Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format

Name: Ms. Emma Holthus Grade Level: Tenth Grade

Topic/Central Focus Subject: Western Civilization

Should Columbus Day be cancelled? Time Frame: 30 Minutes

Standard(s) to be met in the lesson:

SS HS.4.3.a (WLD) Identify how differing experiences can lead to the development of
perspectives.

SS HS.4.3.b (WLD) Interpret how and why diverse groups and/or individuals might
understand historical events similarly or differently.

Learning Objective: Assessment Tool(s) and Procedures:

Students will analyze the opposing views and
the defending views of Christopher Columbus’s
treatment of Native Americans in order to be
able to explain of the complexity of human
circumstances and differing perspectives.
Formative Assessment: Exit ticket
Formative Assessment: Students will be
assessed in how well they performed in the
small group discussions and the whole
group discussion.

Research-Based Best Practice used in lesson and why it is appropriate/useful

Direct Instruction: Based upon the pre-assessment, most students are not as familiar with
Christopher Columbus and his treatment of Native Americans. In this lecture, students will be
presented with a neutral stance on Columbus.

Cooperative Learning: Students will be having small-group and whole class discussion first
on their impressions of Columbus based on two different excerpts from both sides of the
dilemma (Columbus’ diary and the Diary of Father de Las Casas), and at the end of the
lecture they will be discussing their beliefs based on the information presented to them. This
will allow them to become more independent in their own thinking based upon sources.
Student Engagement used throughout the lesson
Students will be reading two small primary sources and then they will have a whole group
discussion based on their findings. At the end of the lecture, students will be grouped
together in their small groups, and then they will come back together as a whole to discuss it
as a whole class.
Academic Language:

Feudal System, Cancel Culture, European Conquest, Genocide, Encomienda System,

Acquisition.

Materials: Technology:
Writing utensils PowerPoint

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Faith/Values Integration:
Students will examine these two perspectives from a Christian lens in that while Columbus’s
motivations for exploration were for mission work, he executed his goals by enslaving Native
Americans and forcing them to become Christians. We are multifaceted people, who are both
good and bad. This will help them to determine their opinions based on the information and
their moral/Christian beliefs.

Assets (Knowledge of Students: personal, cultural, community)

Students have a general knowledge of Columbus and European exploration, so they will need
a decent amount of content in order to be able to have an effective discussion on Columbus
answering the question on why Columbus Day should or shouldn’t be celebrated.

Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
N/A

Procedure with time allotments:

A) Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students
Students will take a pre-assessment survey on some of the main points of my content that I will be
presenting to them.

B) Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)

I will be introducing the topic and objective to the students at the start of the lesson.

C) Instructional Sequence:
1. First Reading (3 Minutes)
2. Discussion (2 minutes)
3. Lecture (20 minutes)
4. Discussion (3 minutes)
5. Exit Ticket (2 Minutes)

D) Closure:
Students will have a discussion debrief after their group discussion, and then before they
leave, they must fill out an exit ticket on information that they learned in the presentation.

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Analyzing Teaching (Reflection):

Completed after the lesson is taught.

Give evidence that the lesson was successful for students meeting the learning
objective(s).
In the assessment, most of the students answered the questions according to the objective
of learning multiple perspectives of the same event and the complexities concerning this, but
there was a tendance for students to answer the first question using minor details of the
lesson.

The discussion provided much more substantial evidence for meeting the learning target as
they were generally very analytical and thought provoking. It was clear from their discussion
of Columbus’s actions versus his motivation that they made the connection of the complexity
of the events.
If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do
differently to improve the learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and
characteristics? Consider missed opportunities and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment.
Explain in the table below.
Clearly state each change you would Explain why and how you would change
make. it.
I would create better discussion questions. The first discussion question clearly needed
more scaffolding as it was almost too vague,
and the students were not very engaged in it.
Perhaps I could have had them discuss it in
small groups first.
The last question, though the response from
students was promising, I should have ended
the lesson with a question on how they
should look at cancel culture, instead of
trying to use the same question for the group
discussion and the whole class discussion.
The silence between transitions in this last
discussion was awkward, and not very
effective, because it went on for too long.
I needed to narrow down my topic, because it In order to get through the amount of
was much too broad for the time I had to present information in the twenty minutes, I had to
the information to them. rush through it. It didn’t have the effect that
it could’ve if I would’ve used more concise
information, instead of focusing on some
information that is less important to the
purpose of the learning target.
I would proofread my slides before trying to There were times when I was creating this
present the information on them. PowerPoint where I would copy and paste
information from my research without
proofreading it for awkward translations. In
order to get the point across, I did not need
to add so many examples of primary
documents inside the PowerPoint, instead I
could have just put the information from

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I would clearly explain the objective of the
lesson at the start of the lesson.
I would create a better formative
assessment/exit ticket.
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Education Department Lesson Plan Format
those documents and translated them
readable chunks in the form of lists.
The answers the students put down on their
exit ticket shows the lack of understanding of
the specific learning target, because I never
officially communicated the exact purpose of
the lesson.
I created my formative assessment an
hour before class, because I completely
forgot to make one. Though the motivation
for the questions were good, the execution
was poor. The questions were not specific
enough, so it was nearly impossible to grade.
It focused on the lesson too generally, and it
focused too much on their personal
understanding of the information.
While it is an important check for me to
see where they are for the purposes of
finding out if I must re-teach the lesson or
expand upon certain points, in terms of
grading it using the normal rubric procedures
it is just not possible.