Regan+Kwong-Portfolio+Items+and+Lesson+Plans

Portfolio Artifacts

(9/19/2011) Lesson Plan 1 (9/11): Introduction (10min) Ask students what they know, have been told stories about, or remember about 9/11 and have them discuss as a class . Powerpoint Presentation (20min) Reflection/Debate (15min) Homework Assignment (5min) Extra Time
 * 1) Discuss World Trade Center
 * 2) Discuss Pentagon
 * 3) The Flights
 * 4) Terrorism/Al Queda
 * 5) Islam
 * 6) Patriotism
 * 7) Nationalism
 * 1) Discuss what happened on 9/11
 * 2) Video from Youtube of the World Trade Towers, Pentagon, News.
 * 3) Discussion of Al Queda aims
 * 4) Discussion of United States response
 * 5) Public response
 * 6) Government response
 * 7) Conspiracy
 * 1) Was U.S. government response justified?
 * 2) Was U.S. public response justified?
 * 3) Was 9/11 preventable?
 * 4) Was Al Queda aims justified?
 * 1) Tell students about Homework Assignment. Interview a parent, neighbor, older sibling about their memories and thoughts of 9/11.
 * 1) Announcement of School Events.

Unit on Amazon Rain Forest for a 9th Grade World Geography Class (9/21/2011)

Chapter 3 Study Guide (10/3/2011)

Elective Course Lesson Plan (10/3/2011)

Teacher Correspondent on Unit Planning (10/10/2011)

My teacher correspondent is Mr. K, who teaches World History, Psychology, and AP Psychology.When discussing unit planning with Mr. K, he said that he follows must follow strict unit planning guidelines. The school district has a set of standards he must plan his unit around. The guidelines laid down by the school district states that he has a series of topics and objectives to teach within a given time frame of nine weeks. He stated that the school district requires that all teachers must give a benchmark test after 9 weeks that is over the topics and objectives that were given on the guidelines. He said that he must cover the entire unit in nine weeks. There are set objectives for the benchmark and that he feels that teachers are now teaching to the test. The benchmark tests are worth 20% of a student's grade and there are 4 each semester for one given class. He says that he must be really selective in the topics he covers to make sure students are prepared for the benchmark tests and that a teacher can't pick and choose to teach the things that he or she really likes. The standards make it so that the teachers who teach the same classes within the school are teaching the same things at around the same time. He also stated that due to the nine weeks time frame, he must cover an entire chapter in one or two days, for example he had to cover Ancient Rome in one to two days in order to make sure he covered all objectives and covered the whole unit by the time nine weeks was up. He said that he usually must cover When doing unit planning my teacher correspondent creates an outline of the objectives and topics he wants to cover, which revolve around the objectives of the benchmark tests. He also creates a pacing guide, which is determined by the benchmark test and the school guidelines.He said that it is more difficult for him to plan for his world history classes since he has does not have a great deal of background knowledge in world history. He said that it is much easier for him to plan psychology, especially AP Psychology, not only because he has a vast amount of background knowledge in the subject and he holds a great passion for the subject, but in AP Psychology it is not bounded by the benchmark tests, which gives him more wiggle room to teach topics in psychology he really enjoys, to do experiments with his students, and to have more time to teach certain subjects.

I feel that from what my teacher correspondent told me, that I agree that unit planning can be difficult to do when one does not have a vast background knowledge in the subject and that it is easier to plan a unit that one knows a great deal about. He is no stranger to unit planning and knows what it feels like to be able to plan with more freedom and teach topics that one really enjoys and also knows what it feels like to plan to a strict guideline and to benchmark test objectives. It seems that unit planning to strict guidelines and benchmark tests can be harder than unit planning without such limitations. I think that the benchmark objectives can make it difficult to do unit planning since one must be very selective in topics and objectives one must choose to cover. I also feel that it is even more difficult when one must do a unit plan that is restricted greatly by a time frame of nine weeks. It can be difficult to cover all topics and objectives that is required with great depth in just nine weeks. It can be extremely difficult to cover a full unit in nine weeks. The benchmarks also seem to take power away from the teachers and makes teaching seem less enjoyable since one must rush to cover a full unit in nine weeks and must be extremely selective in what one will teach. It also seems to be less enjoyable to unit plan when one cannot plan things which covers materials that one really enjoys or has a specialty for with great depth or even at all.

After doing some unit planning, I feel that it is no easy task. One must think broadly, but make sure that the essential understandings and questions must be things that students must work through and can't be simplistic or easily answered. I also feel that unit planning takes a lot of practice to create a plan that is good. The more we work with unit planning, the more comfortable I feel. However, a plan that works for some students might not work for others, so I feel that it is a constant process that must be worked through. It is also difficult to plan when the subject of the units are things that one is not highly familiar with. I feel that one must be able to adapt when unit planning to adapt to students and to adapt to school guidelines, objectives, and expectations.

Columbus Day Lesson Plan (10/10/2011)

PMS 7th Grade Lesson Plan [Asia and the Pacific: World Religions: Buddhism] (10/17/2011)

Halloween Lecture Lesson Plan Exit Cards: Place on note card two things learned today.
 * 1) Hook: Ask the class who they are going to be for Halloween? (5min)
 * 2) Origins of Halloween (5min)
 * 3) Samhain (Sow-in)
 * 4) Celtics
 * 2,000 years ago in area now known as Ireland
 * 1) New Year, November 1st,
 * 2) Barrier between life and death weakened
 * 3) October 31st
 * 4) Spirits
 * 5) Rituals
 * 6) Roman Traditions mixing with Samhain
 * 7) Feralia
 * 8) Pomona
 * 9) Bobbing for Apples
 * 10) All Saint’s Day (All Hallows Day/All Hallowsmas/All Hallows Eve)
 * 11) Roman Church
 * 12) Dressing Up
 * 13) Colonial New England
 * 14) Protestantism
 * 15) Maryland/Southern ColoniesPotato Famine
 * 16) “play parties”, festivals
 * 17) Traditions
 * 18) Costumes
 * 19) Trick Or Treat
 * 20) Vandalism
 * 21) Children
 * 22) Masks/Costumes
 * 23) Women
 * 24) Marriage
 * 25) Ireland/Scotland
 * 26) Cakes
 * 27) Food Supply in ancient England
 * 28) Building Community
 * 29) Treats
 * 30) Parties
 * 31) Geared Toward Children in 1950s
 * 32) //Night of the Living Dead//
 * 33) Change in name from All Hallows Eve to Hallowe’en to Halloween
 * 34) Halloween in America (10min)
 * 35) Early America
 * 36) Irish Immigration in 1848
 * 37) Zombies (5min)
 * 38) Haitian Voodo
 * 39) American Films
 * 40) media type="youtube" key="9JyN6Obi7eI?version=3" height="360" width="640"
 * 1) media type="youtube" key="9JyN6Obi7eI?version=3" height="360" width="640"

Resources: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/zombies/zombie.html media type="custom" key="11104122"

Microteaching #4 Answers:

Concept Attainment: Region I feel that the concept, "Region", is extremely important in Geography. It is important to understand what constitute a region because it helps examine the world in a way that allows us to separate differences and similarities between different places. It is also important to show that what constitute as a region doesn't always help define borders and boundaries of countries and how borders and boundaries don't always help define a region as discussed in the Schmidt article. The Schmidt article discusses how it is difficult to use boundaries and borders to determine certain concepts in Geography like a region or a continent. It is important to teach students that there are multiple frames to look at Regions. For example, the Middle East is a region of the globe that is difficult and might not even be truly possible to define using physical borders or even man made borders (like countries). Students need to understand that in order to define a region one must look at the characteristics within a certain area. For example, the Middle East is defined by the culture and people not by country borders or physical borders. However, there are other types of regions, like in the United States the Great Plains region is defined by the physical characteristics and the agricultural characteristics of the central area of the United States. The Great Plains isn't defined by state borders, but is defined by the characteristic of having flat lands and that the region allows vast amounts of corn and cattle ranching to occur due to its climate and the flat lands. In order to teach the concept of "Region" Larson and Keiper's 8 step for implementing concept formation, I feel is a good way to help students. Studying examples and gathering data on the concept is important, once again, the Middle East can be found and defined by studying the culture and gathering data on countries and places that share similar cultures. Reporting Information, noting differences, and noting similarities is helpful in that students share their findings with one another and compare their findings. It shows how similarities can be found to help define a region and also shows the difficult and differences in perceptions which hinder the findings and definition of a region. Synthesizing helps students come up with their own definition to better grasp the concept of a region. Labeling helps students further think and make the concept of region or the concept of a certain region more tangible and can pinpoint better what it is or isn't.

Primary Source (Political Cartoon)

Cooperative Learning Lesson

Differentiated Lesson Plan