Guided Lead Teaching 1

Claim – Evidence – Reasoning

Kenneth Plont
Social Studies
10/31/17

I. Explaining and Modeling Content

My GLT1 case for EMC:

The context for this lesson was simply a continuation of what I discuss below in HIT2,

which is a discussion of basic economic terms with sixth graders, accessing their prior

knowledge of said terms, and providing them with real-life examples of the terms/definitions to

help facilitate their learning during this short social studies unit on economics. Many of these

terms are simply review from what the sixth graders learned in fourth and fifth grade. The term

that I focus on in this video specifically is “bartering” and the students themselves come up with

the useful example of Pokémon trading cards as a real-world example of how they personally

have experienced and applied the concept of bartering before. Kids begin discussing and

applying this at around 1:19 in the video, and basically until the end of the video clip. The fact

that kids were able to come up with an example to model the content themselves and to illustrate

to me their understanding is powerful and useful, however, this example is only limited to kids

who have played Pokémon, and if they have no experience with trading cards of fictional

characters, this example may be useless to them. Next time, it would be productive to provide

more than just the example of Pokémon trading cards, in order to engage other students. I should

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have started a discussion on other potential examples of bartering that other students could have

come up with on their own.

At around 1:39 in the video, I take the student’s Pokémon example and apply it right

back to bartering for the whole class to hear. Although some kids may have never played

Pokémon cards, or a Pokémon game, they are likely familiar with it and ideally, most kids can

relate on some level. The strength in this was taking one kid’s example and explaining to the kids

thoroughly how it applies to the exact definition of bartering that was provided on the

PowerPoint slide, which I explained up until about 50 seconds into the video. By having kids

thinking aloud and demonstrating their application of said knowledge, I was effectively helping

them model and explain content on their own! Also, around 1 minute into the video, I probe a

student’s answer to my original question when they provide the correct answer; I asked them

simply why they answered that, instead of giving them the answer right away. The student

indicates that it’s because it was “the only term left to choose from” and instead of just

conceding and accepting that as their final answer, I probed them further, asking if they had

experience with this type of thing (bartering) in the past at around 1:07. The students answer that

they had learned about bartering in fourth grade, and from there, they provide the example of

Pokémon. It’s essential that I didn’t give up on modifying the content and modeling it for them,

and because of that, we came up with a useful, relatable example of bartering that many kids

could relate to.

II. Tasks, Texts, and Learning Goals

My GLT1 case for TTLG:

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 The task at hand for this economics lesson in particular was a card-sorting game. One

card had the term on it (demand, supply, scarcity, etc), and another card had the definition on it.

The cards were randomly jumbled up for each group, and each group’s cards were color-coded to

differentiate between groups and keep them organized. Once the students received the cards for

their prospective group, they had to sort the definitions and match them with the correct answer.

This task was mainly aimed at working on their preconceived notions of basic economic

vocabulary words, such as supply, demand, and opportunity cost, and mainly for the teachers to

assess their prior knowledge. Going into this lesson, I knew that the kids had learned most of

these terms in fourth and fifth grade, so a lot of this was merely supposed to be review of what

they had been taught in previous years. Once the six groups were done sorting and working with

their prior knowledge of basic economic terms, we went over them as a class, interacting with

visual texts that helped cue student’s knowledge and understanding of these economic terms and

concepts. The visuals in the PowerPoint, as demonstrated in the video throughout, were meant to

be simple and relatable enough for students to think and answer the question, or connect the

definition on the card or PowerPoint with a term. Before revealing each term, I would point out

the visual (the picture) on the PowerPoint and ask kids to explain why they chose a specific

answer.

The learning goal for this lesson was for students to understand basic economic terms and

how they relate to their daily lives. By interacting and discussing the texts (visual aids provided

with PowerPoint) and task at hand (accessing prior knowledge through the card-sorting game),

students worked to build their understanding of basic economic vocabulary and how they apply

to everyday life. Evidence for this is present in the video (3:37-3:57), where I’m discussing

demand with the students, and how the visual (clipart) of a man pounding on a desk is

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demanding school supplies for his kids, something that is relatable for the kids. By pointing out

the key word “desire”, saying that the clipart man desires a product like school supplies, helps

clarify further. This visual seemed to be helpful in aiding some students and helping them come

up with the answer, which was demand. At around 1:33 in the video, I introduce the visual of the

man pounding on the desk, demanding a product, and immediately turn to a group and ask what

they put during the card-sorting activity.

The first group that I chose to interact with the text, drawing their conclusion made from

the task, didn’t seem to find the visual particularly helpful, as they chose an incorrect answer,

which was “opportunity cost.” When trying to assess their understanding and modify the material

accordingly, by explaining the visual and how it applied, I failed to comprehend or gather

reasoning behind why the group collectively chose that answer, and not the correct answer,

which was demand. Starting at around 1:55 in the video, I try to consider why they might have

answered this, but I fail to modify it when they cannot provide reasoning for why they chose that

answer. They merely chose a random answer, which is what I found out after a minute or so of

questioning the group and asking why they chose that answer. This is evident at around 2:56 in

the video. Later on, I try and go over what the correct definition of opportunity cost is, but fail to

draw an inference back to the student’s misunderstanding of the text for that group, which would

have been useful in making the texts used and task at more effective in helping students learn

and understanding basic economic vocabulary. I go over opportunity cost towards the end of the

video, which is at around 4:08 in the video. Next time, it would be useful to explain how demand

and opportunity cost are different, and why they are in order to provide clarification of the

students, but also maybe using different visuals and texts too, would help aid student

understanding and clear up misconceptions about these terms.

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 One strength of mine in using this task and the visual aid texts was when a student

answered demand correctly, and used the visual in his explanation to provide me with a clear

indication that he understood what the concept meant, and how it applied to the visual. This is

evident at 3:15 until about 3:35, where the student is explaining and applying what the knows to

the visual and the keywords in the definition for demand. The student states that the man in the

picture, who is pounding is fist on a desk, is “demanding something.” From there, I probe his

understanding further, by asking for him to elaborate and explain why he thinks that. The student

answers, that the man is “asking for something” or that “he has a desire for it”, which includes a

keyword that is in the definition. Even if this student understands this concept, though, it is not

clear that the rest of the students do, and that even includes his own group members during the

task assignment. It’s a very simple text, but many of these kids are behind a few grades in terms

of their literacy skills and reading levels, so I chose something as simple as possible, which in

this case, was a real-life example of a clipart man “demanding” something, to help illustrate the

definition further and provide a useful, but accessible visual for students to learn about demand

with.

III. Eliciting and Interpreting Student Thinking

My GLT1 case for EIST:

For my first round of interviews, I interviewed three of the “best” students in my

cooperating teacher’s highest-performing eighth grade class. Most kids in this class have close to

100% as their grade, and several of them are at advanced literacy and reading levels. Of the three

students I interviewed, each of them was able to answer the questions coherently and clearly (for

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the most part). I asked each student about the Declaration of Independence, which I had taught

them about the day before. During the first recorded interview that i’ve posted, the student seems

nervous and I try to comfort her, letting her know that there is “no right answers” and that this is

all based on “how well I question, not how correctly you answer”, which I explicitly state within

the first 30 seconds of the interview. Once I ask her specifically about the Declaration of

Independence and what it is, she gets nervous and tells me she needs a minute to answer. After a

few seconds of silence, I ask her to explain what the word Declaration means, and what she

thinks Independence means, and she’s able to explain that right away. This occurs at around 52

seconds into the audio recording, until about 1:40 seconds in, where she says she was trying to

think of a different word to use other than independence. My fault in responding to this was that

I say “independence is the word we were looking for; we’re just trying to keep it simple”, instead

questioning her further and finding out what other words or synonyms for independence she

potentially had in mind. I should have dug deeper into what vocabulary she was considering

using, and building off of that, instead of trying to guide her to one specific answer. This happens

at around 1:40 in the recording.

At around 2:15 in the first recording, I ask her to explain the significance of the

Declaration of Independence and how it applies to today, and she specifically starts talking about

the concepts of equality. Once I ask her to elaborate on her point about equality and such, she

brings up that some people disagree on things, and from there talks about the points of

contention common today discussions surrounding our current President. By allowing her to

think and speak on her own about her knowledge and how it applies to real-life today, and

without giving her any answers or answering things for her, she was able to demonstrate that she

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understands key principles of the declaration of independence, which includes equality and

debate over who holds the power in government.

In the second recording that I posted (which is cut short due to my phone running out of

memory, ooops), the student is spot-on and directly answers the same initial question of “what is

the declaration of independence?” After she discusses in detail the main crafters of the document

(our founding fathers), I probe her understanding and ask why these characters are significant,

and once again she’s able to easily apply her knowledge and answer the question. This happens

at around 30 seconds in. From after about a minute in, I struggle with asking her challenging

enough questions, and she’s able to easily and effortlessly answer any of my previous questions

that I asked the other students, who were also very bright and articulate in their answers to my

questions. Along with the third student I interviewed, they (this student uses singular they

pronouns instead of he or she), were able to clearly articulate how the declaration of

independence came to be; who were the main figures in crafting the document; and how it can be

applied to day. The third student was able to draw a connection of the black lives matter

movement and how today the problems of discrimination, racism, sexism are all still happening,

even though in the principles of the declaration, they claimed to promote equality. The biggest

challenge throughout these interviews was asking challenging enough questions, especially with

the last two students.

Although my questions were specific and accessible for most students that we teach in

the seven other hours throughout the day, our most advanced students, at times seemed bored or

uninterested. Not that the goal was to engage their interest, but these kids, particularly the last

two I interviewed clearly understood such a simple concept such as the Declaration of

Independence. Useful insight would’ve been provided by asking them about their prior

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experience with learning about the Declaration of Independence, and by working with their prior

knowledge, I could've maybe assessed better questions to ask, or more advanced levels of

questions. If an individual student was able to demonstrate extensive and enduring understanding

of the concept at hand, I could’ve had a list ready with other routes to take in questioning them.

If they obviously were a bit nervous, or shy, or apprehensive, or less articulate, such as in my

first interview, I could’ve had a serious of questions to further gather evidence into their

understanding or possibly other routes to take in getting the knowledge out of them.

Oakland University Secondary Teacher Education Fall 2017