Tim Brown

5/8/19
Observation 3

Brief class description: This class contains 29 students and is my largest class. In terms of
academic achievement, this class is our most advanced in terms of writing ability and reading
ability. The class contains no IEPs or 504 plans. One of the only detriments of this class is that
they can quickly get off task by asking questions that snowball off topic. Timers and limiting
questions is necessary for pacing. Discussion based activities are most successful with this class
and the answers are indicative of their higher ability.

UNIT: Rome LESSON TOPIC: Fall of PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Students have

the Roman Empire analyzed the reasons for Rome’s
collapse and have analyzed several
different emperors from the downfall
of the empire. This will now put their
decision making skills to work

Standard Objective Assessment

Content: History Standard Objective: Students will Questions that accompany the
INDICATOR be able to interpret the simulation activity
complexity of being an
Analyze the growth,
efficient emperor and
development and decline
running a country
of nations in the
contemporary world
Writing: CC. 6-8.W.3 –
Write narratives to develop
real or imagined experiences Activities: Emperor Simulation
or events using effective
technique, well-chosen
details, and well-structured Materials Needed: Simulation PowerPoint, questions worksheet,
event sequences treasury card, emperor profile
Reading: CC. 6-8.R.1 –
Read closely to determine
what the text says Adaptations: Providing copy of the questions within question sheet
explicitly and to make
logical inferences from it
Procedure
x
 Opening Activity – None
 Have a message on the board for students when they walk in telling them that there is no
drill for today and that they need to get out the note worksheet they did yesterday in the
computer lab
 Also have them get out a blank sheet of notebook paper
 Review the notes worksheet that students completed in the computer lab that detailed some
of the problems faced by Roman emperors in the past
 Review on the document camera
 Review the objective detailing the days procedure
 Have each student select a treasury card that will tell them how much gold they will start
with
 This is why students have the blank sheet, scratch space for adding/subtracting/keeping
track of funds
 Then have students select an emperor profile
 Explain that while the profile won’t impact every decision, it will be necessary to
complete several of the scenarios
 Pass out packets with scenarios
 Time Allotted: 5 minutes
 Adaptations: Directions will be reviewed using PowerPoint and the document camera

 Activity 1 – Roman Simulation

 Start by reviewing the first page of the packet that lays out the details of the setting of the
simulation
 Review the three prompts that are at the bottom of the page
 What is your name, based on your profile are you good/bad and how much gold do you
have
 Give students 3 minutes to answer all three of the prompts
 Have students turn to the page of the packet that begins the scenarios
 Explain to students that their choices can have consequences on their treasury funds that
can either add or take away some of their gold
 This is an individual event and should not be completed with a partner
 This enables students to be able to make decisions without relying on fellow
classmates input
 The scenarios are in order on the worksheet as they are in the presentation, go through each
individual scenario and review each of the outcomes
 Indicate to students that for most of the scenarios, they will need to write down what their
choice is in “Your decision” box
 Choices will be shown in the presentation
 Then they will need to write down the outcome in the “Result” box
 This will be how much gold they lost or gained
 Let them know they should keep track of their gold count on the scratch paper if necessary
 Activity 1 (cont.) – Roman Simulation
Ss  There are 16 different unique scenarios that we will try to progress through with the
time given
 Regardless of the amount of scenarios left with 5 minutes remaining in class, we will
transition to the reflection aspect of the lesson
 Time Allotted: 40 minutes
 Adaptations: Scenarios are provided on question sheet and presentation, clearly organized
directions and note boxes

 Closure Activity

 Have students turn to the last page in their packet

 Review the four questions at the end on the document camera
 Have students complete the questions using the information they gathered from the
simulation
 Time Allotted: 5 minutes
 Adaptations: Questions reviewed with document camera