LESSON PLANNING

Planning an excellent lesson is undoubtedly one of the most momentous tasks for an educator in my opinion. Much like writing an introduction for an essay, for me, formulating a successful lesson plan goes a long way in laying the foundation for an effective learning experience in the classroom. I define a successful lesson as one which engages students, challenges them to think critically, goes beyond factual learning to emphasizes conceptual understanding, connects to prior knowledge when applicable, and emphasizes individual and/or collaborative student discovery. Admittedly, this can often feel like an overwhelming task, taking knowledge and understanding and architecting a lesson that creates an engaging, relevant, meaningful, and challenging experience for students and the instructor. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to be as knowledgeable as possible about lesson topics and I found myself spending significant time refreshing or researching historical subjects in order to give my students the answer any questions and give my students as much detail and insight as possible. In order to plan a lesson I feel as if I need to be as prepared as possible and have a clear direction for what I want to accomplish. The primary means for engagement and the construction of knowledge that I use in lessons is discussion. This includes one on one discussion between individual students and myself, class wide discussion, and small group discussion. In a nutshell lessons should always be built on human interaction. In addition to constant dialogue, primary source materials often form the foundation of my history lesson plans and I envision that continuing into the future. I aim to utilize primary sources as often as possible, whether they are eye witness accounts, journal entries, newspaper articles, letters, poetry, photographs, film, music etc. I believe that primary sources breathe life into history, a subject that can often times feel like little more than antiquated names, dates, and facts. Primary sources are absolutely fundamental to the study of history. Primary sources bring humanity to history, helping students connect with past. Primary source analysis is also an excellent way to better understand multiple perspectives, historical bias, and individual or societal attitudes for certain time periods.

While I feel great lesson planning is essential, its important to understand that classrooms are made up of people and that inevitably introduces endless variables into education. As a result, rarely will class sessions progress exactly as a lesson plan dictates. Some plans may fail miserably, while others might be incredibly successful, despite our best predictions. Teaching still revolves around students and our interaction with them and at the end of the day that is the heart of pedagogy, not a blueprint often made days or weeks before class. Deviations, interruptions, or obstacles to our plans will inevitably occur, but growth should always be our aim.

Lesson Context
I conducted my student teaching at Winder-Barrow High School in Winder, Georgia, where I primarily taught 9th grade World History, both standard and Honors. At Winder-Barrow freshman classes were broken into 45 minute daily sessions as opposed to the standard 90 minute classes. As a result, much of the lead up to the writing assignment that will be described was spread over several class periods, but I will primarily focus on the class session just prior to the assignment. The following lesson plan was taken from my Honors World History courses during our unit on the First World War. This lesson and the accompanying writing assignment concluded the unit. My goal for the unit as a whole was for students to understand the factors that contributed to the outbreak of WWI, an basic understanding of the progression of the war, an understanding of soldiers experiences in the war, civilians experiences, and the social, political, and economic consequences of the war. My goals for this particular lesson were for students to analyze poetry, excerpts from autobiographical literature, and secondary sources and then use these resources in concert with prior knowledge concerning WWI gained from lecture, photographs, primary source film, and cinematic interpretations of historical events to reach a comprehensive understanding of the nature of WWI warfare and its impact on soldiers. The lesson was structured as a station activity, with the class divided into six stations, each with a different set of materials and accompanying questions. Viewing the teaching of history from a social education

approach, I felt it was vital to give students who will one day be involved in determining the direction of this nation an understanding of the startling realities of war and its horrific consequences for the sake of molding responsible, empathetic citizens.

DAILY LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Ben Willis

Name: _________________________________________ Unit Topic Big idea(s) Essential Question(s) Standard(s(/ Benchmark(s)

9th Grade Honors World History

WWI
Students will understand the Western Front of the First World War, the conditions soldiers experienced on the war front, military technology utilized
What did soldiers experience on the front of WWI? How did soldiers attitudes towards war change after their experiences on the front? How were soldiers affected by their experiences on the front? What is shell-shock? What are the consequences of war?

SSWH16 The student will demonstrate an understanding of long-term causes of World War I and its global impact. b. Describe conditions on the war front for soldiers: include the Battle of Verdun

Lesson Plan Starter/Opening VTS Activity o Open class by showing students several pieces of art from WWI veteran Otto Dix o Discuss the sketches and paintings with students posing the following questions: ! What is happening in the picture/What's going on in this picture? ! What thoughts, emotions does it bring to mind? ! How would you describe the mood of the piece? ! What can this piece of art tell us about war and the artists experience and attitude towards war?

Benjamin Willis! 4/25/14 12:33 PM Comment [1]: Unfortunately, I was only able to use this opener in the first of my four Honors World History classes due to lack of time. I hoped to grab students attention upon entering class and use the art to have students begin thinking about how the First World War affected those who experienced it. Dixs work has a very distinctive style that captures the terror and horror of war.

Closer The instructor will explain the writing assignment to be finished as homework and turned in the following day o Students will write a 3-5 paragraph essay describing the conditions that soldiers encountered on the Western Front during the First World War, explaining how the war was fought in the West, how the war affected soldiers mentally, physically, and emotionally, and how soldiers experiences impacted their views on the war. o The format of the writing assignment will be left up to the student, but it must fulfill the prompt requirements

Students will be divided into groups of 5-6 The class will consist of 6 stations with a different reading relating to soldiers experiences on the Western Front o Station 1: Absolution and Does It Matter?, two poems by Siegfried Sassoon o Station 2: Dulce et Decorum Est, a poem by Wilfred Owen o Station 3: Anthem for Doomed Youth, a poem by Wilfred Owen o Station 4: Survivors, a poem by Siegfried Sassoon o Station 5: BBC article Shell Shock during World War One http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/shellshock_01.shtml o Station 6: Excerpts from Robert Graves autobiography Goodbye to All That Students will be given an allotted amount of time to read the material at the station, discuss it with their group, and answer several questions related ot the reading Every student will be expected to read, participate in group discussion, and turn in their answers to the station questions The instructor will monitor student participation and clarify any confusion concerning the material or related questions

Benjamin Willis! 4/26/14 7:51 PM Comment [2]: My goal was to have students work with their peers to analyze primary and secondary source documents in order to achieve a greater understanding of the nature of war and how it impacted the soldiers who experienced it first hand. I had already discussed the WWI warfare through lecture, but I thought primary source documents would breath life into this topic and make it more accessible. I thought structuring the lesson around stations would allow me to get through more material in a short amount of time, while also having the added benefit of allowing students to get up and move some, which is always good for preventing lethargy. Benjamin Willis! 4/26/14 12:53 AM Comment [3]: I ran into some problems with students not discussing the readings with their group and simply reading and answering the questions on their own. I did my best to move around the stations and encourage students to engage in discussion with their peers, but perhaps I could have solved this problem had I designed the lesson differently. I could have had students read the different sources independently and then discussed each with them as a class. Benjamin Willis! 4/26/14 1:03 AM Comment [4]: I designed this essay assignment as more of a formative assessment. Although I did grade the assignment with a check, check minus, or check plus. Above all else, I wanted to see that students could use the information they had acquired through lecture, photographs, film, and the station activity to demonstrate an understanding of what soldiers witnessed and experienced on the Western Front and how their lives, relationships, and world views were affected as a result. The assignment would also give students a chance to develop their writing skills, without restricting their creativity and expression.

Writing Assessment Analysis The essay assignment described above was designed to be a formative assessment to conclude our unit on the First World War. Prior to the essay, I used lecture, short videos, film, primary source documents, and war literature and poetry to help students understand soldiers experiences in the WWI and how these experiences affected them physically and mentally and how their perceptions of war were transformed by their experiences. Students were asked to write a short essay, 3 to 5 paragraphs, describing the conditions soldiers on the western front lived and fought in and their various experiences. Students were asked to explain how soldiers were affected by these experiences, physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Finally, I asked students to explain how soldiers experiences impacted their perceptions of war. In order to write this essay, students were to use their knowledge gained from lecture, film, and various primary and secondary sources. Lectures on trench warfare, battlefield technology, Stanley Kubricks Paths of Glory and literature from Robert Owens, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, Valentine Fleming were all sources of information. Students were not asked to cite any of these materials, simply to use the information and demonstrate the understanding obtained from them. I largely left the format of the writing assignment up to the students, traditional essays, narratives, or journals were all acceptable formats, as long as students demonstrated their understanding of the requested content.

I made it clear to students that their grade would largely depend on the effort they put into the assignment and the detail provided. In assessing student work, I was looking for several key features. First, I expected students to demonstrate knowledge of war on the western front by describing trench warfare, the conditions soldiers endured living in trenches (mud, rats, lice, disease, bodies, etc.), artillery bombardment, no-mans land and costly offensives in the form of trench assaults. Demonstration of knowledge regarding chemical warfare, machine guns, mines, tanks, night patrol etc. would represent a more comprehensive understanding. Demonstrating understanding of soldiers experiences with injury, death, loss, killing, fear, resentment, and anger on the front was another essential characteristic of a successful paper. Perhaps most important in my assessment of the paper was an expression of how soldiers were affected by their war time experiences upon their return home and their attempts to transition back to civilian life. I wanted to see that students understood that, for many soldiers, they man who entered the war was not the same one who left it. Crippled physically and psychologically, many soldiers were never able to return to normalcy. Furthermore, I expected students to demonstrate their understanding of how soldiers experiences led to disillusionment, resentment, and anger towards war. If the student included all of these components and demonstrated adequate understanding would receive a positive grade. Those responses that provided greater detail would receive higher marks. I was less concerned about grammatical proficiency than the content of the paper. A poor response would be a paper that failed to demonstrate soldiers experiences on the western front, how those experiences impacted them and their reintegration into civilian life, and the evolution of their attitudes towards war. If the paper was less than three paragraphs, the minimum, it would result in a deduction from the students grade. If students failed to mention conditions on the western front, wars affect on soldiers, or its impact on their notions of war, they would receive a significant reduction in points. While I largely overlooked grammatical shortcomings, papers that were so poorly written that I was unable to understand what the student was attempting to express would be docked points. Sample 1

Sample 1 is an example of an exceptionally well-done response to my writing prompt. The student chose to demonstrate their understanding in the form of a fictional short story. It is immediately apparent that the student dedicated a significant amount of time and effort in the assignment, as it has been given a title, is broken into three sections, each of which are also titled, and is well over five paragraphs in length. Admittedly, it would be easy to label this paper a success simply because of the students ability to create an immersive and well-written story, but it does so while effectively demonstrating the students understanding of the content. The student promptly demonstrates an understanding of European societys conception of war prior to WW1, writing, Rumors were spreading that it wouldnt last more than a couple of months, and they were sure to win. The student continues, Jean could imagine himself shooting off a few harmless rounds and coming back looking like Augustus of Rome. He could be a hero The narrative goes on to describe the young men laughing as they pile into the trains to go to war before transitioning to the protagonist on the Western front. The student now expresses soldiers disillusionment with war, writing, He had come to the conclusion of how much of a dunce he was and their resentment towards commanding officers that sent men to die from behind the lines, He wanted to get out of there so he could go up to one of their saggy, wrinkled faces with their uniforms decorated with undeserved rewards, and ram the end of his rifle into their faces until he heard bone snap. The student has shown an accurate transition of soldiers understanding of war. Sample 1s author weaves a description of trench life and warfare throughout the narrative. In Chapter Two, the protagonist encounters mortar fire, the charred, black terrain, trench rats, lice, and the mangled corpses of fallen comrades. The student also captures soldiers fear of death and the internal struggle of feeling like a coward, writing, Jean was a cowardHe was even afraid to retrieve his dead friends at night, which is when neither Germans nor Brits tried to attack each other. The student vividly describes soldiers daily encounters with death and the loss of their comrades, In the moonlight, he could tell it was only half of a bodyIt was Marco, and the transformation from a boy with romantic visions of war to a disillusioned soldier: However, in 1916, the stars in Jeans eyes dimmed.

The final chapter of Sample 1 concludes the soldiers experience and demonstrates the authors understanding of wars long term affects on soldiers and their perceived disconnect with civilians. Similar to an article students read on shell shock, the protagonist is plagued by pain in his right side, despite there being no physical damage to his body. Rather, witnessing the body of his friend, with the right side blown away, the soldier has endured a psychological trauma that would appear to manifest itself physically, just as many documented victims of shell-shock endured. The soldier also feels unable to connect with civilians, as they are unable to understand war as the protagonist does. All in all, the student was successful in displaying an understanding of many soldiers experiences on the Western front and the way in which these experiences impacted them physically and psychologically afterwards, while also shattering their romanticized illusions of war and inhibiting their return to civilian life. The paper could have been improved by including information concerning no-mans land and offensives. Sample 2 Sample 2 begins with a couple of very broad statements: Conditions for the soldiers in the First World War were not only physically harmful, but also mentally. In the subsequent paragraph, the student describes how flooding in the trenches would often lead to trench foot for soldiers, often costing them their feet. The student adds that enormous rats, which fed of corpses, plagued the trenches. These are the only descriptions of trench warfare presented by the student. While what is offered is accurate, and represents examples of woeful conditions, the student has not provided enough evidence to support his thesis statement. I know the student believes that the conditions on the western front were physically and mentally harmful to the soldiers who experienced them, but I dont know how they arrived at this belief. The author mentions the many horrors that soldiers witnessed in the trenches, but gives no examples. Similarly, shell shock is mentioned as a result of war, but the student does not display an understanding of what shell shock is, what caused it, or its impact on soldiers post-bellum lives, other than nightmares. In the final paragraph, the student does well to explain how soldiers experiences on the western front led to a

profound transformation in how they view war. The student recognizes that prior to the war, the soldiers held a romanticized view of war, but after seeing all of the horror they all realized that war was something they were afraid of. This statement is rather ineffective, however, considering the student failed to detail these horrors and their manifestations in the witnesses lives. In closing the paper, the student wanders off topic, explaining that civilians were unable to communicate with soldiers at the front, often leaving them unaware of soldiers deaths. I can only assume that the student was confused about a comment I made stating that soldiers were often unable to communicate about war with civilians. In reality, I was explaining that civilian understanding of the war, often drawn from censored news and letters, was sanitized and idealized, resulting in a disconnect in their conception of the war versus that of the soldiers who experienced its horrors first hand. I will do my best to clarify this confusion for the student in my comments. The largest shortcoming of this paper was its lack of supporting detail, which, judging by the length of the paper, could have likely been remedied with a little more effort on the students part. I have no way of knowing if the student understands soldiers experiences or their emotional responses, nor the way in which these experiences impacted their lives following the war. Sample 3 For Sample 3 I selected a students work written in a more traditional essay format. The essay opens with the thesis statement, The war on the Western front during World War I was not the romanticized image that the people thought war was. The student accurately describes the distance between trenches on the Western front, writing, trenches were about 100 to 300 yards apart and stretched from the sea to Belgium, but does not seem to understand the geographic context, mistaking Switzerland for Belgium. I attempted to give students a visual supplement during my lectures, presenting maps of the trench. This paper does an excellent job of describing the experiences of soldiers in the trenches, detailing a day on the Western

front for an average soldier: On a daily basis the soldiers wake up to the firing of machine guns or the bombardment of shells going off. On top of that these soldiers have witnessed their friends blow up right front of them and there wasnt a thing they could do, but try to survive themselves. The student demonstrates an understanding of the primary weapons used on the western front and offers a visceral account of the stimuli soldiers encountered, the sound of machine guns and artillery and witnessing their fellow soldiers bodies mutilated by these devastating weapons. The student also does and excellent job capturing the emotions of soldiers trapped in this environment, writing, There wasnt a thing that they could do, but try to survive themselves. The student demonstrates an understanding of the helplessness felt by soldiers in the trenches and the realization that their survival is largely out of their hands. The student who authored Sample 3 continues to demonstrate knowledge of the horrible conditions that shattered soldiers romantic notions of war. The student does a great job of detailing the gruesome consequences of chemical warfare, writing, Mustard gas was being used, which caused internal and external bleeding on top of asphyxiation. The student also understands that trenches were filled with rats and flees, but fails to explain that these pests were particularly dangerous because they spread disease among troops. The student details dead bodies stacked on top of each other littering the western front, further justifying his assertion that soldiers were living and dying in horrible conditions. The student concludes the essay by displaying his understanding of how these experiences impacted soldiers upon their return to civilian life. The student acknowledges that many soldiers suffered physically, citing the loss of limbs and ticks, but also emphasizes that soldiers suffered psychologically. The author offers terrible flash backs and nightmares as symptoms of shell shock which plagued soldiers following the war. The student also makes an important point in noting, the nation thought that they could just send these soldiers back to normal work. In that statement the student has demonstrated the understanding that civilians were largely unable to understand war or its impact on soldiers as a result of their limited perspective. Finally, the student acknowledges that enduring war completely changed soldiers view of it. While they

entered with visions of an easy, romantic conflict, soldiers were changed forever and arrived at the realization that no one really wins in a war. Conclusion Overall, the student has demonstrated an adequate understanding of soldiers experiences in the trenches of the Western front, detailing several of the weapons used and soldiers encounter with grisly deaths. The description could have been more detailed, considering it failed to mention disease, no-mans land, or offensives. It is apparent that the student understands that soldiers were both physically and psychologically wounded by the war, using the examples of lost limbs, flashbacks, and nightmares as examples. However, the student did fail to explain how these damages presented obstacles to reintegration into a civilian role, a significant aspect in understanding how a generation of young men never truly escaped the war.