LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Lexi Eaton
Oak Hill Elementary, 3rd Grade, Mrs. Crawford
Wednesday, December 7th- 2:30-3:20

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON- Government in Ancient Greece

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
The students have learned about Ancient Egypt, and now they are learning about Ancient Greece. The
past 3 days, they have looked at and learned about where Ancient Greece is located, what the land is
like, and what adaptations the Greeks had to make based on their land. Now, they will learn about one
of the main contributions Ancient Greece had on the world- Democracy.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad
Know what are the facts, rules,
generalizations the students should
specific data the students will gain
begin to develop? (These are
through this lesson? (These knows
typically difficult to assess in one
must be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)

Do what are the specific thinking

behaviors students will be able to do
through this lesson? (These will also
be assessed in your lesson.)

What Direct Democracy is

compared to Representative
Democracy.

The students will learn who could

participate in voting in Ancient
Greece through a simulation.

What direct democracy is and the

people that were allowed to vote.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
The students will learn what a direct democracy is and who can vote in a direct democracy, and will
show their learning on an exit ticket.
E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)
Standard 3.1- The student will explain how the contributions of ancient Greece and Rome have
influenced the present world in terms of architecture, government (direct and representative
democracy), and sports.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
-Social Studies interactive notebook
-Direct Democracy flipbook
-glue
-pencil
-highlighter
-Can I vote? Cards.
-Exit Ticket
G. PROCEDURE
(Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will SAY and DO.)
Preparation of the learning environment- Have students take out their notebooks, glue, a
highlighter and a pencil.
Engage -Introduction of the lesson- I am going to hand out this flipbook, please glue it into
your notebooks just like I have on the screen. When you are done, I want you to put away your

glue because you wont need it anymore. (after they are done) Who can read what the first flap
says? It says Democracy. Open just this flap and fold it like this. Now, who can read the first
bullet point? If you have a blank, the word that goes into this is people. After you write
people, please highlight the word people. Now who can read the next bullet point? If you have
a blank, birthplace goes into the blank. Now please highlight this whole bullet point because
this is very important. Do we have democracy in the USA? We do because of Ancient Greece.
Our democracy is a little different than Ancient Greeces. Ancient Greece called their type of
democracy which is Direct Democracy. Close this flap and open the other one. Who can read the
first bullet point? Now in the blanks, put government in the first one, and own in the second one.
Now highlight the words you just wrote. Who can read the second bullet. In the blank write
ancient greeks. So the Ancient Greeks had a direct democracy where the people voted directly
for their own laws. Who can remind me who could vote and who could not vote? At the bottom
of this flip chart draw a star because this is very important. Now write Only free men could
vote.
Implementation of the lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and students)Now, we are going to pretend we are Ancient Greeks that live in Athens. I am going to hand out
cards that describe who you will be in Ancient Greece. You will read your card and we will
decide if you can vote or not. In Athens, we will be voting on if recess should be longer or not.
When I hand out your cards, you will quietly read them to yourself. Then, you will read your
card to the class and we will all give a thumbs up if you can vote or a thumbs down if you
cannot. If you can vote, head over to the carpet and sit down. Who can tell me what you are
supposed to do after you get your card? What do you do if someone reads their card aloud and
they can vote? What do you do if they cant? What do you do if you can vote? During this we
have to be quiet and respectful so we can hear everyones cards. The students will read their
cards and we will decide who can vote or not.
Closure- Was this voting fair? How is direct democracy different than our democracy? Now I
am going to hand out this exit ticket but do not start it yet. (hand out). Who can read the first
question? Who can read the second question? Now answer these questions, hand the exit ticket
to me then you can read quietly at your desk until dismissal.
Clean-up (if required)
H. DIFFERENTIATION
For the interactive notebook, I have different handouts for each student. If the student has a hard time
writing, they will get the handout that has no blanks and the words written for them. If they do not
have a hard time writing, they will get the one with the blanks. To keep the students that do not have to
write engaged, they will have to pay attention to what they need to highlight.
I.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
The students could have a fit if they are a male and get a female card, or vice versa. If this happens, I
will have a talk about how this isnt real and we arent saying they are a male/female/who they do not
identify with. It is just to see who can or cannot vote.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.
- Instead of going over each card each person had, I just picked one person that had a different card and
had them read it. Anyone who had the same card would sit down. I had them do the simulation 3 times
instead of once.
II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
- The students did learn but there were a few misconceptions about what direct democracy actually is.
They had a hard time making connections between the simulation and what it actually was.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
- I would have related it more to our democracy and included more examples.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
- I would go over direct democracy again and explain that it means that the people are making and
voting on their own laws, compared to us where we vote on someone to make our laws for us.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
- The more real life examples you give them, the more they understand and make connections to the
material.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
- That a little noise is okay and that the students work better and harder when they are engaged.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
- That I really love teaching and putting the time in to make really good plans.