Lesson Plan Activity:
African Regions
I decided to take one of
my lessons just dripping with direct-instruction qualities and try to morph it
into a more student-centered lesson. My
social studies classes are currently involved in an African unit of study and
one of our lessons covers four major regions on the continent of Africa. This lesson could be easily described as a
great remedy for any sleepless night.
The lesson is highly-boring and lacking any motivation for the students
whatsoever. This is a great opportunity
for me to take a lesson with very low motivation and try to mold it into
something that is still educational, but also exciting. The African Regions lesson is about to have a
facelift; something that is long overdue.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to describe from a teacher-selected region of African at least three examples of how the selected group has interacted with and adapted to their environment.
- Students will be able to compare and contrast similarities and differences that the African geography has with the United States.
- Students will be able
to identify at least two characteristics of Africa's main regions, as
identified by the instructor in class.
Duration:
- One class period.
Materials Needed:
- African Regions PowerPoint
- Computer and Projector
- Students with notebooks and sharpened pencils
Procedures:
- Students will begin this lesson by taking notes from a PowerPoint which describes the four main regions of Africa. The teacher’s role in this process is to read the information and provide the student’s with any feedback to their questions (if there are any).
- After taking notes over the regions; the students will write a journal entry about how their life would be different if they lived in each of the four regions presented. Students will also describe at least three examples from each region of how the people have interacted with and adapted to their environment.
- We will conclude the lesson by discussing the findings as a whole-group.
Assessment:
- Students will be assessed through their journal writings as to whether or not they understand the four regions of Africa.
Summary of the Original Lesson:
I don’t mind the journal portion of this lesson; but that is about the only thing that is worth keeping. I plan to remodel this lesson so that when it is finished we will see a product that is much more student-centered. In the appendix you will see the slides from the PowerPoint presentation over the African Regions. These slides are what the students will be copying down into their interactive student notebooks (A.K.A. spirals).
The African Regions lesson in its original state is highly boring and has very little motivation for the student to become excited about this topic. The major instructional theory behind the lesson is direct-instruction. This lesson just lent itself to being presented with the help of PowerPoint and having the students passively taking notes. After the notes were copies, the instructor would discuss the findings with the class and it was expected that the students would have an understanding on the topic which would help them on their Africa test.
Reasons for Changing
The primary reason for wanting to make a change with this lesson is the fact that I want to remove the direct-instruction element from ruling the entire learning process with this activity. There are many teachers that do not present an exciting approach to history, probably because they were taught in the dates-facts method (Bransford & Brown, 2000). I don’t want to be accused of making social studies boring. My students need to understand the concept and characteristics of the four main regions in Africa; but I want them to learn it in a more student-centered learning environment. The best analogy that I can think of with making this change is turning your thermostat at home from heating to cooling. It doesn’t take too long to push the button to make the switch; however, the results are quite different on what is happening as well as being produced.
The re-designed lesson for teaching the four primary regions of Africa will shift to being a student-learning environment through a constructivist approach in which the students will work at stations and then teach each other the information over the regions. I chose this theory because I wanted to make the lesson a much more learner-friendly lesson. As much as I want to shift to a student-centered approach, I understand that it is not always just one or the other (student-centered or teacher-centered). It was said (O’Neill & McMahon, 2005) that learning is often presented in this dualism of either student–centered learning or teacher–centered learning. In the reality of practice the situation is less black and white.
Below are the same objects as were previously stated in the original lesson. The reason that the objectives were not changed is because they are a part of our standards that we have to address in our social studies class. I am not concerned with changing the objectives, but rather the way that we meet the objectives.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to describe from a teacher-selected region of African at least three examples of how the selected group has interacted with and adapted to their environment.
- Students will be able
to compare and contrast similarities and differences that the African
geography has with the
- Students will be able
to identify at least two characteristics of
Duration:
- One class period.
Materials Needed:
- Social Studies Textbook along with African Geographical Resources.
- African Regions PowerPoint Slides in a printed handout form (information packets).
- Computer and Projector (if students choose to utilize the technology for their presentations.
- Construction paper, markers, colored pencils.
- Students with notebooks and sharpened pencils.
Procedures:
- Students
will begin this lesson by breaking into groups of three or four
students. Each group will be given
an information packet containing one of the four main regions of
- The packet will contain specific information, maps, and details pertaining to the student’s assigned region.
- The students will read through their packets together and come up with a way to teach the other students about their region.
- There are several options that the students may use in their presentation (create a poster, sing a song about their region, and create/perform a skit depicting their region, or anything else that has been preapproved by the teacher).
- The most commonly used approach by the students has been to create the poster and include basic information about their region alongside of a visual depiction of what that region looks like.
- The goal is for the students to become an expert group over their region and be able to teach their fellow students the important information about their region.
- While students are presenting, the other groups are responsible for taking notes and learning about the other three regions.
- Students may ask expert groups questions to clarify anything that may be deemed fuzzy. Once the entire class feels like they understand the key concepts of the four regions, the students will begin writing a journal entry about how their life would be different if they lived in each of the four regions presented. Students will also describe at least three examples from each region of how the people have interacted with and adapted to their environment.
Assessment:
- Students will be assessed through their journal writings as well as their group presentations as to whether or not they understand the key concepts of the four regions of Africa.
- Daily Grades will be received from this lesson.
Summary of the New Lesson:
The whole point of modifying this lesson was to take away the teacher-directed instruction and put the learning in the hands of the students. I wanted to swing the pendulum from the students being passive learners to being active learners. It was said (Jones, 2000, p. 25) that in a student-centered classroom, our role as a teacher is to help and encourage the students to develop their skills without relinquishing our more traditional role as a source of information, advice, and knowledge. Teachers are supposed to be there to help guide the students and facilitate their learning.
I believe that through some minor tweaking that this goal was accomplished and the lesson will better received by the students compared to just sitting down and writing notes from a PowerPoint.
References:
Bransford, J., & Brown, A. L. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Jones, L. (2007). The Student-Centered Classroom. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neill, G., & McMahon, T. (2005). Student-Centered Learning: What Does It Mean for Students and Lecturers? Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.aishe.org/readings/2005-1/oneill-mcmahon-Tues_19th_Oct_SCL.pdf
Appendix
