. Rhodarmer said the biggest challenges for her are dealing with different stu-
dents from different cultural backgrounds, and also students whose first language is not English.
Because of the covid pandemic’s affections, she feels that there are fewer school resources for
her to use in order to deal with more and more students in her classroom. The most rewarding as-
pects of teaching for her are seeing students develop a deeper understanding of the past and how
it shapes the present. It's also rewarding to see students make connections between historical
events and current events. The biggest things she wants students to take away with from her class
are having a good sense of understanding the human and the ability to think critically. Mrs. Rho-
darmer became a history teacher by a coincidental opportunity. Her undergraduate major was ac-
tually Anthropology in the field of Archaeology. Before she got this job in Northwood High
School, she did 12 different jobs before such as the coffee shopper, deliver, and IT assistant. She
finally chose to become a history teacher because of the security and salary of this job for her in
a public high school in a great school district. The most effective strategies for teaching history
to her are let every student talk with each other, and encourage every student to raise hand and
answer the class questions.