A typical class for me looks like this:
10 minutes: Daily Quiz
30 minutes: Lecture
10 minutes: Discussions/Questions
25 minutes: Individual work time.
I have had to both lengthen and shorten lessons to accommodate the student’s attention spans and skill levels. We were dealing with some complex material in history. At the beginning of every class the students take a quiz over that day’s material. They are to have read the material and completed their homework the night before. Sometimes the students finish their quizzes quickly. Other days, they need a bit more time to finish the quizzes. Since my school is on a block schedule, I do not have a problem allowing the students more time to finish their quizzes.
After the students turn in their quizzes I begin the lecture for that day. Some days, lecture is long and other days it is short. I break the lecture into smaller chunks by stopping and asking for questions about every 4 Powerpoint slides. This gives the students a break to recharge their attention spans and give me a moment to rest my voice.
After the lecture we take time to answer any questions to bring up any topics the students want to discuss. This usually takes 5-10 minutes. After that time, the students are free to work on their homework for the next class.
One time in which I adjusted the lesson length to accommodate student attention spans. My lecture had supplemental material and a lot of information for the students to take in. After about 20 minutes I could see that the students were bored or just did not want to pay attention that day. I decided to cut my lecture short and continue it the following class. Instead, I put on a video related to the subject matter: Nazi Germany. The visual elements along with more exciting information that me talking energized the students again. They still learned valuable information from the video and the next class we finished the material without issue.
The learning goal in which my students were the most successful was learning goal three: Students will understand the effects of World War II both domestically and on a global level. Students achieved 82% accuracy in this goal.
One reasons students were successful in this goal is the students were very interested in what happened after the war. They wanted to know what happened to the Nazis who persecuted Jews. They wanted to know what would happen between the United States and Russia. During class, they were very engaged with this material.
Another reason students were successful with this goal could be that it was the last section taught before the exam.The information was fresh in the minds of students, having just learned the material the class before. This made recall easier for students on the assessment.
The learning goal in which my students were least successful was learning goal one: Students will learn about how World War II affected the lives of those in the United States. Students averaged 60% accuracy in this goal. The student performance on this goal is somewhat confusing. The students were engaged in class and the lesson had a lot of supplemental material that the students reacted favorably to.
One reason student achievement was so low could be that this was the second of five sections taught. Therefore, students had more time to forget the information before the assessment.
A second reason student achievement was low could be lack of preparation. The homework scores for this section were not very high. Many students simply did not turn in their homework, and some of those who did did not complete the homework. This shows that while the students were engaged in the lecture material, they most likely did not look at the material in the textbook before the assessment.
As to what I would do differently, I would have done more solid review before the assessment. I would have some type of quiz game to bring that older information back into the students’s minds. That way instead of taking the students’s word that they understood the material and were ready for the test, I would have a more active roll in helping them succeed.
In looking at the results of my students in the two-week World War II unit, I feel that I was somewhat effective. Even though the students did not reach the goals I had set, I feel that the students did leave the unit with a better understanding of the war and its effects. I feel that I did the most I could do in preparing the students and that the main reason for their lack of achievement may be lack of preparation on their part. I assigned daily homework and quizzes for the students in hopes that they would look over the material in the textbook. However, quiz scores were low and homework turn-in rates were even lower. If the students’s actions show that they do not care about learning, there is only so much any teacher can do. In spite of this, each student improved at least some amount in at least one of the learning goals. Even a small success is still a success. For this reason, I feel that every student left the unit with a better understanding of World War II.
Please wait...