edTPA Lesson Plan

Name Taylor Chico

Lesson #, Lesson Title Observation #2/Yalta Conference & Potsdam Conference

Date and Day of the Week Thursday, March 18, 2021

Grade Level and Class 8th Grade/Social Studies

Period and Length 45 minutes

Materials Needed Google Docs, Padlet, PowerPoint

Standards and Objectives

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to
domains related to history/social studies.

Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to comprehend the impact individuals had on the Yalta Conference and Potsdam
Conference.be specific identifying each conference
Students will be able to determine the effects of the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference identify
the Conferences specifically on WWII and the future “Cold War” era.

Central Focus: To identify the key leaders in the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference, and
describe how the conferences influenced the Cold War.

Academic Language Demands:

Enhance close reading skills, highlight, Potsdam Conference, Yalta Conference, Cold War, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin
Assessments Related to this Lesson:

-Think, Pair, Share (Formal Assessment)

-Close Reading notes or highlights (Informal)
-Question and Answer Responses throughout PowerPoint Presentation (Informal)
-Exit-Ticket (Informal)

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks that Support Student Needs

Time Action Rationale: [The “rationale”

section is designed to help you
write the Planning
Commentary and should be
removed prior to submission to
edTPA.]

Launch (Motivation) The launch or motivation’s

The lesson will begin with the do-now question: Why is intended purpose is to link
leadership important during war? students’ current knowledge of
5 a leader’s role and
Students will include their responses on Padlet, which is a responsibilities in government,
website that displays responses on a digital board. Great and why their role is important.
use of technology In addition, the do now’s
question is framed to link prior
knowledge of past wars they
have previously learned about,
and how past leaders have
impacted history.

The purpose of implementing

Padlet will enable me to view
each student response.

Instructional Procedure [Explore content with students, The third Powerpoint’s slide is
usually in a whole class format. It is important that you intended to focus on the key
also include how you will conduct informal whole class individuals that attended The
15 assessments to check for understanding.] Yalta Conference and Potsdam
Conference, which relates to
I will implement the use of a PowerPoint presentation. learning objective #1; it will be
The first slide will include a picture of “The Big Three” a visual aid to help them
 (Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and identify their name and the
Joseph Stalin). I will ask students the following question: nation they represented. In
What is the name of each leader? Which nation did they addition, it will be used to
represent? recollect prior knowledge that
has been mentioned about the
Students will be provided with the text, “The Yalta leaders.
Conference.” I will ask for volunteers to read the three
paragraphs. After each paragraph is read, I will model The modeling of close reading
close reading strategies by highlighting and making notes strategies will include me
of key concepts, vocabulary, and ideas. highlighting key concepts,
vocabulary, and ideas that are
While modeling close reading strategies, I will ask essential to understanding how
students the following questions: the conference was significant
in shaping the post-war. These
1. What organization did Stalin agree to participate terms related to the standard,
in? CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-
2. What is the purpose of this organization? 8.4

The first question is intended

to check for student
understanding of the text and
relates to the second learning
objective. For example,
students will learn the Soviet
Union agreed to join the
United Nations at The Yalta
Conference. The second
question is intended for
students to make a current
connection or use current
knowledge of what students
know about the purpose and
function of the United
Nations.good

Structured Practice and Application [Here students

practice, usually in pairs or groups, the concepts learned
in the Instructional Procedure portion of the lesson.] Students will participate in a
think, pair, share. Think,pair,
Students will participate in a Think, Pair, Share activity. In share is a collaborative
20 addition to “The Yalta Conference” text, students will be learning approach that is
instructed to finish reading the remainder of the text and student led. First, students will
the “Potsdam Conference” text. Then, they will be read the remainder of the first
text and begin the second text.
 instructed to read and closely read and highlight the texts. They will be directed to think
They will be given the following questions: independently to gather their
thoughts or ideas related to the
1. What factor gave Joseph Stalin the “upper hand” or question. Then, they can
advantage in his negotiations during the earlier Yalta
respond to the questions. The
Conference?
first two questions are intended
2. What new technology would give U.S. President Harry for students to go back to the
S. Truman the “upper hand” or advantage in his text directly to reference their
negotiations during the latter Potsdam Conference? answer. In addition, the first
3. Why do you think the Yalta Conference and Potsdam two questions are related to the
Conference led to tensions that shaped the Cold War? two learning objectives, and I
intend to check for students’
They will be instructed to think and write down their
understanding based on their
answers independently. Afterwards, they will share their
responses with a peer. I will provide a slide with prompts responses from the questions.
that they can refer to that will facilitate the discussion. The third question is intended
Afterwards, we will have a class discussion about the to be open-ended, which will
questions and students’ responses. promote students to share their
individual thoughts and ideas.
In addition, students will be
asked if they agree or disagree
with their partner’s response.
While students are in pairs, I
will walk around to facilitate
their discussion and listen to
responses.

Assessment following Structured Practice [What will

students hand in or do for homework that will allow you
to check for understanding?]

Students will hand in their responses to the questions from

the Think, Pair, Share activity (formal assessment). OK so
I assume you will evaluate these answers.

Closure The exit-ticket revisits both of

the learning objectives and is
5 framed as questions to assess
 Exit-Ticket: Students will be asked to respond to the whether students met the
following question: learning objectives of the day.

1) Which statement would BEST sum up the effects

of the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference:

(A) The Yalta Conference was mostly concerned with

the war in Europe; whereas the Potsdam
Conference was more concerned about the war in
Asia.
(B) The Yalta Conference and the Potsdam
Conference invariably created the “Cold War”
between the West and the East.
(C) The atom bomb would be used by the USA
against Japan.
(D) The Soviet Union had reached into Germany
before the Allied forces had arrived.
Why wouldn’t this be your formal assessment and
your ‘Think/pair/share’ one of your informal
assessments.

PLANNING COMMENTARY

*Although each question below should be addressed in full, the Planning Commentary should take
the form of a continuous narrative. Please do not simply fill in each of the individual blocks below.

Describe your students. (What they know and can do related to the Central Focus. Include students’
culture, experiences, language background, practices, and interests This is your context for learning.)
The students within this period are an ICT honors class. My cooperating teacher informed me that there
are specific students in the class that are visual learners; therefore, I included slides that contain visual
aspects such as a map and images of the leaders that attended both conferences. Additionally, I will
describe the images to the students. Good. You addressed the different needs of students with different
learning styles in your planning.

How does this lesson connect to and build on prior learning or previous lessons?
This lesson connects to prior learning experiences related to post-World War II. Many leaders met to
discuss the fate of Germany. After World War I, the League of Nations formed to maintain world peace;
however, it eventually was too weak and failed. In relation, students will learn in this lesson how
leaders met to discuss how Germany will be divided, and how to prevent another world war from
forming. Similar to the purposes of the League of Nations, the United Nations was formed to maintain
world peace and discuss human rights.

How will this lesson prepare students for subsequent lessons?

This lesson will help students understand the events that followed after the conferences. For example,
at the Potsdam Conference, leaders discussed war trials that were to be brought upon the Nazi party
members, which relates to a subsequesnt lesson that focuses on the Nuremberg Trials. In addition, the
learning objective is for students to determine how the conferences shaped the Cold War era, which will
be included in subsequent lessons as well. Good

Teacher Self-Assessment and Reflection

1. Explain how your lessons build on each other to facilitate student understanding.
The lessons build on each other because they are arranged in order of how some events
impacted future historical events.
2. Describe how you meet the needs of your diverse learners.Good ways to meet the needs of
diverse learners
A way I meet the needs of diverse learners is by implementing the use of visual aids within my
presentation slides. For example, I incorporated the use of images that display the leaders that
attended each conference, which I will be explaining to each student. Also, there is a map that
displays how the leaders planned to split Germany into four occupied zones. In addition, for the
do-now students can type their responses on Padlet, which will be displayed on the Smartboard
if they choose to not verbally share. As for the think, pair, share activity, students can write
their answers or share during the class discussion portion.
3. Predict areas where you might have problems in the lessons. Explain how the scaffolds and
strategies work to mitigate misunderstandings.
One area I might have a problem with is the discussion portion of the activity. Since the
students are in cohorts, class size is minimal. Therefore, I included discussion prompts that
students can refer to and discuss during the class discussion.
4. Discuss the research and/or theories that support your learning tasks. CITE your sources.
I implemented the use of a think, pair, share because it is a collaborative learning strategy,
goodwhich is a student led activity that can be utilized to meet the learning outcome. Students
are learning in pairs or teams through active discussion. From their discussion, students are
sharing their ideas, thoughts, and responses. I specifically implemented it in this lesson because
students have the ability to offer different points of view in relation to the last open-ended
question, which will relate to their understanding of the next lessons that will focus on the
tensions that led to the start of the Cold War. Students can share information or draw
conclusions from the text by their responses from the first two questions.
5. Explain how your assessments and activities are differentiated and provide evidence of students
reaching/achieving your learning objective(s)
Assessments are differentiated through the use of a think, pair, share approach because students
are independently responding to questions in a written format or sharing their responses
through a verbal class discussion.
The following pages in the document contain additional resources for this
lesson plan.
1. The do-now question board forum’s website:
https://padlet.com/tchico1/z5rabb2gb0t545p3

2. The Yalta Conference & The Potsdam Conference texts

The Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)

and The Potsdam Conference (July-Aug. 1945)

The Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference was a meeting of three World War II allies: U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The trio
met in February 1945 in the resort city of Yalta, located along the Black Sea coast of the
Crimean Peninsula. The “Big Three” Allied leaders discussed the post-war fate of defeated
Germany and the rest of Europe, the terms of Soviet entry into the ongoing war in the Pacific
against Japan and the formation and operation of the new United Nations.

By February 1945, as Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin gathered again at Yalta, an Allied victory
in Europe was on the horizon. Having liberated France and Belgium from Nazi occupation, the
Allies now threatened the German border; to the east, Soviet troops had driven back the
Germans in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania and gotten within 40 miles of Berlin. This put Stalin
at a distinct advantage during the meeting at the Black Sea resort, a location he himself had
proposed after insisting his doctors had barred him from traveling long distances.

While the war in Europe was winding down, Roosevelt knew the United States still faced a
protracted struggle against Japan in the Pacific War, and wanted to confirm Soviet support in an
effort to limit the length of and casualties sustained in that conflict. At Yalta, Stalin agreed that
Soviet forces would join the Allies in the war against Japan within "two or three months" after
Germany’s surrender.

In return for its support in the Pacific War, the other Allies agreed, the Soviet Union would gain
control of Japanese territory it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Stalin also
demanded that the United States grant diplomatic recognition of Mongolia’s independence from
China; the Mongolian People’s Republic, founded in 1924, was a Soviet satellite.

At Yalta, the Big Three agreed that after Germany’s unconditional surrender, it would be divided
into four post-war occupation zones, controlled by U.S., British, French and Soviet military
forces. The city of Berlin would also be divided into similar occupation zones. The Allied leaders
also determined that Germany should be completely demilitarized and “denazified,” and that it
would assume some responsibility for post-war reparations, but not sole responsibility. Stalin
took a hard line on the question of Poland, pointing out that within three decades, Germany had
twice used the nation as a corridor through which to invade Russia. He declared that the Soviet
Union would not return the territory in Poland that it had annexed in 1939. The Soviets promised
to allow free elections in all territories in Eastern Europe liberated from Nazi occupation,
including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. At Yalta, Stalin agreed to Soviet
participation in the United Nations, the international peacekeeping organization that Roosevelt
and Churchill had agreed to form in 1941 as part of the Atlantic Charter.

The Potsdam Conference

Held near Berlin, the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) was the last of the World
War II meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state. Featuring American President Harry S.
Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (and his successor, Clement Attlee) and Soviet
Premier Joseph Stalin. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy,
punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations. Although talks primarily
centered on postwar Europe, the Big Three also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional
surrender” from Japan.

The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, placing primary emphasis
on the development of agriculture and nonmilitary industry. The institutions that had controlled
the economy under the Nazis were to be decentralized, but all of Germany would be treated as
a single economic unit. War criminals would be brought to trial.

Although postwar Europe dominated the Potsdam agenda, the war in the Pacific lurked offstage.
Truman received word of the successful atomic bomb test soon after he arrived at Potsdam; he
told Churchill the news but mentioned ‘a new weapon’ only casually to Stalin. Truman continued
to solicit Stalin’s assistance against Japan, but he knew that if the bomb succeeded, Russian
help would not be needed. Indeed, the bomb would give the United States unprecedented
power in the postwar world.

Very good support materials to assist students with their learning.

Pre-Observation Questions

1. What are the goals for the lesson? What do you want the students to learn and why?
 The goals for the lesson are for students to be able to comprehend the impact individuals

had on each of the conferences, and students for students to be able to determine the effects of

the conferences on WWII and the future “Cold War” era. I want the students to learn that the

Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conferences led to further tensions that impacted the Cold War

events. Learning the material from both of these conferences are precursors for events that

unfolded from 1947-1991. In addition, I want students to learn about the formation and

significance of the United Nations, which formed during this time to maintain peace and prevent

another world war from occurring.

2. How do these goals support the curriculum, state frameworks and content standards?

The standard to,“Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,

including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies” is supported by the

goals because students will be analyzing words and phrases from the two texts that will guide

them to understand the how the leaders affected the conferences, and how tensions began arising

at the brink of the Cold War.

3. How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do? What will the

students do?

I plan to engage students by incorporating the use of Padlet; it is a discussion board

forum. I plan to use this to facilitate a class discussion. It is a way for students to read their peers’

work and build from their ideas as well. In addition, this is a way for students that are shy and

have limited class participation to share their ideas or thoughts to the class. Furthermore, I

implemented a think, pair, share activity for students to work in pairs. In relation to the material,
students will participate in a student led activity where they will build off ideas and thoughts

from each other.

4. What difficulties might your students experience in this lesson and how will you address these

difficulties?

The difficulties students might experience is related to confusing the significance

between the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference. Therefore, I arranged the slides to go in

order of a historical timeline of which they occurred. Students can refer back to the slides for

reference. In addition, student discussion might be limited because of limited class sizes.

Therefore, I included a slide that has prompts to facilitate a longer discussion if students

experience a standstill within their group.

5. What instructional materials or other resources will you use? (attach to your lesson plan)

I will use Google Docs, PowerPoint, and Padlet.com for instructional materials. In

addition, I attached two texts to the end of my lesson plan that will be referred to in the lesson.

6. How do you plan to assess student achievement of the goals? What procedures will you use?

(attach any worksheets, exit tickets etc. that you have identified as assessments.)

To assess student achievement of the goals, I will rely on students’ work from their think,

pair, share responses and the exit-ticket at the end of the period. The think, pair, share questions

and exit-ticket question are included with the lesson plan.

Taylor Chico
Observation #2
 For the ten-minute video segment, I strongly focused on building from students’ prior

knowledge. For example, for the do-now, I wanted to activate schema in relation to past

presidents and how they displayed leadership throughout their presidency. For this lesson, I

activated schema because we were focusing on key individuals and this would be of importance

for understanding how each impacted the conferences, which relates to learning objective #1. In

addition, for the “Big Three” slide, I included this slide for students to build from prior

knowledge of each individual. I asked students if they could name each President by recognizing

their face from past lessons. When I did not receive a response for President Franklin D.

Roosevelt’s name, I reminded students of the text and a previous video from a past lesson I

taught, which included a video of FDR delivering his famous, “Infamy Speech.” As for the slide

that focuses on the five policies, I additionally wanted to build on prior knowledge by asking

students why demilitarization and industrialization related to World War I or was a key focus to

remove or limit post-World War II. This relates to prior knowledge of material because the allies

wanted to prevent Germany from rebuilding their army or producing war materials that could

trigger another world war.

Post-Observation Questions

1. In general, how successful was the lesson? Did the students learn what you intended

for them to learn? How do you know? Did you depart from your plan? If so, how and

why?
 I believe the lesson was successful. I had to make an adjustment to the lesson due

to time constraints. For the think, pair, share portion of the lesson, I had to remove the

share part because the period had ended; however, students were still able to share their

responses within their groups, which I found to be an important part of the activity. While

students were in groups, I was able to listen in on their responses and facilitate group

work discussion. Initially, I was worried if a smaller cohort class size would lead to

smaller amount of groups, but I was glad more students opted in for blended learning. In

addition, the school combined cohort sizes.

Yes, the students learned what was intended for them to learn. I know this because

I checked for understanding throughout the lesson and within their groups to see if

students were accurately responding to the lesson analysis questions. Also, I reviewed the

exit-ticket for further insight to see if the student had accurately responded. I was glad to

see that many students responded correctly to the exit-ticket’s multiple choice question.

2. What does your students’ work reveal about your students’ levels of engagement and

understanding?

Student engagement was considerably low when asking students to respond

verbally, which is visible within my submitted video. The school combined cohorts and it

was my first day teaching some students for first period. However, integrating the use of

technology was a great way to boost levels of engagement, especially since class sizes are

small. I believe it was an effective tool to view students’ work and check for

understanding. Padlet was beneficial to use because I was able to display all of the
students' responses. In addition, students could comment or build ideas from their peers’

responses.

3. Comment on different aspects of your instructional delivery (e.g. activities, grouping

or students, procedures, materials). To what extent were they effective: How did they

contribute to student learning.

Grouping students during the pair portion of the activity was a success. For

example, prior to grouping, my cooperating teacher informed me to group two students

together because they tend to conversate more when working together. In addition, there

were two groups that were shy to speak to their peers. Therefore, I facilitated the

conversation by asking, did you both have any similarities in your responses? Were there

any differences in your responses? By doing so, I was glad this was effective and to see

students actively contributing and conversing with their peers about their responses and

ideas. This contributed to student learning because this was a student led activity,

whereas students were building off ideas and thoughts from each other. This provided

students with an opportunity to speak about the text with each other as well. In addition, I

walked around to each group and asked if they had any questions. The PowerPoint was

effective because it provided students with visuals. This contributed to learning because a

visual aid was able to display the different leaders that attended each conference. The

map revealed how Germany was split into four different zones, which will support

understanding for the future Cold War lessons.

4. If you had a chance to teach this lesson again what would you do differently and

why?

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to teach the lesson again. The second

time, I explained more about the website Padlet and my intention of implementing its

use: I wanted every student’s voice and work to be displayed; therefore, students feel that

their work is recognized and encourage them to share their responses verbally. Even for

the students that are shy and tend to have a lower participation in verbally sharing their

responses. Also, it gave me the opportunity to compliment work and provide feedback as

well.