Side wall has posters explaining different types of government.  Throughout the classroom are posters talking about natural events like earthquakes, floods, caves, and volcanoes.  There is a section by the door with articles about recent sports.  In the front of the classroom, there is a big poster about the Steelers being in favor of teamwork, and being against DUI.  Above the front blackboard is a series of pictures of children from around the world, kids in a traditional dress from their country.  Below the board are a couple posters talking about areas they study in class, namely the terms cultural landscape, language, and basic needs.  There is also a bulletin board above the teacher’s desk, announcing events and displaying this of interest to him.

    The objectives were that the students would be able to:1) Explain why Saudi Arabia is important to the Muslims; and 2) Discuss how oil affects the lives of the people of the Arabian Peninsula.  I’m not sure that these objectives were clearly stated or expressed to the students.  They were implied by the content of the class, but were never directly expressed.
    The major concept of the lesson was the geography, peoples, and cultures of the Arabian Peninsula.  Supporting concepts would be the influence of Islam on the region, and the importance of oil to the region and its peoples.
    The textbook assignment to be given ahead of time, was part of the content used.  It was one section in the chapter on the Middle East, about three pages.  Of course, I should have remembered my own Middle School experiences, and remembered that students do not read things unless you hold their hands while they do it.  They had not read the section, so it was not helpful after all.
      Also used were a map exercise on the region, a discussion of Islam, and a worksheet on oil in the Middle East.  The map exercise was an extension of something that had already done, fill in a map of the major features and countries in the Middle East.  The exercise asked them to recall all the major features of the area of focus for the day, to get them to think about the correct portion of the region they had been studying.  I pointed to the features and places on the overhead, and called on students (who had raised their hands) to tell me what it was.  It was simple knowledge questions.
    The discussion of Islam was in brainstorm format.  I gave them 2 minutes to raise their hands and tell me what they knew about Islam.  I wrote each idea down on the overhead, and we went over each item after.  I chose to ask the student who gave each answer to explain to the class why they said that, and we talked about why that may be correct or incorrect.  In many cases, other students were asked to comments, to add to a statement, or in one case to refute a statement (about Muslims being terrorists, she stated that her uncle was a Muslim, and he isn’t a terrorist).
    The worksheet on oil was one that I created myself.  I found a short reading about oil in the Middle East, and wrote questions that could be answered by the reading and one page in the textbook.  The students read the worksheet aloud to each other in pairs, and then worked on the questions together.  I allowed them to only fill out on worksheet for each pair, but only one pair decided to do this.  The others chose to fill out their own.
    The questions used in the map exercise were basic knowledge questions like “what country is this?,” and “what body of water is this?”  In the Islam discussion, the students were first asked to list what they knew, and then were asked to discuss certain things that they had listed, so those were knowledge and then comprehension questions.  The worksheet asked: “Why is oil so valuable to so many countries like the United States?”  (Comprehension); “How can oil reserves benefit the people of a country?” (Comprehension);  “What is a cartel? (Knowledge)  Explain why a country might want to be in a cartel”  (Comprehension); “Why might other countries not like an oil cartel like OPEC?”  (Comprehension); and “What do you think will happen to a country like Saudi Arabia when the oil reserves run out like they have in Bahrain?” (predicting, Analysis).
The final question, which I was going to use to assess their learning, but ran out of time for was a comprehension question: “Why do all Muslims want to go to Saudi Arabia?”  This question directly related to one of the objectives of the lesson.

    Time spent on the following: (in minutes)
               Desired Actual
Lecturing   0  5
Demonstrating   0  0
Student activities  15  10
Hands-on activities  0  0
Student discussion  10  15
Reading   5  8
Group activities  0  0
Evaluation   5  0
Giving directions  4  4
Behavior management 0  1
Student freedom  0  3
Use of technology  0  0
 
    I did not want to lecture at all during the lesson, but the students knew nothing about the 5 Pillars of Islam, and I felt that it was an important thing to know to help understand Islam.  I ended up lecturing about that.
     I wanted to give them 15 minutes to read and complete the worksheet.  Unfortunately, time ran out before they could finish it, so there was only about 10 minutes.  I did not have a chance to go over their answers on it before they left.
     I wanted the discussion on Islam to go for about 10 minutes, but it stretched out into 20 minutes total, with 5 minutes of it being my lecture on the 5 Pillars.
     I wanted them to read the worksheet to each other during the class, which they did, but I also had them read a couple paragraphs in the text at one point in the class, so that they could discuss better what they hadn’t already read.
     I had a short evaluation planned that I ran out of time for, so I have to use the worksheets as my only proof of what they have learned.
     I gave directions orally, and had written instructions on the worksheet.  I was fortunate in that the class was very well behaved.  The two problems I had were a student who kept falling asleep, and another student who was very antagonistic about working with another student.  I later learned that she does not like to work with others.  I can relate to how she felt, but I told her that she had to work with her partner, and she grudgingly did.

Lesson Analysis
 
     I feel that the lesson tried to address several different learning types and learning difficulties.  There were visual prompts, as well as verbal discussions.  There was reading involved, and the students read to each other, to help those students who had a harder time reading.  The lesson was planned to use traditional forms of assessment to see that objectives were met.
    There were only a couple places where the lesson related the content to the students’ real lives.  I think that was a major weakness.  I think that the lesson would have gone much better if I had been able to connect the material to their lives better.
    I can’t tell if the lesson achieved its objectives or not in this case.  There were two major indicators I had planned on that would help me determine if the students had achieved the objectives.  The first was the fifth question on the worksheet, which asks “What do you think will happen to a country like Saudi Arabia when the oil reserves run out like they have in Bahrain?”  This question, if they can give a thoughtful response to it, would have them thinking about what effects oil has on the lives of people on the Arabian Peninsula.  Unfortunately, only 2 or three students had enough time to answer the question on the worksheet, so I don’t know if this objective was reached.  The students who did answer it did not finish their answers.
    The second indicator I had planned on was to ask them a question at the end of class, and have them write a short answer on a sheet of paper for me to read.  Class ran out, so I did not get to do this.
    I feel like I was very lucky in that there were no major behavior issues that came up.  I do not think I emphasized good behavior in any way.  There were two instances that I did have to address.  One student kept nodding off, and my solution was just to tap his desk and wake him up.  Unfortunately, this did not work so well the third time, but he began to perk up after that.  The other issue was with the group work.  A female student did not want to work with her assigned partner.  I told her plainly that she needed to anyway, that this was not an option, and she did so grudgingly.  I wish that she had been more willing to work with the other student.  He seems like he could really use her help, as she seems very smart and he seems to be struggling, but unfortunately she is adverse to working with others, and only does so when necessary.  (I observed her previously in a group research assignment, and she was the same way.)  I don’t think that I reinforced good behavior in any way.  I’m not sure how I would go about reinforcing it.
    It was difficult to know how to accommodate special student needs, because I was only with this class for one lesson.  I knew that it was an inclusion class, so there would be students of varying abilities together.  When asked about special needs, the teacher only told me that some of them do not read so well.  That was what he said.  Well, that was an understatement, because some could barely read at all.  They way I worked around that was to have the students read to each other when they started the worksheet.  I wish I had known to what extent some had trouble with reading, because at one point, I gave them a little bit of time to read, to help in the discussion.  It was not as effective as I had wished, in part because some of them had trouble reading it, and I just didn’t realize it.  I think that if I was to try this lesson again with this class, I would find a way to convey the information to them that didn’t involve reading in class.  I’m not sure how I would have done it though.  Perhaps I could have found another source, such as a video or something like that.
    The students were not very engaged in the lesson at first.  There were a few students who raised their hands all the time, but there were others who were just idly looking on, not participating.  I had students raising their hands to answer questions in the map review.  Again, in the brainstorm they were raising their hands to give answers.  In the discussion, they were really good about raising their hands before speaking.  When it came time to do the worksheet, I think all the students were more involved in the lesson.  That part actually required them to be engaged, there was no way for them to sit there and watch, because they had to read to each other and help each other with the questions.
    I’m not sure that I gave the students much wait time for several parts of the lesson.  I got impatient with the anticipatory set and had them start reading the text without giving them much time to think.  At the same time, I think that they needed to read the text, as none of them had read it already.  When it was time for the brainstorm, I gave them a full two minutes to give answers back, and I found that it was the longest two minutes of my life.  I think I should have given them a minute to think ahead of time, or maybe just 30 seconds even before we started the actual brainstorming session, that way students could have been thinking in quiet without being distracted or influenced by what the other students were saying.  I think that given what the students seemed to know about the subject of Islam, they had enough time to say what they knew.  At the end, I was standing there getting the blank stares, with no one raising their hands.  When it came to the discussion of Islam, I think that I gave them enough time to respond to questions, but maybe I did not.  I was so caught up in what they would say that I was not aware of how much time I was allowing them to answer the questions.  I generally gave the student who named each thing a chance to explain why they named something, even if I thought that it wasn’t really related.  I tried not to rush them and let them think before answering.  In terms of the worksheet, I should have given them a chance to ask questions about what they were doing with it, instead of just announcing the directions and letting them go.  If I had waited and asked if there were questions, I would have had fewer questions to answer individually.  Overall, I think I need to be more aware of the wait time I allow when asking questions.
    I’m not sure that the class was very productive.  It did not seem to be during the brainstorm.  The one place it was productive was with the worksheets.  The students were reading the worksheet and answering the questions correctly.  In terms of being positive and supportive, I’m not really sure if it was or not.

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     I think the map exercise went well.  I did not really expect a problem with it, because it was a format I knew they were familiar with and had done successfully before.  It was not a particularly difficult exercise, and it was based on knowledge I knew they had, so it was really set up to succeed.
     I think that the worksheet went well also.  I did not expect to have problems with it.  There were a few issues that came up with it, but nothing that made it unsuccessful.  Looking at the answers, I think the students were able to answer the questions and were learning, despite the fact that many of them hadn’t read or even looked at the chapter in the book like I had hoped they would.

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     I did not expect the final questions I was going to ask them to go well.  I was unable to ask the question because I ran out of time.  I guess you could say that it did not go well in that respect.  I really was questionable on it, because I did not think they were going to understand the question well enough to give me a coherent answer.  I guess that I should plan a better question next time that I can feel more confident about going in.

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     The anticipatory set did not go well at all.  I had expected them to have read the chapter, so that they would be able to tell me right away what the picture was about.  I have since received a good piece of advice to remember about students reading the text.  “They don’t read the text, you can’t count on them to have read it.”  I think they would have been able to respond better if they had read it.  Since I know now that they won’t read it, I should plan on an anticipatory set that will be based knowledge they will have without reading the text, perhaps relating something to their lives.
     The discussion on Islam did not go as well as I expected it to.  I thought they would have had more prior knowledge on the subject, considering all that has happened  this year with the middle east.  I was surprised and disappointed in the answers that I received.  Then when I decided to lecture on the 5 pillars, that was a low point.  They were completely bored and I wasted time on lecture that I could have had them doing something else that they would have learned more from.

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     I really expected behavior to be an issue with this class.  I figured that I would have the status of a substitute teacher, and that they would be on their worst behavior.  Instead I was surprised at how many participated and were paying attention.  I think that by expecting the worst, and being somewhat ready for it, I was set up to be happy with their good behavior.