Old Salem Assignment

When I received my lesson assignment, my cooperating teacher requested that the students read an article in their social studies magazine. The first article that we read together was about families, and how they have changed over time. The article talked about economic and social changes. I related this lesson to the class’ trip to Old Salem. This way, the students had background knowledge of what the lesson would be about. The class discussion about their trip to Old Salem, and how life was different then was successful. The students had a lot to say, and they talked to me about a lot of different things that they learned about on their trip. I am glad that I incorporated this as my introduction of the lesson, because it gave students an idea

of what they would be reading about. Furthermore, the Jeopardy game was another part of my lesson that was successful. The class wanted to do boys versus girls, which was great, because there were an equal number of students on each side with a variety of learning levels. I explained the game to the class, and the teams worked together to answer the question that was based on the article that we had read. The game was also a good way to assess the students’ learning.
There were a few things that I would change about my lesson if I were to do it again. The changes involve classroom management during the Jeopardy game. During the game, the students became too excited. They would all yell the answer aloud. This would also be confusing, because I would not know what their final answer was. If I picked a student from each group to be the answerer, perhaps it would eliminate this confusion. Nevertheless, I enjoyed teaching this lesson. The students learned a lot academically and socially as well. They learned how to work in a group, and I learned more about classroom management. Overall, it was a successful lesson.