Lesson 6- Advocacy

Today was our last lesson with the students. We focused on advocacy for this lesson, and we also focused on a celebrity figure who has made an impact in society. As with all of our previous lessons, we started with community building. We asked the students, "What is your favorite sport to play or watch?" Students responded with baseball, football, soccer, and one said she didn't really like sports, but if she had to pick, she would pick volleyball. We then moved on to our expectations, where each student had the opportunity to read an expectation from our list. My partner then guided the students in completing our interactive word wall. Once we finished our introduction activities, we jumped into our lesson for the day. I displayed our first primary source of a protest from the 1990s for student to complete their "I see, I think, I wonder" worksheet. Students got a chance to share their findings. Then, I displayed a photo from a more recent protest from the Black Lives Matter protest in California. The student then completed the same worksheet and got to share their finding again. After this activity, we then explained to the students what protests are and how important they are. We then discussed what advocacy is and read a biography about Serena Williams and her impact on the world, especially in Women's sports such as tennis. After reading the biography, I moved on to explaining our anchor chart about cause and effect. Then the students got the chance to create their own cause and effect with teacher guidance. After the students completed their cause and effect sheet, they got to share with the group what they came up with. We then completed our " Would You Rather " brain break in the hallway. After our brain break, we moved on to complete a T-chart that my partner created to compare the past and present on a topic that the students picked. The students chose to compare the past and present of climate change. We gave the students a few minutes to discuss with their partner their thoughts. Then my partner gave each group the chance to share two things about the past and present with climate change. After we completed the t-chart activity, the students then had a chance to create protest posters about climate change. The topics they chose were to stop littering, stop polluting the earth, and lower gas/oil prices. After creating their protest posters, we then created Serena Williams puppets. We passed out the cutout of Serena Williams, the page bags, scissors, markers, and the glue to the students. While the students were working on their puppet, I also quickly cut out the pieces and glued them onto the bag so that they had a reference on what the end result is supposed to look like. An area that went well in this lesson was the engagement in the activities such as the primary sources, the cause and effect, the posters, and the puppet making. An area of weakness was the technology. My partner was having trouble connecting to the wifi. I tried to solve the problem by using my personal hotspot, but at times, it was having some issues as well, which made it difficult to show the students the primary sources and videos we had prepared for the lesson. 

These are the student learning outcomes that were being followed throughout the lesson:

SLO 1: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify a problem and its impact by completing a cause and effect chart. 

SLO 2: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to plan and create/devise a solution by brainstorming ideas in pairs and working collaboratively with peers to create their invention to solve a problem.

SLO 3: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to empathize with how people adapt to change by taking civic action to solve a problem through role-playing someone who made a difference in their community. 

SLO 4: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to analyze a historical artifact from the Library of Congress to identify, describe, and discuss how people positively contributed to their community. 

The objectives that were met were objectives 1,2, and 4. The evidence from these objectives is the students' personal cause and effect worksheets, the protest posters, and their analysis of the primary sources with the "I see, I think, I wonder" worksheet. Because of our limited time, the only objective that was not met was number 3. All of the students met the other objectives with teacher support.

From this experience, I learned the importance of engagement through interactive and meaningful activities. Students were most involved when they were actively participating, such as analyzing primary sources with the "I see, I think, I wonder" activity, creating cause and effect charts, and designing protest posters. I also learned how valuable scaffolding and teacher support are, as students were able to successfully meet objectives when given guidance. Additionally, this lesson showed me how technology can impact instruction, as connection issues made it more difficult to deliver parts of the lesson as planned, requiring flexibility and quick problem solving. 

This experience helped shape my identity as a teacher who values student voice, engagement, and real-world connections. Teaching about advocacy, protests, and influential figures like Serena Williams reinforced my belief that students should learn content that connects to their lives and empowers them to think critically about the world. I also see myself as a teacher who prioritizes creating a supportive classroom community, as seen through our consistent community building activities and opportunities for students to share their ideas. Additionally, this experience reinforced the importance of being adaptable and reflective, especially when challenges like technology arise. 

This experience will influence my future teaching by encouraging me to plan lessons that include hands-on, student centered activities that promote engagement and deeper understanding. I will continue to incorporate strategies like primary source analysis and collaborative discussions to support critical thinking. In terms of teaching, I will be more intentional about having backup plans, especially when relying on technology, to ensure smooth instruction. For assessment, I will continue using multiple forms of evidence, such as worksheets, discussions, and creative projects, to evaluate student understanding. I will also try to be more mindful of time management, ensuring that all objectives are addressed.