5.

Leading Group Discussion

Fall 2017

● Last Name, First Name, and subject area:

Plont, Kenneth. Social Studies.

● Title of class (e.g. 11th grade American Literature, AP History, French II)

6th grade Social Studies

● Context of instruction.

We’ve been studying the various types of governments in the world. Today, we’re

reviewing most of the different types of governments that we’ve learned about, which

includes: dictatorship, autocracy, oligarchy, constitutional republic, absolute monarchy,

direct democracy, constitutional monarchy, etc. We’re filling out multiple Venn-diagrams

to compare and contrast the different forms of government, to see how they’re alike and

how they are different from each other. Immediately after, they’re doing a homework

assignment on the different types of government, and taking a test tomorrow (Friday) on

this unit. My teaching is ensuring that they clearly understand the differences and

similarities between the different type of government, and also providing them with good

examples of each type, as well as analogies that help them understand academic jargon.

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Claims-Evidence-Reasoning for HIT5:

I. Consulting the rubric for this HLTP—Identify a strength of your enactment, then:

● Make a claim about the strengths you’ve identified in your effort to enact this

HLTP:
One strength that I exhibited was the ability to bring a controversial and engaging topic to the

table for the kids. Coming into the lesson, my question was: “Kids, some people consider the

United States as an oligarchy today? So, are we an oligarchy because a lot of rich people are in

power, like Donald Trump?” My own political opinions aside, I wanted to see how well the kids

did with a controversial question, and they seem to come to the correct conclusion, that we in

fact, do not technically live in Oligarchy. This was made unclear to them in previous lessons. TO

accomplish the learning goal of “students will be able to understand the different types of

government”, I think that based off this discussion, several kids understand the differences

between the various types of government.

● Present evidence that supports your claim:

Once I brought up that some people might consider the United States to be an oligarchy,

and that Donald Trump is considered by some to be an oligarch himself because he’s

very wealthy and surrounded by other very wealthy people, the kids erupted in defiance.

Some stated that there’s no way that we could live in oligarchy, because we have a

constitution that protects against that sort of thing (starting at 5:58 in the video). Other

students scoffed at the sheer mention of Donald Trump, stating that he had inherited his

wealth (a common characteristic of monarchs or oligarchs) and some even questioned

whether or not it was actually possible to vote Donald Trump out in our country. (8:07).

Eventually, they came to the consensus that we do not in fact live in an oligarchy, even if

they all collectively despise our president and consider him to be a corrupt wealthy man,

the kids came to the conclusion that we ultimately live in a democracy and we have the

opportunity to vote him out of office by the time his next term comes around in three

years (9:30).
 ● Explain your reasoning. That is, explain how your evidence supports your claim.

My launch into this controversial topic was essentially just reviewing what an oligarchy was, and

how someone like King Salman of Saudi Arabia could be more than just an absolute monarch, as

he is also considered to be a theocrat, an oligarch, among other things. The school had sent us a

PowerPoint with a slide that said “some people consider the United States to be an oligarchy.”

Although the slide was vague and poorly thought out, I used it as a way to engage kids in the

nuance and also the connections between the various types of government, displaying the blurred

lines that sometimes present themselves when comparing different types of government. The fact

that the kids were able to mostly arrive at their own conclusion, that because we have a

constitution and the right to vote, we do not live in an oligarchy, even if Donald Trump is very

wealthy, is quite telling of their ability to differentiate between types of government and

potentially false statements or political rhetoric. Beyond that, I think kids understood that

sometimes the definitions can be used synonymously with other phenomena, particularly with

oligarchy meaning “rule by a few/rule by a limited number of individuals who are often very

wealthy” and with a faulty democracy or republic that we live in today. The lines aren’t always

so clear, but when teaching sixth graders, it’s probably best to distinguish as much as we can and

not teach them that we live by the “textbook” definition of an oligarchy. Perhaps, as one kid

mentioned in a later one-on-one discussion, “our vote simply doesn’t matter anymore”; and if

that’s the case, then it’s possible for a student to rationalize that we potentially live in an

oligarchy now. Anyways, all of this shows their cognition growing and more questions

developing, which is always a good sign. I would still rate myself as developing because the

discussion was still primarily led by me, and often I was looking for correct answers and
memorized info. It wasn’t fully effectively planned or taught to the students, therefore, I still

consider myself as developing.

II. Consulting the rubric for this HLTP—Identify a limitation of your enactment, then:

● Make a claim about the limitations you’ve identified in your effort to enact this

HLTP:

A huge problem was classroom management, as well as effective transitions after a student

would say something insightful and useful. I would acknowledge what every kid had to say, but

at times, I missed opportunities to probe their understanding further or further progress the

discussion along, using their comment or question as a launch.

● Present evidence that supports your claim:

At around 1:20 in the video, a girl makes a statement about how a country’s population has to do

with determining whether or not they need an oligarchy or democracy. The comment was

definitely off-putting and out of left field for me, and instead of running with it and asking if

other kids had anything to say in regards to her bizarre, but revealing comment, I merely just

acknowledged it and moved on. So, this student may have a skewed understanding about how

types of governments are determined, or might have never had it clearly explained to them in an

effective and accessible way. At 1:45, my transition is simply: “sooo, what else do we know

about oligarchy?” This was wholly ineffective and awkward. It didn’t help that student learn, or

help anyone engage further in a discussion. Even if I was looking to call out a wrong line of

thinking outright, this was not an effective way, and that student may have walked away feeling

invalidated or more confused than before.

Especially at around 9 minutes into the video, it is evident that the controversial

discussion may have been too much for sixth graders to handle at that moment without effective
classroom management. Kids were talking to each other about Donald Trump or Kim Jung Un’s

haircuts, and how they despised both men in a number of different ways. The noise levels and

side chatter was hard to manage, but perhaps, they weren’t engaged quite enough with each other

to warrant the kind of attention. By about 9 minutes in, their attention was gone, even if they

were still discussing Donald Trump, oligarchy and North Korean dictators. As an instructor, it

needed to be clearer that when one person is speaking, no one else is, and I should’ve found

more effective ways of controlling side chatter, or using it to our advantage to further progress

the discussion forward. It wasn’t used as an opportunity to learn, it was mostly just conversation

and side chatter about haircuts and how Donald Trump got his money.

● Explain your reasoning. That is, explain how your evidence supports your claim.

Throughout the duration of the video, you probably hear kids say “what did he/she/they say?” In

reference to something another student had said during the discussion, and that’s telling that the

volume was not under control inside the classroom. Beyond that, as mentioned above, some of

the chatter was just goofy talk about haircuts. It’s not surprising or unexpected, but it still needs

to be contained and kids should focus if they had been asked more engaging and thought-

provoking questions. I needed more questions and better control of their behavior. I needed to

command respect from them for whoever was speaking. I would consider myself as still

developing because in my planning, teaching and how the discussion was led, it was only

somewhat effective planning and teaching, and honestly only captured a few or a dozen or so

student’s interest throughout.

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 ● What other people/resources helped you think through and plan this discussion; if

any?

Originally, the school had sent as a mediocre PowerPoint with one slide that had the question: “is

the USA an oligarchy? Some people think so” and I decided to run with that and improve upon

it.

● Reflect: What did you learn from your efforts in HIT5? Focus primarily on

transferable skills you have honed, insights about this particular practice, and what you

might do next time.

As with any beginning teacher, I need to work on classroom management and making sure the

kids won’t get too far off track or derailed from learning. Beyond that, I need to make sure I’m

capitalizing on key opportunities to engage more kids in discussion, or following the line of

thinking of any kid brave enough to participate in order to probe their understanding further.

From there, more questions should arise and my job as a facilitator is to bring these to the table

and keep the waters of the discussion flowing.

III. Choose an HLTP of your choice from HITs 1-3

1. Plont, Kenneth, History & Social Studies

2. Sixth grade Social Studies

3. Context: students have been learning about the various types of government. Today is

one of the several days of review before their big unit test. Kids are filling out Venn

diagrams with me, as we compare and contrast different types of government. In the

video evidence provided, we discuss absolute monarchies, theocracies, autocracies and

 dictatorships, specifically. After this instruction, we have one more day of review, and

then the following day is their exam on types of governments.

4. Claims-Evidence-Reasoning for HIT1:

4. A strength of this lesson was I was able to ask useful questions in order to probe student’s

understandings without actually answering questions for them. I help facilitate learning and lead

students to the answers on their own through questioning while comparing and contrasting the

different types of government together. Through effective and efficient questioning, the

lesson/review flowed well and students gained useful insight into the different types of

government that we were studying together. In terms of planning, I came to the lesson with

prepared questions to ask the students to further their understanding of the similarities and

differences between the types of government. The instructional approach of using a venn-

diagram and asking appropriate questions were tied to the learning goal of helping students

understand the different types of government. For this lesson, I would rate myself between

developing and proficient, because even if it was effective and had some key examples presented

to the students, they still needed more visuals and representations for it to be considered totally

proficient. As far as the structure goes, it also displayed a strong understanding of the content

and complete sets of facts, and there were explicit attempts to help students make sense of the

different types of government through central and key questions that were asked.

5. Evidence includes one of the first questions that I ask in the video: “what if an autocrat is

religious? Can they be considered a theocrat”, which happens at around 29 seconds in. From

there, another student makes the distinction that an autocracy can only be ruled by one person at

0:58. At 1:13 in the video, a student asks a key question: “does Kim Jung Un (a dictator) make
his people believe one religion”, launching the class into the discussion on whether or not an

autocrat/dictator can also be considered a theocrat. At 1:52, a student says: “it depends on the

leader/person.” Around 2:18, another student provides Iran as an example of both. At around

2:28, a student asks for clarification on whether or not North Korea could be considered both a

theocracy and autocracy. At around 2:45, a student clarifies that by saying an autocrat has

complete power, and that it’s only one person in North Korea. Another student makes it clear

that a theocracy can have more than one potential religious leader at 3:35. At 5:15, I prompt

them by asking if a theocracy can have a king or queen, to see if they understand the similarities

between an absolute monarchy and theocracy. At around 6:50, a student provides the class with

an example of Saudi Arabia.

7. This evidence is supported by the fact that kids were coming up with some of these questions

on their own, as evidenced at 1:13, when a student asks about Kim Jung Un, a dictator, possibly

being an autocrat. This is further supported by a student who at 2:28, who asks for clarification

and helps us answer the question that Kim Jung Un is certainly not a theocrat, because he doesn’t

impose a state religion on his people, therefore, he is merely just a dictator and autocrat. At 3:35,

a student says that more than one leader can exist in a theocracy, but can in an autocracy, making

the distinction clear to the class that while both terms and systems of government can be similar,

they are also different. From there, when a student provides the clear example of Saudi Arabia

(6:50) as an example of a theocracy and a monarchy, it is clear that student understands that a

leader can function as both, demonstrating the transfer of knowledge from one type of

government to another.

II. Limitation
7. Some questions that were asked were based on rote memorization of facts and did not probe

deeper into student’s understanding. At least one useful example of a theocracy with multiple

religious leaders would’ve provided clarity to students, as well as an example of a theocracy that

could also function as a dictatorship, if that has even happened throughout history. For this

aspect of planning and teaching, I would rate myself as novice, because without these things,

some of the questions asked, regardless if correct answers were provided by students, may prove

to be obsolete or ineffectual.

8 & 9. Between 1 minute and 2 minutes in the video, I discuss with the students whether or not a

theocrat could also be a dictator. I tell them that Kim Jung Un is not, and a student makes the

distinction that North Korea is not because there isn’t a state-imposed religion. However, I do

not provide them with any examples of where this could be true, where a dictator does impose a

state religion. At 5:15, I ask if a theocracy can have a king or queen, which is essentially a

question that I’m looking for a correct answer to. The answer is yes, but I’m merely doing this to

draw a similarity between monarchy and theocracy. However, questions like these are rote

memorization and could be developed into more thought-provoking and challenging questions

for the students to further their understanding of concepts and facts surrounding different types

of governments.

10. This lesson and the venn-diagram idea was entirely my own and was based off of the

formative assessment and student answers from that.

11. I honed on engaging kids on their possible past experiences with the knowledge and asked

some useful questions and helped them ask their own questions pertaining to the content that was

being introduced on a basic level. I need to plan and teach with more effective questions and

focus outside of rote memorization, even if they are sixth graders learning potentially esoteric
and difficult content. More visuals and representations, as well as relatable and easy to

understand examples of the different types of government would have proven useful too, and

would have helped aided student understanding.