Lesson 3- Civics

 For our third lesson with our 3rd graders, we learned about civics. Before we started our lesson, we told them the topic of our lesson for the day, and they didn't quite know what civics was about. My partner had explained to them that civics is the government and that there are different parts within the government. After explaining the topic to the students, we moved on to our community building activity. This week's community building question was "What makes a good classroom community? The students shared their classroom expectations and rules, and explained how they think those create a good classroom community. We then moved on to our expectations while also introducing a new method of using figets to help everyone stay focused. As we moved on to our next thing on the agenda, each student chose a fidget, and we completed our interactive word wall. After the word wall was complete, we moved on to showing the students the first primary source, which was a painting of the creation of the Declaration of Independence. We asked the students to complete a dry erase worksheet of what they see, what they think, and what they wonder. When the students were done, they each got a chance to share their thoughts. Next, we shared the second primary source and repeated the same process. Asked we had the students to watch a video about government, to give them a general idea of the things we would be doing a deep dive into. I then showed the student our anchor charts that went more into detail about civics and the three branches of government. My partner then read some books and showed a few videos to the students about Congress, the inside of the building, and how laws are made and passed. To check the students' understanding of what we learned, we moved on to complete an interactive tree of Congress.  After finishing the tree of Congress, we had a little discussion about how civic life has changed over time. Our next activity in the lesson was doing a mock voting. My partner read a few pages from a book that talks about voting, and then we discussed the importance of voting. The students then participated in a mock voting. They had to vote on different types of foods, drinks, and clothing. After our mock voting, we had noticed that the students were getting a bit unfocused, so we decided it was a good time for a movement break to get our wiggles out. After our movement break, we got the students back to the table to get ready for our writing activity. As we were passing out the graphic organizer, we realized our time with the students was coming to an end, so we pivoted a little. Because we knew we were not going to have time, my partner and I decided to have the students do the drawing activity.  I feel overall the lesson went much better than previous lessons aspecally when it comes to the students' focus and engagement. I feel the fidgets were a huge help for our students, 

These were the objectives that were met throughout our lesson with the students:

1. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize the difference between the three branches of government by their roles and duties through readings, activities, and materials.

2. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify the three branches of government through interactive activities and materials. 

3. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify the rights and responsibilities of American citizens through activities and situations.

The evidence to show that the students met these expectations of the lesson was during the interactive chart and the mock voting. All of the students met the objectives but did not exceed them because they had teacher guidance through these discussions and activities to help them gain the knowledge and understanding of civics. If I could change a part of this lesson, I would include more hands on activities. I feel like during the writing activities and reading parts of books is when we really start to lose the students' focus. Incorporating more hands on actiitys, students will have a better understanding with visual representation through those activities. 

My big takeaway from this lesson was the implementation of the fidgets and how successful they were in supporting students' focus and engagement. I noticed a clear difference in the students' ability to stay on task, participate in discussions, and complete activities when they had something to help regulate their attention. Rather than becoming a distraction, the fidgets actually helped create a more productive learning environment. This experience showed me the importance of being responsive to students' needs and recognizing that engagement looks different for every learner. It reinforced that small instructional shifts can have a big impact on student learning and behavior. 

This experience also influenced my developing professional identity as a teacher. It helped me see myself as someone who is flexible, reflective, and willing to adapt instruction in the moment. For example, when we noticed students becoming unfocused, we adjusted by incorporating a movement break and later modifying the final activity due to time constraints. These decisions supported students' needs while still maintaining the goals of the lesson. I am beginning to understand that effective teaching is not about just following a plan, but about making thoughtful decisions based on what students need in real time.

In the future, this lesson will influence how I plan and teach by encouraging me to be more intentional about incorporating hands on and interactive activities throughout lessons. I want to design learning experiences that keep students actively engaged, especially during parts of the lesson where focus tends to decrease, such as extended reading and writing tasks. I will also continue to build in supports like fidgets and movement breaks as proactive strategies rather than waiting until students lose focus. Overall, this lesson helped me grow in understanding how to balance structure with flexibility, and how to create an engaging, supportive classroom environment that meets the diverse needs of my students.