For my TE 401 class this semester we have to create two lessons, on in science, and another in social studies. I taught my social studies lesson on the 19th to my 5th grade classroom at Herbison Woods in DeWitt. I chose to do the topic on early European explorers, because that is what they were learning about. I really wanted them to do a hands on activity, something were they could be very involved. I decided to have them do a role playing activity were they were explorers getting ready for their expedition.
I split them into 6 groups (4 students each) each one had a ship name that I made specific to their community (The Herbison, The DeWitter, the Spartan-popular one). My hope was that this would get them excited about the lesson and willing to put in their best effort. I prepared reading for them to go over about the purpose of their trip, dangers, supplies, technology, and funding. They each had a Captain's Log (worksheet) with questions related to each topic. They had to read the material and then discuss as a group what they should do. For example for "Dangers" they had to decide if they wanted their ship to be armed so they could fend off pirates, but it would cost a lot more money and they would have less room for supplies. While I was going around the classroom I head a lot of discussing going on and the students were really getting into it.
Overall I think it went really good, they were actively involved in problem solving, did analytical thinking and students had to back up that thinking, and they all seemed to be really into it. There were definitely some things I could have done better, for instance I should have had a system if they didn't agree on anything. Because most of the groups were an even number there were a few instances where they were split 50/50, I should have had all the groups an odd number or had some sort of rock/paper/scissors type thing. I was really happy how it turned out though and I think the main strength was that it got the students involved.
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