UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan Template
Name: Haley Knowlton Program: Student Teaching
Lesson Topic / Title: Examination of Religion with Sociology
Lesson Date: March 12th Lesson Length: 60 Minutes
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)
● Students will be able to explain how
Sociologists interact with and study religion.
Content Standard(s)
Grade 12 English Standard
● Is skilled at presenting an argument that is
supported by multiple claims and
counterclaims with clear reasons and
evidence in a piece of writing.
Grade 11 English Standards
● Understands how to draw general
conclusions from multiple comments, claims,
and evidence made on all sides of an issue.
● Use conventions of standard grammar and
usage when writing and speaking.
Grade 10 World History Standard
● Understands how various religions are
impacting the world today.
○ I can analyze the ways in which
secular and religious belief systems
affected political, economic and
social systems. (Standard Indicator)
Course: Sociology
Grade/Age: Grades 10-12
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
● Since religion is not necessarily a physical
concept it is hard to observe and experiment
with it. Sociology is all about scientific
experimentation and observations. As a
result it is important to know how we can
accurately observe and report on
religion/people’s interactions with religion.
So today’s focus is really on understanding
the boundaries that sociologists have around
religion and the social construction of
religion/religious practices.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
● As previously stated Sociology does not have
its own standards because it is not a required
course for students to take. However, there
are standards from English courses, as well
as other history courses like the ones listed
to the left will cover.
● The 12th grade standard is targeted to focus
on their analysis skill and drawing
conclusions that consider more than one
point of view and are backed up with
evidence.
● The 11th grade standard is targeted to focus
on their fluency skills in both speaking and
writing. Developing their answers into
complete sentences that are easily followed
is not just a skill that they will need through
high school but also throughout life.
● Sociology itself is the scientific study of social
structures. This 10th grade target and the
indicator listed below directly deal with how
religion can impact social systems. Through
the beginning days of this unit we have
analyzed major religions and how they
influence society, today we are looking at

Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance and determines
best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment
● Multiple Choice Questions about Chapter 14
Section 1. (Check for Understanding)
● Opinion Questions on Chapter 14 Section 1.
(Formative Assessment)
● Opinion Questions on Article for Homework.
(Formative Assessment)
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.
more specific examples of how sociologists
interact with and study religion. For one of
my students this will be their first
introduction/attempt at hitting this standard
because she has not yet covered it in her 10th
grade world history course. For the
remaining students this is a review of this
target so they can apply their previous
knowledge and potentially cover it in more
depth.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
● The multiple choice questions were
completed as a class to check for
understanding of the material covered in
Section 1. There is no actual grade attached
to this because it is so close to introducing
the material, rather a follow up in a
non-threatening way on the material.
● The questions at the end of Chapter 14
Section 1 are both opinion questions which
connect ideas of religion covered in the
readings to their own lives. These will be
graded as a formative assessment because
their writing will illustrate individual
knowledge and understanding of the
concepts.
● The article that the students have for
homework is on the idea of science
threatening religion. This article is one from
the book, which focuses on the science
behind not only sociology but other scientific
disciplines and how it counteracts religion. It
is a way to transition from learning general
information about religions to having a
specific focus on the students as studying
members of sociology can be impartial
observers of the influence it has on behavior.
Again the questions that go with this article
are their own opinions and thus this is being
done individually.
Materials, Resources, and/or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

● Laptops ● Students will need their laptops to access our

google classroom where all of the
assignments are posted for today’s class. My
remote students also need them to access
zoom.
● Zoom ● Zoom is essential in reaching the students
from home. We have cameras in the room
which connect to zoom so that the students
who are on remote learning are able to see
what is going on in the classroom, including
anything I share visually on the computer
through screen sharing or any notes that I
happen to write on the board. In this specific
instance I will be utilizing the screen share
feature to share the materials on google
classroom we are reading/discussing.
● Chapter 14 Section 1 Reading ● The students at home have textbooks to read
from. However, I am still going to be scanning
the chapter and posting it online and screen
sharing it through zoom in case they would
rather follow along that way.
● Chapter 14 Section 1 Multiple Choice ● These questions will be scanned and
Questions and Opinion Questions available for the students to follow along and
answer as we go through them as a class.
Also available to them on google classroom.
The opinion questions are typed out onto a
google doc for the students to turn in through
our class page when they are finished. This
way they have them and can refer back to the
materials if needed as we move forward in
material.
● Chapter 14 Section 2 Reading ● The pages for this section will be scanned
and posted on google classroom for the
students to follow along digitally if they
prefer it over their textbooks.
● Does Science Threaten Religion? Article with ● The article is scanned and posted to google
Questions classroom for the remote students to have
access. For the in person students I printed
copies, but if they prefer they can read and
submit it electronically through google
classroom.
*Google classroom is where I post all of my
assignments so that students, both remote and
in-person, have access to them whenever. It is the
easiest method for distributing and collecting work
from them.
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
● Attendance and Check-ins (7 Minutes)
● Chapter 14 Section 1 Reading with 10
Multiple Choice Questions (20 Minutes)
● Chapter 14 Section 2 Reading and Discussion
(20 Minutes)
● Assign Homework for over the weekend (8
Minutes)
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
● I allow for approximately seven minutes at
the start of class for attendance and
check-ins with the students to build
connections with them. This extended time is
also where they can ask some questions
about the homework or just feel like they can
settle in before we get into covering material.
It also allows for any technological glitches,
zoom issues or tardiness to be resolved and
not interfere as much with my time covering
class material. Some remote students show
up routinely a few minutes after class starts
so it prevents a lot of recovering or
reteaching of material that we go over at the
immediate start of class.
● Together as a class we will be reading
Chapter 14 Section 1. Although this could be
done individually I am choosing to do it as a
class in order to allow for discussion breaks
and connections to past material that we
have covered. The multiple choice questions
will also be done as a class to check for
understanding of the reading/material.
● Chapter 14 Section 2 is also being
read/discussed as a class. There were certain
concepts that I wanted to highlight and
connect to our notes that we took earlier in
the week. Students volunteered to read
different sections of the material in order to
break it up a little bit. This section did not
have questions to go along with it, rather was
part of a bigger section that we are working
towards next week.
● Taking time out of the class to assign
homework is also something that I always do.
I use this time to show them where the
assignment is, as well as explain it. Today’s
homework had two different sections so I
wanted to take the time to make sure the
instructions for each section were clear. It
was also enough time, since we finished in
about 15 minutes for the section two reading
and discussion for them to start on this
homework so that they had less to do over
the weekend.
 ● Clean-up and Questions (5 Minutes)
● Clean up procedures are required to be done
due to COVID-19 guidelines. As a result I allot
time for the students to pack up and sanitize
while I clean their desks and chairs. This final
five minutes is also allotted for questions and
clarifications on things we covered in class.

Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

extensions, modifications, accommodations)
● Individual Work ● Though this class does not have any IEP/504
plans I provide a variety of ways to
accomplish work. At the beginning of the
semester I gave the students a learning
survey. From this I gathered that the majority
of my students like to do individual written
work. It allows them to gather and organize
their thoughts more thoroughly than on the
spot conversations will.
● Group Work ● From the same survey there are also a
number of them that like verbal and group
work which is why this lesson has a
collaborative group discussion portion. We
will review the concepts together as a class in
order to answer the multiple choice
questions that follow the reading. Discussing
each answer to see if anyone has any
questions about it before moving on.

Field Course Only – Post lesson

Reflection

Today’s class showed high levels of participation, students volunteered to read different sections of the
reading. They also demonstrated participation during the answering of the multiple choice questions. The
extra few minutes that we had at the end of class was filled with either follow up questions on the material or
discussion of the connections to their own lives.
I would also say this lesson was successful because five of six students met the objectives. One student did
not complete their work and as a result partially met the objectives of the lesson. This student was still
engaged and responsive during the check for understanding of the multiple choice questions which shows
the partial credit for engagement during class.

During today’s lesson I realized it was not as organized as it typically is. There were a lot of different
materials needed for today’s class and one of them slipped through the class and was not posted in time for
the start of class. I realized this when I went to go screen share the material and it was not listed in our
google classroom page for them to view. Although they have textbooks at home and could have found the
material on their own I try to make everything accessible in more than one way for every student. So I had to
halt the beginning of class to go back through the items on my desktop and post it for them to view and for
me to screen share.

If I had to redo this lesson I might make it require less materials so it was more organized and slightly less
chaotic. Providing the students work time in class to read the material from yesterday's class, or have
students volunteer to read different sections of the material so we could work through it together instead of
having it be independent work. This would eliminate the issue of students not having read it and thus being
unprepared for the class discussion. Overall just a reorganization of some of the materials and the way that
we worked through them.

I also would try to break up the reading and morph it into some more interactive material. Maybe find a short
video or an activity to apply some of the skills/perspectives that we examined in the reading during today’s
class. Though there were discussions periodically during class and the reading it still felt like it was a little
more lecture based than I would have liked for today’s class.

Teaching Standards and Rationale

Standard #7 Planning for Instruction: The teacher draws upon knowledge of content areas,
cross-disciplinary skills, learners, the community, and pedagogy to plan instruction that supports every
student in meeting rigorous learning goals.
Essential Knowledge: 7 (h) Understands how integrating cross disciplinary skills in instruction engage
learners purposefully in applying content knowledge.
Today’s lesson shows cross-disciplinary skills and content knowledge because it draws on the English
standards included in the second section of this template. There was a focus on presenting their own
perspectives and opinions on the material, showcasing how the students interpret it. Another focus was
backing it up by connecting their writing/verbal opinions to class material in the chapters as well as things
we might have discussed. So overall a major theme was developing the student’s skills in persuasive
arguments and writing.

Standard #8 Instructional Strategies: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional
strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and
to build skills to access and appropriately apply information.
Performance: 8 (h) Uses a variety of instructional strategies to support and expand learners'
communication through speaking, listening, reading, writing, and other modes.

Standard 8 has a focus of instructional strategies through speaking, listening, reading and writing. These
strategies were all incorporated in today’s lesson. These were the central focus of the English standards that
were included for today’s lesson. My decision to select these instructional strategies was to develop their
knowledge of the material at a deeper level and start developing/continue to work on these skill that they
will need later on in not only their educational careers but also their everyday lives.