Inquiry Lesson Plan-"Mystery at the Museum"

Reflection on Teaching: Day 2: Inquiry Lesson-

"MYSTERY AT THE MUSEUM" 

Topic: Authors of the Declaration of Independence. 

Lesson Plan

Presentation

"Detective Report Cards" 

Homework Sheets

11/1/13-

     Today, my group and I presented our inquiry lesson plan to the 4th grade at Bishop Dunn Memorial. The main goal of our lesson was to teach about the authors of the Declaration of Independence. We decided to create a treasure hunt as the activity for this inquiry lesson. We presented a problem to the students-a museum lost 5 statues of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. The students' jobs were to look at clues on an author of the Declaration. Students had to make a hypothesis based on clues they were given. Then the students had to research these clues and come to a conclusion if their hypothesis was right or wrong. For closure, students would present their findings to the class. 

Group Reflection: For this lesson, as a group I felt we could have been more organized. We needed to practice more our roles during the lesson. When we taught the 1st half of the class, we were not prepared with the website we needed for our demonstration author. Because of this, we took up too much time during the presentation. Things I think we did well with: I am glad we had pulled up the websites the students needed to look at. It saved the students a lot of time and confusion. The "detective reports" were a good idea because it keep the students on track and organized as they were getting information for their research. For the both times we taught, for the closure, it became disorganized when each group was presented because one student was supposed to have the role of "presenter". When some groups went, more than one student would be presenting. We also needed to have a timer prepared as well. There was miscommunication among us about this part. Overall, I enjoyed doing this lesson. I thought it was fun and creative. Mrs. Benefer told us she really enjoyed the lesson as well and hopes she can do it as one of her own lessons one day. 

 Self-Reflection: Overall for this lesson, I think I did a good job. I kept the group on track and kept the lessons going as smoothly as possible. My favorite part was giving guided practice to the students. It was nice to sit with a small group and listen to them conduct research. I liked helping students try to piece together the clues and come to an ultimate conclusion. Things I could have done better: have more materials prepared and explain concepts more in-depth. I asked the students I was working with if they enjoyed this activity and they said yes. That made me really happy and left a feeling of accomplishment that the students were learning social studies and having fun while doing so.