Lesson Title: Geographic, Cultural, and Economic Differences between the 13 original American colonies

Subject: United States History

Grade Level: 8th Grade

Date:

Teacher: Mr. Munk

 

I.             Background Information: The students are learning the different characteristics in geography, culture, and economics of the original 13 American colonies. The students are distinguishing between the New England, Middle, and Southern original colonies. The students have participated in previous instruction that taught them the characteristics. The students have not had experience in class with using the software. The goal is to build their skills throughout the school year so that they are able to do more on their own with the software and computer as the year progresses.

 

II.          TEKS Objectives: U.S. History 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.6, 8.11, 8.13, 8.15, 8.24, 8.30

Technology

 

TSWBAT: The students will be able to… reinforce the learned differences in the geography, culture, and economics of the original 13 American colonies. The students will also have some understanding as to why the relation between geography, culture, and economics are a cause to the characteristics of each region in the colonies. The students will also gain experience with using a PC and Inspiration software.

 

III. Materials Needed: PC, Projector, Inspiration Software (Microsoft Word may be a substitute), U.S. History textbook, Floppy Disks (enough for whole class), template of graphic organizer made in Inspiration saved to the student floppy disks, list of student pairs, rubric of student assignment, internet access

 

IV.         Procedures:

Teaching Techniques: formal instruction, cooperative learning, visual learning, hands on technology

 

Anticipatory Set: (warm-up)

-   The computers are all running with the Inspiration software open in order to save time.

-       Teacher assigns the student in pairs (the students are grouped into pairs according to prior ability).

10   Min    - Teacher assigns the students to a PC in the room.

-       Instructions are not to touch the computer until given instructions.

-       The students are to pick up the rubric as they walk into the classroom.

-       The teacher goes through the assignment and rubric with the class.

 

Lesson:

                 

-       The teacher hands out the floppy disk to each pair of students.

-       The teacher instructs the students on how to insert the disk into the computer and open the template in Inspiration. (The teacher should have a PC and projector in order to demonstrate to the class what the steps are since many students will not be familiar with the technology. The school’s library or technology teacher usually has a projector compatible with a computer.)

35 Min    -   The template opens and the students will get started with a little help from the instructor. The teacher will direct the process of filling in the template or graphic organizer. The teacher should help the students fill in at least one characteristic and add one picture to the graphic organizer or template.

-       The students should know the majority of the answers because of prior material that has been learned. If students need help refreshing their memory, they should be directed to a teacher recommended website, resources, outline, etc. Students should cite any source that they may use in this lesson.

-   After the students have been working for 10 or 15 minutes, the teacher should instruct the students on how to properly save their project to the disk. The teacher should tell the students what to save the project as, for example, the pairs’ first two names. The teacher will use the floppy disks to assess the students’ work.

 

Closure:

5 Min      -   The teacher instructs the students to save the assignment and then come to pick up the homework.

 

Homework: 13 Original Colonies Map with space provided to identify the three regions of the colonies and fill in geographic, cultural, and economic characteristics of each separate region.

 

V.             Assessment of Learning:

I will know whether the students have learned what has been taught by… collecting the floppy disks and looking through the assignments. I will use the PC and Inspiration software to open each assignment and assess their work. I will gather input from the class at the end of the period by asking questions pertaining to today’s lesson. I will also gain input through formal assessment from the homework assignment and the Unit test. I will know whether or not the students gained technology skills by assigning future assignments.

Assessment of Assignment Rubric

 

Need Improvement

Points = 7

Satisfaction

 

Points = 9

Impressive

 

Points = 10

Score out of total possible points of 20

Characteristics

of all regions

Less than all three branches of the colonies are filled in.

All three branches of the template are filled in.

All three branches of the template are filled in and the student added more.

 

Pictures/Symbols

Two pictures added to the template.

Three pictures are added to the template.

More than three pictures are added to the template.

 

 

 

 

VI.      Altering the Lesson: The teacher may alter the lesson if computers for every student are not possible. The teacher can present the lesson with a PC and projector. This would take away from the students’ hands on activity, but would still be using technology in the classroom.

          There are students familiar with technology and should have the opportunity to enhance their learning by being able to expand their assignment with more challenging activities. One example could be to add more pictures or branches to the template with more characteristics of the colonial region.

 

VII.   Future Lessons: The students will have a chance to enhance their skills in using the technology because they will be required to perform more steps on their own in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Template