Lesson 3 Reflection

 Our third lesson was about Mexico's civics.  We had students complete a short cut and paste pre-test to have an idea of their current understanding of the topic.  This test consisted of either a picture or a short definition and students had to glue it under the correct vocabulary word.  After this, students were introduced to the new vocabulary words.    The poster was covered up with papers, so students would be able to focus in on one term at a time, while also having the opportunity to reveal the next word.  Each word and definition, after being read by us, would be read together as a group to further their comprehension.  To provide students with a better understanding of the vocabulary words, they participated in a group activity researching a specific branch of government.  

They were split into three groups and assigned one branch of government (either judicial, executive, or legislative) and were given a folder that contained information about their branch.  Each group was also given a paper to fill out that consisted of the name of their branch, listing three facts, and coming up with their own symbol to represent their branch.  Students were then able to share what they learned about their branch before playing a game called 'Who's Branch is this?'. A card would be read out that had a specific job a branch is responsible for, and students had to figure out if it was a part of their branch! Each group would be asked one by one if it was theirs and the correct group would receive the card.  For our next activity, students were given the option of creating a gavel (judicial branch), a police badge (executive branch), or a quill (legislative).  All of our students wanted to create their own gavels.   These gavels were also used for a game where they had to hit their gavel if they agreed on creating a law.  An example was 'all in favor of having extra recess time' and students would agree and tap their gavel on the table! 

    Students were then given a newspaper that discussed the Mexico government.  They looked at three highlighted sections and had to work together to figure out what branch the newspaper was talking about.  After this, students filled out a registration form to be able to vote. After filling out their registration form and being approved, they were given several topics to vote on (e.g. Mexico's national animal) and they checked off their pick and put it in the ballot box.  The final topic they voted on was what brain break activity they wanted to do (either charades or headbands). (Link to Voting Ballots) After tallying up all of the votes, all of the winners were revealed, including their brain break choice being headbands!  For headbands, they were given a card that were based off of the three branches, and the rest of the group had to work together to help guess the answer.  Students were then asked to share with a partner ways to participate in the common good instead of writing it as a reflection.  Lastly, they were given a post test to see how well they understood the content in the lesson.  

    While the lesson did go well, creating gavels took up more time than anticipated.  In the future, we can set a timer and make sure students know how much time they have to work on an activity.