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Aspen Viola

Professor Hooks

EDU 220, Section 1002

18 March 2022

Direct Instructional Lesson Plan

I. Describe the class:

The fourth-grade class has thirty-five students, with three learning disabled, two gifted, and two

English language learners.

II. Subject/skill:

Social Studies: The students will be learning about the three branches of government in the

United States.

III. Objective(s):

The general education students:

Students will be able to (SWBAT) identify the three branches of government and each branches’

individual powers by matching terms to their definitions, cutting out labels to paste, and to recall

the information on a multiple-choice quiz with an 80% accuracy.

This is the objective for the modified version for special education students:

Students will be able to (SWBAT) recognize and cut out leaf labels pasting them on a paper tree

that represents the three branches of government with an 80% accuracy.

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IV. Procedures: for a direct instruction lesson:

1. State the objectives and orient student to the lesson:

The students will get an insight by watching two YouTube assigned videos that explain the three

branches of government in full detail:

Brain Pop Jr., “Branches of Government”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hMFrBrGJYQ )

Kids Academy, “3 Branches of Government”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvwlRTYvU8o )

2. Review prerequisites:

The students would need the knowledge of the following prerequisites to be able to completely

understand the assigned videos:

• Pre-colonial era: Great Britain’s rule and the thirteen colonies.

• The Boston Tea Party.

• The Revolutionary War.

• The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

• The first U.S. president, George Washington.

3. Modeling:

The teacher will demonstrate the first page of the assignment by explaining that for each

question number there should be a letter that matches the term. Next, the teacher will continue to

demonstrate the second page that needs the information to be cut out and paste under each

branch. Lastly, the teacher will explain that the last page is only about the executive branch and

that they are all multiple-choice questions, except the last question at the bottom.

4. Conducting learning/guided practice:

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The teacher will go over what was mentioned in the two videos, asking students if they

understood the differences between each branch and how they work together. The teacher will go

over the assignment by going over the first question on each paper to see if students recall the

information from the videos.

5. Independent student practice:

The students will work on their three-page assignment independently and quietly for fifteen

minutes. The teacher will monitor to see the progress during the fifteen minutes and to check to

see if a student is having difficulty.

V. Materials:

The materials needed for this lesson, are the three-page assignment, a pencil, scissors, and a glue

stick.

VI. Grouping Structures:

This assignment is primarily for independent work, which means at the end once its fully

completed the class will discuss it during review. This assignment will be worked on at their

desks.

VII. Modifications:

There is a different version of the assignment for those who need a modified version:

Students will be able to (SWBAT) recognize and cut out leaf labels pasting them on a paper tree

that represents the three branches of government with an 80% accuracy.

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The paper tree has only three branches which are already labelled: legislative branch, executive

branch, and the judicial branch. The leaves are also already labelled with terms that were

discussed in both YouTube videos. These students can work in a group together to help guide

each other with placing their leaves on each of their branches. Specifically for ELL students, the

words will have translation of their language written in marker by the teacher to help them

identify words. For students with a severe learning disability, their leaves and branches will

have different highlighted colors for them to match certain leaves to certain branches. For gifted

students, they can add extra terms that are not present on the leaf labels (using the blank leaf

labels) to add to their branches, such as the name of the president, etc.

VIII. Assessment:

1. Assessing student progress/culminating or closing activity:

After everyone completes their assignment, their assignment will be collected for grading.

Everyone will participate in a fun review by playing a jeopardy style game by pairing the

students in groups to answer which power belongs to which branch of government. Using the

information from each page of the assignment, students will be able to show their knowledge

without peeking at their answers.

2. Distributed practice and review:

The students will be assigned homework to write a paragraph about which branch that they

found interesting and why.