TED 633: Content Area Instruction--Field Experience (How to treat family and friends like students)

In this field experience, I gathered five people to create a tenth grade World History "classroom". The Content Area of Instruction was the introduction of Enlightenment-era political philosophers and their influence on democratic revolutions. We would be covering John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles de Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Simon Bolivar.

First, however, we would review our previous learning about the Glorious Revolution and the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke who each had differing views on the concept of a Social contract. I want to make sure that my students have a strong foundation of knowledge about the relevance of the Glorious Revolution and how John Locke's theory of the Social Contract played into it before his writings went on to influence the democratic revolutions of the 18th century. Additionally, I want to ask questions that test their prior knowledge of the Enlightenment that contrast with Thomas Hobbes and I want to assess how familiar they may be about the pre-revolutionary France and the American colonies.

Therefore, I prepared PowerPoint warm-up questions that encourage both recall and critical thinking skills for my students. They would record their answers in their journals, which I will read later as a form of unobtrusive assessment. This will give me a picture of what they know and how well they understand the content with regard to the context of Hobbes' and Locke's influence, as well as how much they know about the Enlightenment ideas, France and America before their revolutions.

Warm up Questions for Review and Discussion
Section A.
1. What does the Anciene Regime refer to?
                            A. Pre-revolution structure of French society
                            B. The Frankish Kingdom
                         
2.  Which political philosopher that we studied is reflected by the Anciene Regime?
                            A. Thomas Hobbes
                            B. John Locke
Section B.

3.  Which  is NOT one of the three main ideas of Hobbes' Leviathan? Check all that apply?
                           A. Separation of Powers
                           B. Man's state of nature is brutish and short
                           C. Mankind share a desire for security, order, protections, self-preservation
                           D. Citizens must voluntarily surrender to the authority of a sovereign power

4.  Which is NOT one of the three main ideas from Locke's Treatise of Government?

                            A. Separation of Powers  
                            B. Natural rights                        
                            C. Legitimate power is a contract between governed and governor
                            E. Absolutism
Section C.

5. Compare and Contrast the Hobbes' and Locke's views of the Social Contract.

Section D.
6. The Three Estates consisted of ______________, _____________, ________________.

7. True or False: Absolutism is the political philosophy that claims that political power is centralized in one ruler or sovereign?

> For the purpose of differentiation, I offered graphic organizers of various types available as an alternative method of showing knowledge. There were also relevant word lists to choose from.

My assessment consisted of two multiple choice questions, one alternative choice, one fill in the blank, one True/False question and one essay. The findings of my pre-assessment are as follows:

Assessment of Competencies for Prior Learning:

Student	Section	Competency
One	A.	Understands the Anciene Regime refers to pre-revolutionary French society but could not name the political philosopher it reflects
	B.	Chose Separation of Powers as the answer for both 3 and 4.
	C.	Was unable to compare/contrast their views of the Social Contract which they could not define
	D.	Could name the estate of the commoners and cited Absolutism as the correct political philosophy described.
Two	A.	Correctly chose the correct definition of the Anciene Regime and also the political philosopher reflected by it.
	B.	Successfully named the incorrect idea for both question 3 and 4
	C.	Did not have a clear understanding of the Social Contract but was able to compare & contrast certain ideas of Hobbes and Locke
	D.	Correctly stated true for the definition of Absolutism
Three	A.	Answered incorrectly for both questions 1 and 2
	B.	Answered incorrectly for both questions 3 and 4
	C.	Left blank
	D.	Answered True for question 7
Four	A.	Correctly answered question one and two
	B.	Correctly answered questions 3 and 4
	C.	Semi-comparison/contrast between Hobbes and Locke; used statements from the responses listed for questions 3 & 4
	D.	Answered true for correct definition of Absolutism
Five	A.	Incorrectly answered question 1 but correctly answered question 2
	B.	Correctly answered both 3 and 4
	C.	Left blank
	D.	Answered true for question 7.

Rubric for grade value (Assessment is formative with no grades entered)

Coding Scheme: C=Totally Correct

                            I=Incorrect

                           L P=Low Partial Credit

                           HP=High Partial Credit

Pattern of Responses by Section and Item for Each Student

Student 1

Section	Item	Item Code	Score Value
Section A.	1.	C	2.0
	2.	C	2.0
Section B.	3.	C	2.0
	4.	C	2.0
Section C.	5.	I	0
Section D.	6.	LP	1.0
	7.	C	2.0
Student 2
Section	Item	Item Code	Score Value
Section A.	1.	C	2.0
	2.	C	2.0
Section B.	3.	C	2.0
	4.	C	2.0
Section C.	5.	HP	2.5
Section D.	6.	C	3.0
	7.	C	2.0
Student 3
Section	Item	Item Code	Score Value
Section A.	1.	I	0.
	2.	I	0.
Section B.	3.	I	0.
	4.	I	0.
Section C.	5.	I	0.
Section D.	6.	I	0.
	7.	C	2.0
Student 4
Section	Item	Item Code	Score Value
Section A.	1.	C	2.0
	2.	C	2.0
Section B.	3.	C	2.0
	4.	C	2.0
Section C.	5.	HP	2.0
Section D.	6.	I	0.
	7.	C	2.0
Student 5.
Section A.	1.	I	0
	2.	C	2.0
Section B.	3.	C	2.0
	4.	C	2.0
Section C.	5.	I	0.
	6.	I	0.
	7.	C	2.0

Tally of Values by Question/Average

Question	Score Value	Average
1.	6.0	1.2
2.	10.0	2.0
3.	8.0	1.6
4.	8.0	1.6
5.	4.5	0.9
6.	4.0	0.8
7.	8.0	1.6
Possible Score Value	17	X 5= 85
Total Score Value	48.5	%= 41%

Analysis of Pre-Assessment Findings:

I found that although most of my five students were able to choose correctly from multiple and alternative choice questions, most faltered on higher level thinking questions. They were unable to clearly compare and contrast the ideas of Hobbes and Locke nor name the Three Estates.

From these findings I presented a PowerPoint presentation that covered all the relevant material I needed them to know. As a whole class exercise we filled out graphic organizers defining and detailing content and context. Additionally, we discussed content in small and whole group.

I believe my pres-assessment was effective in revealing holes in the prior learning mys students required to successfully begin the lesson. Also, it showed a pattern of the types of questions that were they were successful at and those they were not. This opened my thinking to the possibility that when giving a pre-assessment of prior learning that students may not have visited for some time, that it would be of better use add cues to my higher value questions. I would change my fill-in-the-blank questions to include a word bank  to choose from and my compare/contrast of Hobbes and Locke should be changed to a set of ideas that students can link to either Hobbes or Locke.

This experience was an eye-opener for me. Of course, my findings are based on the assessment of friends and family members and not real students and they were rewarded with Pizza. However, it was extremely worthwhile because it forced me to think more deeply about student learning and memory in context to time and other factors that can influence their expression of knowledge. For instance, the assessment as it was designed did not take into consideration either of EL or Special Needs students, nor learning style. My assessment effectively blocked my view of what a student might know but is unable to express in definitions they may have forgotten. Their knowledge of content may be blocked from view due to lack of vocabulary.

I look forward to applying this knowledge. I am glad to learn before I teach.