Lesson Components

What teacher and student behaviors are planned and expected

Comments/Notes/

Reflections

Context: Course name; grade level; length of lesson; description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual characteristics. Include how many English learners are in the class and information about their L1s and WIDA levels.

Team-taught Civics. Eighth grade. The lesson will be in a 90-minute period. The classroom is organized into eight tables of four. Each table has a combination of 18 English language learners and 14 general education students. The English learners range from WIDA level three to level four. There are two students who’s L1 is Twi, one student who’s L1 is Dari, one student who’s L1 is Bengali, and one student who’s L1 is Amharic. The remaining thirteen students have Spanish as their L1. The general education students are all fluent English speakers. The student’s economic backgrounds vary from low, middle, and high.

Virginia SOL(s) OR Common Core State Standard(s):

STANDARD CE.5a

The student will apply social science skills to understand the political process at the local, state, and national levels of government by

a)describing the functions of political parties;

Essential Understandings

Political parties play a key role in government and provide opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process.-

Essential Knowledge

Functions of political parties

• Recruiting and nominating candidates
• Educating the people about campaign issues
• Helping candidates win elections
• Monitoring actions of officeholders

WIDA Can-do descriptor(s). Include descriptors for all WIDA levels present in the class:

Level 3: Developing

Recount:

-Listening: Matching main ideas of familiar text read aloud to visuals

-Speaking: Connecting ideas in content-related discourse using transitions

-Reading: Connecting people to actions based on oral descriptions with details

-Writing: Producing short paragraphs with main ideas and some details

Explain:

-Listening: Matching main ideas of familiar text read aloud with visuals

-Writing: Comparing and contrasting information, events, or characters • Producing descriptive paragraphs around a central idea

Argue:

-Writing: Substantiating opinions with content-related examples and evidence

Oral Language:

Asking clarifying questions to demonstrate engagement

Level 4: Expanding

Recount:

-Listening: Identifying main ideas and details in oral discourse

-Speaking: Paraphrasing and summarizing content-related ideas presented orally

Explain:

-Listening: Identifying relationships between people, ideas, or events in oral discourse

-Speaking: Connecting ideas with supporting details to show relationships

-Reading: Highlighting text evidence that points to how systems function

-Writing: Describing relationships between details or examples and supporting ideas • Connecting content-related themes or top

Argue:

-Listening: Matching evidence to claims in oral discourse

-Speaking: Connecting ideas with supporting details or evidence

-Reading: Identifying evidence to support analysis of what texts say

Objectives (KUD format – Students will Know, Understand, Do):

KUDs:

Students will know:

K1: Functions are an activity or purpose.

K2: Political parties are groups of like-minded individuals that work together to get a candidate elected

to a public office.

K3: The electorate are the voters.

K4: A campaign is work directed towards a political goal.

K5: A candidate is someone running for political office

Students will Understand:

U: Political parties play a key role in government

Students will be able to:

D1: Identify the functions of political parties.

D2: Support assertions with evidence

D3: Create an example of a political party function

Language Objectives (These should be ways you can observe students using language).

Students will be able to define vocabulary orally.

Students will be able to write a descriptive paragraph that restates the prompt (Political parties play a role in government by……).

Students will be able to support assertions with evidence.

Vocabulary students will need in order to be successful in the lesson

Politics

Political Parties

Functions

Republicans

Democrats

Fund-raisers

Congressional

Senator

Candidates

Position

Healthcare

Education

Debates

Nominates

Conventions

Concern

Monitor

Repeal

Foreign Policy

Ticket

Issues

Platform

Committee

Media

Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.

Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know by…

Students will respond to the prompt, “What is a political party?”, at the beginning of the lesson. They will then share their answers with their table groups. Each table will then share their shared responses with the class. Teacher is creating an anchor chart as students are responding.

Formative: Students will show their progress toward today's objectives by…

Students will complete a windshield test activity after the direct instruction portion of the lesson to inform the teacher of student readiness.

Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed (today or in a future lesson) on these standards by...

Students will complete a writing reflection that demonstrates their understanding of the main purpose of the lesson, or the understand goal of the KUD.

Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher behavior. Identify possible student misconceptions. Include:

I. Welcome/greeting/announcements

II. Hook/ bridge/ opening to lesson

III. Instructional steps

IV. Closing

Warm-up/Link/Preparation: Students will answer a quick write prompt on their weekly warm-up sheet. The prompt is

“what is a political party?” . They will think-write-pair-share their answers to the prompt. The teacher creates an anchor chart of all the student responses. After a brief class discussion about political parties the learning objective is framed.

Direct Instruction/Engage/Presentation: Students will take notes on a graphic organizer on the four functions of political parties.

Each function is explained, and multiple examples are used.

*After the students take notes, they will participate in a windshield activity. In three corners of my room I have a picture of a windshield posted. One of

the windshields are clear, one windshield has some bugs on it, and one windshield is covered in bugs.

I will instruct the students to go to the corner that identifies how comfortable they are with the functions of political parties. If they completely understand the functions, they can go to the clear windshield. If the

students are somewhat unsure, they can go to the windshield with some bugs. If they are lost, they can go to the windshield that is covered in bugs. This activity will inform the teacher where students’ readiness levels are in regard to the content.

Activity/Active learning/Practice: At each windshield there is an organizer that is scaffolded based on student readiness. The teacher frames the instructions and directs students to the hallway where there are 11 pictures with short descriptions.

Their task is to look at the picture and identify which of the functions are being exemplified.

-Clear windshield: The students have an organizer that is completely blank. They are to identify the function and support their assertion with evidence from the picture. They are then to create an example for each of the four functions on their own using background knowledge.

-Few bug windshield: The students have an organizer that is completely blank. They are to identify the functions and support their assertion with evidence from the picture. They are then to create one example of one of the functions.

-Covered in bugs windshield: The students will have an organizer that has a word bank. They are to identify the functions. Before the students in this group participate in the gallery walk, the teacher works with them to clarify any misunderstandings and completes the first picture with them. The teacher will monitor this group of students to help clarify misunderstandings and to prompt academic conversations.

Closing/Reflection/Self-Evaluation: After the students complete the gallery walk they will engage in a writing reflection. The prompt is “How do political parties play a role in government?” The students will then compare their answers on their organizer with the students at their tables to make sure they were accurate.

Relation/Now and Then/ Expansion: The teacher will collect each reflection sheet from the students. The class will then engage in a discussion of the reflection question. Throughout the discussion the teacher will link student responses to current political events and examples that they may have heard of.

Materials:

Dry erase board

Projector

Computer

Student “warm-up” sheet

Political party functions graphic organizer

Presentation on political party functions

Political party function gallery walk pictures/descriptions

Scaffolded political party function gallery walk organizer

Political party functions reflection sheet

Attention to Individual Student Needs: Detail specific actions/materials you will use to meet individual needs in this lesson.

In this lesson, students will be grouped based on readiness. Once they are grouped they will utilize a graphic organizer that is scaffolded to meet their needs. The teacher will also provide support throughout the active learning phase of the lesson.

Enrichment plans for advanced/gifted students

Students that are advanced will have the opportunity to create examples of each function of a political party. They can draw from previous examples in class or use their own background knowledge to create each function.

Accommodations for students with IEP

This class does not have students with IEPs. The lesson could be modified to accommodate any students that need specific scaffolding.

Technology Use: Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for why it is being used.

A computer and projector will be the only technology that is required for this lesson.