Geography Lesson 1 Reflection

         During this lesson, a group of 6 fourth graders learned all about the geography of France and many different mapping skills. The lesson started off with an introduction and some community building, as this was our first time working together as a group. With the use of collaboration skills, the teachers and students created a list of behavior expectations to refer to during future lessons. Miss. Karlie and I created brochures, passports, and suitcases specific to France for our learning journey. We then reviewed where France was on the globe and its surroundings. While also observing two maps, one from 1806 and another from 1991 spotting the similarities and differences. Incorporated into this lesson were brain breaks and many hands-on activities. 

        The entire lesson went extremely well and all of the students seemed to enjoy the activities we created for them. Collaboration was a key strength, all of the students remained engaged and shared their thoughts within the group eagerly. While passing out the journals to the students they were very excited that they got to personalize them by designing and coloring the front. The brain breaks implemented into this lesson seemed to take place at the right times. Students enjoyed getting up and having a movement break aside from the learning activities. An area of weakness within our lesson would be that we didn't get to complete everything that we had listed on our agenda. Seeing that the students had a good time with the hands-on activities, it was unfortunate that we didn't get to our play-doh activity. Although, this activity can be carried into our next lesson.

        One of the student learning objectives included in this lesson was for students to be able to accurately locate France on the globe. The students met this objective although it took some time, they passed the globe around to one another and took turns trying to find France. After about 3 minutes the students were able to locate France and the physical features surrounded by it. One student stated,  "France right here next to Spain!" Miss. Karlie and I recognize that this learning objective was met due to the indication of France during our map activity. The results from the pre-assessment shows that there is some knowledge on France and its background but further learning would be beneficial. All 6 students met the objectives included in this lesson with less assistance than expected. 

        The experience I had with this group of students helps me to get to know them personally, academically, and socially. The amount of time spent with them gave me the opportunity to get to know them as a student and individual. All of the students participated throughout the lesson especially when creating the chart based on the old map vs. the new map and continued to make an effort to engage. Aside from the students, I learned that incorporating primary sources into lessons is important and can be included in so much. 

    This lesson will forever influence my professional identity as it was my first lesson focused on social studies. The amount of time dedicated to creating the lesson, making materials, and gathering primary sources was impactful. Including brain breaks is something I've never included in my lesson planning, but with this experience I realize it is truly beneficial to the students. Having a visual agenda not only kept the students on track but also myself as the educator. Creating an agenda is a simple way of keeping the students on track and ready to learn and I will continue to add this into future lessons. Having a mix of reading, hands on activities, and collaborative discussions kept the students on track and ready to learn. 

Videos: Learn About France Video

Brain Break Video:Would You Rather BB

Other Materials Used:

Velcro Map

Student Passports

Travel Suitcases


 



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