TED 633 Reflection on Learning

I have to be completely honest and say that I started this class a bit disillusioned because of my previous class.  I kept thinking only three more classes left, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be as bad as the last one.  During our first collaborate session, listening to our professor share his teaching strategies, I let out a big sigh of relief, everything would be ok.  I learned to appreciate punctuality and strive for the extra mile, these are strategies that I hope to implement in my own classroom.   

In four short weeks, I have learned quite a bit about assessments in my content area.  I have learned that assessments are crucial in ensuring that students are learning. Using pre-assessments and ongoing assessments will allow me to ensure that students are meeting the learning objective.   There are several of my classmates that are teaching and through discussions and feedback have gained so much insight and gained valuable strategies that I hope to be able to use in my own content area. 

This class took me outside my comfort zone in that I had to create a blog and a webpage.  I know that the use of technology is so important in keeping our students engaged.  I know that due to budget constraints I will not have all the technology I would like to be able to use in my classroom but I think it is important to use what is available and ensure that I apply it to my content area. I found that creating and using my webpage for my classroom is going to be a great tool.  

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TED 633 Assignment 3A-Field Experience: Pre-assessment (revised)

The group of students that I was able to practice my pre-assessment from Assignment 2A/2B are my Confirmation class students.  This group of students are high school freshman.  My lesson plan is modeled for a 10^th grade World History class.  I explained they would discuss the question with their partner and then we would have a short discussion and write on the white board their responses.  This was the pre-assessment prompt:

Nazi policy – racial purity against European Jews

Ask students if they have every gone along with something even if they knew it was wrong.  This will build on from yesterday’s lesson on how the Nazi party used propaganda materials to change people’s point of view and blame Jews. Idea that Germans were a superior race.

Here is the video in which I explain the discussion prompt to the students and then allow them to discuss the question.

When I went back and looked at the video, I realized that I did not walk around the room to listen in on the partner discussions and provide feedback and prompt them in their answers and questions so they could look at the bigger question and how this would eventually tie into their knowledge regarding Germany and the Jews. 

What I did like was that all students were having discussions with their partners and were then sharing the information with the class.  As the discussion was progressing, I had to ask why several times to get them to look beyond the incident they were discussing.  It surprised me that no one mentioned being bullied or an incident where they witnessed someone being bullied.  (This might be due to the fact that this group of students attended Catholic school from K-8 grade and where now in a Confirmation class).  I was hoping the conversation would lead to a time when they witnessed someone being bullied and they failed to act and the reason why. I might have to rethink this pre-assessment discussion topic or students might be able to have more meaningful discussions when we have been discussing World War II and totalitarian regimes. IF I was in a regular classroom, I think I would have adjusted the question so that the discussion could lead into the lesson on how Germany decided to scapegoat and persecute an entire race.  I noticed that as I asked why did you do go along with the incident that was wrong, the more prompting I provided the deeper the students had to think about  why they went along.  As one student stated they went along with it because of peer pressure or fear of retaliation.  I wanted to be able to tie those same fears into why many citizens in Germany during World War II failed to help or stop Hitler from executing over 6 million Jews.  I wanted to show the similarities between past events and present events and how the two are inner connected. 

Effectiveness of pre-assessment:

This assignment would not generate a letter grade, but students would earn points for participating in the partner discussion and classroom discussion.  I don’t want to assign a grade to every assignment, especially warm-ups or pre-assessments.  Pre-assessments should allow me to gauge what the students know and then I will be able to see what I have to change or add to the assignment to improve it. I think this particular exercise if I assigned a grade, would penalize students who are shy or have difficulty with the English Language.  This pre-assessment was not as effective as I would have liked.  I did notice that my volunteers were all involved in the partner discussion; they knew they were not being graded so maybe they didn’t take the topic as serious or put as much effort.  The results I was looking for was to engage students and getting them thinking about how our actions or failing to act have consequences.  I wanted students to look at why the world did not act in time to save the Jews during World War II. 

Changes I can make to be more effective.

Since students were not correlating their personal incident with how we all at times may fail to act.  I think the discussion question needs to be reworded or this “practice pre-assessment” was not as effective because students had not been immersed in the subject.  I think that rephrasing the question may help get better results, ensuring that I walk around the classroom; listening to discussions and helping students answer the question.  I think as the day progresses and this lesson is taught I will be able to have a better assessment of its effectiveness.  This pre-assessment definitely needs to be taught later in the unit lesson when students are aware of the consequences of the war, how propaganda was used to convince people to go along with certain aspects of the war. 

TED 633 Assignment 3B - Field Experience: Lesson Plan

Day	Major Content Area (MCA)	Learning Plan and Activities
1	Rise of Adolf Hitler (55 min.)	Strategy The strategy will be to begin with a teacher-directed lecture to introduce students to new topic. The lecture may include video clips, audio, or images to engage student and help students understand key concepts for the content area.  Students will then work on student-centered activity, which will allow students to collaborate and discuss information from the lecture. Accommodations –   ELL: Provide vocabulary words and definitions in student’s native language, as well as in English. Students with disabilities: Vocabulary words maybe provide in audio format or with visual cues. Pre-Assessment (5 min.) Presentation of New Material (20 min.) Read textbook and other materials provided on the life of Hitler.  Watch a short video clip, how Germans were impressed with Hitler. http://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/e7da364e-10be-427e-b4bf-01a674607521/hearing-hitler-speak-gary-gribnitz-wwii-europe/ Go over vocabulary words, The teacher will then distribute a handout with the key terms and concepts that will need to be defined for the content area lesson.  The terms for this content area are: Totalitarian, Fascism, Communism, propaganda, genocide, and racial purity. The class will be asked to offer possible definitions to these terms and concepts, and the teacher will actively guide them to the correct answer.  The students will fill in the definitions on their handouts.  Student-Centered Activity (20 min.) Students will be divided into groups of 3-4; the students will be assigned a PowerPoint presentation assignment. Students will have the option of comparing Adolf Hitler to other totalitarian leaders, Mussolini, Stalin, or other key figures that have attempted to “purify a race” compare the holocaust to other genocides like Armenia, middle east, Rwanda, and Bosnia.  Pass out rubric on Power Point presentation assignment.  Presentation must include the following questions listed below: 1.      Who is Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin?   2.      Key personal facts of each leader. (compare and contrast) 3.      How did they rise to power? 4.      Political policy. 5.      Results of their political policies. 6.      Compare Nazi policy with another genocide or racial hate group. Closure/Homework (10 min.) Groups will share one key piece of information they have discovered in research. The teacher will use this information to fill in KWL chart on the board.  The teacher will ask if any of the students have questions.  Homework will be assigned; students are to read the unit section in their textbook for the following day.

I informed my class that today we would be learning about the rise of Adolf Hitler, but first I wanted to know what they knew and what they would like to know.  We started to fill in the KWL chart.   This took longer than I thought it would.   I had allocated 5 minutes to the pre-assessment but this information would then lead us to the lesson.  Some of the information that students knew came from movies, video games, what they could remember from reading the Diary of Anne Frank, one student had visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., we were getting off topic.  They did share information like he was evil, the killed Jews, he was from Germany, he was a Nazi, he was a bad man. The next part was asking what they would like to know.  The students wanted to know why? What made him evil? Why did he kill all those people? I did prompt them, would they like to know when and where he was born? What was he like as a kid? Was he married? Did he have kids? I figured we were off to a good start, I believe reading the text material and doing research would get us the results we were seeking.  (this took about 12 minutes).

We then watched a short video on how Germans were impressed with Hitler.  After we watched the video, I asked if there were any questions.  One student said they didn’t really know what he was saying but went along with it.  Yes, that was true from what Gary Gribntzi could recall as a young child.  I think some students were beginning to see how Hitler impressed young people.  At this point I started my lecture about Hitler, when he was born, how he was born in Austria not Germany.  I provided students with a background on Adolf Hitler.  I lectured on how he joined fought for Germany in World War II, and how he opposed those in power.  He felt a strong sense of National pride for Germany, how he was imprisoned and wrote the book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle").  How he managed to gain power by running for President (loosing) and being appointed Chancellor and eventually forming a dictatorship.  (this took about 20 minutes).   

I then handed out a sheet that I had printed some facts about Hitler.  I forgot to borrow a World History book, so I could not assign reading from the textbook.  I informed student that we would later use Chrome books and they could conduct research to gain more facts about Hitler and we would add them to the KWL chart. 

I then handed out the vocabulary worksheet, and informed the students that we would go over the words and definitions, these words could be found in the textbook, or they could look them up online.  (this took about 5 minutes)

I then divided students into groups of 3-4; students were assigned the powerpoint presentation assignment.  I passed out the rubric and the information that their presentation must contain.  I allowed students to discuss what topic they would like to compare.  Students then used chrome books to begin research and working on vocabulary words. 

After about 15 minutes, since I realized I was running out of the 55 minutes I had allocated for the lesson.  I attempted to wrap up and ask if there were any questions, I informed them of their homework which was reading the textbook and continuing to do research.  I informed them that tomorrow they would be able to share any new information they discovered about Hitler so we could add to the KWL. 

What did I learn?

I learned that it is very easy to lose track of time and to get off topic.  I think sometimes pre-assessments take longer than you have planned for but it is a good exercise that leads into the lesson that is ok.    If you are having a good discussion/lecture and students are raising hand and asking question that it is a good thing, this allows the teacher to know that students are engaged in the lesson.

What would you change?

I need to set a timer to keep me on track otherwise I could probably talk/lecture during the whole class period.  I need to walk around the classroom, because I spent way too much time with one group and that was unfair to the other students.  I think some of this will get better with time as I practice and gain more experience. 

What did I enjoy?

I enjoyed teaching students, our KWL chart needs to be filled out and that is what I hope to accomplish.  I realized that a lot of students don’t know a lot of information about Adolf Hitler and when I was lecturing, students were saying I didn’t know he was born in Austria. Why did he join the German army? If this was a lesson being taught in my real class and not a “practice” I think students would learn a lot about Hitler and his rise to power.  I found the information interesting when I was preparing the lesson.  I think that we can teach history through many different formats and make it interesting for students. 

Rosa Milan-Mariscal

About Mrs. Milan-Mariscal

Academic Background:   B.A. Political Science with a minor in Spanish from U.C. Davis; Teaching Credential, Single Subject in Social Science from National University; Maters in Education from National University. 

Why did I decided to teach?   A teaching career has always been something that I wanted to pursue, but there was always a reason why I couldn't go back to school.  Sometimes the real was the kids were to young and demanded too much of my time.  I was too comfortable in my job making way more money than I would as a first year teacher.   I believe that every student can learn and I want to be the person that helps students reach their full potential. 

I love history, always have always will, I remember taking every history class offered at my high school and then when I went to college I did not major in history but I really should have with the number of history classes I took. Every quarter if there was an elective I could squeeze in...yup it was a history class...took a whole history class on Martin Luther (not King) the guy who broke away from the catholic church and started the Lutheran religion, yup that guy!  Women's History, Chicano History, World History, Renaissance history,  Mexican History... you get the picture!  

Family life:  Well I come from a big family, I am the 4th of six kids so I know what its like to be loud and a bit crazy.  My immediate family consist of my husband and my two sons ages 15 and 7.  I have a large extended family and getting together is so much fun and chaotic. 

Interests and Hobbies:  I like watching movies, every genre.  I love scrap booking, just don't have a lot of time.  I enjoying camping and hanging out with friends and family, and watching football and baseball.  

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