Tuesday, February 11, 2014

My First Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan - Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address

Objectives
What should students accomplish at the end of this lesson?
Make sure to use ACTIVE and MEASURABLE verbs in your objectives (See attached sheet on Bb).
Please write 3 to 5 in your own words.

Students will be able to…
1. Determine when and where President Lincoln delivered the Address.
2. Recall the general meaning behind the Address.
3. Provide proof that they comprehend and understand why the Address was so important in time.


Essential Questions
Please write TWO essential questions.  The first should be a question that is posed for your students.  This question should be worded so that it motivates students. The second question should be a question for you.  This question should be worded so that it reminds you and your administration of your academic purpose.

For Students: What should you take away from The Gettysburg Address as it relates to your life today!

For Educators: Why is this moment in history worth remembering, teaching and learning about today?


Standards
Please include NO MORE than three standards from NCSCOS.  These can be copied can pasted from the document.

1. The student will decipher, decode and comprehend the meanings of this document and translate how it may relate to his/her life today.


Materials
Please list all materials that you will need for this lesson.

Students will need copies of the original Gettysburg Address.
Students will also need a copy of the Gettysburg Address in legible text.


Procedure
This lesson is intended to scaffold students who struggle to read and write in your content area through a reading/writing strategy, such as a science lab report, a math problem, a literary analysis, and/or an argument paper.  One of the BEST strategies to use in any content area is the me, we, few, you technique that you use for a specific reading/writing practice.

1. Opening: How will you hook your students?  Consider pulling from something they know, such as music, television, graphic novels, etc.
My high school US History teacher had every member of class dress as Abraham Lincoln and take turns reading the Gettysburg Address. It seemed very redundant at the time but we all looked so ridiculous it relaxed us and opened our minds to comprehend and absorb the short speech.
2. Me: How will you model this reading/writing strategy?
I think going through each of the three paragraphs of the speech and breaking down each individual students into a language the students can wrap their minds around is crucial. Simply put, people just don't talk and speak as they did 150 years ago, so being able to get a basic of understanding of what was said is vital here.
3. We: How will you do the reading/writing strategy together as a group?
Again, I'd like to have the entire class read the speech together. Often hearing it while not reading it helps you absorb and actually "hear" the text.
4. Few: What kind of small group work can students do to practice this strategy? How will you hold them accountable? Remember, it is best to keep students in groups of two or three.
I'd like to have them break off into small groups of three or four and assign a few sentences to one sentence and then have them read it in their group and explain what it means to them and what they they think it means.
5. You: What kind of individual work will you expect students to do?
I think getting the who, what where, when and why in the form of a quiz the next day would be a good way to test for recall and comprehension.
6. Closure: How will close up the lesson? How will you return to the objectives and essential questions? Please explain how you will do this in the form of an exit slip or ticket-out-the-door.
I'd prefer the students think about this more after class and be able to recall information the next day or even the following week. This was a very important part of American History and I think it deserves more than just a day of attention.


Assessment
Please list all informal and formal assessments for this lesson.  Make sure that your assessments will help you to know if students met your stated objectives.
A formal assessment here would be the quiz the following day or even being tested on the material on an End of Grade exam.
An informal assessment here would consist on determining overall comprehension of the material compared to fellow classmates.


Modifications
Because you will have a variety of learners in your classroom, please explain how you will modify for each of them.  For example, you could state that you will provide all instructions on a power point for visual learners; you will state the directions twice for audio learners; you will have students stand up and sit down during an anticipation guide; you will ask students to work in pairs to assist students who are learning English.
I know visual learning is important so taking students to a place where they can almost picture Lincoln giving his speech would be a great tool to help them. I'd even prefer to dress as Lincoln myself and begin instruction reciting the speech to them via an actual recording of the speech in Lincoln's voice. I think putting students in small groups and having them be responsible for a small section of the Address would be a great way to hold them accountable for their work. After each group discusses their section I'd have them decide which section they thought was either most important or which one they liked most and explain why to the the entire class. This reminds me a little of a paideia seminar and I certainly think that or something similar would be appropriate for this content.

Visual - Original copies of the Gettysburg Address, teacher dressed as Lincoln
Audio - An actual recording of the speech
Kinesthetic - The students reading the speech amongst each other and determining which sections of the speech appeal to them
English Language Learners


Reflection
One of the tactics that successful teachers use is prediction; they ask themselves, “what could happen and I will I modify for it when I’m teaching?”  This helps teachers become more comfortable trying new strategies when planned lessons are not working.  In this section, write down what you think will be the strengths of the lesson.  Also write down what areas might be weak and how you could modify for it with different learners.

Strengths: Group work and holding each student responsible for their own learning and work. Also using discrepant events initially will demand their attention.

Areas of improvement and how to modify: This may be difficult for ELLs or students that are LD. If they are unable to keep up in the small group I'd certainly take extra time with any student that was struggling.

No comments:

Post a Comment