Lesson and Artifact: "The Boston Massacre: Perception vs Reality"
Rationale: When one looks at the major points under NBPTS Proposition Two, it is clear that teacher must be masters of their content area, have the ability to recognize the skills gaps in their students, and be able to deal with some of the preconceived notions in our students. As is the case in all forms of learning, there must be an emphasis on teaching materials and skills that will be relevant and useful to our students.
The artifact below was chosen for several reasons. The lesson plan is about the Boston Massacre, but really teaches the students about propaganda, misconceptions about historical events, and also asked them to interpret history from all viewpoints. During the lesson, kids also had to decipher, through research and analysis of primary documents, if the perception of the Boston Massacre was the reality of what actually happened.
The lesson found in the artifact aligns to several areas of Proposition Two. First, the teacher had to demonstrate knowledge of the time period and the course of events that had taken place. Relevant documents were collected and examined and discussed in cooperative learning sessions. Through the instructors knowledge of the content the students were given all of the proper tools to move through the lesson.
Proposition Two also claims that teachers must be able to skillfully handle student diversity, various student perspectives, and skills gaps among students; this lesson did all of the above. Students engaged in an exercise that looked at their preconceived notions and we looked at the events through the lens of several different characters; men, women and minority groups were all part of the lesson.
Finally, the lesson was tailored to many different learning styles. For example, videos and pictures were used for visual and auditory learners. Students were skillfully paired into groups by ability. The culminating assessment called for the students to make websites, but they had a great deal of freedom in what they did in their final project.
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