cait_journal6

Cait Benson March 11, 2009 EDC 452 Assessment Journal # 6 My classroom provided me with the opportunity to observe a social studies lesson. The class has been working with various explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, so they began chapter 13 of their social studies text book. Instead of working as a whole class and simply reading aloud, the teacher decided to divide the class into five groups of four or five students. She did this by having each student count off from one to five; all of the number ones would form a group and so on. After the groups were formed, the teacher then divided the chapter into five sections and designated one section to each group. Group one had the section titled “New Ideas in Europe,” group two had “Sea Route to Asia,” group three had “Europeans Arriving to America,” group four had “Columbus Exchange,” and group five had “Exploration Continues.” Within these groups, the students were told to create a study guide consisting of one main idea, three supporting facts, at least one vocabulary word, and a short summary. From this, the students in each group were given the freedom to divide the assignment up however they chose. After the students were finished with the study guides, they were then told to present the material to the class and turn in their final study guide to the teacher for a social studies grade. This assessment can be seen as a similar version to the jigsaw method. Through this activity I was able to observe the students interacting with their peers while learning new information. I saw that some students worked better together than others while some students put fourth more effort than others. It was really interesting to see how each different group divided the tasks. For example, one group took turns reading the section aloud while other groups read silently. In addition to this, some groups divided the assignment equally while others completed the task as a whole together. I also saw the teacher circle the classroom to answer any questions. She provided little hints to some students that appeared to be struggling. Some of these hints included important facts that should be included in the study guide. Overall, I really liked observing this type of assessment, especially because it involved social studies. Social studies is a subject that I rarely get to observe in my cooperating teacher’s class. I liked the way she mixed up her normal routine of grouping the students by counting off from one to five. This gave the lesson some randomness so students weren’t specifically assigned to certain groups and children couldn’t just pick their friends to be in their group. In addition to this, I thought it was beneficial to have the students create a section study guide because it shows them how to take notes on a section and prepares them for future classes that will ask them to create study guides for an exam. This makes the assessment somewhat authentic because they will create study guides in the future. In addition to this, I liked that each group became experts in one section and explained the information to the rest of the class. This made the lesson more attainable and easier for students to complete. The students didn’t seem stressed or overwhelmed with this assignment. With that, they all seemed to enjoy presenting to the class. To end, I really enjoyed this assessment because it incorporated many different learning techniques. For example, it forced students to work in groups, complete a reading in a text, create a study guide, and present to the class. I can definitely see myself using this method in my future classroom. I wouldn’t change anything about what I observed today. Overall, I was very pleased with this assessment.

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