Matthew Nichols
Nikki Buzzell-Garncia
Intro to Ed
12/1/17
Student Lesson
I had the pleasure of teaching Mr. Lees 9th grade history class on November 6th, 2017.
The class is comprised of twenty two students, around 15 years of age. The topic of the lesson
concerned the differences between North and South states prior to the beginning of the Civil
War. The task was to identify differences between agriculture, geography, weather, and slavery
between the regions, as well as how this contributed to the start of the civil war. In the prior
weeks, the students had been studying the western side of the continental United States, and what
was occurring there, as well as critical thinking activities concerning bias and primary sources,
and the relationship between the two. This transitioned well into my lesson, as well as the skills
necessary to comprehend the subject matter. The goal was to be able to have the students identify
the specific differences between the North and the South, as well as how they impacted the
region.
This lesson met Iowa standard 5, Uses a variety of methods to monitor student learning.
In additional to checking their knowledge audibly, I also used an online measure which the
students participated in. Learning the differences between the North and the South is important
as it is vital for understanding for understanding the Civil War itself when the students move to
that chapter. The learning objective for my lesson includes being able to identify the differences
between the North and the South, such as industry, agriculture, and slavery status. As well as to
identify how these causes helped shape the war in 1860. Some of the blooms taxonomy that
would be associated with this would be to analyze, associate, differentiate, compare, contrast,
and examine. The Multiple intelligences this meets would be verbal linguistic, as a main
component of my lesson was audibly instructing the students.
Like all lessons, the classroom must be managed correctly in order for information to be
received correctly. My strategy for classroom management included establishing a strong
presence early in the lesson, mainly through body language and tone of voice. I also encouraged
positive reinforcement by thanking volunteers that contributed, reinforcing that behavior. I also
quickly shut down any forms of disruption, although I was not required to do this in my 20 min.
The materials I used were fairly straight forward, as I only needed a whiteboard, notebook,
marker, computer, and a projector. In order to teach my lesson, I used the following schedule. I
began the class by introducing the students to divisive issues, and asked them what they already
knew about the north and the south. I then proceeded to draw a rough map of the eastern
continental United States, outlining the Virginia/Kentucky line as the border between North and
South, as well as major cities like Richmond and Washington D.C. I then moved into differences
in the economy, North being primarily industrial, and the South being agricultural. Next step was
population, main points being the North was dense and the South was scattered. After that the
point was geography, and finally, slavery. After discussing Slavery, I discussed how this led to
the succession of Southern states to begin the Civil War.
In order to evaluate the students information gained in the lesson, I created a kahoot quiz
over the subject of my lesson, as well as the previous lesson as Mr. Lee believed it would be a
good review. The quiz consisted of 13 questions which appeared on the projector which the
students answered to earn points. The students performed well, with approximately over 3/4ths
answering acceptably. After I finished the quiz I mad e a quick summary of the information.
While I believe my lesson went acceptably, it did not turn out as I had expected. I had
expected to present in front of the class, and have smooth vernacular and transitions, and require
minimal assistance from my notes. However some of the previous lessons information
overlapped with my own, so at times it felt as if I was repeating information. I also required more
assistance from my notes than I had expected, which impacted the smoothness of my flow and
delivery. However everything else went as expected, students participated and I gave a variety of
examples. Throughout the Kahoot quiz I clarified certain subjects students were confused on, or
what was not very clear. Overall I believe it came out satisfactory, but I also understand I have
some things I need to work on in the future.
