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LESSON PLAN

TEACHER NAME: Ms. Smith


LESSON SUBJECT: Social Studies
LESSON TITLE: Historical Figure: Charlemagne and Building an Empire
GRADE: Grade 8
LESSON DATE: 10/25/2017

RATIONALE
Students must be able to relate and connect historical periods and figures to modern day cultures. By learning about past
civilizations the students will have the building blocks to understand present day societies. This lesson will lead into the unit on
feudal societies, and it will connect to previous knowledge of Viking and Roman civilizations. Students will gain understanding of
historical leaders, empires, religion, wealth, land, systems of education, military and defense.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Big Ideas:
Contacts and conflicts between peoples stimulated significant cultural, social, political change.
Changing ideas about the world created tension between people wanting to adopt new ideas and those wanting to preserve
established traditions.
Content:
Social, political, and economic systems and structures.
Topics:
o feudal societal structures and rights
o diffusion of religions throughout the world
o collapse of empires
o labour management
o gender relations
Key questions:
o How were political decisions made during this period of history?
o How was wealth distributed in societies during this period?
Competencies:
Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and
decisions.
Key skills:
o Use comparison, classification, inference, imagination, verification, and analogy to clarify and define a problem or
issue.
o Compare maps of early civilizations with modern maps of the same area.
o Select an appropriate graphic form of communication for a specific purpose (e.g., a timeline to show a sequence of
events, a map to show location).
o Select appropriate forms of presentation suitable for the purpose and audience: oral presentation
o Demonstrate debating skills, including identifying, discussing, defining, and clarifying a problem, issue, or inquiry
LEARNING INTENTIONS
By the end of this lesson students will be able to make connections from past empires and historical figures to present day societies.
Additionally, students will be able to understand what makes a successful civilization and how it is formed.
Students should be able to answer the following questions:

How does this information relate to our time period?


Why was Charlemagne an important historical figure?
Why is the study of past leaders, empires, and civilizations important to our learning today?
What are some of the key traits of a successful leader? What makes a successful civilization/empire?

PRE-REQUISITE CONCEPTS AND SKILLS


Students will have prior knowledge of other civilizations and historical figures from previous textbook chapters to place the
lesson in the right context and time period.
Students will be able to use a map to source out information.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES (REFERENCES) NEEDED FOR THIS LESSON


1. PowerPoint presentation
2. Handout with historical questions and map
3. Social Studies textbook- to help with map and handout
4. Large piece of pre-formatted paper students will use to create their empire: education, military, leadership, and resources
sections as well as an empire name, crest, and currency.
5. Students will be asked to bring markers, pencil crayons, and pens from home. (there will also be a class set available for
groups who did not bring their own)
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION (ACCOMODATIONS)
With the multiple forms that the lesson is being presented students should be able to access the information in some format. Video,
PowerPoint, textbook and handouts, as well as group work will allow students the opportunity to gain understanding of the lesson
content.
If a student struggles working in groups (due to mental or emotional disorder stated in their IEP) there is an option to work on their
own and present the lesson to the teacher during another time.
Students who struggle with reading comprehension will be able to gain knowledge by working in groups/pair and share activities.
**If students wish to extend their learning they can take the presentation home and work on further aspects of their empire or
elaborate on some of the points they have already discussed.

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION


As a group the students will present their empire to the class. Each student will be asked to present on a part that they participated
in or helped to create. Additionally, students will hand in their completed handout sheet to be marked for completion marks. They
will be told that the handouts will be returned, and they will need to keep them to study for the test.
The students will be able to answer the broader questions in the learning intentions section by participating in class discussion,
creating their empire, evaluating themselves, and by completing the handout.
A rubric will be created to evaluate the group empires.
LESSON ACTIVITIES

TEACHER ACTIVITIES STUDENT ACTIVITIES CLASS MANAGEMENT PACING


CONSIDERATIONS

INTRODUCTION

Intro: Make connections to previous Students will be participating in a Students will be sitting in pods of four 5 minutes
lessons and topic. Introduce the time light discussion and watching a in anticipation of later group work.
period, historical figure, and the PowerPoint presentation including a The students will be placed randomly
historical significance of Charlemagne short video. with group members or will be
through discussion and PowerPoint allowed to sit with people of their
presentation. choosing depending on the class
composition.

Discussion of Charlemagnes legacy Students will be participating in light 5 minutes


and empire. A more in-depth look at discussion and looking at PowerPoint
the ruler and his kingdom. slides.
Discussion regarding class handout
will start. Students will be told what
information they will be looking for
and when to pair and share.

BODY

Teacher will pass out class handout. Students will work on handout One student from every table will 15 mins
questions utilizing the text book. grab two textbooks to share with the
Students will then work together on group (there are not enough
the back side of the handout textbooks for every student)
answering map questions. The Teacher will walk around the
classroom using presence to keep
students on task. Asking questions
and aiding in discussion while the
students work on their handouts (will
be cognizant of noise level).

Teacher will go over the handout and Students will be part of a discussion Handouts will be collected before 5 mins
answer all the questions with the answering the questions from the next PowerPoint presentation is
students. This should stimulate class worksheet. shown.
discussion and further questions
around the time period and
Charlemagnes legacy.

PowerPoint presentation to present Students will be looking at a 5 mins


the group work for building an PowerPoint and viewing ideas on
empire. how to start their empire

Teacher will facilitate- students will Students will work together in a Teacher will periodically check in with 30 mins
work on their empire! group to create an empire of their students: where they are and how
choosing. They will need to elaborate much time they have left.
on education, military and defense,
resources, and leadership as well as
choose a name for the empire, a
crest/coat of arms and currency.
Students are allowed to use any
colours, images, or drawings of their
choosing.
CLOSURE
Students will present in their groups Handout of evaluation slips will be 20 mins
Teacher will direct each group to and will discuss with the class their given at the end of the presentations
present their empire. findings and reasoning behind their and then will be turned in by one
After each presentation students will chosen empires. group member.
anonymously evaluate themselves After each presentation students will
with two stars and a wish. anonymously evaluate themselves
with two stars and a wish.
REFLECTIONS
The students were engaged in the lesson; the different materials and media really helped move the class along. We had the students
making connections and applying the knowledge that they had gained to a hands-on project, and by allowing them to present their
findings they solidified their viewpoints and share with their peers.
We did not anticipate how long it would take the students to work on the handouts and the presentations ended up running into the
next class period. Additionally, some of the answers were contested by the students due to the ambiguity of the maps used. Our
materials did not exactly match up. Instead of saying answers were incorrect, the best way to respond would be to open up the
dialogue and discuss why there would be discrepancies and consider the reasons why maps, territories, and may be hard to define
when comparing two maps. There was room for interpretation, therefore we should not stifle students questions while they are in
the flow.
One of our classes was a quieter group that was more easily managed. We initially decided that we would break up groups and have
a random order to who was working together (6 groups of 4). We also have less manageable group and decided we would do the
same with them.

The more manageable group who were separated from their friend groups were too shy to participate as much as we had
hoped. They were unsure sharing outside of their smaller peer group and we were not seeing the same kind of creativity we
would have hoped for.
We decided to let the less manageable group pick their teams in the hopes that they would be more creative. In many ways
they were, but they were also disruptive.
Looking at class composition is really important to class management. Two classes will not react the same way regardless of
your initial intention.

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