Solo Lesson Reflection

     This was one of my favorite lessons of my unit, and I think part of the reason that it worked was because of the differentiation that I built in. The reason that this lesson was my favorite was because of the higher order thinking that students displayed during the debrief of the secondary graphic organizers. For example, one student stated that 1955 textbook treated voting rights differently for men and women saying, “for women it’s a privilege -- for men it’s a right.” In addition, another student analyzed the language of the documents as being “sarcastic” and “could be offensive” adding “the text says ‘women were granted’...it really sounds like the men still have 90% of the power--like, I’m so generous, I’ll give you a little bit more.” These are two examples of the higher order thinking that students organically developed at the end of my scaffolding.

            Differentiation assisted the scaffolding of this discussion in many ways. Firstly, the Secondary Sources Graphic Organizer helped students evaluate two textbooks depictions of the same issues of women’s rights. This allowed students to visually see where one text might be lacking. From identifying the omitted content, students could explain what the omissions might mean. Students also were able to compare language use across the two textbooks easily through the G.O. The texts themselves were also differentiated to best meet students needs. By defining key terms, students were able to avoid some sources of confusion upon initial read throughs.

            Vocabulary was also differentiated for students through multiple exposures in different for different types of learners. For auditory learners, the definitions were read aloud by students and teachers. For visual learners, the definitions were projected on the board. For kinesthetic learners, the definitions were then written into their notebooks  in the vocabulary section. This type of presentation is an attempt to present information within Inclusion Strategies “Tri-coding framework”(Gore, 25). As M.C. Gore explains, “multicoding helps with attention problems by involving more than passive listening. Multicoding helps comprehension because the multiple representations increase the likelihood of students connectin with the material in the way that he or she learns best” (Gore, 26). By multicoding the vocabulary, I have attempted to build long lasting knowledge that students can use in subsequent classes.

           One way that I would modify this lesson and the documents would be to not define all of the terms. This would allow students to figure out some of the vocabulary through context clues or other important skills.