SIOP® Lesson Plan Template 2

STANDARDS: N/A

THEME: Conspiracy Theories

LESSON TOPIC: Jonestown Conspiracy Theory

OBJECTIVES:
Language:
- Students will be able to identify the similarities and differences between the defintions
they constructed prior to the lesson of the six vocabulary words, that meanings correlate
to the Jonestown Conspiracy theory, to the actual definitons presented during the
lesson.

Content:
- Students will be able to idenitfy specific characteristic traits of Jim Jones, and describe
how he used these traits to psychologicaly manipulation memebers of the cult.

- Students will be able to apply the information they learned about Jonestown to
costruct their own summaries that consist of what they personally would think, do and
or say if one was a member in the cult.

LEARNING STRATEGIES: The first strategy we chose utilizes a vocabulary sheet prior to
the lesson. Students will be asked to fill in the definitions based off of what they believe the
words mean in relation to the Jonestown conspiracy. This will activate prior knowledge, and
allow the teachers to then teach the class what these six terms mean regaurding the lesson.
Following this, we have a brain map activity.The brain map will allow students to gather a
greater understanding of Jim Jones as a person. This will focus on Jones psychologically, as a
cult leader, and a public speaker. After studets choose four charactersitic traits about Jim
Jones, they will be asked to dicuss with others, and then write how these traits were used in
the psyhcolgical manipulation of the cult members. To close up the lesson, students will be
asked to dicuss with others at their table what they would think and how they would act if they
were personally a member of the cult. After doing so, each student will then write their own
three to four sentence summaries explaining these thoughts. Students will be given the
opportunity to share with the class what they wrote.

KEY VOCABULARY: conspiracy theory, Jonestown, psychological, cult, mass

murder/genocide, kool-aid

MATERIALS: vocabualry sheet, brain mapping activty, and loose leaf paper

MOTIVATION:
(Building background)
Each students will be given a sheet of paper with the six vocabulary terms on the sheet. The
students will be asked to fill in the definitons of the words, based off of what they believe these
words mean in regaurds to the Jonestown conspiracy. It will be emphasized that this activity is
optional. The teachers will not offer any explanation as to why the task must be completed,
along with no prior information for the vocabulary. It will strongly urge that all students
complete the task to the best of their ability. It will then be announced that anyone who
completed the task has now been pronounced dead. The teacher will explain how simple it is for
people to follow cult lead just like the people in Jonestown had did. The teacher will then

© 2008 Pearson Education, Inc.

 SIOP® Lesson Plan Template 2
introduce the topic of Jonestown.

PRESENTATION:
(Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback)
The teachers will present a powerpoint teaching about Jonestown. Teachers will take turns
teaching different aspects and supporting student learning. The presentation will cover many
arreas of the conspiracy theory such as the motives Jim Jones used to convice the cult
memebrs to join, the psychological aspects of Jones, the mass murder-suicide, and stories of
the survivors from this massacre. When the "Who is Jim Jones" section of the PowerPoint is
completed, students will be asked to construct a brain map of Jim Jones. This will allow the
students to get a deeper understanding of who Jim Jones is, and the psychological aspects that
played into his thought process. Students will then be instructed to use the brain map to
determine why they believe he was so convincing to so many people. After discussing with
table members, students will then get the opportunity to volunteer and share what they came
up with. As a closing activity, students will be asked to dicuss with their peers what they would
think and how they would act if they were a member in this cult. Each student will then
construct a short summary based off of what they discussed, and then get the opportunity to
share what they wrote. The teacher will encourage questions and thoughts in order to begin a
group dicussion.

PRACTICE AND APPLICATION:

(Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback)
After reviewing the "Who is Jim Jones", portion of the lesson, the teachers will ask students to
individually create a brain map of Jim Jones. This brain map will ask students to explain his
thought processes, his character traits, his beliefs, his psychological strategies, and his
preachings as a cult leader. The students will than be instructed to use this brain map to
determine why he was so convinving to so many people.

REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT:

(Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning)
vocabulary sheet words, brain mapping activty, summarizing activity

EXTENSION:
At the end of the lesson, each table will be asked to discuss what actions they would take and
thoughts they would have if they personally were part of this cult. Students will then write a
three to four sentence summary based on the discussion. Students will get the opportunoity to
volunteer and share.
(Reproduction of this material is restricted to use with Echevarria, Vogt, and Short, 2008. Making Content
Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP® Model.)

© 2008 Pearson Education, Inc.