Observation #2

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 and 407 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Kevin Cournoyer	Subject: History	Grade(s): 9-12
Name of Lesson: The Rise of Islam
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional Students will understand the factors, events, and people that contributed to the rise of Islam. Bloom’s: 1 (Knowledge)
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): GSE HP 2: History is a chronicle of human activities, diverse people, and the societies they form. Students connect the past with the present by explaining origins of major historical events.
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): NCHS Historical Thinking Standard 3: The student engages in historical analysis and interpretation. Therefore, the student is able to analyze cause-and-effect relationships bearing in mind multiple causationincluding (a) the importance of the individual in history; (b) the influence of ideas, human interests, and beliefs; and (c) the role of chance, the accidental and the irrational.
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context? Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? This lesson identifies important factors in the rise of a major world religion. Since this is a world history class, it is an important lesson in establishing how religion spreads and affects history. This lesson seems to be the introduction to a unit on Islam, though it could also be the middle of a unit on religion.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Overhead projector, laptop, handout(s) (excerpt from Quran and map on spread of Islam)
Accommodations and Modifications (special needs and learning styles) For example:  Dr. Kraus has poor vision and needs written material to be at least 12 pt. font.  He also reads two grade levels higher and needs appropriate reading material.  There did not appear to be any accommodations or modifications present in this lesson. The only thing that may qualify is the teacher’s periodic stopping to explain a word or idea or ask the students what they think it means in order to facilitate better understanding.
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2) -Primary source(s) (excerpt from Quran) -Map (the spread of Islam)
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? T The teacher seemed confident in the topic and was able to present and explain the material in an effective and efficient manner.

(Boxes expand as you type)   Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice) N/A (I was not there for the beginning of the lesson)
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic? N/A
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
e.g. Intro/5 min.	N/A	N/A	N/A
Presentation or Open-ended/	Lecture from PowerPoint presentation about the rise of Islam	Listen to lecture and take notes from presentation	Who was Muhammad? What is a Muslim?
Guided Practice or Convergent/	Pass out handouts about Islam and its spread	Complete four questions about Islamic beliefs according to the Quran and analyze a map dealing with the spread of Islam.	None
Closing/	Assign unfinished work for homework	Write down homework, ask last minute clarification questions	Does anybody have any questions about what we did today?
HW/Application/	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble? No students appeared to be having any trouble, no review was forthcoming.
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? It did not seem like the teacher had anything extra to offer students who either finished the work or had a good working knowledge of the material.
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) Again, there seemed to be no students that were in need of review. The teacher merely restated some of the main ideas about the Rise of Islam in order to review/draw conclusions.

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?   The presentation of the information was concise and effective, if bland. Assignment of the worksheets and review of key concepts also went well.
	What area of weakness needs addressing? Something to really pull the students in and fully engage their interest would have made the lesson considerably more effective in my opinion.  Classroom management also could have been better. Had it been more effective, the lesson probably would have gone more smoothly.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? The one objective of the lesson was met, as is evidenced by the students’ completion of the tasks assigned to them.
	Which students did not meet objectives? It appeared to me that all students met the objectives.
	Was time managed appropriately? Yes, the presentation lasted for as long as it needed to and left the students with ample time to complete their assigned tasks.
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson? I did not see any mannerisms or actions that detracted from the lesson.
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? The students were chatty and loud and frequently got off topic over the course of the lesson. This likely affected their learning the information and may have affected other students trying to learn. The teacher was able to get the class under control rather quickly when it did get out of hand, though.
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? The students were taking part in the lesson, but frequently went off topic or were distracted.
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)   N/A
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?  In the future, I will likely avoid lecturing off of a PowerPoint presentation and then giving out worksheets to reinforce what was taught. This seems ineffective and not engaging, therefore, not a good method of teaching.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future? This experience will make me wary of traditional methods of teaching and assessing in the future. Just because they are traditional does not mean they are the most effective or engaging ways of teaching.