Eighth Grade

Lesson Plan

Unit Question:
How did westward expansion change the face of America?

Lesson Question:
What effect did westward expansion have on the Native Americans?

Objectives:
Students will understand how Native Americans felt to be displaced time after time.
Students will understand the impact of westward expansion on the Native American tribes.
Students will build opinions on the treatment of the Native Americans by the United States
government.

Procedure:
1. Students will come into class and take out their textbooks.
2. Students will be given blank maps, and a set of markets to use with the map.
3. Students will be told their instructions, “they will need to use their textbooks (pages
576/580/582 to map the Railroads to the west)
4. Students will begin to work on their maps.
5. After a minute or two of working on their maps, Teacher will tell the students that an
email/phone call came through and the janitors need to use the classroom so we will have
to move to somewhere else.
6. Students will get all of their materials (textbooks, maps, markers) and walk quietly into
the hallway.
7. Class will walk to the library… but the book fair is going on. Class will walk to the lab…
if it is open use the lab for a couple minutes and then move because “another class
reserved the room and is coming to use it… then go do Mrs. Wojcik’s room where we
will spend a few minutes. After a few minutes tell the class we can return to our
classroom. (By this point the students should be very frustrated).
8. Once back to the classroom the students will be told to make a pile of their maps and
markers in the back of the room and to go back to their seats with and have a notecard on
their desk.
9. Teacher will pull up on the SmartBoard a writing assignment: Students will answer the
following questions on note cards
“How did it make you feel to get moved constantly during class"
"What could the teacher have done to stop this from happening?
10. After the students respond in their journals (absolutely silent) the teacher will ask for a
few answers to each question.
11. The teacher will then go to the next page on the SmartBoard and it will be a map of the
Native American displacement in America.
12. Teacher will discuss with students the major events with Native Americans (Little
Bighorn, Wounded Knee Massacre, Trail of Tears ...etc) and discuss is Native American
revolts were justified or unnecessary.
13. Students will turn in their note cards at the end of class.

Assessment
Students will hand in note cards as exit slips to check for understanding