Berlin Wall Lesson

Lesson Plan

Student Activities

Ian and I co-taught a Humanities lesson on the Berlin Wall. We opened the lesson with a visual literacy activity, in which we asked students to use the nearpod app to make observations about a photo.  We thought this would be a good way to immediately engage students and make them curious about the lesson.  After the photo activity, we looked at the "Berlin Wall in Context."  This was in the format of a short lecture.  Students took notes in the provided packet as I discussed the key concepts using a powerpoint. We then watched a short video clip that gave a nice overview of the Berlin Wall.  The main activity of the lesson was a jigsaw.  Students were broken into groups and were asked to discuss various Times articles about the Berlin Wall.  Finally, we closed with the RAFT assignment.  Students took on the role of an East Berliner and were asked to write a letter to a family member on the other side of the wall.  

I think we were successful at creating a positive climate and designing approaches that engage.  During the jigsaw activity, students were asked to work with their peers and practice their social skills of listening and speaking to each other respectfully.  As a future teacher, I want to continue to emphasize social learning in my classroom.  I think students get more out of working with each other than simply listening to the teacher.  However, it is still important that the teacher acts as a guide for her students.  I knew that before we could really begin to analyze the Berlin Wall and its significance, we needed to understand what the Berlin Wall actually was.  I think I demonstrated that I understood my content knowledge.  I was able to answer the students' questions.  I made the content accessible by giving students a note packet.  In the packet, students were asked to fill-in the blank, read along, write a definition, and use a map.  This made the content less overwhelming.  The RAFT assignment was a good example of how we were able to then make the content meaningful.  Students had to practice empathy and think about what it would have been like to be a Berliner during this time.  Through all of these strategies-- lecture, reading, discussion, writing-- students were engaged in a variety of ways.

Overall, I was pleased with the lesson.  My peers noticed that Ian and I worked very well together and we integrated our content nicely.  I think this is highly important because to be successful, teachers need to work together and communicate well all the time.  They also highlighted that the lesson was very organized.  They liked the notes packet and they liked that the powerpoint went along with the lesson.  Finally, they observed our use of technology.  They liked that in the beginning of the lesson technology was fully integrated, then in the middle of the lesson they were told to put all devices away, and then at the end of the lesson students had a choice to use technology or not.  I think technology should be integrated into a classroom, but only when it can be used purposefully and meaningfully.  I think Ian and I did a nice job with this.

However, there are many ways that I would change the lesson for the future.  The most common feedback I received from my peers was that too much was included in just a 45 minute period.  They did not have time to process all of the information.  Part of this problem was that Ian and I didn't have a longer period of time to cover the material.  In a normal classroom, I would have planned several lessons to cover the information.  Nonetheless, this is a reminder to not overwhelm my students.  Ian and I should have been more focused on exactly what we wanted our students to get out of the lesson. Another area of improvement is our explanations.  Students felt unclear at times.  For instance, when I was giving the lecture on "Berlin Wall in Context," I was asked a lot of questions about the location of Berlin and how it was divided.  I was able to answer these questions, but I should have anticipated that this would have been an area of confusion.  I was so comfortable with my content that I forgot my students wouldn't be.  Clearly, it's confusing that Berlin is in the center of a Soviet zone.  When planning lessons in the future, I need to consider my students' prior knowledge.   Finally, we could have checked-in with students more.  It came to our attention that one student was texting during the lecture and another student was more quiet than usual.  During the lecture, I could have asked all students to face me, so I could see everybody better.  Then, when students started working in groups I could have circled around better to check-in with groups and individual students.

Here is an example of one student's RAFT.

Here is an example of the notes packet from the lecture.

Here is an example of the articles students read during the jigsaw activity.  Clearly, this student was engaging with the text.