Teaching a Direct Lesson

As an educator, teaching your very first whole class lesson can be a little intimidating. While preparing to teach a direct lesson on the American Revolution to a 4th grade class, I realized the lesson plans that I had previously written weren't nearly as intimidating as this one was. In the past, I would write lesson plans but not teach them to a whole class.

During the planning and writing process, I learned how difficult it was to find ways to keep the students interested such as pictures, slide animations, and different assessment quizzes to give. When I heard that I must write three different lessons about the battles and events of the American Revolution, I was at a lose for what I was going to do. The direct lesson was pretty simple but tedious.

I feel that my direct lesson went pretty well. The guided notes were very useful for the 4th grade class to use and remember information. The class was also able to use these notes during the inquiry and cooperative lesson.

I really enjoy Kahoot quizzes so it worked out perfectly that I was able to create a Kahoot quiz for my students to review the information I had just taught them during the lesson. The children responded well to the Kahoot quiz and it was a useful tool to measure how the lesson went.

One item I can improve for next time is the amount I read off of the slide and the adding of more information that is not necessarily important but are interesting. I could also improve how much I walk around the classroom. During this lesson I mainly stayed toward the front of the room but I could have moved around more to make sure the students were on track while I was talking.