UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan Template

Name: Kristen Salley Program: SMED Course: EDU 460

Lesson Topic / Title: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Lesson Date: March 10, 2020 Lesson Length: 45 minutes (1 Grade/Age: Eighth grade
Day)
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 / Reasoning

 Students will be able to form conclusions as to  Students at this age have little to
how the Middle Passage strongly effected United no knowledge behind slavery and
States’ history. its history.
 I chose these two objectives
because they allow for
 Students will be able to investigate the journey of introductory learning without not
the Middle Passage using a primary source telling students the full truth of
document from a former slave, Olaudah Equiano. slavery in the United States.
 These objectives are content, age,
and lesson appropriate because
we are giving students an
introduction to slavery, while also
working on their skills of
interpreting primary source
documents, and giving students
the information necessary to
connect how the 13 Colonies
relied on the work from slaves
through learning about the Middle
Passage.

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Standard 1: Application of Social Studies processes,  Standard 1 was chosen because

knowledge, and skills this is something they have been
Indicator: SS.APP.CENTRALIDEA working on for a few weeks this
Students will be able to determine the central ideas from a year. By working through a piece
primary or secondary source ad provide an accurate summary of of Olaudah Equiano’s book,
the source. students will be able to become
more comfortable while
interpreting a primary source
Standard 6: History
document. In general, I thought
Indicator: SS.HIS.CULTURAL that this would be a great
The students will be able to describe major turning points for opportunity for more exposure for
various cultural groups in history in Maine, the United States, and them.
elsewhere.
 Standard 6 was chosen because of
this being a pivotal moment in
United States history, with the
creation and settlement of the 13
Colonies. Having students
recognize in this lesson how the
Middle Passage and the Triangular

Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance
and determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment
 Exit Ticket (Formative): Students will be asked
to write down two things that they learned
through taking a deeper look at Olaudah
Equiano’s journey on the Middle Passage.
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
 Laptop
 Apple TV
 Example of student worksheet
 Student worksheet of quote from Equiano
 A Partner
 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah
Equiano
 Whiteboard
 Whiteboard markers
 Pencil
 Dictionary/ Thesaurus application on laptop
 Speakers
 Olaudah Equiano video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X485Irzty-E
Trade system affected not only the
13 Colonies economy for a long
period of time but also the lives of
the millions of people brought
over because of slavery.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
 This is a formative assessment.
 By asking students to write down
two things that they learned
throughout this class period I hope
to gain a deeper understanding as
to how much they have learned
over the past couple of days while
discussing slavery, compared to
beforehand, where they did not
know very much at all.
 Students will receive extra time if
needed to write down two things
that they have learned, if need be.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
 A laptop and Apple TV is
necessary to show the Equiano
video later in the lesson, as well as
to show their worksheet that they
are going to do in hopes to clear
up any questions and show
students the expectations of this
assignment beforehand.
 A partner is necessary to be able
to work together to interpret their
piece of Equiano’s source.
 The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano is for
myself to have, in case I need to
look something up, as well as to
show students that his book still
exists and people can still read it
to this day.
 A whiteboard and markers are
necessary in case of needing to
write something down for
students, such as how to
pronounce the author’s name.
 A pencil for writing things down.
 Speakers are for listening to the
Equiano video to give students the
full effect of how powerful his
work is.
 The video is a short video of
Equiano’s passages being spoken.

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 (45 minute class)
 Introduction (2 minutes)
 Student pair work (20 minutes)
- Show example of worksheet
 Share out (15 minutes)
 Equiano video (6 minutes) (1:33-6:48)
 Exit Ticket/ collect worksheet (2 minutes)
Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions,
modifications, accommodations)
 Assigning passages that are of either lower,
middle, or higher interpretation to specific
student’s groups allows for all students to
participate.
 Allowing students to read their passage the night
before allows students to become familiar with
the passage before breaking it down with the help
This video is very powerful and
will be used in hopes of showing
students how meaningful these
works are about such a terrible
time in history.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
 Letting students settle in, pass out
the worksheet, and discussing how
this sheet is the same thing that
they were told to read for
homework.
 In pairs, students will work
through the three questions on
their worksheet which are: to find
a word that they are unfamiliar
with and look it up, what is
happening in their passage, and
how this passage can help us
better understand the Middle
Passage. I will show students their
worksheets on the Apple TV and
answer and questions if needed.
 Sharing out to allow students to
hear what others may have read,
in addition to drawing conclusions
as to what we can understand
about the Middle Passage through
Equiano’s work.
 The Equiano video is a voiceover
of some of the works that students
were assigned, along with images
and other visuals of what
happened on the Middle Passage.
This brings the sources to another
level, while being immensely
powerful.
 Students will then be asked to
write two things that they learned
on their worksheet and pass them
in to me to look at. Once
completed, class will come to an
end.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
 I think that by giving students
their specific section the night
before, it allows for students to
become somewhat familiar with it,
so that way when they come in to
class, they are ready to work with
their partner and break down
their passage and get a deeper
understanding of the Middle
 of their partner.
 Partner work with a person of their choice allows
for students to be comfortable but also allows
them to work together to interpret their section of
Equiano’s work.
 Showing students their work and what they are
expected to do before letting them work on it.
Passage.
 Students are already familiar to
some extent with the Triangular
Trade, Middle Passage, and
slavery, in addition to having an
understanding of how the New
England colonists were also
dependent on slavery too. By
adding this element, I hope to
provide students with another
position on slavery and the
journey over from West Africa.
 It is also important to note that my
mentor and I decided to take this
additional step with one of the
eighth-grade classes over the
other, in order to challenge them
that much more with learning. I
know that they can handle it based
off of the great conversations and
work they have done to come to
this point but want them to work
in partners to have support
throughout this challenging task.

Field Courses Only – Post lesson

Reflection

Teaching Standards and Rationale

Standard 2: Learning Differences

 2(h): Understands students’ exceptional learning needs (both disabilities and giftedness)
and knows how to use strategies and resources to serve these needs.
 Rationale: Throughout this assignment I have taken steps to ensure that all students would
be successful in interpreting a passage from Olaudah Equiano’s novel, The Interesting
Narrative of Olaudah Equiano. For instance, from the beginning of this lesson I broke up
passages and decided whether or not they would be of high, middle, or lower difficulty to
understand. From there, I asked students to break up into the class partners and wrote down
who worked together. From there I assigned pairs a passage based off of how they usually
preform in the classroom, whether that be in participation, on quizzes, assignments, or tests,
etc. I made sure to give students who are in the Enrichment Resources classes more difficult
passages, while the students that are known to have a harder time deciphering primary
source texts received less difficult ones in comparison, but would still push students to try
and understand what these passages are telling them about the Middle Passage.

Standard 4: Content Knowledge

 4(f): Evaluates and modifies instructional resources and curriculum materials for their
comprehensiveness, accuracy for representing particular concepts in the discipline, and
appropriateness for his/her learners.
 Rationale: As mentioned beforehand, before today, my students had little to no knowledge
about slavery and how our nation was essentially built because of slavery to some extent.
 However, through picking age appropriate pieces about the Triangular Trade and the Middle
Passage, I believe that my students have been able to develop a significant understanding of
how it all worked. I also believe that by incorporating the passages from Equiano, we are
pushing students of this level to dive deeper and gain a deeper understanding of what
exactly is happening on the Middle Passage. Initially I was not going to take this route with
these students, but after seeing their true interests through class discussions, I believe that it
was important to do so.

Standard 5: Innovative Applications of Content

 5(c): Facilitates learners’ use of content tools and resources to maximize content learning in
varied contexts.
 Rationale: Throughout this unit, students have used their textbook as the main source of
information. Whether it be by using it to gain new vocabulary about the New England
Colonies, locations of colonies and popular cities, or even the economy and how slavery has a
large role in it, this textbook has been used in multiple ways. Additionally, I have made sure
to bring in other resources to get away from the textbook, such as using a great website that
breaks down the economy for each region of the 13 Colonies, videos and handouts on slavery
and the Middle Passage, as well as using passages from Olaudah Equiano’s novel, which is
mentioned in the textbook, in hopes to provide students with a deeper understanding of the
Middle Passage.

Standard 8: Instructional Strategies

 8(g): Engages students in using a range of learning skills and technology tools to access,
interpret, evaluate, and apply information.
 Rationale: Throughout this unit, as I have mentioned before, I have made sure that I have
incorporated a large variety of resources for students to use. In this lesson in particular,
students are using passages from a primary source document, The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of Olaudah Equiano, in addition to hearing the passages being spoken and with
visuals of what was happening, in order to further build off of what they have already
learned about the Triangular Trade and Middle Passage. By doing this, I hope to have
students use their skills to interpret the passage, evaluate what is being said, and then apply
what they already know to this possibly new information for a better understanding of the
Middle Passage.