Title: City States Lesson Plan

Date: 10/9/14
Description:
This artifact is a copy of a lesson plan I created for pre-student teaching and used for
a 9th grade World History and Geography class at Platteville High School in
Platteville, WI. This lesson plan is in the UW-Platteville School of Education Lesson
Planning Template. I used this lesson plan to teach four classes on Greek city-states.
Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment:
This experience best aligns with Standard Seven: Instructional Planning- The
teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the
community, and curriculum goals.
This best aligns with Standard Seven because in creating this lesson plan, I allowed a
lot of room for variation. I believe that plans must always be open to adjustment and
revision based on student needs and changing circumstances. This is very evident in
my lesson because it focuses on questioning techniques to get the students to think
at a deeper level during the reading. When asking questions, one can never be sure
how the students will respond. Allowing room for adjustment in the number or form
of questions was very important for this lesson. In this lesson plan I also created
activities that operate at multiple levels to meet the developmental and individual
needs of diverse learners and help each progress. For example, during the popcorn
reading if any student had trouble reading out loud, his or her section of reading
would be shorter. My other activities included a simple compare and contrast with a
Venn diagram and then extended response questions as homework. The gradual
increase in Webbs depth of knowledge allowed for students to be scaffold into a
higher level of thinking.
I am more competent now in this standard because I was able to take what I knew of
the students and the content to create a well-rounded and informative lesson. This
lesson plan included eliciting the students prior knowledge, popcorn reading with
questions throughout, and a closing activity. All of which allowed for room to modify
during the lesson if need be. This experience has taught me the importance of
having a lesson plan to work from so the class and students stay on track and obtain
the objectives set in the lesson plan.
UW-Platteville Knowledge, Skill, and Dispositional Statement Alignment:
This experience best aligns with KSD3.e: Demonstrates Flexibility and
Responsiveness- The candidate has the ability to make appropriate adjustments to
his/her instruction and accommodates students questions and interests while being
aware of student differences and difficulties, and can use a wide range of resources
and strategies to meet all students needs in the classroom.

This best aligns with KSD3.e because my lesson plan relied heavily on questioning
techniques, which requires a great deal of flexibility and responsiveness. When
teaching this lesson, I had to know when and how to adjust the plans based on
student responses and other contingencies. The questions varied with every class. I
would have the basic ones I would ask, but then depending on the student
responses, I would ask follow up question to get them on the right path or to acquire
deeper understanding.
I am more competent in this standard because I feel more experienced and prepared
to vary my lessons when need be. The lessons will never go exactly as planned. For
example, in one of my classes we ended up having a class wide vote on which citystate the students would rather live in and then discussed the results. This was not
in my lesson plan nor did I ever think to do this activity. I have learned during this
pre-student teaching experience, that I will have to be flexible and able to respond
to different scenarios.
Secondary Alignment:
KS1.e Designs Coherent Instruction
KS3.c Engages Students in Learning
Reflection about teaching/learning:
I have learned a lot about teaching and learning when creating this lesson plan. I had
to take into account what I had observed about the students during pre-student
teaching to come up with a lesson that would be challenging and engaging. I noticed
the students responded well to questioning techniques; however, every class was
different. I knew I would have to create a lesson that allowed for flexibility in
questions and responses. Not all students will understand the information at the
same rate and so my lesson needed to include ways to check for understanding.
Also, I had to be able to scaffold the students into higher level thinking throughout
the lesson. The experience of creating a lesson plan to encompass all of these factors
was both challenging and rewarding. I feel more prepared to respond to the variety
of ways a lesson can go.
Reflection about myself as a prospective teacher:
As a prospective teacher, I have learned how important a lesson plan is. When I
taught the first class, I relied on my notes a lot to make sure the class was running
how I planned. However, as I taught more classes, I realized that sticking solely on
the lesson plan was not always feasible. I planned out questions to insert during the
reading, but as I heard the responses, I had to keeping asking questions to get the
students to respond with the correct answers. Also, as I hear the answers to the
questions I saw opportunities to go into deeper understanding. I learned that lesson
plans are essential, but also they are guidelines that teacher can work within.