I can clearly recall that based on the TEKS that I chose I left out some content or

information in regard to that specific area. I decided to focus on TEKS 4A for high school social

studies. Within that area the focus is more broadly on the United States as an emerging world

power. Within this context there are various issues to be covered, including the Spanish-

American War, which I taught. Other issues within this area include important figures such as

Henry Cabot Lodge, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and Sanford B. Dole. I briefly or loosely covered

topics which tie into the idea of the Spanish-American War and the U.S. as an imperialist entity.

I feel like I can genuinely improve on this lesson by instead of having one element be the central

focus of the lesson, have a more evenly distributed focus on the figures and their significance in

relation to America as an imperialist world power during the era.

I do not believe that I necessarily provided content which was able to allow students a

moment to recall previous instruction and/or memories of the topic. I did question the students at

the initiation of the class to see if they were familiar with the main focus event that the lesson

was going to revolve around, but I do not think that I used such activity or questioning to see if

students had previous knowledge on the topic of imperialism in general and within the context of

the class events. While I may not necessarily have focused on this aspect more vigorously, I did

decide to ensure that the students could activate their thinking. I began the class by providing the

students with a pre-class assessment that essentially tested the students’ knowledge on events

and aspects of the Spanish-American War. I also made sure to explain the correct answers to the

questions as a whole class to make sure that everybody was able to gather data and understand

why the answers to the questions were what they were. In explaining these answers, I also tied in

contemporary aspects of certain elements featured in the lesson, e.g. Yellow Journalism equating

to fake news, the current standing of territories from the era.

 In the aspect of having students explore the topic of the class in a more thorough manner

I provided the students with various images of American imperialism. These images were mainly

political cartoons. The students were given the task to use analytical skills to see what each

image in particular was trying to say. After having taken a look at each image in its own context

the students were then asked to look at them together as a whole. This practice is what I like to

call, seeing the trees and seeing the forest. Within the explanation of the lesson I gave a brief

lecture over the Spanish-American war and included certain key figures, events, and aspects of

the events which were used to give the students more context of the lesson and its events. Paired

with this I also included an activity in which the students used dry erase markers and laminated

world maps to locate and identify territories of both Spain and the United States of America.

Following the presentation lecture and the maps activity I gave the students sheets with a

journal prompt which was supposed to make the students feel more immersed with the topic and

sort of resonate with those who were involved and were witness to the conflict. In this sense the

issue was brought closer to home for the students by making them pick a stance as a citizen of

any of the countries mentioned and defend their stance in whether they are for or against the war

and whether they were in support of what their country in specific was doing during this conflict.

This activity was supposed to give the students a deeper understanding of the events which were

presented throughout the class. Not just the events really, but also the concepts and ideas such as

the idea of imperialism and colonialism.

In assessing the students at the end, I provided a set of questions for the students to

answer. These questions were somewhat similar to those which I provided in the beginning of

the class. The questions were open ended short answer questions that included questions about

what was covered in the entirety of the lesson, that is to say, elements covered at different points
of the class. The purpose of having short answer questions is so that I may be able to see how

well the students are able to explain their answers instead of just merely circling an answer and

having the short thought process of recollection instead of analysis and digging for information

in their minds. The closing activity leans towards that assessment-based aspect as well. I created

a kahoot quiz and set it up for the students to, again, test their knowledge of the class content in a

simpler multiple choice format. This activity provided that competition aspect that incentivizes

the students answering the questions.

I feel like I could have opened the class content to a broader view including the other

figures and events more evenly into the class instead of merely focusing solely/mainly on the

events of the Spanish-American war. I also believe I could have added more visual and

technological aspects for the students to enjoy within the class, perhaps a video clip or something

similar to maintain more attention and not necessarily promote a sense of boredom or overwork.

I believe that in implementing the journal, the map activity, and the open ended questions I was

able to get more out of the students and I was able to help them use more advanced forms of

thought process in regard to bloom’s taxonomy wheel.