The Lesson Plan

The Lesson Plan

Gloria Santiago

Grand Canyon University

EAD 520: Strengthening Curricular Programs to Promote Continuous School Improvement

Dr. Jeffrey Mehlenbacher

June 1, 2022
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The Lesson Plan

Part A: Lesson Plan Review

Scaffolding and Differentiation

The lesson plan I chose for this assignment is a Grade 7th and 8th Civics lesson on United

States Foreign Policy. This is a lengthy lesson that prepares students to participate as an active

and civil citizen in a democratic society. For students to be able to independently use and apply

their learning, the lesson has been developed in three stages or sections. This is to facilitate

student learning as they begin to gain and develop new skills through each level of understanding

and accomplishing the lesson objectives. Students will begin by understanding the value that a

society places on individual rights are often reflected in that society’s government. A video is a

fantastic way to introduce the lesson and activate students' prior knowledge (Mulvahill, 2021).

As the lesson progresses, students will be able to acquire knowledge on the difference between

domestic and foreign policy. During the lesson, differentiation will take place by chunking,

simplifying concepts, verbal cues, and cloze procedures. Small group instruction will be offered

to reteach standards, model skills, clear misconceptions, and assist students in making

connections to the content.

Alignment and Materials

The teacher in this lesson plan clearly aligns the objectives and desired results with state

standards. It incorporates strategies that evoke high order thinking and discussions to improve

students' civic engagement and how they participate in their own learning. Team building

activities and materials are incorporated throughout the lesson to increase student's interest.

Artifacts that promote culture and democracy, along with current events projects are
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The Lesson Plan

implemented throughout the lesson plan. This is to increase student engagement, spark

discussions, and create an environment of mutual collaboration.

Learning and Instructional Strategies

The teacher who prepared this lesson plan also incorporated several important

instructional strategies to assess student learning. One strategy incorporated in this lesson plan is

iCivics games, which allows students to actively participate in their learning process and engage

with other students. According to McCusker & Driscoll (2022), iCivics allows students to build

skills, rather than just simply diffusing facts. This way students gain a deeper understanding of

what its like to engage in a democratic process. Two iCivics games included in this lesson are

“Crisis of Nations’ and “Executive Command.” Through these games, key concepts are actively

reinforced within the lesson. This is reinforced with active classroom discussion and connection.

Technology

According to the lesson plan technology will be incorporated by using classroom tablets.

Key learning events and instruction will take place on Nearpod and Quizlet Live games.

However, that is not to completely replace one-on-one or whole class teacher and student

interaction. According to Tucker (2016), there is a limitless amount of information and online

resources available that helps with engaging team building activities. It also encourages student

interest and engagement.

Informal and Formal Assessments

The lesson plan includes several questions as part of the evaluative criteria on the second

stage of instruction. This is intended to evaluate each level of understanding and accomplishing

the lesson objectives. These include lesson quizzes, self-checks, and unit assessments. Other

methods of informal and formal assessments that are used as part of the instructional strategies
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The Lesson Plan

are iCivics and Quizzlet Live games. Using these assessments as part of the instruction and

evaluation process allows for students to demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to the

lesson.

Part B: Coaching the Teacher

Reinforcement

One-way reinforcement is clearly seen in this lesson plan is through flipped learning. The

teacher enhances content knowledge through the incorporation of technology to increase student

engagement. Quizzlet Live and iCivics facilitate direct instruction through technology and help

learners develop foundational knowledge through active participation. Technology supported

learning benefits middle school and low performing students (Winter, 2017). This is something

this teacher uses to help meet students learning differences and support differentiated instruction.

Refinement

When it comes to this lesson plan, I would suggest the teacher integrates cross curricular

connections. Finding ways to evoke higher order thinking helps develop student’s intellectual

skills necessary for lesson application and content knowledge. For example, when teaching about

United States Foreign Policy, it would be beneficial for students to know the environmental

factors that affect United States relations with other countries through integrating Science into

the lesson. Furthermore, to understand the economic effect the United States has on other

countries, integrating Math concepts would be beneficial to further develop depth of knowledge.

Strategy

According to Kelly (2019), cross curricular instruction makes learning more meaningful

for students. It allows students to see the connections between the different content areas, making

learning more relevant. An effective teacher plans lessons across different content areas to evoke
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The Lesson Plan

higher order thinking and help students draw connections between ideas. Incorporating Science

and Math to Quizzlet Live and iCivics will help students to read texts and be prepared to

collaborate and discuss in class (Winter, 2017). This is a great teaching tool and strategy to help

students integrate different content knowledge and make a profound impact in the learning

environment.
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The Lesson Plan

References

Kelly, M., (2019). Cross-Curricular Connections in Instruction. ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/cross-curricular-connections-7791

McCusker, S., Driscoll, T., (2022). 3 Strategies to Boost Civics Education. Edutopia.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-strategies-boost-civics-education

Mulvahill, E., (2021). 15 Ways to Scaffold Learning. We Are Teachers.

https://www.weareteachers.com/ways-to-scaffold-learning/

Tucker, C., (2016). Escaping the Lesson-Planning Doldrums. ASCD.

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/escaping-the-lesson-planning-doldrums

Winter, J., (2017). Performance and Motivation in a Middle School Flipped Learning Course.

Springer Link. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-017-0228-

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%20improved%20performance.