UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan

Name: Bradley Howes Program: Secondary Course: EDU 460 Student

Education Teaching Field Experience
Lesson Topic / Title: Chapter 2 Constitutional Review

Lesson Date: 3/13/20 Lesson Length: 50 minutes Grade/Age: 12

Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment ​- Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on
content standards.
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions /
• Learning Goal 1: ​Students will explore how different Reasoning
governments affect the freedoms, welfare, and daily life of its • Students have compared and
citizens. contrasted life in the United
• Learning Goal 2: ​Students will analyze and compare the States between the Articles of
purposes of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation the Constitution.
Confederation, and the Constitution. • Students will be writing about
• Learning Goal 3:​ Students will understand the politics, issues, how the articles of the
and compromises that influenced the development of the United Constitution influenced freedom,
States welfare, and daily life of both the
citizens and the States.
• Students have analyzed the major
articles of the Constitution and
compared those to the principles
laid out in the Articles of
Confederation
• Students have examined how the
issue of slavery, the political
process of the Electoral College,
and the compromises written into
the Constitution impacted the
United States then and now.
Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions /
Civics & Government 1: Students understand the ideals, purposes, Reasoning
principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government By reviewing the ideals, purposes,
in the United States and in the American political system, as well principles, structures, and processes
as examples of other forms of government and political systems in of the Constitution, students will
the world by: have a better understanding of the
● (F1) Explaining that the study of government includes the American political system and the
structures, functions, institutions, and forms of law of the United States
government.

 
 ● (F3) Describing the purpose, structures, and processes of
the American political system.
Civics & Government 2: Students understand the constitutional
and legal rights, the civic duties and responsibilities, and roles of
citizens in a constitutional democracy and the role of citizens
living under other forms of government in the world by:
● (D2) Analyzing the constitutional principles and the roles
of the citizen and the government in major laws or cases.
● (F2) Evaluating the relationship between the government
and the individual as evident in the United States
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and landmark court cases.
● (F3) Evaluating how people influence government and
work for the common good, including voting, writing to
legislators, performing community service, and engaging
in civil disobedience.
The Constitution of the United
States lays out the powers granted
to the Federal government on
behalf of the US citizens.
Specific phrases within the
Constitution are still a matter of
fierce debate, which can drastically
influence the lives of citizens living
in this constitutional democracy.
Students must understand the
protections and legal rights granted
by the constitution in order to fulfill
their civic duty and responsibilities
as US citizens.

Assessment -​ Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance and
determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Plicker Assessment: The Plicker serves as a formative assessment Instructional Decisions /
for student understanding regarding the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Reasoning
Plan, Connecticut Compromise, 3/5ths Compromise, Slave Trade The Plicker Assessment serves as a
Compromise, Electoral College Compromise, and the Articles of formative assessment that allows
the Constitution. The Plicker will allow me to gauge student me to gauge individual and group
understanding of the content and guide future instruction, whether understanding of specific content.
that be specific re-teaching or a general review. When administered, student
answers are anonymous to the other
students while providing the
educator with data instantly.
Instructional Materials and Resources ​- Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner
needs.
Materials, Resources, and/or Technology Instructional Decisions /
Projector Reasoning
Laptop -The projector, adaptor, and laptop
Plicker will be used to display the Plicker
Adaptor questions onto a screen.
iPad and stand -Students will be provided
Phone individual plicker cards by the
educator in order to answer the
questions.

 
 -For this lesson, I will be filming
myself using Mountain Valley’s
sophisticated recording devices, an
iPad mounted on a swivel that
tracks my position in the room. A
major goal I had was incorporating
a greater amount of technology to
refine my teaching. This device will
allow me to view myself in the
future and properly reflect on the
events of the class.
Instructional Methods: ​ Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks by
using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning accessible to
all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.

 
 Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions /
3/13 Friday: 50 minutes Review Reasoning
5-minute Intro: During the intro, I will be discussing the During this timeframe, the
information related to syllabus work, final diary entry, and questions surrounding the
Coronavirus were beginning to
upcoming mid-terms. This way students understand the upcoming
impact the students. There were
expectations for this very chaotic timeframe. rumors about public schools
canceling and the school attempting
10-minutes Map Quiz: Mountain Valley High School requires all to collect data on Wifi availability
social studies teachers to administer a map test of a specific region for students. I wanted to dedicate
of the World. This map test will be centered around Central Asia. some time running through what
Students will work independently for the given timeframe would happen if the schools closed
and how that would influence their
assignments.
10-minute Recap from yesterday: A significant percentage of my
students were absent given a number of reasons the previous day. Roughly half of the class had been
All students have access to the materials they missed via the absent for the previous class, so I
Google Classroom. I have posted what sections to focus on via the also wanted to set aside some time
worksheet. I will be recapping the 3/5ths compromise, the slave to discuss what we talked about and
where the information could be
trade, the electoral college, and specific articles in the
found. I spent the most time on the
Constitution. Electoral College because I find it
to be the most relevant in modern
20-minute Plicker: This plicker survey will be used to assess government and the most
students’ understanding of the 3/5ths compromise, the slave trade, confusing.
the electoral college, and specific articles of the Constitution and
As part of my student-teaching
their functions. The data of which will allow me to gauge student
goals, I aimed to include weekly
understanding as well as plan future instruction. reviews and to bolster my usage of
5-minute Outro technology in the classroom. I
continued to utilize Plicker because
my students seem to enjoy the
platform and the data provided to
me is incredibly useful.

 
 Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions, Instructional Decisions /
modifications, accommodations) Reasoning
A number of students have missing information regarding the -My ELL student has indicated that
content, whether it be from the number of unexpected absences to it is easier for them to read in one
gaps in their American History classes. I met my students at their language as the translation between
current ability level in order to accommodate their needs. For my the two is confusing to them.
ELL student, they had very little understanding of prior American -I have designed this lesson so that
History. The plicker survey will allow me to gauge whether we will be reviewing on Fridays all
one-on-one support was beneficial to their understanding. the content introduced during that
week rather than introducing new
content.
-​After the test has been
administered, it is the educator’s
responsibility to utilize this data to
either re-teach, review, or skip
certain information.

Field Course Only – Post lesson

Reflection
Overall, the objectives of the lesson plan were met with students being given the opportunity to review the
content discussed. Little did any of us know that this would be our last class for a very long time. The
news of the impending Corona measures loomed over my student’s heads. Given that I teach seniors
exclusively, they were all very concerned about Spring sports, banquet dinners, and graduation, a
sentiment I could relate to myself. I opened up about what was going on with my experiences at the
moment in an attempt to relate to them on the issues. Most of my students are very active in sports and
extracurriculars, so the prospect of it all being canceled was highly discouraging. Despite this, my students
were able to follow along with the review. When conducting my review, I noticed the majority of my
students were struggling with the specific parts of the Virginia & New Jersey Plan as well as the Articles
of the Constitution. One reason for this is, of course, the growing anxiety surrounding the virus and how
that would impact them. Another would be that two students in my class were absent that day, which had
the potential to influence the data collected. Taking the information at face value, however, I would have
dedicated the following Monday to re-teach those specific sections. I had time built into my Unit outline
which could be dedicated to re-teaching, so this would not have caused any significant delay. In
conclusion, I would have taken the data collected to re-teach the previously listed sections in order to
ensure that my students understood the content.

 
 Teaching Standards and Rationale
Standard # 1 Learner Development​: The teacher understands how students learn and develop,
recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive,
linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate
and challenging learning experiences.
1(a) ​Regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to
meet learners’ needs in each area of development (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical)
and scaffolds the next level of development.

The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and implement
developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences. The educator understands that patterns
of learning vary cognitively, linguistically, socially, emotionally, and physically by presenting content
through multiple mediums in order to scaffold learners for the next level of development.

One of my goals for student teaching was to include more checking for understandings and days dedicated
specifically for review. By implementing this practice into my teaching, I am able to regularly assess my
student’s performance as a class as well as identify specific individuals who could benefit from targeted
scaffolding. By conducting a weekly review, I am able to analyze the data and design appropriate lessons
for re-teaching specific subjects and concepts. In regards to this lesson, I believe I would have to re-teach
the majority of the lesson given the collective social and emotional baggage being held by all my students.
The questions surrounding how the Coronavirus would affect themselves, their remaining high school
career, and their loved ones weighed heavily on each of them. This is where my resource page within my
Google Classroom is helpful. The content and activities discussed each day can be found on the Google
Classroom, which students can refer to on their own time. Though most students appeared drained in the
physical classroom, they could turn to the online classroom to review individually. From data collected
from the weekly syllabus work and the ongoing diary summative assessment, most students appeared to
demonstrate an understanding of the content, despite my review game saying otherwise. By presenting
content in multiple mediums and ensuring accessibility for all students, I can provide support on a
class-wide and individual level.

Standard #6 Assessment​: The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage
learners in their own growth, to document learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s on-going planning
and instruction.
6 (j) ​Understands the differences between formative and summative applications of assessment and knows
how and when to use each.

The educator utilizes multiple methods of formative assessment in order to engage learners, document
learner progress, and guide future instruction. The educator uses the data collected from the formative
assessment in order to gauge student growth, progress, and understanding of the summative assessment
content.

The primary purpose of these weekly review sessions is to conduct formative assessments with the sole
intention of documenting learner progress and planning for on-going instruction. These assessments take
the form of a review game. These assessments are not reflected in their grade and serve only to help me
understand what the students know and don’t know. As previously stated, I would most likely re-teach this

 
 lesson based on the formative assessment data collected from my review game. Despite students
demonstrating an understanding of the content through the syllabus questions, I want to be absolutely
positive that students have an understanding of the content before introducing new content on top of that.
Where my review games serve as formative assessments, the weekly syllabus questions established by my
mentor teacher serve as summative assessments. These weekly syllabus questions require students to
analyze, interpret, and explore specific bits of content. By conducting formative reviews in class, students
can properly identify what they know and don’t know. With this information, students can review the
resources posted on the Google Classroom in order to prepare for the weekly summative assessments.

Standard 11.6​: ​Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes
using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their
creation or communication.

The educator uses a variety of platforms, styles, tools, and formats in order to diversify the methods in
which content is communicated in order to achieve the desired objectives.

Throughout my experience at Mountain Valley, I have used a number of digital tools, platforms, and
styles, in order to communicate with my students. Our class relies on a Google Classroom, which allows
me to post class-wide messages for all students. These communications include reminders, useful links,
and expectations. Within this Google Classroom I have also included a Resource page for each chapter.
Within this resource page is everything covered, discussed, or distributed during the regular class period.
This allows students who missed a portion or whole class to independently refer to the Google Classroom
in order to see what they missed. This digital tool allows the students autonomy to review the content of
the lesson at a time period easiest for them. In regards to weekly homework assignments, I utilize the
comment feature of Google Docs to leave detailed comments praising student work as well as providing
recommendations. Within the classroom, I have utilized Plicker to conduct informal formative games to
gauge student understanding. All handouts have an online copy that students can access based on their
preferences. Documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the
Constitution are also made available online through various websites. Each digital tool and platform serves
a purpose with an overall objective of ensuring that students understand the content.