Current Issues Lesson Analysis

To be a contributing factor to society, it is crucial that humans understand major events that are happening around them at any given time. Whether is local or global, the need for current information creates an atmosphere where constant research of issues and ideas becomes a part of everyday life. Through the increased accessibility of information today, this research has become much easier to participate in, but not necessarily practiced. Within the school building itself, some students might keep up with local and global news religiously, while others are oblivious or simply do not care. No matter the case, the responsibility for teachers to include current events into the curriculum is evident, because students must know what is happening in the world around them in order to participate in the way their education affords. The following documents are an example of how I included current events into my own teaching experience as Cedar Shoals High School. During my unit on International Business in 12th grade Economics, I chose to connect what the students were learning about trade barriers and their effects on an economy with the current issues in Eastern Europe between Russia, Ukraine, the UN, and the United State of America regarding the proposed economics sanctions for the actions of the Russian Military. Through this short lesson, I hope that my students were able to gain a greater understanding of this current event while using it to strengthen their knowledge of trade barriers by seeing the real life ramifications. Through this lesson, I have learned that current event lessons inform our students about the world they live in, and, when used correctly, it can make the understanding of abstract information more tangible for these students. *THE POWER POINT AND OTHER TEACHING RESOURCES CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE RESOURCES TAB TO THIS PAGE

Lesson Plan In order to supplement the students knowledge of trade barriers for the upcoming unit test, the students were given a short lesson on current issues in Eastern Europe that are concerned with trade barriers. This lesson lasted only 20 minutes so that the students could complete their study guide for the test. Daily Lesson Plan Template (Adapted from resources developed at Oakland University) Name: ________________Vince Sapp_________________________ Unit Topic Big idea(s) Essential Question(s) Standard(s(/ Benchmark(s) International Business Students should see the role of trade barriers in the current world economy. How are Trade Barriers used today? SSEIN2: Explain why countries erect trade barriers and sometimes advocate free trade. B. Identify costs and benefits of trade barriers over time

Lesson Plan

Place an unlabeled map of Europe with Ukraine highlighted on the smart board Ask the student if they can name the highlighted country. Once the students have finally guessed the country, ask them if they know why it might be important at that time. Students will be given time to volunteer and tell their classmates what they know about the current situation in Ukraine. Student will be given a short presentation that outline the last six months in the country of Ukraine Discuss Ukrainian protests Ukraines relationship to Russia Russian control of Crimean Peninsula The proposed economic sanctions by the US and EU Show news report that discusses how these sanctions could affect the global economy. link Finally, ask the student what they think should be done to Russia during this time. Should we go through with the sanctions or not? Why? Students will then discuss with their classmates their answers to this prompt Student will then work on their study guide for the unit test for the remainder of the class.

Video Clip Description In accordance with the instructions of my Student Teaching Seminar Professor, Dr. Jim Garrett, I recorded a fifteen-minute segment of my lesson on the current events in Eastern Europe in attempts to capture the use of current issues in the classroom. Due to privacy concerns, Dr, Garrett is the only person allowed to review this video and a written description of the video must suffice. On May 10, 2014 at approximately 8:45 A.M, A short lesson about current events in Eastern Europe was given to a 12th grade Economics class. The lesson began with a quick visual thinking strategy where the students were given the opportunity to guess the unmarked, highlighted country on the European map. After about five guesses, one of the students correctly labeled the country as Ukraine. The students were then asked to describe anything they new about Ukraine and current news. Several students were able to give simple summaries about the relationship between Ukraine and Russia concerning the Crimean Peninsula that were a nice segue to the short presentation on this current issue. The presentation outlined a history of Ukraine over the past 6 months and described the civil violence, government upheaval, Russian mobilization of troops to the Crimean Peninsula, and the disapproval from the US and EU. After the presentation, the students watched a 3 minute news report about the economics of Russia and the affects of the proposed sanctions from the US and EU. Finally, the students were asked if they thought the proposed sanctions were a good idea or not and why, and a classroom discussion ensued. The video ends with the students finishing their discussion about this current event and moving on to the study guide for the upcoming test.

Lesson Critique In assessing the quality of this lesson through the use of video, I am honestly very proud of the thought and effort that went into this lesson. The video showed many of my own strengths as a teacher and represented a classroom that I could only hope for in my early years of teaching. As always, anything can be made better or re worked to fit the needs of the students, and a lesson like this demands close critique to bypass the pride that I feel because of its success. Student Teaching was a difficult experience, but it was lessons like this that helped me get by as a new teacher and push my development of my craft. The great thing about current issue lessons is that the pertinent information often demands student involvement and interest before any actions of the teacher. A teacher must simply display the information and the minds of the students will take it from there. Such is the case with this lesson. Though it was difficult to see in the video, the students showed great interest in this topic and paid closer attention to my presentation then most days throughout the semester. I even had students looking up more information on their phones about this current issue during class. I may have chosen the topic for this short lesson, but I cannot take complete credit for the interest this information created. My use of a timeline and news report also helped secure the interests of my students and I feel that the way I was able to present the information to the class helped create the final product brought on by the discussion at the end of the lesson. The insight and analysis that my students provided was more then I expected and is the main reason that I feel this lesson went over well. The success of this lesson has only reinforced my ideas about why the use of current issues is a great tool in the classroom. Looking back at the video and my actions throughout the presentation, there are several things that I would like to improve on before I attempt another current issue lesson. Current

issues force teachers to be on top of their game because of the interest often created by the topic. During this type of lesson, students have many questions that teachers need to be able to answer. By viewing the way I fumbled through some of my answers to these questions or my own explanations, I would definitely say that this lesson required much more rehearsal. The content may have been organized well, but my confidence in the information was lacking and it showed. I also feel that this topic deserved more time then I gave it. Trying to cram this in at the end of a unit was a mistake and this current issue is still entitled to an entire class period because of its relevance. Luckily, the class in this video was still interested despite my faults and I think they enjoyed this short lesson, but complacency in this success would be an even greater fault for a new teacher. Through my experience with current issues and their application in the classroom, I have come to realize the role current issues play in the promotion of Social Studies as an enjoyable and beneficial subject. Students want to be interested in their education, and through this video clip, it is evident that students learn much more when they can connect the information they are learning with the world around them.