Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Tyler Pineda

Position Teacher

School/District Chestatee High School/Hall County Schools

E-mail Tyler.Pineda@hallco.org

Phone 678-343-3250

Grade Level(s) 9th, 12th

Content Area Social Studies

Time line 5 days – Culmination Project – Choice Board Activity

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.
Content SSCG15: Demonstrate knowledge of local, state, and national elections.
Standards 1. Describe the historical development, organization, role, and constituencies of political parties.
2. Describe the nomination and election process.
3. Examine campaign funding and spending and the influence of special interest groups on
elections.
4. Explain how recent policy changes and Supreme Court rulings have impacted the campaign
finance process.
5. Analyze the influence of media coverage, campaign advertising, and public opinion polls.

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 NETS*S Empowered Learner
Standards: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and
demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to
demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the
ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their
knowledge to explore emerging technologies

Digital Citizen
Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology,
including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

Knowledge Constructor
Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other
resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to
create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and
problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Innovative Designer
Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that
considers design constraints and calculated risks.

Creative Communicator
Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of
their creation or communication.
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new
creations.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson and culminating activity is over the last unit of American Government as proposed by the Social Studies
Georgia Standards of Excellence for American Government: Unit 7 – Government and You. The unit coverages standards
SSCG15 and SSCG17. This lesson will be an introduction to the unit prior to describing and discussing careers in
Government and Law. Students will be completing a Choice board activity over Political Parties and Elections. Students will
choose any combination of the activities and tasks provided for a total up to fifty points. Each week’s Learning Activities are
score out of 50 points. Students may earn up to 10 points extra credit, providing the opportunity for a student to earn 60/50
points for a total of 10 extra credit points. Students can choose to work individually or in groups. Each student will be
required to turn in their own work for a grade. Students are to have at least 50 points to consider successful completion of
the assignment. They will utilize Canvas, Canva, Google Docs and NearPod. For NearPod and Canvas, students will be
allowed to collaborate with one another through discussions and an interactive NearPod presentation briefly introducing the
topics of Political Parties and Elections. Using the internet and various search engines, students will research the two main
political parties as well as how elections are structured (Open Primary, Closed Primary, Blanket Primary, etc.) Students will
apply their knowledge of Political Parties and Elections through completion of the differentiated tasks provided within the
Choice Board Activity as well as a simulation activity – creating their own political party to formatively assess each student.
The teacher will divide the class into groups of 4 to 5 students. Students will need to be able to describe the historical
development, organization, role, and constituencies of political parties as well as describe the nomination and election
process. The Presidential Campaign Simulation activity allows students to work in groups of 4 to 5 students to create their
own political party, slogan, party platform, and party planks (School Issue, City/Local/State Issue, and National or
International Issues. The tasks provided within the Choice Board allow for students to construct responses via Google Doc,
Canva (Infographic), as well as the class canvas course discussion board. Students can also use PowerPoint, Google
Slides, or Prezi to create a presentation to submit for a grade, displaying their work in an organized format aside from the
traditional paper and pencil method. Depending on the quality of work (rubric), Students’ work will be presented to other
American Government classes as well as future classes to provide a real, authentic and meaningful to help guide future
students.

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Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

What is the National Convention? How is the National Convention a key component of Political Parties and
Elections? How can a candidate run for office (Exploratory Stage through election day)? What is the major
function of a political party? In what two-ways does the American electoral system tend to promote a two-party
system? Which political party was the first to appear in the new United States? Who was its leader and what
type of government did it favor? How did the Republic Party begin? How did the Democratic Party begin?

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will demonstrate mastery of the content through completing a choice board activities. Differentiation in
both content and process is displayed through guided reading practices, the development of flow charts and
infographics (Canva) as well as constructed response activities (Discussion board, NearPod Presentation,
Simulation activity and Google Docs). Student work can be presented via a Microsoft PowerPoint, Google
Slides, or Prezi with each choice board tasks showcased. Students will also have opportunities to complete
Guided reading practices, NearPod Presentation, and class discussions on the class Canvas course. Student’s
work will be assessed using a teacher created rubric to determine student mastery of the content presented
over Political Parties and Elections. Students are expected to produce quality work as they are provided the
autonomy to choose what tasks they are completing which better meets their learning style. Checkpoints will be
made throughout the week to monitor student progress. Additionally, students will undergo a Quiz at the end of
the week in preparation for the summative assessment over all cumulative units in American Government.
Students will have a choice on how they will create their presentation. Students have be exposed to numerous
Web 2.0 tools throughout the semester and are encouraged to use what is assigned as well as expand their
experience to enhance their learning. For the simulation activity, students will be able to grade their group
members (4 to 5 students per group) based on their contribution towards their assignment via a provided
presidential campaign grading sheet. Students are assessed on their understanding of a political party, slogan,
party platform, and party planks (School Issue, City/Local/State Issue, and National or International Issues.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

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 For this assignment, Technology will be utilized to provide and support student learning over American Government,
Political Parties, and Elections. To assist with learning, students will have access to a NearPod presentation over the Unit
prior to beginning their choice board activities. They will also have access to the YouTube series, Crash Course
Government and Politics to further explain Political Parties. To also assist with student learning, students will work
collaboratively on a Political Parties Presidential Campaign Simulation activity where students will work in groups of 4 to 5
students to create their own political party, slogan, party platform, and party planks (School Issue, City/Local/State Issue,
and National or International Issues. The purpose of the NearPod presentation and simulation activity allows for students to
work collaboratively as they are producing their own individualized learning and products, promoting higher-ordered thinking
and learning. The simulation activity provides students an authentic learning experience as they are learning about the
structure of Political Parties by playing the role of developer, producer, and empowered learner. Additionally, the simulation
activity allows for students to act the role of both a Party Presidential Candidate and Party Campaign manager. Providing
formative and informal assessments as well as performance –based tasks allow for me to differentiate both content and
product. Prior lessons I have taught in American Government were project-based and my students have provided feedback
on the benefit of Choice board activities and the importance of student autonomy on how they best would learn in correlation
with their individualized learner needs and learning styles. Furthermore, students who take my course are exposed to
NearPod consistently, so they have a general understanding of how a simple presentation can make a PowerPoint
presentation look “old school”. Should students need additional training in NearPod or Canva, our school media specialist is
a highly qualified teacher who can expound upon the basics of the program, or at least in a way different from what their
teacher explains. Examples of Infographic and Prezi presentations are also provided on the class canvas course page.

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

Students need to be able to work collaboratively and individually to demonstrate their mastery of the concepts
presented. The simulation activity allows for students to work in groups to delegate tasks to achieve a general
understanding of the structure of Political Parties. Additionally, each student/group has the opportunity to act
the role of both a Party Presidential Candidate and Party Campaign manager. Providing formative and informal
assessments as well as performance –based tasks allow for me to differentiate both content and product. Prior
lessons I have taught in American Government were project-based and my students have provided feedback
on the benefit of Choice board activities and the importance of student autonomy on how they best would learn
in correlation with their individualized learner needs and learning styles. Furthermore, students who take my
course are exposed to NearPod consistently, so they have foundation of how a simple presentation can make
a PowerPoint presentation look “old school”. 9th graders can have difficulty conceptualizing visuals and
simulations as they were only exposed to history, generally Geography or Georgia Studies in middle school,
with little recognition of American Government – the foundational structure of how the United States
Government runs today. Programs such as NearPod, Prezi and Canva can provide a different outlet for
students to not only learn, but demonstrate mastery and concepts which simply cannot be created through a
traditional pencil and paper method. Providing examples of visuals, a NearPod presentation with an overview
of Political Parties and examples of Infographics can help aid and guide learning. Student’s foundation levels
will be determined on their work derived from the simulation activity and choice board activity tasks. Students
may have difficult cumulating a presentation on their work, but will have the resource of their facilitator
(Teacher), student peers (Groups), as well as the Media Specialist to ensure their work is of quality, authentic,
and meaningful to demonstrate a true mastery of the content.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

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 The choice board activity will be individualized. However, students will be working in groups of 4 to 5 to complete the
Political Parties Presidential Campaign simulation activity. Students will be pre-determined by the teacher, paired
heterogeneously based on prior formative assessment and performance tasks. Each group will have a strong peer who will
play the role of a leader to help guide and facilitate learning with the help of the teacher. The lesson plan will be
implemented in the co-taught classroom of 27 students. Students will have access to Google Chromebooks, the media
center, as well as the computer lab before and after school should they choose or do not have access to internet or
technology outside of the classroom – closing the “digital divide” gap many students struggle with currently. If needed, the
teacher will provide a laptop cart should there not be a sufficient supply of laptops or chrome books for any unforeseen
reason(s), ensuring equitable access to technology. Our media center also has several iPads which can be checked for
students who may have more experiences working with a program such as NearPod, Prezi or Canva on a mobile device.
The majority of the work will be completed in the classroom as students are provided 5 days (50 minute class periods) to
complete their work. However, students also have the opportunity to work before and after school as mentioned earlier.
Should WiFi be an issue, students can revert to the class textbook, hence the inclusion of tasks derived from the textbook
on the Choice Board Activity. Students will also have hard copies of any presentation, guide reading practice and even the
political quiz provided on isidewith.com to determine which political party a student is more likely to side with based on their
collected responses from the numerous questions embedded. When creating the choice board activity and implementing
the simulation activity, I wanted to allow technology to be included. However, each assignment can be completed via a hard
copy. Lastly, students will be granted extended if deemed appropriate.
.
Post Lesson: Fortunately, we did not have any technology issues. Students were able to access each program and
complete both their collaborative (group) and individualized tasks over Political Parties and Elections. Students came in
before and after school to work on their assignments if they did not have access to internet at home. Students also checked
out iPads to work on in class and create Prezi presentations and Canva Infographics over the path of a candidate running
for office from the exploratory stage through election day.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Throughout this assignment, myself and the General Education teacher will demonstrate the roles of guide and facilitator. Together, we will
work with students to ensure they are track, following directions, as well as informally assessing them over the content. Students must be
able to utilize their communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills to complete each differentiated task on the choice board and
simulation activity. NearPod and the simulation activity will be utilized as a supplemental resource to encourage collaboration amongst
classmates, communicate as well as provide as a source of organized notes. Students are critically analyzing information over political
parties and elections, both who are which real-world scenarios. To ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, students are encourage to
obtain 60 points for 10 extra credit points. Each column increases in challenge. Technology will be used as a crutch to support student
learning, provide visuals and many sources of media to expand on the content presented. The rubric for the simulation activity will be
utilized as a quick formative assessment as well as a checkpoint for understanding. Students will also be able to self-assess their learning
as well as group collaboration and communication skills. This is a real, world authentic activity due to students learning how to work as a
team to learn new content as well as progress through guided reading, vocabulary-enriched activities and research papers over Political
Parties and Elections. Additionally, students will be culminating a presentation to display their work and their preferred choice of tasks
based on the Choice board. Each needs to collaborate and work as a team in order to obtain a strong foundation of the content presented
as well as producing quality work via their individual submissions and group activities.

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Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

Content: The choice board activity provides differentiated tasks to accommodate the various learning styles and needs of my students.
Each task supports the kinesthetic, visual/spatial, logical, interpersonal, or intrapersonal learner. When developing the activity, I wanted to
differentiate content into an activity which students have the choice on how they learn. I try to avoid the traditional method of direct
instructions as engagement levels can be very low. However, through both the choice board and simulation activities, I believe each
student will be able to engage, collaboration and progress towards meeting the weekly learning goals, objectives and answering the
essential questions. The simulation activity allows for students to develop their own structure of their own political party. With the topics
being Political Parties and Elections, I believe this assignment will keep my students engaged as well as providing a break from their
individualized tasks.

Process:
Students were categorized based on their overall grade. Each group had at least three students with one being a strong peer to help play
the role as facilitator to ensure each group was on task in accordance to the requirements of the project. In accordance to the ISTE
(International Society for Technology in Education) standards, my focus were the following standards.
 Knowledge Constructor 3a, Knowledge Constructor 3d, Innovate Designer 4b, and Creative Communicator 6a.
To accommodate the various learning styles, students were provided textbooks, chrome books and were allowed to check out iPads
and Laptops to utilize when creating their final products. Students with IEPs or 504 plans will have extended time should they need it.
Assistive technologies include Google Chromebooks, iPads, Laptops as well as any Web 2.0 tools the students choose to use. The
final presentation should be a Prezi, Google Slide presentation, as well Canva infographics each student creates.

From the Data I collect from the classroom rubrics (students) and myself, this will determine whether or not each student wil l have
met mastery of the content for the week. Enrichment opportunities will be available as tutoring sessions before and after school on a
first come, first serve basis.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
• Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways was this lesson effective?
• What went well and why?
• What did not go well and why?
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Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.

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Although this is my fourth year teaching, I believe that implementing Technology and Web 2.0 tools in my
classroom has allowed me to enhance my professional practice. I am a firm believer of providing meaningful,
useful, real, and authentic experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. I believe technology continues
to emerge consistently and will be continued to be pushed into modern-day education. I want technology to be
a crutch to my teaching methodology. I do not want to rely solely on technology, but I want to be a well-rounded
teacher. When teaching this Unit, I like to provide realistic simulations to allow students to work collaboratively
and “see the bigger picture” in hopes to better conceptualize the content presented. I wanted for my students to
also be familiarized with Google Suite as our school-issued Chromebooks are from Google. Google Suite has a
plethora of resources for students to work collaboratively. Programs such as NearPod, Prezi, and Canva
allowed for my students to be creative. We have learned about the 4 Cs: Communication, Collaboration Critical
Thinking, and Creativity. I believe this lesson addresses each skill. Working as both a Social Studies and
Special Education teacher, I believe I have experience with accommodating students, modifying instructions,
and providing technologies to help guide and assist student learning. Completing this lesson in the co-taught
classroom allowed for the General Education teacher to see first-hand a lesson that he can modify for his other
classes. I do not think I am an expert teacher by no means, but I do believe teachers can learn from one
another, especially when implementing co-teaching strategies as Lead vs. Observer and Parallel Teaching. The
presentation software presented can be utilized beyond the high school setting and can be used in the business
world or at the college level. I believe my students were engaged, but I can always improve. I purposely
categorized my student groups to have at least one strong peer (back to my special education roots and
accommodations), but I would like to have my students to group themselves to see the difference in data. I
would also like to push my students to continue to further research and present their presentations to a larger
audience and collaborate with students around the state who are learning American Government as the
professional content standards are the same. If another teacher were to implement this lesson, I would hope
the lesson is seamless, but I would assume some sort of modification – this is how educators can improve their
practice with another colleague’s insight. I believe I am better at “teaching in the flow” rather than being as
structured as this assignment. However, this project has allowed me to critical analyze my lesson planning skills
as well how much easier teaching a lesson is when organized. American Government is an important topic, but
just like any other subject, is hard to keep students to remain engaged. I will continue to strive to improve in
subsequent lessons for the betterment of my students.

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