Instructional (Lesson) Plan

Central Washington University

Kyle Carrigan

11^th Grade U.S. History

1.         Lesson Title/Focus: Declaration of Independence

 2.         Input:

I am teaching the student’s about the importance of the Declaration of Independence and its impact it had on the colonist and the world. The Declaration of Independence was an explanation to King George III as to why the colonist should be an independent nation and the wrong doings of King George III.

 3.         Instructional Materials Needed:

White Board

Full size copy of the Declaration of Independence

Computer (Internet)

Paper

Pen

 4.         Lesson Objective (Learning Targets)

             a. Students will be able to explain why the colonist wanted a Declaration of Independence.

             b. Students will be able to understand the Language of the Declaration.

 c. Students will understand the Declarations Impact on the American people and others around the world.

5.         Grouping Students for Instruction:

I will group the students as needed. Each group will have 4 people (A John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and a John Hancock)

6.         LEARNING EXPERIENCES:

·  Decide on one lesson format as outlined below. Ask yourself if your lesson is inquiry/exploratory based or teacher driven. 

·  Your lesson should account for students’ prior knowledge, skills, experiences, and developmental needs.

·  Include an estimated time next to each component (for example: Introduction [7 to 10 min]).  This will help you manage your classroom time.

·  Make sure your activities are relevant to students’ diversity and cultural background.

5 Es

Engage- I will start with a story that will connect the students with what I am trying to teach them.

This summer your parents are going to go and explore Europe for two months. They are going to leave you alone at home all by yourself and they give you all the freedom a kid could ask for. They said you can stay out late, but be home at a reasonable time, they give you money to spend on whatever you want, and they even give you the keys to the car. They said that you can have friends over but not too many. So your parents finally leave for their vacation and you are left alone. For the two months that they are gone they only check up on you a couple of times and every time they do everything is going fine. Throughout the summer you do everything they ask of you and then finally your parents return from their trip and they take all the money away, they say you have to be home by 9 o'clock every night, they car keys are taken away. All of the freedom they gave you is taken away in a second. How would you feel about this? This is how the colonist felt. They were given all this freedom while the British fought the French in the Seven Years War and then all of a sudden they are getting taxed and British soldiers are living in the colonist houses. These issues are what led to the Declaration of Independence.

Explore as a class we are going to go over a life size copy of the Declaration of Independence. We are going to read It together and decifer what the colonist were trying to say. The students are to get on the computers and use the Internet to find the U.S. Declaration of Independence and other Declarations of Independence from other Countries and read them to generate ideas about their own Declaration of Independence.

Explain I want the students to be in groups of 4(each person have a significant role) (Thomas Jefferson; Author of the Declaration) (Ben Franklin; Politician) (John Adams; Politician) (John Hancock; Politician). The students are to create their own Declaration of Independence. They are going to write this to Mr. Smith (principal of Hoquiam High School) and I want an Introduction with some creative wording (allow excerpts from the Declaration I want at least 4).I also want reasons for their Declaration for HHS and the charges brought upon the Principal.

Elaborate We will have a group discussion about what the students have learned about the Declaration of Independence and why the colonist wanted to be a sovereign nation.

Evaluate To evaluate the students on whether they comprehended the material I will talk with them on a one-on-one basis and ask them all diffrnet questions about what we have been talking about.

Checking for Understanding/Questions:

Who was the King of England at the time of the American Revolution?

Why did the colonist declare Independence?

What was meant by unalienable rights?

What would have happened to the men who signed the Declaration if the Colonist would have lost the war?

Closure: A review or wrap-up of the lesson: Tell me/show me what you have learned today.

LESSON PLAN RATIONALE

Learning Target(s)

a. This lesson addresses the first NETS-S goal (Creativity and Innovation) the students know what the U.S.  Declaration of Independence says and when they go on the internet and explore other countries Declarations they apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas. They get different ideas to put into their own declaration. This lesson also connects to Creativity and Innovation by allowing the students to create their own original works in a group setting. This lesson also allows the students to use old models (Declarations) to see the issues that the people were facing. This lesson also shows the students different trends and what lead to people declaring their Independence.    (How does the lesson address the NETS-S?)

b. After we talk about the Declaration we will go further into the American Revolutionary War.