Today, I taught the last lesson of our economics unit. Honestly, it was quite sad to have to say goodbye to the students. Working with these first graders throughout the course of this past school year has certainly been a rewarding experience. Over time, I feel like we formed a real bond with the students and earned their respect and admiration. In addition, I feel as though Emilia and I have learned a lot through our experiences (both good and bad) and have grown as teachers. I can only hope that we made even a small impact on this lively first grade group.
To begin the lesson, I conducted a review of some of the main concepts we had covered in our previous four lessons. I asked the students for definitions and examples of needs and wants. I also reviewed making economic choices and saving money. The students seemed to have remembered a great deal of information. They were especially good at recalling examples from our lessons.
The focus of today’s lesson was: how the economy functions as a whole in a community. In addition, I wanted to revisit the concepts of goods, services, buyers, and sellers - the ideas that we thought were the most difficult for the students (and as evidenced by our formative assessments - caused the most confusion for the class). Therefore, I had the students pretend that they were going to create their own “class town”. Once a name for the town had been established, I explained that this town needed an economy. I reminded students that economics involves the making, giving out, and using of goods (things people make or need to satisfy needs and wants) and services (activities that satisfy people’s needs and wants). In addition, there must be buyers and sellers of these goods and services to move money through the economy. I then asked the students for ideas of stores (businesses that provide goods) and places that provide services that we would need in our “class town”. Next, I had each student draw a picture of an assigned establishment to contribute to our town. For example, students created scenes for the: grocery store, clothing store, toy store, hospital, restaurant, library, fire department, etc. The students were really excited about receiving their assignments and got straight to drawing (one of their favorite things to do). When everyone had finished their pictures, it was time to share. As I picked names out of a cup, students came to the front and shared their drawings in the “Illustrator’s Chair”. The students were really excited about getting their names picked out of the cup for an opportunity to come to the front! During the sharing, I asked students to identify elements such as goods, services, buyers, and sellers in their pictures. I think it was a great idea to let the children share their work with their classmates. Not only did they learn a lot through the discussion, but it made them feel proud of their work.
On the whole, the student’s behavior during this lesson (like yesterday) was so much better then it had been in the past. They’re participation, cooperation, and positive attitudes have improved greatly. Especially during these last two lessons, the students were really paying attention and actively engaged. They were eager to answer questions (sometimes even raising their hands before the question was fully presented). I must say that I was really impressed with their good behavior!
Finally, I administered the summative assessment for our unit. I explained to the students that these were only a few questions to see what they remembered from our teaching (and that they would not be graded). The assessment consisted of eight questions – four selected response questions and four constructed response items. I believe that the students had a much easier time with the constructed response questions because those involved giving examples. Our selected response questions, on the other hand, involved matching words and definitions. Even thought some students may not have been able to remember the definitions, they certainly would have been able to give examples. I don’t think it would be fair to measure students understanding of the lesson based on whether they correctly answered the selected response questions. If we could go back in time, Emilia and I would have constructed the summative assessment differently (changing the structure a little). Consequently, to gauge student understanding of our lesson, I feel that we must look at all assessments (both formative and summative) to really get a clear picture.
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