Hannah Carney

Teaching and Learning in Urban Contexts

Professor Kate Kinney Grossman
August 12, 2016
Subject Area: Social Studies
Grade Level: 10th
Day 3 of Unit Plan, 50 minute class period
Unit Goal
Big idea(s)
Essential Question(s)
Standards

Students will have an understanding of the diverse identities and cultures

of the Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Kushite peoples.
Students will understand that identity is formed through personal
experience as well as through family ties, language, culture, and
geography.
How do people view themselves, their origins, and their place in the
world?
What is culture?

Geography, 7.1.9.B. Explain and locate regions and their shared

connections as defined by physical and human features.

Learning Experiences &

Assessments
Students will see their names on the
projector screen and will sit with
their assigned groups to discuss their
Jigsaw readings/audio files from last
nights homework.

Time

Reflections

5 min.

Here I am thinking of several of the authors

we have read: Weinstein, with his position
that small group instruction is good for
students with disabilities and for other
learners as well (Weinstein, 2014, p. 122);
Oakes & Liptons (2013) discussion of
socio-culturalism in teaching, and
Tomlinson on differentiation, especially
interspersing lecture with small-group
discussions (Tomlinson et al, 2006, p. 93)
and using different media (readings versus
audio files) for different types of learners. At
a school like Masterman, where all the
students in this class will likely be known to
the 8th grade teachers, I will likely have
some information about their learning
strengths and challenges before the first day
of school and can make those initial Jigsaw
assignments accordingly.

Students will turn desks to

face middle of room for
share-outs about the Jigsaw
readings. Each group has one
person present.
Teacher asks question what
is culture? and opens it up
for class discussion.
Teacher follows first question
with What is African
culture? and follows that
discussion by asking why that
may be a problematic
question (if students dont
come to that themselves).

10

10

25
Teacher hands out a graphic
organizer to everyone in the
class and explains that it is
OPTIONAL to use. Some
students may prefer writing in
their notebooks.
Teacher presents a short
PowerPoint lecture on
Ancient African Civilizations

After the small group discussion, where

most students will likely be comfortable
speaking up and conversing with their
classmates, I will give students the choice as
to who presents each reading to the whole
class. This may allow a student comfortable
with public speaking to contribute to the
whole class while shy students are not put on
the spot.
I want to begin the discussion by setting
ground rules: students raise hand before
speaking, and wait until classmates finish
talking before jumping in. We may loosen
this rule as the school year continues, but I
think its important to set standards of
respectful discussions at the beginning. Also,
students are encouraged to build on the
previous comment rather than just put out
new ideas every time they contribute.
The graphic organizer is a great tool for
differentiation as well as for acknowledging
Multiple Intelligences in the classroom
(Tomlinson et al, 2006, p. 52, Gardner,
2016). For students who prefer direct
instruction, and for ease of introducing
content the students may already be aware of
(Ancient Egypt especially), I will use the
PowerPoint format to start teaching about a
couple of the ancient African civilizations.

Bibliography:
Gardner, H. (2016). Retrieved from http://multipleintelligencesoasis.org/
Oakes, J. and Lipton, M. (2013). Teaching to change the world. Boulder, CO: Paradigm
Publishers.
Tomlinson, C. and McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding
by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Weinstein, C. and Novodvorsky, I. (2014). Middle and Secondary Classroom Management:
lessons from research and practice. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education.