Aaron Sparks

Mrs. Lawson
Education 115 Course Paper
December 9, 2015
Course Paper
For my final Education 115 Observation Experience, I was placed in Chilhowie Middle
School in a seventh grade civics class. The teacher with whom I observed, was a favorite of the
students throughout the school and even many of my friends that I have met that had her when
they were in school. The reason for that is simple, she keeps her classes light and fun while
sharing the knowledge that they need.
For the time I was able to spend in their class, the students were learning about many of
the great thinkers, such as Montesquieu and Locke. They were learning about how they
influenced the Constitution. The students were learning about the Continental Congress,
Constitutional Convention and other important events of the early days in our Nations history.
They discussed many of big leaders of the Nation such as Washington, Franklin, Henry, and
many other important figures that shaped the Nation.
Along with historical aspects that make up civics, they discussed local topics. Some of
those dealt with local elections and participation. Another topic that I found interesting was they
were able to discuss the local Apple festival into their classroom. It was an opportunity to talk
about how things like that impact their community from safety issues as well as economic
opportunities.
There were many different ways that the students were taught this important material.
One way the students were taught was through there vocabulary words. Over the time I was there
they did vocabulary exercises. One way they practiced learning their vocabulary was the teacher

would assign them certain terms to look up and then they would go over them in class the next
day. The teacher would then ask the students to put the words into their own use. This is an
important technique because vocabulary is crucial when understanding things concerning civics.
During the time at Chilhowie Middle, the students would take turns reading out of their
textbooks. The teacher would utilize a technique she called popcorn reading, that way all of the
students would get along and they would not know who was reading next and it would keep
them all alert. Reading helped reinforce their vocabulary.
She would also use things she called Use it questions. Those are a kind of bell ringer
that gets the students attention when they get in the classroom. There were four a week, Monday
through Thursday, and on Friday they would go over the answer to the Use it questions for the
week. Those questions could be anything from a vocabulary word to a more general history
question to something they learned about earlier in the semester. All of which helped keep
information at the front of the students minds.
As I was doing my observations I noticed them doing quite a few writing exercises. The
teacher told me that the school was low performing in writing and that the teachers of the other
content areas were all doing different things in order to help raise the writing abilities of the
school. Through those writing efforts the students were able to use their critical thinking skills as
one of the topics they had to write about was whether they would join those that signed off on the
Declaration of Independence and why.
There were many different techniques used by the teachers at Chilhowie Middle School
that help them get valuable information across to their students. Many of those techniques and
instructional strategies that I saw implemented there will be used one day when I have a class of
my own.