Social Studies Observation
Date: 3/7/2013
Content: Maps
The teacher brought the students to the carpet to talk about the new content. The teacher gave each student their own atlas. They all turned to a certain page and look at the planet Earth. The teacher asked what planet is the picture showing. The students say it’s Earth. They are then asked to point at where the United States is and are asked what continent it is. The teacher then tells students that the green is land, blue is oceans, white is clouds and brown is soil. The teacher asks what kind of view Earth is shown from. The teacher asks students to find where China, Kenya, France, Argentina and Australia are. The teacher then releases students to complete worksheet. The first side of the worksheet is just labeling and coloring each continent a different color. The second side of the worksheet was labeling the country that was imaged and also writing if the image shown is a bird’s eye view or eye view. The entire lesson took about 20-30 minutes. The lesson is a direct lesson plan. I didn’t think this lesson was very effective because the students did not discover anything on their own. I think she did not take enough time to explain the topic. She asked many questions, which helped with understanding but I don’t think that it was very efficient. If I was doing this lesson, I would include more explanation and ask students more questions.
Content: Maps
The teacher brought the students to the carpet to talk about the new content. The teacher gave each student their own atlas. They all turned to a certain page and look at the planet Earth. The teacher asked what planet is the picture showing. The students say it’s Earth. They are then asked to point at where the United States is and are asked what continent it is. The teacher then tells students that the green is land, blue is oceans, white is clouds and brown is soil. The teacher asks what kind of view Earth is shown from. The teacher asks students to find where China, Kenya, France, Argentina and Australia are. The teacher then releases students to complete worksheet. The first side of the worksheet is just labeling and coloring each continent a different color. The second side of the worksheet was labeling the country that was imaged and also writing if the image shown is a bird’s eye view or eye view. The entire lesson took about 20-30 minutes. The lesson is a direct lesson plan. I didn’t think this lesson was very effective because the students did not discover anything on their own. I think she did not take enough time to explain the topic. She asked many questions, which helped with understanding but I don’t think that it was very efficient. If I was doing this lesson, I would include more explanation and ask students more questions.