Name of School: South Charleston High School

Principal: Mr. Michael Arbogast

Teacher: Mr. Charles Hamer
Grade Level &/or Subject: 10th Grade/U.S. History
Date: 10/17/2014
Lesson Plan #1 Reflection
1.) Planning:
The first thing I did was borrow a copy of the student edition textbook from Mr. Hamer.
I read the chapter that contained the amendments to the constitution. I wanted to have an idea of
how the textbook was relating the understanding of the amendments to the students versus my
own personal knowledge.
The second thing I did was develop a pre/post-test. Upon completing that I then
developed a group activity. I wanted the students to work together in our first activity together.
The students would be more comfortable and it would be a good way for them to get to know me
as a teacher.
The biggest issue that I was worried about was the school district only allots 45 minutes
per classroom. That is not a lot of time in my opinion. In my previous observations I was in a
different county and they have block schedule which means 90 minute classes. So I had to plan
accordingly.
I feel that the biggest part of my planning that helped in my delivery of my lesson was a
combination of everything that I did, reading textbook, preparing pre/post-test, and my life
experiences that have given me a good sense of classroom management. I will take this
approach with all my planning of lessons until I learn a better way to plan.
2.) Student Response:

The students were great. They were very respectful and responded very positively.
During the group work the students communicated well together and if they werent sure about
the wording they would ask me a question. The part of the lesson that the students were most
uncomfortable with was the presentation of their amendment, but I reassured them and all the
groups presented very well. By the end of the lesson they were all very positive and satisfied
with the todays lesson.
3.) Strategies:
I tried to use a variety of strategies in order to assist all students in the classroom. I
thought that cooperative learning by grouping students would be a great initial strategy in order
to keep them relaxed and open to a new teacher. I wanted to keep an open line of
communication in the classroom so that they werent sitting there staring at me with nothing to
do. As the students were working in their groups I walked around and checked in with each
group. I would ask them questions to check for understanding. This allowed me to monitor
student work in all areas of the classroom. Todays strategies worked really well. For it being
my first lesson for these students I wouldnt change a thing.
4.) Assessment:
Today the students learned the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. I passed out
a pre-test worksheet at the beginning of class. During the period I spoke to every student as I
walked around the classroom which provided an excellent opportunity to perform formative
assessment. I used summative assessment during the students presentations and toward the end
of class when I asked direct questions to the class as a group.
Today I learned that regardless how well you present a lesson not all students will give a
100% effort. There were three individuals in three different groups that gave little to no effort

working in their groups. They simply copied what every else in their group did. Not everyone
enjoys working in groups either. There were two individuals that did the whole assignment
themselves and didnt work together at all. That is why my next lesson will be lecture and
PowerPoint with individual assignments. Mr. Hamer told me that he usually takes 2-3 days on
the amendments. This will give me an opportunity to try three different techniques.