Observation of Lesson Date__10/31/13___ Observation time____11:00am_____ End Time___12:00pm____ I observed a Social Studies Lesson in a fourth grade classroom.

This lesson was about North Carolina History. The lesson focused on the Indian Colonies and the Cherokee people. The NCSOS Standard for this lesson would be standard 4.H.1.1 Summarize the change in cultures, everyday life and status of indigenous American Indian groups in North Carolina before and after European exploration. The evaluation was very informal and there was no written work involved. This was an indirect instruction lesson that was very discovery based. The teacher of the class had an outside source come into the classroom and teach the lesson. The lady who taught the lesson was a Native American from North Carolina. This was very interesting to the students because she spoke candidly about her own culture and the students felt that they could relate to her. At the beginning of the lesson the lady spoke about some cultural practices of the Cherokee Indians. She told some stories about her family and friends. This seemed to keep the students very engaged. She then brought out some artifacts that represented the Indian culture. She brought small dolls that were made by the Cherokee that were supposed to bring good luck to the people. There were also other handmade items from the Cherokee people displayed for the students to view. She allowed the students to come up to the front of the room and observe the dolls and ask questions about them if they had any. Then the teacher brought the students back together and they had a class discussion about what they had seen. The discussion was mainly led by the class and the lady asked them some questions about what they had learned.

The main aspect of powerful teaching that I observed during this lesson was teaching that was active. The students were very involved in the lesson throughout the entirety of it. The teacher involved the students by keeping them talking. The lesson was not teacher based but very student based. The teacher based the next parts of her discussion based on her students questions. The fact that the teacher was a Native American from this state also helped because she was extremely knowledgeable about the topics that were discussed. This lesson was relevant to students because in fourth grade the curriculum for Social Studies is North Carolina history and the history of the Native Americans is a huge part of North Carolinas history. This lesson was very open to integration. One way that the teacher could integrate language arts into the lesson would be to have the students do a writing piece after the lesson. They could come up with their own story about the Cherokee Indians or they could write a reflection about what they learned in class that day. The teacher could also talk about current events that relate to his topic. There have been many controversial issues when it comes to the Indian Reservations in our state and it is important for students to be aware of these issues and learn how to discuss them in a democratic and respectful way. There were pictures and models used for visuals in the classroom. The only thing that hindered the lesson was the fact that there was no technology in the room that was available for use. If the teacher could have incorporated a video or a slide show of pictures, I feel that the lesson would have been more powerful to students. Overall I feel that the students were very actively engaged in the lesson and they were asking very relevant questions throughout the whole lesson. If the students would have had an assignment at the end of the lesson to bring the lesson all together and summarize what they had

learned I feel that they could have taken away more from the lesson. It is important to have something concrete that the students can use to summarize their ideas and also something that the teacher can use to assess the students learning.