EDU 1010

Orientation to Education
Teaching Demonstration
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be met. Complete this form and send it to me as an email Word doc attachment.

Name __Yukari Jewkes ____________ Date July 8, 2014______

Curriculum Title ___Tortoise and Hare Races____________________


Utah State Standard: standard 3 (Geography) students will use geographic terms and
tools

Objective (s): objectives 2, describe the purpose of a map or globe, session 1. Understand
the story and learn the locations on the path in the right order as they appear in the
story. Be able to reconstruct them on a map. Retell the story using maps.

Materials: The Tortoise and the Hare: An Aesop Fable by Janet Stevens, 11 x 18
construction paper, picture of hare and tortoise, map symbols made by construction
paper, tape, glue, crayons/markers

Background for Teachers: The story is about a race between very fast hare and very slow
tortoise. It involves a simple path with a few locations and is a great vehicle to teach
students basic map skills. It also involves a problem and solution and character traits
that young children can understand.

Intended Learning Outcomes: (same as objectives) objectives 2, describe the purpose of
a map or globe, session 1. Understand the story and learn the locations on the path in
the right order as they appear in the story. Be able to reconstruct them on a map. Retell
the story using maps.

Instructional Procedures:
1. Read the book, The tortoise and The Hare.
2. Discuss the path the two animals took. Ask the students how they would draw this
path, what different symbols they would use. (The teacher may want to explain the
difference between turtles and tortoise, rabbits and hares at this point.)
3. Draw the model map of the race on a paper. Discuss, decide, and glue those symbols
on the map.
4. Show students how they can reproduce the story on a map.
5. Have students draw their own map and glue symbols in the right order as they appear
in the story.
6. Hand tortoise and hare pieces to students and have them retell the story using the
map.

Family Connections: (take home activity) Have students take the map they drew and
retell the story to their families using it. Encourage students to explain to parents why it
is more important to do their personal best rather than being first.

Assessment Plan: (how do you plan to assess whether or not students gained the
skill/concept?) Have students retell the story of The Tortoise and the Hare to a buddy.
This works best if the buddy is from an older grade or an adult. Provide a few key
questions the older buddy should ask such as: Why did the tortoise win? Why did the
hare stop? How did tortoises friends treat him? How should we treat children in the
class who finish last?


Reflection:
I was fascinated to find this lesson on Utah Education Network site, for the lesson
is designed to teach children the concept of map with an introduction using the well-
known story. I like reading and storytelling to myself and also enjoy doing it with
children, but the thought literature can be expanded and related to other areas such as
geometry was novel to me. I thought even a bit younger children could enjoy the
learning process.
I omitted the first reading part from the video clip, but some children were
frowning as if they disagree to the hares remarks to the tortoise. It shows that this book
can be used for moral discussion appropriate for their age in terms of how they should
treat others. And I would like to keep this multifaceted implementation in my mind as I
plan my lessons in the future.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I could help some EL children because I
speak the same language, but there was also a Russian boy whose English
understanding was still limited, and I am not so sure if I offered him enough help. This
will leave me with future improvement as a teacher.
The actual lesson went smoothly, and all the children were engaged well for the
whole process which was about 30 minutes long. Also I decide to have them work in
pair, and it was nice to see them cooperate with each other.