Medieval Period Lesson Analysis

I presented my lesson on the Medieval Period on December 11th in Ms. Payne's 3rd Period AVID Class.  There were roughly 10 students present, the same students I conducted my Pre-Assessment with on Monday.

During the Pre-Assessment/Warm Up Activity, the students filled out a KWL chart.  When asked what they "know" about the period, they discussed Old English generally, monarchies, emperor's, torturing and feudal warfare.  Most students seemed to have a very surface level of knowledge on each of these concepts, so I added them to my lesson plan to elaborate.  When asked what they would like to learn, students listed the following topics: Old English origins, Crime and Punishment, clothing, food, women's role in the time period, diseases and uprisings.

I modified my lesson to cover each of these aspects thoroughly, which I think the student's really liked.  They knew what they would be learning for the day and felt like they had some control on the content that was covered.  It also seemed to help keep their attention throughout the PowerPoint Presentation.

We started with the clip from Game of Thrones, which started the conversation on Monarchies and the rise of Feudalism.  I also inserted a video into my PowerPoint titled "25 reasons you don't want to live in the Middle Ages".  This video was a hit!  After 2 or 3 points, I paused the video to discuss and gauge reactions of the students.  This sparked a lot of conversation and debate around some of the more shocking differences in the culture of that period and today. The PowerPoint/Video took about 45-50 minutes due to the discussion.  The students used the last remaining minutes of class to perform their post-assessment.

My ongoing assessment originally to monitor students and give them a participation grade, however I decided to print out the PowerPoint with added blanks for the students to work through.  In AVID, they are working on their writing skills, so I thought this would be a great way to incorporate that into the lesson.  Students turned in this handout at the end of class with their names on it, and after review, I noticed that most students filled out each section without missing anything.

My Post-Assessment was originally a handout, but since I had modified my ongoing assessment to a handout, I decided to modify my Post-Assessment to a reflection instead--incorporating their writing skills again.  The students were asked to reflect on the most interesting thing they learned on the Middle Ages in one paragraph (due to time restraints).  Overall, the student's reflections accurately represented material that was covered that day.

What did I learn?
Students are actually pretty excited to learn about new things, however there will always be a few students that would prefer to have offline discussions.  These students can distract the entire class and get you off track for 5-10 minutes before you can move on.  Also, I learned that I need to build discussion time into my lesson planning, to allow for a better timed lesson.

What would I change?
I would take out the Game of Thrones video simply because students seemed to think this was testable data.  They also seemed to take the points in the video as fact instead of a general representative of monarchs.

What did I enjoy?
I loved the discussion! As we moved through the lesson, students were getting very worked up about how the serfs were treated and the fact that they no rights.  They began to understand how many rights and privileges we have today; including some simple ones that we take for granted, like free speech.  Most of the students would get frustrated and say "why didn't they just overthrow the king" or "why would they work for free? I would just say no".  Realizing that the people of this time did not have choice really frustrated the students and made for great discussion.

Pre-Assessment Field Experience

Pre-Assessment Field Experience: Sage Creek High School

I conducted my Pre-Assessment Field Experience at Sage Creek High School, in Ms. Payne's class - 3rd period.  The students in this class are focused on college prep and range from grades 9-11.  There were 12 students in the class and all participated in the warm-up.  The classroom is on the third level of the building, with many windows and a central A/C system that kept the room very climate controlled.  The students are setup in classic rows and are allowed to have their phones on them in class.  Most students had earbuds in their ears when they came into the class, and had to be asked to remove them to participate.  There are little to no decorations on the wall, but the room is bright and promotes learning without distractions.  I conducted my warm up at the beginning of the class, before roll or any other preliminary steps were taken.

The warm up I chose to demonstrate was the KWL Chart for the Medieval Time Period.  I didn't show the clip of Game of Thrones as planned, as the students had never heard of the show and didn't seem interested.  In the future I am going to show a clip from Merlin or King Arthur--these stories are a bit more popular for all age groups.  Instead, we discussed some mythical stories from that time period that they were familiar with to lead into the KWL Chart.  Next, the students helped me filled in the first two sections of the KWL chart, leaving the "Learned" to be filled in later in the week during the lesson.  The students were active in their participation, but were a bit chatty as we went through the subject.  I think knowing that all we were doing was the warm up made them less interested in fully participating in the discussion, but overall we had a good list when we completed. 

The findings from the Pre-Assessment showed that students had covered the Medieval Period before, but did not retain much information; particularly about culture, clothing or literature.  The majority of the class could discuss monarchies in general and the basics of the social classes, but could not name the specific classes or discuss any particular monarchy.  Their History teacher was the substitute in the class this day, so this was a bit disappointing for him to hear.

The students were interested in learning about Old English (the language), crime and punishment of that time period (torturing), basic cultural concepts, issues of the time and how the monarchy affected wars/uprisings in that time period.

Overall, the student's level of knowledge was lower than I expected, which will force me to modify my presentation to be a bit more basic.  I also noticed that third period (right before lunch) seems to be an energetic time for the students, so I will need to make my presentation very interactive to keep their attention.  I am also planning on bringing in candy to help inspire the students to participate.  This is generally pretty effective in encouraging participation, as I have no final exam or grade that they are worried about.

The Pre-Assessment was a effective in gauging the student's knowledge of the subject matter, however I did not have an effective rubric in place to annotate student's participation in the activity.  I also did not have access to their seating chart to annotate who seemed to be lost/advanced in the subject area as well.  This data would have been helpful during the lesson to develop groups and draw out students that need extra time.  

Other than incorporating a different video, I wouldn't change this warm up activity much.  However, looking over my lesson plan, I did not have a clearly identifiable rubric for this activity, so I have created one below:

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Participation	Student routinely volunteers answers to questions and willingly tries to answer questions s/he is asked.	Student volunteers once or twice and willingly tries to all questions s/he is asked.	Student does not volunteer answers, but willing tries to answer questions s/he is asked.	Student does not willingly participate.

Students will receive a 1-4 grade on the their seating charts for participation in the Warm-Up/Pre-assessment.  

Personality Type and Teaching

My personality type is listed as Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging, summarized by Kisa Testing as "ISTJs are often called inspectors. They have a keen sense of right and wrong, especially in their area of interest and/or responsibility. They are noted for devotion to duty. Punctuality is a watchword of the ISTJ. The secretary, clerk, or business(wo)man by whom others set their clocks is likely to be an ISTJ. As do other Introverted Thinkers, ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold. Effusive expression of emotional warmth is not something that ISTJs do without considerable energy loss.

ISTJs are most at home with "just the facts, Ma'am." They seem to perform at highest efficiency when employing a step-by-step approach. Once a new procedure has proven itself (i.e., has been shown "to work,") the ISTJ can be depended upon to carry it through, even at the expense of their own health. ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others, especially when the second parties don't keep their commitments. But they usually keep their feelings to themselves unless they are asked. And when asked, they don't mince words. Truth wins out over tact. The grim determination of the ISTJ vindicates itself in officiation of sports events, judiciary functions, or an other situation which requires making tough calls and sticking to them. His SJ orientation draws the ISTJ into the service of established institutions. Home, social clubs, government, schools, the military, churches -- these are the bastions of the SJ. "We've always done it this way" is often reason enough for many ISTJs. Threats to time-honored traditions or established organizations (e.g., a "run" on the bank) are the undoing of SJs, and are to be fought at all costs."

How did your personality affect your choice of content area?

Based on the report above, I think I was intrigued by English at a young age due it its complexities. There is no straightforward way to interpret Literature, although there is sometimes a right and wrong way. While some of the above summary does not really apply to me, I do enjoy a challenge and learning new skills. With a limitless amount of literature and multiple ways to enjoy it--this became a way for me to both master skills to teach them, while still enjoying some aspects as a challenge.

How does or will your personality affect your relationships with your students?

Unlike what my personality test says, I feel that I make a strong connection with my students which assist me in creating a good plan for learning. By sensing (one of my traits) what my student's reactions will be, I can create an environment where the students are excited to learn and feel accomplished at the end of a lesson.


How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students' abilities to be successful?

I think my teaching/learning style will benefit my students' throughout the course. However, I can sometimes become very passionate about subjects and forget to catch up those students that are lagging behind. I have made a considerable effort to not only recognize this issue, but plan for it in my lesson plans. One of the best ways I have found to mitigate this issue is collaborative group learning; I can easily gauge where all of the students are in their learning while they assist each other in groups. This will ensure all students are developing the skills they need to be successful.

Introduction

My name is Jessica Curry and I am currently pursuing my Masters In Education with a Single Subject Credential in English.  I have always had a training role in my life and I love helping people- so teaching made sense as a career choice after my stint in the Navy.  I started to teach courses while still in the military and loved the ability to make an impact on someone simply by explaining concepts and asking them to think outside of their normal perspective.

I hope to one day teach High School English, preferably Literature and Creative Writing.  I feel that students can learn many different important lessons from the writings of others, and can really see the impact it will have in their own lives.