lesson 1- phase 2 reflection

1. Instructional Decisions/Teaching (InTask Standard # 9): Discuss the implementation process and describe
• What went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?
• How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?
• Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson

My lesson went very well, I was pleased with the outcome of my lesson and how I presented it. I think I could have planned it better to transition more smoothly from moving around the class. The lesson went along with the objectives and standards I had picked out for this lesson. The students had to carry through the objectives and standards laid out for the lesson through implementation in activities provided for them to do. I had to modify my lesson to accommodate a student who did not want to complete the lesson because it was “too mainstream” for them to complete. To accommodate for this I had to focus on this student and keep the student motivated and engaged. To do this I had to sit by the student and help the student through the process, which had the other students on their own for parts of the lesson. It was difficult to divide my time between a student who needed a lot of attention to my other students who could use some guided practice as well.

2. Mechanics:
• What technologies did I use (for the teacher and the learner)?
• How were the technologies used (by whom and in what manner)?
• My lesson was within the correct time frame
• It was short because…
• It was too long because…
• The lesson was within the correct time frame because...

I started my lesson with having my students get up and meet at the white board at the front of the room. We reviewed what we would be covering that day and have them write on the board their ideas of the Civil War. We then went back to their desks to get on the computers and read some letters from different Civil War civilians and patrons. After they read their letters they were instructed to go to the class blog and create a letter of their own. I had an example and instructions set for them to read through. The students could refer back to this for help and for an example of what I expected from them. They then created their own letters on the blog either in reaction to the letter or a follow up letter impersonating the person of the letter they read. My lesson was within the time frame, I expected the lesson to be too long for the time frame, but it actually ended perfectly within the 30-minute limit. I think it ended this way because of the information I had for them to complete and the task I had them do. If there was extra time I had open-ended questions to ask as a classroom discussion on the Civil War.

3. Assessment of Learning (InTask Standard # 6): Refer to Assessing Student Learning
• Include at least 2 digital artifacts that demonstrate what you or your students (peers) have created as a result of your lesson
• Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment
• Describe the level of success you had in teaching the lesson
• How do your individual reflections support this?
• How do the comments from your classmates support this?

http://schweckecivilwarletter.blogspot.com/2014/03/original-letter-october-14-1862-harpers.html#comment-form If you follow this link, it will take you to the three artifacts that my students completed during my lesson.

I think my students achieved the standards and objectives very well for this lesson. They understood the Civil War from different perspectives of the two sides within the Civil War. As we talked through why they wrote what they did, it was good for them to reflect back on their work and their ideas on the issue. I thought I did very well in presenting the information to my students, I think I could have provided some more instruction on the blog to them through the comments of the student reflection. I thought I was very well prepared for this lesson and knew exactly what I wanted my students to get out of the lesson. My comments and reflection of my lesson was very good and all my students thought the lesson was informative and technology enriched.

Post 4: Materials

http://www.gacivilwar.org/story/nancy-hart-rifles

-women defending the homestead in GA for the Confederate

http://www.civilwararchive.com/LETTERS/oliver.htm

-Letter from a soldier back home

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/cwlove/seeper.html

love letter from PA to Union soldier

http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/papers/F0681

-letter from a soldier to a lieutenant  

http://www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Archives/Manuscripts/00221Brooke/Brooke_fulltext.pdf

-letter from a sister to her brother/soldier in VA on the confederate side

http://schweckecivilwarletter.blogspot.com/

post 3: assessment

CHECKLIST: I can gage these on a scale of 1-5. 1 being not understood, and 5 being completely understood the questions and tasks. This will give me an idea into how each student is understanding the assisnment.

• Understanding from a different point of view
• A perspective from their assigned person or story
• An understanding of what is going on in their letter/story
• What they want or believe will happen next
• Why they are writing these letters
• Emotions displayed in their writing

Reflect on:

• How does the assessment align with the standards and objectives of this lesson?
  The standards of this lesson, state that the students should understand why the Confederate seceded from the Union. This will have them have an inside look of what was happening during this time in our country.
• How does the assessment demonstrate that the students have been successful in learning the content?
  By having the students write their own ideas of the situation, I am making sure each student is learning the content of the lesson. 
• How does the assessment demonstrate student engagement in higher order thinking?
  My assessment of the students demonstrates student engagement in higher order thinking by gaging their involvement in the assignment. They have to think creatively and write down unique thoughts and ideas of their given topic.
• How does the assessment demonstrate that individual student needs were met?
  This assessment demonstrates that individual needs were met by assessing their individual work and progress in the assignment. I can gage each student individually on their own work and their own ideas, thoughts, and creativity based on the students work alone.

Post 2: Implementation

IMPLEMENTATION

Procedure:

1. Begin by activating their prior knowledge on the Civil War 
• KWL chart
• Talk upon the major subjects of the Civil War (North and South, Slavery, Underground Railroad, Dates, Presidents-Jefferson Davis=South, Abraham Lincoln=North
2. Begin a timeline on the board writing important dates of when events took place during the Civil War
• Jan 1861-South seceded from the Union
• Feb 1861-South seizes federal forts
• Mar 1862-Lincolns Inauguration 
• Apr 1861-Attack on Fort Sumter, 4 states join the confederacy because of this attack
• June 1861- 4 slave states stay in the Union(Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, Maryland)
• July 1861-First battle of Bull Run, South was attacked and ended up winning this battle
• Jan 1862-Lincoln declares war
• Jan 1863-Emancipation Proclamation
• July 1863- Gettysburg Campaign 
• Nov 1864- Lincoln Reelected
• Jan 1865-The fall of the Confederacy
• Apr 1865- Surrender of the Confederacy, Lincoln's Assassination 
3. Point out what you will be talking about for the day, the first point on the timeline, why the south seceded from the Union
• Ask students why they think they did?
• Have students come up to the board to write their ideas
• Slavery
• Economics
• Government
• Pressure from surrounding states
4. Have students break into groups of 4 to discuss the North and South and why people in the South wanted slaves whereas the people in the North did not.
• Farming
• Economics
• Moral Standards
5. Bring students back together and talk about what they will be doing next. 
• You will break up into groups of 3 or 4 and I will hand out either a piece of paper or a link to an internet site. 
• You will research the topic you got and continue to write a letter to a family member, or friend that relates to your person or story. 
• You only have 15 minutes to read the story/letter and write a returning piece or followup letter. 
• After, you will give an overview of your story and how you chose to write back or write on about.
6. Students will share the letters they read about and then discuss an overview of what they wrote about. 

http://www.gacivilwar.org/story/nancy-hart-rifles

-women defending the homestead in GA for the Confederate

http://www.civilwararchive.com/LETTERS/oliver.htm

-Letter from a soldier back home

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/cwlove/seeper.html

love letter from PA to Union soldier

http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/papers/F0681

-letter from a soldier to a lieutenant  

http://www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Archives/Manuscripts/00221Brooke/Brooke_fulltext.pdf

-letter from a sister to her brother/soldier in VA on the confederate side

• For students who need enrichment, I will provide them with a more intellectual letter for them to discuss and reflect upon. Their letter should reflect their complete understanding of the emotions that their person/story felt and expressed.
• For students who need remediation, I will guide them along with an example of what I would write about if I had their story. I will also have a guideline of the type of story/letter I expect to see and the components of their story/letter.
• For students who are ELL, I will provide them with a written and an online copy of their letter to where they could use earphones to help them listen to the letters while reading along. It will help that they are paired with other classmates that can help clarify and simplify the words being expressed in the letter/story. 
• I will be walking around, asking students what their plan is for their letter/story and guiding them through this activity, if they need the help.

Reflect on:

• Why are you using the instructional methods you have described?
  I am using the instructional methods to allow the students to explore the lives of the people involved in the Civil War. I want my students to be able to socialize and have in depth discussions of who these people were and the different sides of the all the people involved in the Civil War.
• How do the instructional methods align with what you know about best practices (think about your methods classes)?
  I believe that my methods are being used for higher order thinking because it challenges the students to think on a deeper level of the people in the Civil War and the decisions that were made. Learning is a social experience, and being able to break up my students into smaller sized groups will allow for more in depth discussion of the Civil War. They will then move on to a specific region of the Civil War and have to think about who that person was and their life back then, and what that person or persons was going through. 
• How are you engaging students in creative and higher order thinking?
  I am engaging my students in creative and higher order thinking by asking them to write their own letter/story of what might have happened or been told next. I am asking my students to live in that time period and think about the people, not just the events of the Civil War. 
• How does your integration of technology support what you know about best practices for technology integration in the classroom? (Use the research that you and your classmates did as a resource)
  I used the internet and Word to integrate technology into my lesson. With the internet, the students are able to research and view the story/letter in a different way than just on paper. I will have examples or outlines on a projector for the students to refer back to when writing their piece.