Islam Unit

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

KWL chart (First 5 mins) -Fill K and W Smartboard mapping activity -Blank map handout -interactive placement of details

Quiz- Map (First 5 mins)

Quiz- 5 pillars (First 5 mins)

Share movie reactions (First 5 mins)

Library Visit Day

Powerpoint cont.

Documentaryhttp://topdocumentaryfilms. com/islam-empire-faith/ Spread of Islam vs. Spread of Christianity diagraming activity

Intro to 5 Pillars group project -assign groups

Researching Lesson#

Write-up -4 things that were interesting & why (due beginning of class tomorrow)

Begin Powerpoint/lecture -Muhammad and Emergence of Islam

(theme due Thursday) (Presentations Tuesday/Wednesday next week

1. My co-operating teacher uses a computer database called PlanBook. It was developed by a friend of his. The program produces charts for each of my co-ops classes, similar to the chart I created above. The screen view of the charts show them stacked on top of one and other with each class or subject assigned a different chart color. The program allows him daily, weekly, and monthly views. There are also options that allow him to attach documents, hand outs, videos, and whole lesson plans. He could not provide me with any print outs of his weekly plans because they were all in this database format and would not print off accurately. His planning is done using the bottom-up approach. Before the beginning of the semester, all of world history teachers meet to design the desired curriculum. For the past few years this has been done using themes to clump ideas, events, and people instead of approaching them chronologically. The teachers decide what the desired outcome of the units will be and what space each unit will take in the semester. After this is all decided, a large semester outline is dispersed to the teachers so they can begin their unit planning. My co-op mirrors his approach to coaching track in his lesson planning. He starts by looking at where the students need to get to by the end of the unit and then plans his weekly lessons working backwards from that end point. Nothing about my co-ops process surprised me. I actually really enjoyed his bottom-up approach. It was interesting that he was able to apply his coaching methodology to his classroom. 2. About 40% of my planning process came from my social studies content knowledge. I am in no way well versed in the history of Islam. However, I did have basic understanding of the religion and Muhammad. I applied what I already knew along with some great

sources I was able to locate. Social studies is so much more than history. It is also anthropology, sociology, psychology, geography, and political science. My understanding of all of these approaches assisted me in creating my weekly plan. I was able to approach and deliver the material from multiple perspectives. 3. My knowledge and understanding of the professional teaching standards along with my understanding of learning standards, were able to assist me in developing my weekly plan. They were able to help me determine where my students needed to be at the end of the unit. Therefore, modeling my co-ops planning methods, I was able to work backward from where the standards determined my students needed to end up at. I also applied my understanding of the needs of diverse learners when producing my lessons. I was able to make sure that multiple techniques were used to teach the content. I also was able to implement both formative and summative assessments in my weeks plan. Most days of my planned week started with some form of formative assessment. I designed my week with a unit test at the end of week 2 of the unit in mind. Both the unit test and the large project were to be applied as summative assessments of the material. 4. My current classroom is equipped with a diverse group of learners. With the learning spectrum being so widespread, I had to keep all the abilities in mind when brainstorming lessons. I knew I had some students whose reading and comprehension levels were at college level and some were as low as 5th grade. I knew I had to produce material that could accommodate the entire spectrum. I also was aware of which students would most likely need some more personal instruction and those who would grab a hold of the material right away. The independence and free reign of the large project would help me in my attempt reach all of my students. Students

would be allowed to decide how they wanted to present the information to the class. Also my use of the Smartboard and interactive activities following any segment of lecturing would help me reach and assist my students who may be struggling to comprehend the material. After observing in my placement I have also witnessed a few class discussions. This has given me a feel of what interest the students in my class and what they value. This knowledge helped me in determining how to present the information, what type of lessons to use, and the type of activities they would best react to. Knowing what my students cared about helped me decide how to make the material relevant to them. 5. My co-op did not have very much feedback for me. I completed the weekly plan before he was able to show me his planning methods. Surprisingly my approach to the lesson planning was very similar to the approach he used, so I did not need to tweak much after conferencing with him. I attempted to fish for some constructive criticism, but he only provided me with praise. He was especially fond of the documentary I found and my delivery of it. The lesson on researching was another element he was also partial to. He described the lack of basic skills his were being taught in previous grades. My co-operating teacher has been teaching for around 30 years and has voiced his discontentment with the current state of learning in the district. He has told me on many occasions that he feels the district has played a large role in the learned helplessness of the students over the past few years. Students are not coming in with the skills they once were.