Download First Days Lesson 1-3 - btrhistory

Lesson Plan for First Days
Day 1: Identity Discovery
Objective: Students will be able to build community with peers and with the teacher by
creating an “I am Poem”.
As students walk in, they will be given history passes which will help them identify their
assigned seats in History.
World History I Groups:
Renaissance
Homo sapien
Hunter-Gatherer
Archeology
Confucianism
Buddhism
Greek Mythology
African Kingdoms
World History II:
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Reformation
Mercantilism
Columbian Exchange
U.S History Post Civil War:
Transatlantic slave trade/Slavery
Civil War
Reconstruction
Westward Expansion
Immigration
Industrialization
Civil Rights
Materials:
Writing Paper
Pencils
Markers
Chalk Paper
Laptop
Projector
Do Now: 10 min
Where are you from?
Where do you live and where have you lived?
Where do you plan to go next and why?
What do you plan to accomplish in the near future and why?
Mini Lesson: 5 min
• After students have answered these questions individually, students will be prompted
to turn and talk to a partner to discuss these questions.
• Students will then discuss these questions as a whole class.
Lesson Activity a: 30 min
“I am Poem” Activity
Essential Question: How does my history influence who I am today?
• Students will write an “I am Poem” that includes the questions that they have
answered in the do now and will extend these questions by identifying who they are as
individuals within a poem which can be prose, haiku, sonnet or free verse.
• Students will be given an “I am Poem” exemplar to help scaffold this process.
• The teacher will then share/model her “I am Poem” to the class.
Share out:
• After students have completed the “I am Poem,” students will be prompted to share
their poems with a partner before sharing out to the whole class.
• Students will then discuss as a whole class what they took away from the “I am
Poem.”
Lesson Activity b: 15 min
• The teacher will then introduce her self to the class with the use of power point.
• After the teacher introduction, expectations that the teacher has of her students for the
year will be outlined with the use of power point as well.
• Students will have an opportunity to ask questions about the teacher-student
expectations
• Students will then be given the syllabus for the year which will not be discussed until
the 3rd day of class.
Homework: Student-Teacher expectations outline
• What do you expect from me as your history teacher this year and why?
• How would you like to be supported throughout the year?
• What should communication between you and your history teacher look like?
• What goals would you need help accomplishing this year with the support of your
history teacher?
Each question should be answered in at least 3-4 sentences. If there is a question that
you can answer in more depth, feel free to focus on that particular question.
Day 2: Expectations/Community Building
Objective: Students will be able to create student/peer/teacher expectations by
democratically creating them through the ball game activity.
As students walk in, they will be given history passes which will help them identify their
assigned seats in History.
World History I Groups:
Renaissance
Homo sapien
Hunter-Gatherer
Archeology
Confucianism
Buddhism
Greek Mythology
African Kingdoms
World History II:
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Reformation
Mercantilism
Columbian Exchange
U.S History Post Civil War:
Transatlantic slave trade/Slavery
Civil War
Reconstruction
Westward Expansion
Immigration
Industrialization
Civil Rights
Materials:
Writing Paper
Pencils
Markers
Chalk Paper
Do Now: 15
• Before students begin the do now, students will review the teacher expectations that
they have identified within their homework.
• With the use of markers, students will write their expectations of the teacher on 4
pieces of chalk paper spread out throughout the classroom silently for 10 minutes.
• Once the student expectations of the teacher have been identified, the students will
silently visit each piece of chalk paper to write comments, suggestions and questions.
Mini Lesson: 5
• Within a whole class discussion, students will be asked to identify any pertinent
questions, concerns or comments that they have about teacher expectations that they
have written on chalk paper.
• Students will then be asked to identify the top 3-5 essential student-teacher
expectations that they would like to see implemented throughout the year.
Lesson Activity:40 min
Now that students have had an opportunity to democratically create student
expectations of the teacher, students will then be prompted to democratically create
student/peer(group) expectations of their own with the use of the ball game.
Directions:
• The teacher will choose one student to throw a ball towards.
• Once the student has accepted the ball, that student will choose another student to
throw the ball towards.
• Every time a ball is thrown from one person to another, each person has to identify the
persons name before throwing the ball to the next person.
• During the activity of the ball game, if students have difficulty throwing and or
accepting the ball from each other, the teacher will ask the students the following
questions:
• What do you think needs to happen in order to work more effectively with each other?
• What do you think could be improved?
• Why is it important to implement these changes?
• After students have completed the game, they will be asked to draft a classroom
constitution of the laws that they should abide by throughout the year with the use of
chalk paper and markers as a whole class.
Share out: 15 min
When students have drafted the classroom constitution, they will be prompted to choose
no more than 5 laws that each student will abide by on chalk paper as a whole class by
voting on each essential law.
When each group has voted and chosen the essential 5 laws, students will be prompted
to explain why these laws are essential to a successful and productive classroom
environment.
Homework:
Students will create an academic/personal goals list for the school year
Students will refer to this list once a month in order to keep track of their progress
Within this list of academic goals, students will be asked to identify the
a. goal to be accomplished
b. the action steps that they will take to accomplish this goal
c. the outcome of how accomplishing this goal would benefit them
Day 3: Goal Setting/Community Building
Objective: Students will be able to explain how creating their academic/personal goals
will help to encourage their own self advocacy throughout the year by outlining and
discussing the various ways in which this can be achieved.
As students walk in, they will be given history passes which will help them identify their
assigned seats in History.
World History I Groups:
Renaissance
Homo sapien
Hunter-Gatherer
Archeology
Confucianism
Buddhism
Greek Mythology
African Kingdoms
World History II:
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Reformation
Mercantilism
Columbian Exchange
U.S History Post Civil War:
Transatlantic slave trade/Slavery
Civil War
Reconstruction
Westward Expansion
Immigration
Industrialization
Civil Rights
Materials:
Writing Paper
Pencils
Markers
Chalk Paper
Do now: 10-15
What do you do when you are confused about a topic you do not understand?
And why?
When you are lost, what is your next course of action? And why?
When you you have an idea but aren’t sure how to express it verbally, what would you
do to get a better idea of how to express it?
Mini Lesson: 5-10
After students have answered the questions to the do now individually, students will be
asked to discuss their answers to a partner before transitioning to a whole class
discussion.
Lesson Activity: 20 minutes
• After students have discussed their do now within the mini lesson, they will be
prompted to create a protocol that will outline how students can practice self advocacy
within the class room on chalk paper.
This activity will be scaffolded by the following context clue starters:
Possible protocol:
I need...
I don’t get...
How does...
What if...
May I...
Can I...
Will I...
Should I...
Could I...
• Now that you have a better idea of what self advocacy looks like, lets discuss how
creating academic/personal goals for ourselves will encourage us to self advocate
within the classroom.
• Students will be prompted to review the academic/personal goals that they have
created for homework with a partner.
• When students have reviewed their goals, they will practice self advocacy within a role
play with each other.
Guidelines for role play:
• Each student must play the teacher or the student.
• The students should identify a goal that has been difficult to accomplish.
• The teacher must provide a possible solution to the problem.
• The teacher and student must agree upon a long term strategy that will help the
student to accomplish the goal.
Possible Role Play: This role play will be modeled for the class
Teacher: Hello Jean, how is everything today?
Jean: Everything is fine...
Teacher: You sure?
Jean: Well there is one goal that I haven’t been able to accomplish this month, which
is...being able to to write a persuasive essay.
Teacher: Why didn’t you say so before?
Jean: I didn’t think that you would be able to help me...
Teacher: Jean, how can I help you if you have not communicated to me what your goal
was and most importantly, the difficulty that you have been having in accomplishing this
goal? I am here to help you, that is what I am here for.
Jean: Even though I am shy at times, I will make an attempt to self advocate for myself
when I am having trouble with an assignment from now on.
Teacher: Great, you have already begun self advocating for your self today! This is what
I want to see more of Jean. I would suggest staying after school to practice writing
persuasive essays with me with the use of graphic organizers which will help you to
organize your thoughts in a more coherent format.
Jean: Does that mean I get extra credit for self advocating?
Teacher: Nice try Jean, maybe you can help me clean up class today and perhaps I can
give you an extension on the essay that is due tomorrow, so that you can have more
time to practice your persuasive writing skills.
Jean: Now that is self advocacy in action!
Teacher: See you in the afternoon Jean.
Share out:
• Students will now perform their self advocacy role plays with a partner within the
whole class.
• As each student performs the self advocacy role plays, the students who are viewing
the role plays should be identifying the following aspects of the role play:
• The Goal that the student has difficulty accomplishing
• The possible solution that the student and the teacher have agreed upon
• The long term strategy that will be used to help the student accomplish the goal
Exit Slip:
How will the goals that you have created for the year help you to self advocate for your
self?
Write at least 5-7 sentences.
Homework: Students will review the syllabus with parents and will sign the necessary
contract outlined within the syllabus.
Next Day:
• Syllabus will be reviewed
• Interactive Student Notebook Introduction