American Colonies Lesson

The lesson that I taught to the fifth graders was a lesson on Benjamin Franklin and the American Colonies. My purpose for teaching this lesson was to build a foundation for students to understand and apply their understanding of what it took to establish colonies during this time period. Also, my purpose for teaching this lesson was to lead to a larger simulation activity where the students are broken into colonies and are required to trade, establish land and basically run their own colony. With this knowledge of early colonial colonies, the students will be able to understand the factors that played apart in creating the society we live in today. I also will focus on Benjamin Franklin’s story to tell the story of an individual during this

I laid out my expectations for them so they knew exactly what they were supposed to do during the activity. During the lesson, I had the students reading along and take notes to keep them engaged and actively learning. I also had the student’s contribute to the class discussion and provide input during the lesson. All of the students were following along and almost the entire class was contributing to the discussion. I made an effort to establish the purpose and explain the importance of learning the content. By starting off by explaining the purpose, the students payed closer attention. I also explained the directions in several ways to ensure that all students understood the task. I made sure that all students understood before they broke off into small groups. As the students were sharing in their group I was walking around answering questions and elaborating on concepts. After the students shared in groups, I had each group speak to the class what they discussed, I was impressed with their answers. They related Benjamin Franklin and his resilience during the time period, as well as how everyone had to contribute even