Formal Observation 2 Lego Population Pyramids

Class: World Geography
Date: 10/1/2020 (Silver Day, 2nd hour, Hybrid B Group)

Time: 9:03am
Unit/Topic: Population Unit/ Population Pyramids
Teaching Standard
Considerations
Accomodations: High School Social Studies Standard 2. Geography

The graphic ● Use geographic tools and resources to analyze Earth’s human systems
organizer for their and physical features to investigate and address geographic issues.
at-home lesson is

modified for our
IEP students.
Learning Targets/ Objectives
If students only
had time to get to
Synchronous (Live) Class Asynchronous Class
one population
pyramid I also had By the end of this class I will be able By the end of this class I will be able
them focus on to identify the characteristics of to identify and describe the
questions for just countries in different stages of different stages in the Demographic
that one instead development by looking at population Transition Model
of building both. pyramids.

Materials
Needed: Synchronous Class Time
Population
Graphic 9:03-9:18am: Start of class--RNN (Rebel News Network) & “due dates and
Organizers from other things” slides
last week,
LEGO’s for 9:18-9:9:22am: Population Pyramid Video
in-person
students, 9:22-9:45am: Population Pyramid Lecture (this is the first time they’ve ever
Chromebooks for seen them!)
reflection
questions. 9:45-9:55am: Finished the comparison charts from last weeks demographic
finder worksheet (this helped them select what two population pyramids to
Other: build, more explanation on that in my reflection below!)
Nope!
9:55am-10:15am: Building population pyramids out of LEGOs!

10:15-10:18am: Wipe down LEGO’s (COVID) and turn in the quick reflection
on the activity

Asynchronous Class Time

9:03-9:18am: [logged on via Zoom] Start of class--RNN (Rebel News Network)
& “due dates and other things” slides

9:18-10:18am: Students will complete the Demographic Transition Model
Notes from home, using a graphic organizer and a Screencastify (video with
slides) that is about 25 minutes long. They have a few questions to answer
after the notes to make sure they are applying this information.

Reflection:
This lesson comes after we have given students all of their population vocabulary notes, as
population pyramids are one way to visualize all of the information that they learned last week
during that lesson.

At this point in the semester, it was really clear that students were just getting absolutely
pummeled by the amount of work that all of their teachers have been giving them. Instead of a
complicated activity that included a worksheet, I wanted to create a lesson to go along with
population pyramids that was fun and engaging, and something more tactile that students who are
struggling with turning in worksheets and such might enjoy more. So what I came up with was
playing with LEGO’s to visualize population pyramids a little bit better!

After delivering a quick lecture on population pyramids, I then gave each student a handful of
LEGOs and asked them to create two population pyramids; one from the worksheet they did the
previous week where they found a bunch of different demographics on a country of their choosing,
and one for a country that was in a totally different level of development from the first country.
They finished this worksheet in class by comparing their country to those of their peers, and this
helped them find the second country that they were going to build. Once they were done building
the pyramids, I had them answer some quick reflection questions on the process and activity of
building them, and then had them wipe down their LEGO’s for the next group!

One thing I think you’ll notice from both this lesson and the last one I turned in is that I always
start the class with a check-in, quick announcements on my “due dates and other things” slide, and
giving instructions to my folks who are online along with their attendance word. I know you
mentioned wanting to hear a bit about classroom culture, and this is how I always start class and
what my students have gotten used to. Especially right now with COVID, creating class culture is
really hard and students are just getting so many different things from every teacher. I’m proud
that I thought through a bunch of my policies before the craziness started and that they worked
well so that I could keep them consistent with some minor adjustments throughout the semester!

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Class: World Geography

Date: 10/1/2020 (Silver Day, 2nd hour, Hybrid B Group)

Accomodations: High School Social Studies Standard 2. Geography

Asynchronous Class Time

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