Wilmington University Pathwise Lesson Plan Format
Teacher/Student Teacher Grade: Subject: Date: Daniel Wyckoff 12 block scheduling 1hr 30 minutes is class duration Social Studies (Election Process) 11/4/2009
1. Briefly describe the students in this class. The students in the classroom are all in their senior year. Their ages range from 16-18. In terms of race, there are three African Americans and fourteen Caucasian students. There are ten females and seven males. There are no disabilities in the classroom and the class is geared for future college students. 2. What are your goals for the lesson? What do you want the students to learn? Students will be able to understand the election process. They will be able to identify the costs of conducting a campaign, as well as the sources of campaign funds during the nomination and the general election periods. The students will understand the electoral college system, plus its benefits and limitations. 3. Why are these goals suitable for this group of students? This material is relevant for these student’s age, grade, and current development. The lesson also meets the district and state expectations for high schools seniors in this area of study. 4. How do these goals support the district’s curriculum, state frameworks, and/or content standards? According to the Delaware Department of Education high school seniors should be able to analyze the ways in which the structure of our government and have differing ideologies, cultures, values, and histories. The election process is one of the most important events in our government and having an understanding of is crucial for students in their future. 5. How do these goals relate to broader curriculum goals in the discipline as a whole or in other disciplines? 1.) The student’s will be producing campaign commercials for their audience. This will pull on the student’s Communication skills, Language Arts, and Technology skills. 2.) The student’s understanding of campaign finances will pull on all mathematical skills that are in their arsenal.
6. How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do? What will the students do? (Include time estimates). 1.) Divide the class into states. The number of states and the population of each will be dictated by the class size. There will be states with large and small populations. This will explain the workings of the electoral college system. Each state will have two electoral votes plus a number based on their population. The bigger the population the more electoral votes. TIME: the introduction, directions, and getting students in to their groups will take 45minutes 2.) After forming two political parties, some students will volunteer to be candidates. These candidates will all have different amounts of campaign finances to run their campaign. The remaining people in each group will work with the candidate on their campaigns direction. Using Mac computers each group will make a campaign commercial outlining their values and beliefs on political issues. The longer your video the more money it cost so students will have to have a well thought out plan. In the groups their will be a treasurer who keeps track of spending in excel so they can turn in a complete list of expenses at the end of their campaign. One group member will be in charge of making the campaigns poster. Using paint shop on the computer students will make signs that are usually seen at any presidential debate. TIME: once the students are in their groups the will use the remaining time in the period to brainstorm and start the assignment. They will then have the entire period the next day to finalize their work 3.) On election day each group will present their video, poster, and a record of their campaign finances. After every group is heard a vote will be held. The candidate that gets the most votes in the state will receive all the state’s electoral vote. The candidate who wins a majority of the electoral votes wins the election. After the election have students discuss the process. Explore different opinions and direct a controlled discussion that allows all students to voice their own opinion on the process. TIME: day three will take the entire period 7. What difficulties do students typically experience in this area, and how do you plan to anticipate these difficulties? Students might focus to long on their campaigns morals and ideologies and this might sabotage the lessons schedule. When working in groups some students always will stray of topic. Keeping each group focused will be important. Some students might not be very handy with the computer, so it would be crucial to make sure at least one group member is capable of using the computer systems needed for the lesson.
8. What instructional materials or other resources, if any, will you use? Mac computers located in back of classroom Projection screen for presentation of campaign video, campaign sign, and record of the campaigns expenses Colored printer for signs Calculators Internet access Textbook for references Paper and pencils for brainstorming Floppy disk for each group Construction paper Scissors Glue 9. How did you plan to assess student achievement of the goals? What procedures will you use? (Attached any tests or performance tasks, with accompanying scoring guides or rubrics.) Student’s participation in the lesson will be looked at as part of the assessment. Each group will be graded on how they presented their campaigns to the classroom. After a review students would be tested on the information. A combination of multiple choice and essay questions about their campaigns would be the final assessment of their achievements. 10. How do you plan to use the results of the assessment? After reviewing all of the work much thought will be put in to whether or not different aspects of the lesson should be improved to help make the lesson better. We will assess the teaching strategies used and determine whether or not the students need further instruction in the subject manor.