Example 1:

While conducting my Lesson 1 pre-assessment, I noticed that some students were

struggling with answers related to the French & Indian War and the lead-up to the American

Revolution. At the time I figured it was just the way I had worded the review questions, so I

asked some general questions surrounding which were part of the 13 colonies, who the major

leaders were, what was the Stamp Act, the French & Indian War, the Boston Massacre, and other

similar events. Of the students, only one was able to consistently answer these my probing

questions correctly. I will note that this student was a Junior who had taken US History 1 roughly

a year ago and very enjoys the social sciences. With this information, I immediately scrapped my

lesson for the following day. I understood that teaching the entire lead-up to the Revolution in

one or two days would be impossible and took this into account while designing my lesson. I

determined that I would only focus on the most important parts related to a government class.

The topics I ended up deciding were describing the British style of government, as it directly

related to the content discussed in the previous unit as well as themes for the coming unit, the

results of the French & Indian War, British policy towards the colonies, the Stamp Act, and the

Boston Massacre. With my topic picked, I had to determine my pedagogical approach. I ended

up deciding on a station-like lesson, where students moved as a class from one station to another

learning about the progression that eventually led to the American Revolution. By doing a station

lesson, I could focus on several topics in-depth and provide other resources and artifacts for

students to examine. I paired this with a handout that provided information and questions they

could refer to at a later time. Upon conducting my lesson, administering checking for
understanding throughout the lesson, and reviewing homework data at the end of the week, most

students now appeared to demonstrate an understanding of this time period in regards to

government. The handout and results of this lesson can be found in Lesson 1 under the Design

for Instruction tab.

Example 2:

For this lesson, students were tasked with analyzing specific phrases within the Articles of

Confederation. After reading through the document, I had cut it down to it’s most essential

passages. I had each passage printed on a worksheet with students tasked with finding the

“problem” within each passage. I thought having students identify what made the Articles of

Confederation weak would be a relatively straightforward task. The end-goal would be students

comparing what they identified as the problem of each passage. As students began reading the

passages, they began to ask questions as to either where there was a problem or why was

something a problem. An example being “why is it bad that States had the power to tax, States

today can decide what they tax or not tax.” I could not give a satisfactory answer to that or

several other similar questions. I brought the class back together and told them that I had made

an error. I told them to simply interpret what each passage meant and point out any problems you

may see. Students responded well to this change on the fly and were able to get most Articles

defined. Taking this information, I restructured the next day to specifically discuss the problems

within each passage. I took the first part of the class to have students write on the board any

problems they could initially identify for each passage. Once everyone had written down the

board, I went down the line summarizing what they had written and pointed out how this passage

could create problems. An example being passage 6 where each State shall maintain its own
militia. Most students seemed to regard this a good thing the day before. However, I pointed out

that if each State was creating militias, where would troops for the National Army come from?

What would stop one State from arming a powerful militia? What happens if the US is invaded

and needs to call upon an army? By pointing out these problems, students understood why these

specific passages made the Articles of Confederation weak. Furthermore, while conducting my

lesson on Shays’ Rebellion, I frequently referred to the Articles written on the board in regards to

specific parts of the story. This can be found in Lesson 4 of the Design for Instruction tab.