March 4th, 2021
By: Kate Drish
Today I taught my second lesson which was for social studies! My MT and I decided that I should focus on a topic related to Women's History Month. I decided to talk about Susan B. Anthony as she paved the way for women and their right to vote. I really liked my anticipatory set for this lesson plan. I had the students participate in a gender-bias voting simulation. First, I asked a simple, yet silly, question. "Which is better? Candy or ice cream?" I asked all the students (girls and boys) to take a moment to really think about which they prefer. Then, I strategically only called on all the boys to get their opinions and votes on which was better: candy or ice cream. Once I was able to tally up the votes of the boys, I declared that ice cream was better because the boys in our class had said so. When I asked if anyone had notice anything unfair about the activity, not one student answered. I then made them aware that I had only called on the boys to share their responses. Once I did this, I was met with frustrations from the girls in my class. Of course, I then explained that these feelings were valid and that they relate to some of the feelings women had in the past when they were unable to vote! Throughout my lesson, I was able to engage a lot with the students and they seemed really interested in the activities I had planned. For the last minute or two of my lesson, I opened the chat for everyone, boys AND girls, to share which they liked better.. either candy or ice cream. When I did this, the students started to smile and giggle. The girls were so excited that they had the right to voice their opinion!
I think this strategy worked well with the students as they were all able to put themselves in the shoes of those who lived back then. The girls were able to directly relate with the feeling of not being represented and treated unfairly. The boys were also able to reflect on the feelings that the girls had and how that made them feel. Overall, I think the lesson plan accomplished what I wanted which was to acknowledge Susan B. Anthony's accomplishments and successes, as well as learn about equality and human rights.
Wow Kate what a great lesson! I really love your anticipatory set, that is such a creative way to put your students in the shoes of those who did not have the rights we do today. I really love this idea. Thank you for sharing your lesson with us, you've really inspired me to create a social studies lesson that is as creative and impactful as yours!
ReplyDeleteHi Kate! I enjoyed reading your blog. I can see the students loving the lesson. What a great way to teach them about equity! That was a great anticipatory set, will definitely use that in my future classroom.I am glad that your lesson went well. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete