Lesson Analysis Lesson planning is something that I have been able to make great improvements on, but yet

I still still need more practice in order to refine this particular skill of teaching. When I lesson plan, I try to incorporate my philosophy and goals into the plans so the actual lesson will represent my goals towards teaching social studies. While I was a student teacher, I generally tried to make my lesson plans a day in advance. While this may be considered late by some, considering the situation student teaching puts teacher candidates in, a day served me well. Also, I know when I do begin teaching on my own, there will be times where pacing and other instruction will need to be adjusted. I know my lesson planning skills need work, but I hope to remain flexible, while keeping a larger or broader pacing guide in mind. The lesson plan that will be discussed in this analysis was given in April, 2014 at Clarke Central High School to a group of 12th grade economic advanced students. The unit was personal finance and the particular element of that unit that was discussed in the lesson centered on incentives. My goals for the lesson were for the students to understand the difference between positive and negative incentives, that their decisions have consequences, and how rational decisions are made. Also, my goals were to see how students viewed their schooling, and to see what they had planned for after high school. Starter Analysis: As part of my philosophy, I want my students to be able to connect with the curriculum. The reason why I chose the line of contention was to see how my students viewed their education, and to see if they could contextualize why education is important. Also, I wanted to see if they would mention some incentives of going to school such as money, sports, or exposure to different things. Many students mentioned during the lesson that they were motivated to stay in school or continue their education to make more money than they would if they dropped out. When I posed the question: Is going to college worth it even if you have to take out student loans? Almost all the students agreed that going to college was worth it up to a certain point, which showed me that they understood the concept of opportunity costs, a concept we had covered earlier. This starter allowed me to foreshadow the lesson by eluding to the concept of incentives while also linking the curriculum to their current lives. I also liked the use of a line of contention in this lesson because it made the students make a decision and present that decision to the class, which is something they had not done much during the semester. Mini Lesson/ Work Session Analysis: When I deliver information I prefer it do be in an instructor led method. While others may prefer more student driven discovery to new material, my personality fits better with an instructor led model. Also, while I was at Clarke-Central we did collaborative planning and this was the way that some of the other teachers taught so it helped us to all stay on the same page in terms of pacing. The reason why I gave out a note organizer was to help the students that may of had a hard time focusing or do not

know how to take notes well. The organizer highlights the key terms and ideas in the powerpoint. While the note organizer contains the key ideas and terms, I also interject questions and comments so the delivery is more interactive to keep their attention as well. The powerpoint for this class was not very long as only four slides were covered. I try to keep the length of the powerpoint presentations as short as I can in order to avoid monotony in the class. After the powerpoint, the students were to work on a worksheet that dealt specifically about incentives. The reason why I gave the students this particular worksheet is because the worksheet allowed the students to decide whether the incentive was positive or negative, who was offering the incentive, and would it influence their behavior. This worksheet made the students think critically and recall prior learning such as opportunity costs. I made the students work individually for this exercise because I wanted to see if they could individually understand the concept or if we needed to practice more. This worksheet was the students direct contact with the material. Before I move on to more abstract ideas, I want to give my students some concrete assignment to make sure they understand the concept before I transition to either more abstract ideals or ideals that connect with their lives. The worksheet served as a guide to future learning and helped me assess whether or not they understood the concept Closer: The closer for this class may seem a little abstract or intriguing, but it plays on my philosophy. When I gave this particular closer the students in my class were just a few weeks away from graduating. I believed it to be beneficial for students to begin to think about their lives after high school. The students did not have to have a concrete plan, but I did want them to at least to give some ideas about what they may do after high school. To be honest, the answer could have ranged from illegal activities to farfetched ideas, I simply wanted the students to realize that there are positive and negative incentives to the choices that they make. (Please see Assessment Analysis for more detail on the closing activity)