LESSON REFLECTION Brief description of lesson: - Grade Level: 6th Grade - Topic: Ancient Greek Olympics - (Tuesday): I introduced

the Olympics by giving them background information events played, significance of the Olympics, rules, their attitudes about the Olympics, gender roles, outcomes, etc. Then I split them into groups by city-state (Athens, Sparta, and Argos) and gave them a sheet to read about their city-state and how the citizens behaved in the Olympics. From that, they each wrote a game plan for how they would behave in the Olympics. Then I pulled them back together, and tied in Ancient Greek Olympics with modern day what do our Olympics still have that is similar to the Ancient Greek Olympics? What is different? - (Wednesday): They will get back into groups and make a city-state flag and anthem - (Thursday): They will compete in their own Olympic Games by city-state teams What went well during my lesson, and why did it go well? I was a little worried about my introduction originally because I couldnt see how me just talking about all these facts would be interesting and engaging. Even after turning in my lesson, I spent considerable time searching for pictures or video clips or something that could better engage them. But finding things was not happening. And so I just went into the intro with tremendous excitement and interest in the topic and IT WORKED! Those kids were so engaged. They reacted and responded to what I told them, offered their own insights and ideas and knowledge, asked questions, etc. They were so interested in these Olympic games that occurred in a foreign country thousands of years ago. It could have been so far removed from them and what they know or care about. But it wasnt. My conclusion also went well. I brought them back together after being in teams and writing their game plans, and we talked about how these Ancient Olympics in Greece still impact us today . What is the same between those Olympics and today? What is different? And usually they just kind of look at me when I ask for participation and their thoughts on what weve talked about. But they all had something to say! They were able to link it back to today to see the impact of this ancient civilization on modern day I achieved exactly what the core curriculum wanted me to achieve! And I did it in a way that excited and interested these kids! They were also full of questions which sparked good conversations. And they are so excited for the events coming up in the next two days that they wanted to do it sooner than I had planned for them to do it! What could I have done differently during my lesson? I originally planned on letting the kids group themselves into the 3 city-state teams by themselves. But I knew that teams would end up lopsided and I ran the risk of creating opportunities for students to be excluded. So then I planned on letting the kids group themselves within certain parameters three groups, each group has 6-7 boys and 3-4 girls (with teams no bigger or smaller than 9-10 kids). But the more I thought about that, the more chaos I perceived happening So the day before the lesson I actually adjusted it and typed my class list into a random group generator online and it randomly split the kids into groups. I then went through and tried to ensure that there was an equal distribution of girls and boys and that certain kids who could not focus and work well together were not in the same group. But for the most part, this

ensured fair groupings and they couldnt take anything out on me (because the internet did it). This worked better BUT! Students were still a little peeved by groups. And while I thought it would be good to encourage collaboration and community and that we are all friends, it did still result in some chaos and exclusion. Kids were leaving their group to talk to their friends in another group, I ended up with a group of all boys and 1 girl (the second girl was absent) and she got left out and ended up sitting in the corner alone So I think if I did this again, I would better assign groups and set up clearer boundaries before letting them loose. The volume and running around in that classroom was insane. I do feel that I still maintained control though and was able to get their attention back at any time needed. Also, for some reason, it seemed to be a bit of a stretch to get students to read about their citystates and apply what they read to create their own game plan. That would need to be better next time Was my objective met, and how do I know? YES! Interest and Engagement was out of this world! I could not have asked for more from those kids! This is what I wanted! I want the social studies core to be fun and engaging and interesting and desirable. These kids are bombarded by math and language arts all day long every day. But there is so much more to learn! And when I was a 6th grader, I LOVED the social studies curriculum and want to instill this same love of this knowledge in my students! Learning should be fun, engaging, and interesting. And my students were so riveted in our discussion and participated and were excited to work on this unit this week! Concerning the Core Curriculum objective, it states that students will understand how ancient civilizations developed and how they contributed to the current state of the world. In learning about the ancient civilization of Greece and their development of the Olympics, we were able to successfully learn about this ancient civilization, but also were able to tie it back by having a great discussion about what is the same and what is different between the Olympic games back then and the Olympic games they know today. The only fall back is that although the participation in the discussion was great, it does not enable me to assess if the objective was met for EVERY student