Standard I:
The teacher displays deep and extensive knowledge of the core content and designs instructional experiences that move beyond a focus on basic competency in the subject to include, as appropriate, the integration of 21st century interdisciplinary themes of global awareness; economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy and health literacy. Knowledge of content is absolutely necessary for good teaching, but it must be combined with an understanding of the complex and sophisticated relationships within the content and must be made relevant to the learner. The teacher designs instruction that is aligned with the West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives and uses a standards-based approach to instruction supported by a variety of instructional resources that may include textbooks.
Relevant Description:
Asian Civilizations Lesson Part 2
Feudal Japan Lesson Part 1
SS.9.H.CL4.3 summarize the functions of feudalism and manorialism in Europe, China and Japan (including the creation of nation-states) as feudal institutions helped monarchies to centralize power.
SS.9-10.L.15 use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
Objectives: After reading the assigned chapter, the learner will be able to create an online presentation of the information.
In this lesson, the students focused on how Japan's isolated physical geography helped develop the feudal system in Japan. To begin, introducing the class to Japan's geography, I showed them a video connecting to civilizations that they had previously studied.
When the video was over, we discussed what we say. I asked questions like, "What did these societies have in common?" and "what are some of the positive and negative aspects of isolation?" After the students had an understanding of what isolation can do for a society, I gave the student an reading guide to complete that included the important terms, people and ideas. The next day in class, the students and I went to the Mac lab and began the second part of the activity. I gave the students a tutorial of creating a Gmail account, sharing activities with classmates and teachers and how to use the Google Drive programs. Using their homework, textbook and approved internet resources, the students were asked to create a presentation of the feudal system in Japan using the Google presentation program.
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Reflective Analysis:
The activity was an example in self-directed learning, collaboration and a use of technology to learn content. The students were given a rubric to use as a guide for their presentations and collection of the information was aided by the guided reading given the day before. While, they were given the important terms and topics, it was up to them to decided how it should be organized, what graphics to use as support for the information and how little or how much they should focus on any of the given topics. The rubric (found in the lesson plan) showed clear learning objectives and how they could obtain the maximum points possible; it was up to them to create the presentation accordingly. Every student received a grade based on the collaborative presentation and was asked to initial beside the slide or piece of information they worked on to show their contributions. This activity was also a lesson in collaborative learning because, aside from some students who were absent the day of, each student had to work with a partner. By working together on the presentation, the students had to be able to facilitate their own learning but still work with the ideas of their partner. Above all, this lesson was an example a technology integrated activity and 21st century skills. From the construction of the presentation, to handing in the final product, to receiving a feedback of their work, everything was done online.
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Plans for Improvement:
Besides enjoying the break from the usual in class setting of lectures, notes and worksheets, the students also really enjoyed going to the Mac lab and learning the new programs. I would most certainly use this activity in a variety of lesson topics but the researched-based strategy that I would change deals with setting objectives. Before going to the Mac lab, I gave the students an instructions page, reading guide and a rubric and said, "go for it." While this idea was centered around the goal of self-direction it proved to be counter productive. When it comes to goal setting, "student ownership makes a difference" and if I had asked students to create their own goals, I would not have missed out on a more authentic learning activity. Next time, I will begin the class by giving out a KWL chart, completing the first two sections, then discussing the results and having students help create the rubric.
Setting Objectives, Researched-Based Strategies
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