Lesson Plan : Origins of the Constitution
Teacher Name: | Matt Quinn |
Grade: | Grade 7-8 |
Subject: | Social Studies |
Topic: | This Lesson Plan will cover Seven major documents used as a reference by T. Jefferson when he wrote the U.S. Constitution.It also includes a brief introduction to J. Locke and Enlightenment thinking. |
Content: | Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, Mayflower Compact, Virginia Statutes of Religious Freedom, Colonial Assemblies, and the Articles of Confederation. Enlightenment thinking |
Goals: | State Standards: 1. Governance and Civics. 4.03 Understand the relationship between a place's physical, political, and cultural characterless and the type of government that emerges from that relationship. Performance Indicators State: 8.4.spi.4. Recognize the rights and responsibilities of individuals throughout the development of the United States. Goal 1. Students will recognize that the United States Constitution was not created in a vacuum, but has a rich history in, and of, itself. Goal 2. Students will be able to identify similarities and differences between the these documents and the Bill of Rights. |
Objectives: | Students will know the ten ammendments to the Constitution. Students will recognize the significance of the Magna Carta; the English Bill of Rights, Mayflower Compact, Virginia Statutes of Religious Freedom, Colonial Assemblies, and the Articles of Confederation. Students will be able to identify two key compononents of Enlightenment thinking: 1. The universe is fundamentally rational, that is, it can be understood through the use of reason alone; 2. Truth can be arrived at through empirical observation, the use of reason, and systematic doubt; |
Materials: | Internet Connection, Smart Board, Graphic Organizer(provided to Students) |
Introduction: | When T. Jefferson was given the task of writing the Constitution, he did not create this document from scratch. Instead he relied on the rich history of Enlightment thinking and seven documents to inform his thinking and his writing. While the Constitution is a unique document in and of itself, it becomes clear upon examining the before mentioned content that he relied heavily on ideas that had already been written out and were, in many cases, the law of the land from which they originated. |
Development: | Students will given a graphic organizer in order to take notes and keep track of the lecture and discussion that will accompany the Prezi (ppt presentation). Students will be asked, "what is the divine right of kings?" Students will keep track of similarties and differences between the Bill of Rights and the documents and ideas presented. |
Practice: | Students will break into groups to assimilate information and fill out worksheet presented on the SmartBoard. |
Accommodations: | There are no accomodations to made in this classroom at this time. |
Checking For Understanding: | Students will be given a pretest at the beginning of class in order to discover student prior knowledge. This assessment will count as a paricipation grade, and it will be graded in class. After grading the assessment, students will indicate which questions presented the most difficulty so that the instructor can modify his/her lesson plan to address these areas. AT the end of the presentation, students will be given another assessment that will mirror the first. It will cover the same content area, but it will be worded differently and questions will appear in a different order. |
Closure: | At the end of class, the homework assignment will be given any questions students have will be answered, and I will ask three Higher Order thinking Questions. |
Evaluation: | For this lesson plan, only participation grades will be given. The results from the pretest and the postest will be compared in order to check for student understanding. |
Teacher Reflections: | To be determined |
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