Megan's first lesson plan (final version)

Target Audience of the Lesson:
A first grade class is beginning to learn about the United States government. There are 20 students of all learning levels in the class. 3 of the students have a learning disability in reading and 2 of the students have an attention disorder (ADD).

Big Idea of the Lesson:
The class is beginning to learn about the United States government. The teacher decides to take the students on a virtual field trip of the White House as well as the U.S.Capitol to learn more of where some government action takes place.

Overall Goal for the Lesson:
I want students to be able to see where portions of United States government action take place.

Indiana Content Standards Addressed:
1.2.1 Give examples of people who have the authority* to make and enforce rules.
1.4.3 Compare and contrast different jobs people do to earn income.

ISTE CNETS Student Standards Addressed
2. Use a variety of media and technology resources for directed and independent learning activities.
9. Use technology resources (e.g., puzzles, logical thinking programs, writing tools, digital cameras, drawing tools) for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts, ideas, and stories.

Student Objectives for the lesson:
In this lesson students will explore the United States capitol as well as the White House to view different places where government takes place. They will complete a worksheet answering different questions about the rooms they saw in the two buildings.
Length of Lesson: (minutes, number of class periods, or days or weeks needed).
This lesson will take about an hour to an hour and a half
Schedule of Activities: (Break down your activity into a timeline of events. Focus on what students will be doing and what teachers will be doing during each part of the activity.)
Have students gather around the classroom computer or on their own computer in a computer lab
Students will link to the White House website and the U.S. capitol website
At the websites the students will explore different rooms of the white house and the capitol building.
4. Students will write down aspects about the different rooms they encountered in the two buildings5. Students will come together to discuss how these different rooms looked and what they are used for

How will these activities be assessed?
I will be able to assess my students through a few different ways. I will be able to assess them through their worksheets they filled out, through watching them while they explore, as well as by asking questions during a discussion at the end of class.

Adaptations:
For a student with special needs you could pair that student with another that may make it easier. Also some individual attention for the special needs student would also be helpful. If these two tactics couldn’t work the instructor could have a computer hooked up to a projection screen for the whole class to see.

Materials Needed:
Computer(s)
Worksheets
http://www.senate.gov/vtour/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov

Revision for First Lesson Plan

For my first lesson, once I learned we would have to be teaching these at some point, I need to change my lesson activity a lot. Instead of it being 2 weeks long, since that is way to long, I decided this would take up two class periods. I will have the students doing research still, but instead of doing any out of class work, I will allow the entire lesson time to be devoted to the timeline activity. Students will still be working with groups, but they will be using the internet to gather data and pictures to do a visual timeline. It will still be about major events from the 1920s-present and they will still need to find at least 10-15 events. How I will change this is the students will need to find an event, get a picture that represents that event well (picture must be approved by me), and write up what that event was about, who was involved, and the outcome. They will then need to do that in a powerpoint fashion, then be able to print out the entire thing to be able to line it up in a timeline form. Hopefully this will work out better then the 2 week form.

Heather's Activities

For my lesson plan I plan on dividing the class into cooperative groups of 4-5 students. Provide each group with at least one magazine and the local newspaper. Ask the groups to locate at least two advertisements highlighting modern technologies. Each group should then discuss the value of the modern technology and the influence of the technology on daily life. Students will be able to understand the concepts of using technology and become more familiar with using different types of technology through activities.

Megan's First Lesson

Activity Name: My U.S. Government
Target Audience: K-12
Subject: Social Studies
Learning Style: Observational Learning
Purpose: To allow students to see the most popular government building, to gain a better understanding of governmental practices.

Task:
1. Have students gather around the classroom computer.(for upper level grades the students may be at their own computer.
2. Students will link to the White House website
3. At the website the students will explore different rooms of the white house
4. Students will write down aspects about different the different rooms the encountered
5. Students will come together to discuss how these different rooms are utilized in day to day activities by the President and his staff.

Megan's Preliminary Lesson Plan

Target Audience of the Lesson:
A first grade class is beginning to learn about the United States government. There are 20 students of all learning levels in the class. 3 of the students have a learning disability in reading and 2 of the students have an attention disorder (ADD).

Big Idea of the Lesson:
The class is beginning to learn about the United States government. The teacher decides to take the students on a virtual field trip of the White House to learn more of where some government action takes place.



Overall Goal for the Lesson:
I want the students to be able to connect what they are seeing with elements of the U.S. government.

Indiana Content Standards Addressed:
1.2.1
Give examples of people who have the authority to make and enforce rules.
ISTE CNETS Student Standards Addressed

2. Social, ethical, and human issues
Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.

Activity for Lesson Plan

The activity that I have come up with will be for a 6th grade class. This will be a social studies lesson and will take about 2 weeks to complete. I am having the students create a video timeline of the 1920s-present. They will be working on this in groups and must first do research to come up with their ideas on the topics they want to cover. They must have at least 10-15 events to cover on their timeline. In order to have a better visual of what to look for, the students must hand in a written timeline first to show their events. These must be approved by me. The students can be as creative as they want with costumes, etc. While working in groups, pictures must be taken during their meeting time to show progress and assess the work they are doing. The overall assessment will be the video to see how well they understood the assignment along with how well they learned their history.

Penny's Activity

Hey guys, since I might actually have to do this lesson plan, it is not feasible to make it a "field trip." Therefore, I am abandoning the digital camera idea and replacing it with research on the internet. The students will still prepare a power point presentation.

Divide the class into 8 groups (3-4 in a group). Assign each group a topic related to their home community. (Restaurants, Arts & Entertainment, Activities, Attractions, Transportation, Worship, Homes, Fun Facts)
Give each group a URL or two and a list of questions to answer about their topic. Tell them if they find any interesting pictures to go with their topic to let me know. (I will show them how to save them.)
Students will be looking for things that are unique about their community as well as looking for several examples of their topic to show diversity.
Teacher will be monitoring students and assisting where needed.