Lesson Plan

Day: M T W T F Date: _12/2/15___ Time: 12:07-13:11 1

HOUR LESSON Year: 7
Learning Area: HASS Topic: Introduction to Ancient China
Curriculum content description: (from ACARA)
Historical Knowledge and Understanding
The role of a significant individual in ancient society

Students prior knowledge and experience:

(Outline what the students already know about this topic)

This is an introductory topic, having asked students the previous day, none
of the students professed to knowing much at all about Ancient China

Learning purpose:

(May refer to the Elaborations of the curriculum content

description here)

Students describe events and developments from the perspective of

different people who lived at the time. Students explain the role of groups
and the significance of particular individuals in society.

Learning objectives:

On completion of this lesson,

students will be able to:
(What will students know and be able to do
at the completion of the lesson specific,
concise and attainable objectives)

Students must demonstrate

understanding of
innovations/inventions Ancient China
contributed to the world. Students
must demonstrate a basic
understanding of Ancient Chinas
natural barriers.

Evaluation:
(Explain how you will know that lesson
objective have been achieved / monitor
student learning)

Students must have completed

assigned mapping exercise
(demonstrates knowledge of Ancient
Chinas geography).
Students must be able to inform me
what the inventions Ancient China
contributed to the world (i.e; paper,
gunpowder, silk, printing block)

Preparation and Resources:

(Detail what resources will be used and what other preparation of the learning environment
will be required)

22x Activity Booklet (includes Mapping Exercise, Invention mix/match sheet)

Aux Cable
Plasma Screen TV
Whiteboard
Whiteboard Markers x 3
Laptop

Catering for diversity

(detail any adjustments considerations for

educational/resource adjustments)

This year 7 class is an ACE class (Academic Curriculum Extension Class). I

have been informed that their learning level is similar to that of a year 8
class. Make sure that activity sheet incorporates Blooms Taxonomy of
Higher Learning. Do not just write questions such as What are Chinas 4
natural barriers, rather reword them like China is a geographically isolated
country, explain why that is.
The year 7s in the class are all visual learners so incorporate Visual Aids into
the lesson- mapping, pictures, quick video clip, brainstorming on the
whiteboard.

Timi
ng:

Learning Experiences:

5
Mins

Introduce myself formally, create rapport with students by

informing them that I chose them specifically to teach because they
were the best behaved and the nicest.

1.Introduction:

(How will I engage the learners?)

Introduce what we will be studying today. I am so excited to be

teaching you today because we are going to be covering one of my
favorite topics in history. Ancient China. And as junior historians, it is
your job to uncover the truths of Ancient China so you will know how
to complete your set assessment in two weeks.
2.Sequence of learning experiences: (What will you do to help the students
achieve the learning objectives? What tasks and activities will the students be
involved in to help achieve the learning objectives?)

10
mins

10
Mins
7
mins

Explain to Students that before you begin the lesson, I want to gauge how much
they already know about Ancient China. Encourage students to put their hands up
and inform students that no answer is silly, even if it is just answers like pandas
or noodles or tea. Choose a student to write on whiteboard for me, so I can
pay attention to class without turning my back on them. Preferably choose a
particular student (codename Alex), who is known to fidget and cause distractions
for class. Having him up there with me, will involve him and I will be able to keep
an eye on him.
After I have established what the students know, I will have a quick discussion
with them about why studying China is so important. Contributions to the world,
things that seem ordinary and commonplace today is thanks to china (joke that
China is to blame for homework because they invented paper. On plasma screen
(using cord and laptop), show slideshow of pictures of different inventions and get
students to guess what each invention is (compass, paper, silk etc).
Then show map of ancient China, ask the children to look at the land surrounding
china, ask them why it would be difficult to invade (DESERT, PACIFIC OCEAN,
MOUNTAINS, JUNGLE RANGE)

15
mins

Explain to children that I will now be showing a quick clip from

famous Disney film Mulan, a compilation of historical accuracies in
the movie- culture (worshipping ancestors, dragons, emperors,
great wall of china, soldiers, food, gunpowder, external enemies)
Assign children Activity booklet, go through each of the 3 pages and
describe what is meant by each activity. Confirm every student
understands task at hand.
Activity booklet is thought provoking but not too difficult, students
should be only spending 5 mins per page.
Walk around room, offering help/being present/engaged.

1. Lesson conclusion: (How will you summarise the learning and relate it
to the lesson objectives?)

5 minutes before class ends I would like to write another

brainstorm, tell the children it is because you want them to see
how their knowledge of Ancient China changed from the beginning
of class to the end of class, that way I can ascertain whether they
learnt or not.

Skill Review Sheet Questioning

Graduate Standards - AITSL
Professional Practice: 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.2 Plan and implement effective teaching and
learning
Please complete all forms and include in your ePortfolio

Question Type
Do you feel your
questions were clearly
structured and readily
understood by the
students?

Did you use a variety of

question types?

Yes I did, my year 7s were quick to reply with appropriate answers

and surprisingly asked thought-provoking questions in return.
They stumbled a little over the definitions of 2 questions in the
worksheet (i.e. utilized, lavish). I asked students to look up
definitions on their iPad and I wanted the first student to find it, to
tell me.
I used direct what, when, where, why types of questions and I
also interchanged by delivering questions in a more wordier way.

I feel there was a good balance, the students appeared to

What balances was there understand and react well with questions. They were fully
engaged/
between the various
questions types?

Consider both why and

when you made use of
the different question
types?

When asking students what they knew, I would give leading

questions, questions that held little hints to the answer, so students
could arrive at the conclusion themselves.
When I was satisfied students understood the content, the
questions were harder and I expected direct answers.

Distributing and Directing Questions

Did you recognise any
pattern in the distribution
of your questions
amongst the students?
Consider reasons for this
pattern?

How have you directed

questions to the group?

I would make sure to never pick the same student more than
twice to answer a question. I noticed one student up the
back who hadnt contributed at all, I strolled around the class
so I was not just up the front, directing questions to the front
row. I asked him if he had any opinion on the matter and he
answered. I suspect this was due to proximity.

Most of the questions were directed at the group. I asked

students to discuss with their partner and then say their
answer to the group. And the class was to all answer the
brainstorming.
Yes and it was effective

Have you used wait

time?

Did you make eye

contact with the group as
you directed your
questions?

Not only did I make eye contact, I made sure each student
had a piece of paper propped up on their desk with their
names on it. I would choose them to answer questions by
looking at them and saying their name.

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do
you qualify any praise
given?

Praise. Positive reinforcement seemed to work 100x better

than negative feedback. I would say awesome answer or
wow, you should be the teacher not me. And I would thank
the class after each activity.

I would say not quite what I am looking for but nice try,
How do you deal with
thank you. Or I would offer hints so they would arrive to the
incorrect responses?
conclusion themselves.
How do you deal with
students who stumble
and grope for an answer?

Not at all. The only instance I cut a student off is when another

Do you keep eye contact student was misbehaving and talking over him. I asked him
(politely) to wait a minute until we have complete silence and if the
with the students until
misbehaving student could show him some respect.
they have completed an
answer? Do you cut
students off and go onto
the next point before they
have finished
responding?
Yes, if the class came up blank with an answer I would rephrase
What use do you make of my wording to make it easier to understand. Once they understood
what I was asking and answered it successfully I would then ask a
the students responses
question relating to the previous question. Like society dictated
to develop the teaching
that women were less. How did they show this? And how would it
point? Have you
make you feel if you were a woman in ancient China? Is it fair?

redirected any questions

in order to add to an
initial response?

Are you the only

evaluator of the students
answers?

For the majority, yes but they did have to answer a couple of
questions as a pair, so the pair had to evaluate each others
answers.

Yes, I made sure in the beginning and in the end of the class to
clearly define the learning objectives of the lesson and how we will
Did you communicate
clearly to the students the complete it (we will be doing a lot of group discussion so I would
like everyone to join in)
requirements of the

lesson?

Overall Comments

Skill Review Sheet Management

Graduate Standards AITSL
Professional Practice: 4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning
environments 4.1 and 4.2

Planning for Effective Management

Was your lesson plan
effective for managing
the class?

Yes, surprisingly the year 7s were really well-behaved and

attentive, I had little problem with them. The students were eager
and engaged and even groaned when I informed them time was
running out and class was almost over.

e.g. How did the

students react to your
lesson overall and to
your planned activities?

Everything ran smoothly besides a little mishap as the battery was

running low on the laptop and it took me a couple of minutes to
find the charger.

Did anything unexpected

happen?
Did you provide a variety
of activities?
Were you satisfied with
your timing, particularly
for the end of the
lesson?

I made sure to change activities every 10-15 minutes just to keep

the students from disengaging.
My timing was a bit sketchy. I was only supposed to take a 30 min
lesson but my mentor asked me to take an hour, so I feel I may
have overcompensated. We were still doing the final
brainstorm/summary of lesson when the bell rang.
Yes, I had back up slides on my iPad if the laptop/plasma did not
work.

Did you feel you were

able to change things if
needed?
Was your organisation of Students only needed their notebooks and I provided the rest. I
materials and resources knew every child would have their notebook as they kept them in
the class. I chose a child from every row to distribute the
efficient and effective?
worksheets.

e.g. Did you and the

students have everything
you needed?
Did you plan how and
when you would
distribute and collect
materials?

Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Classroom

How did you demonstrate

to the students that you
valued them, and enjoyed
the teaching/learning
process?
e.g. Tone of voice, facial
expression, sense of
humour, introduction to
students and topic.

I established this in the first 5 minutes of the class, relaying

that I had been observing them for the past few days and
ascertained they were the most fun class. I made sure to
project my voice, make jokes, make sweeping gestures, I
even managed to do incorporate a little impromptu jig into
the lesson.

Which aspects of your

teaching style do you feel Definitely variety of activities and group discussion. It was
helped you maintain
encouraged students to engage in a fun way and feel like
class attention?
their opinion was important.
e.g. Variety of activities,
class or group
discussion, pace of
lesson, interest at class
level.
Did the students know
what was expected of
them?

Were you able to redirect

energies of attention
seeking students? Did
the students have
enough to do?

Yes, I made sure to establish rules in the beginning of the

class and would remind them to keep the noise at a
respectable level.

I had 1 child who was an attention seeker to the extreme, he

would sing at his desk and take pictures on his iPad, I
negotiated and said he could sing (as long as no one
objected) as long as he put the iPad away and completed
the worksheet.

Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour

Were you aware of what
was happening in all
parts of the classroom?
Did you know what each
student was doing?

Did you take any action

when you observed poor
behaviour? Why? Why
not?

Did you use non-verbal

cues? e.g. Contact,
pause, gesture,
movement toward
student/s concerned.

I was constantly walking up and down rows, behind students and

in front. Proximity was my greatest ally that day.

As aforementioned, there was little misbehavior but the 1-2

instances there were, I was quick to ask them what they were
doing, why they were doing and whether they thought it was
appropriate behaviour.

I would be silent if the noise level got too loud and just look
expectantly at the class, they would start to feel awkward and
settle down. Also, when I required attention, I would not say
anything and simply put my arms up with my palms facing towards
them. Proximity was used A LOT and I found it to be extremely
effective.