Unit Title ‖ Lesson Title : The Constitution
Goals & Objectives
Lesson Goal: Students will learn about the ratification and functions of the United States Constitution.
Lesson Objective: Students will analysis the U.S. Constitution, and relate that document to two other primary source documents, demonstrating how the Constitution relates to each of the two additional primary source documents.
California State Content Standards
Content Standards: 11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempt to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.
2. Analyze the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Father’s philosophy of divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and addition of the Bill of Rights.
3. Understand the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization.
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
Driving Historical Questions
What is ratification? And what was required prior to ratification?
What are the 3 Branches of Government and their powers?
What is Checks and Balances?
Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 7 minutes
The teacher begins the lessons with an introduction to the constitution. The teacher will play the YouTube video, introducing the constitution. After the video the teacher will facilitate a whole-class discussion, highlighting ratification, the Bill of Rights, and the 3 Branches of Government. The discussion will begin with the teacher asking an open-ended question, “What is the constitution?” The students will be expected to give responses such as it is “the rules of the country”, “the government”, and “list of our rights”. This will then lead into a discussion of ratification and how the Bill of Rights was required by states prior to ratification. The students will be asked “Is the Bill of Rights necessary”, and they can argue for or against federalist/anti-federalist ideas. The discussion will then be guided towards the branches of government, discussing each branch and the powers of each branch. The discussion will conclude with the idea of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances. Throughout the discussion, the vocabulary for this lesson will be introduced, and used in the discussion. The students will be given the opportunity to ask any questions for clarification or to clear up any misunderstandings. While the teacher facilitates the lesson discussion, the co-teacher will be writing the vocabulary words on the board and defining them. This will provide a resource to students as they work through the lesson body, where they can look to the board for the vocabulary and definitions. During the discussion and question portion of the lesson introduction, the teacher will be assessing the prior knowledge of the students, in order to determine their prior knowledge. The teacher assess whether the class is ready to move on to the lesson body, the document analysis, or if the class needs to stay on the introduction to the constitution, until they understand all the ideas highlighted. If students demonstrate an understanding of the basics of the Constitution, the class will move on to the document analysis. If the class demonstrates they do not have a basic understanding of the Constitution, then the teacher will continue the discussion, and if needed develop a new lesson strategy, maybe a role playing game, where students groups each represent a different branch of government and compete for powers. Once the students demonstrate a basic understanding, they will move on to the document analysis.
Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: Included above
Constitution
Ratification
Separation of Powers
Checks & Balances
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Vocabulary will be infused throughout the lesson, most notably during the lesson introduction. The lesson introduction will provide a basic introduction to the Constitution, what it is, and what it does. Throughout the lesson introduction discussion, vocabulary will be introduced and defined for students, and will also be written on the board by the co teacher, so the students have a resource to look back for the definitions of the vocabulary throughout the lesson.
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time: 45 minutes
The class will be divided into four groups, with each group receiving a copy of a section of the United States Constitution, as well as a primary source document that corresponds with the Constitution document. Each group will get a different section of the Constitution, and two different corresponding documents. Each group will be assigned a corner of the classroom to work and the students will rearrange the classroom desks into four circles, enabling the groups to work together more efficiently, and ensure that all students are active in the lesson. The teacher will determine the groups prior to class, placing students with special needs with academically successful students, who can support their academic needs during group work. English Language Learners will be placed in groups with students who are proficient in English, but also speak Spanish, preferably native Spanish speakers. This will enable EL students to be support during group work, and enable their participation. As the teacher forms the groups and as the groups circle their desks in their respective corners, the co-teacher will pass out to the groups the copies of the documents. Students will receive their own copy of both documents. Each Student will also be given three primary source document analysis worksheets to fill out, helping their analysis of the primary source documents. This should take no more than 2 minutes.
Students will be given 30 minutes to read through their section of the Constitution, and the corresponding document, as a group. During this time students are expected to read through both documents and fill out the document analysis worksheet as they go. The students read and fill out the analysis worksheet as a group. The analysis worksheet is designed to facilitate group discussion on the documents, while giving students a tool to analysis the document enabling them to better understand the source. During this 30 minutes, as the student groups are reading through each of the three documents and filling out the document analysis worksheets, the teacher will be progress monitoring the class, circulating amongst the groups to listen in on discussion, guide the students if they are lost or off track, and aid in interpretation of the documents. Both teachers will float between the four different groups, assessing the level of understanding students have with the primary source documents. The teachers will assess the level of understanding the groups have with their documents, and the progress each group is making towards analyzing the documents. If the 30 minutes is not enough, the teacher will allow the students more time to work with the documents. The documents are fairly short; ideally each document would take no longer than 10 minutes. The teachers will progress monitor and assess whether or not a extension needs to be given to allow the groups to finish their document analysis.
The teacher will then give the groups 10 minutes to find a quote from their section of the Constitution, and discuss how that quote relates to the other two documents. During this 10 minutes, the co-teachers will again float between the groups, listening in to the conversation and aiding in interpreting the sources. This again provides another opportunity to progress monitor the students, and assess their understanding of the documents. The groups will then choose two representatives to go in front of the class and present their documents. The students will be required to find a quote from their section of the Constitution, and relate that quote to the corresponding documents. The group representatives will then take 1 minute each to present their groups finding. The representatives will begin by reading their quote, and then briefly describing the two documents and how the quote relates to each. Each group will present their documents, and the co-teachers will provide brief feedback to each group. Students will turn in their 3 individually filled out document analysis worksheets at the end of the presentations.
Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time: Included above
The students will first be introduced to the primary sources during the lesson introduction. The class will watch a short video, introducing the United States Constitution, and then discuss the basic ideas of the Constitution. This will be their introduction to the primary source, and allow them to reflect on their prior knowledge of the document, as well as receive basic information about the document and its intent. The students will begin to think critically about the Constitution, most notably during the discussion on ratification and the necessity of the Bill of Rights.
Students will then work directly with three primary source documents, reading each document and filling out the accompanying worksheet. The worksheet it designed to guide the students reading and aid in their comprehension of the primary sources. This student activity is designed to get the students thinking critically about the Constitution, and discuss their thoughts with their student groups.
Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 3 minutes
The lesson closure strategy that will be used is the whip around strategy. This strategy requires each student to come up with one thing they learned during the lesson. The teacher quickly goes from student to student, having them identify one thing they learned about the Constitution. Students may repeat answers, but if the co-teachers feel a student is simply copying another student’s answer, or the same answer keeps coming up naturally, the teachers may ask the students to give an additional thing they learned. This activity will be very quick; as the students should be prepared by the time it is their turn to share. This strategy will serve as a summative assessment, allowing the teacher to gauge each individual students understanding of the Constitution, and the overall success of the lesson.
Assessments (Formative & Summative)
Formative assessment will be student group presentations. The presentations will allow student groups to demonstrate their understanding of the Constitution passage, and the additional primary source documents. Students will be required to comprehend the documents and think critically in order to relate the documents to each other. This will all be demonstrated during the presentation, and act as a formative assessment. The group presentations will not be graded, and feedback will be given orally after each presentation.
The document analysis worksheet will serve as the summative assessment. The students will fill out three worksheets, one for each document, and will be graded on the completion of the worksheets. Each worksheet will receive a check minus, check, or check plus based on completion and demonstrated comprehension. This summative assessment will assess students comprehension of the primary sources.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
English Language learners, Striving Readers and Students with special needs will first be accommodated by being strategically placed in their groups with proficient students who can support their individual needs. This will give students support during document analysis and group work. If there is a student who is unable to work with the documents are all, a translated version of the Constitution section can be provided, so the students can at least have a copy of the main primary source document to work with. The other primary source documents would be harder to provide translated versions. Students who are striving readers can be provided with a teacher annotated copy of the documents, where the teacher will breakdown the documents, defining complex words, and clarifying ideas so the student can better understand the document.
Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)
Copies of 4 different sections of the United States Constitution
3 copies for each student of the document analysis worksheets
YouTube video on Constitution
* Lesson Strategy and documents credited to the archives.gov, Teaching with Documents, Constitution Workshop resource.
Goals & Objectives
Lesson Goal: Students will learn about the ratification and functions of the United States Constitution.
Lesson Objective: Students will analysis the U.S. Constitution, and relate that document to two other primary source documents, demonstrating how the Constitution relates to each of the two additional primary source documents.
California State Content Standards
Content Standards: 11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempt to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence.
2. Analyze the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Father’s philosophy of divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and addition of the Bill of Rights.
3. Understand the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization.
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
Driving Historical Questions
What is ratification? And what was required prior to ratification?
What are the 3 Branches of Government and their powers?
What is Checks and Balances?
Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 7 minutes
The teacher begins the lessons with an introduction to the constitution. The teacher will play the YouTube video, introducing the constitution. After the video the teacher will facilitate a whole-class discussion, highlighting ratification, the Bill of Rights, and the 3 Branches of Government. The discussion will begin with the teacher asking an open-ended question, “What is the constitution?” The students will be expected to give responses such as it is “the rules of the country”, “the government”, and “list of our rights”. This will then lead into a discussion of ratification and how the Bill of Rights was required by states prior to ratification. The students will be asked “Is the Bill of Rights necessary”, and they can argue for or against federalist/anti-federalist ideas. The discussion will then be guided towards the branches of government, discussing each branch and the powers of each branch. The discussion will conclude with the idea of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances. Throughout the discussion, the vocabulary for this lesson will be introduced, and used in the discussion. The students will be given the opportunity to ask any questions for clarification or to clear up any misunderstandings. While the teacher facilitates the lesson discussion, the co-teacher will be writing the vocabulary words on the board and defining them. This will provide a resource to students as they work through the lesson body, where they can look to the board for the vocabulary and definitions. During the discussion and question portion of the lesson introduction, the teacher will be assessing the prior knowledge of the students, in order to determine their prior knowledge. The teacher assess whether the class is ready to move on to the lesson body, the document analysis, or if the class needs to stay on the introduction to the constitution, until they understand all the ideas highlighted. If students demonstrate an understanding of the basics of the Constitution, the class will move on to the document analysis. If the class demonstrates they do not have a basic understanding of the Constitution, then the teacher will continue the discussion, and if needed develop a new lesson strategy, maybe a role playing game, where students groups each represent a different branch of government and compete for powers. Once the students demonstrate a basic understanding, they will move on to the document analysis.
Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: Included above
Constitution
Ratification
Separation of Powers
Checks & Balances
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Vocabulary will be infused throughout the lesson, most notably during the lesson introduction. The lesson introduction will provide a basic introduction to the Constitution, what it is, and what it does. Throughout the lesson introduction discussion, vocabulary will be introduced and defined for students, and will also be written on the board by the co teacher, so the students have a resource to look back for the definitions of the vocabulary throughout the lesson.
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time: 45 minutes
The class will be divided into four groups, with each group receiving a copy of a section of the United States Constitution, as well as a primary source document that corresponds with the Constitution document. Each group will get a different section of the Constitution, and two different corresponding documents. Each group will be assigned a corner of the classroom to work and the students will rearrange the classroom desks into four circles, enabling the groups to work together more efficiently, and ensure that all students are active in the lesson. The teacher will determine the groups prior to class, placing students with special needs with academically successful students, who can support their academic needs during group work. English Language Learners will be placed in groups with students who are proficient in English, but also speak Spanish, preferably native Spanish speakers. This will enable EL students to be support during group work, and enable their participation. As the teacher forms the groups and as the groups circle their desks in their respective corners, the co-teacher will pass out to the groups the copies of the documents. Students will receive their own copy of both documents. Each Student will also be given three primary source document analysis worksheets to fill out, helping their analysis of the primary source documents. This should take no more than 2 minutes.
Students will be given 30 minutes to read through their section of the Constitution, and the corresponding document, as a group. During this time students are expected to read through both documents and fill out the document analysis worksheet as they go. The students read and fill out the analysis worksheet as a group. The analysis worksheet is designed to facilitate group discussion on the documents, while giving students a tool to analysis the document enabling them to better understand the source. During this 30 minutes, as the student groups are reading through each of the three documents and filling out the document analysis worksheets, the teacher will be progress monitoring the class, circulating amongst the groups to listen in on discussion, guide the students if they are lost or off track, and aid in interpretation of the documents. Both teachers will float between the four different groups, assessing the level of understanding students have with the primary source documents. The teachers will assess the level of understanding the groups have with their documents, and the progress each group is making towards analyzing the documents. If the 30 minutes is not enough, the teacher will allow the students more time to work with the documents. The documents are fairly short; ideally each document would take no longer than 10 minutes. The teachers will progress monitor and assess whether or not a extension needs to be given to allow the groups to finish their document analysis.
The teacher will then give the groups 10 minutes to find a quote from their section of the Constitution, and discuss how that quote relates to the other two documents. During this 10 minutes, the co-teachers will again float between the groups, listening in to the conversation and aiding in interpreting the sources. This again provides another opportunity to progress monitor the students, and assess their understanding of the documents. The groups will then choose two representatives to go in front of the class and present their documents. The students will be required to find a quote from their section of the Constitution, and relate that quote to the corresponding documents. The group representatives will then take 1 minute each to present their groups finding. The representatives will begin by reading their quote, and then briefly describing the two documents and how the quote relates to each. Each group will present their documents, and the co-teachers will provide brief feedback to each group. Students will turn in their 3 individually filled out document analysis worksheets at the end of the presentations.
Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time: Included above
The students will first be introduced to the primary sources during the lesson introduction. The class will watch a short video, introducing the United States Constitution, and then discuss the basic ideas of the Constitution. This will be their introduction to the primary source, and allow them to reflect on their prior knowledge of the document, as well as receive basic information about the document and its intent. The students will begin to think critically about the Constitution, most notably during the discussion on ratification and the necessity of the Bill of Rights.
Students will then work directly with three primary source documents, reading each document and filling out the accompanying worksheet. The worksheet it designed to guide the students reading and aid in their comprehension of the primary sources. This student activity is designed to get the students thinking critically about the Constitution, and discuss their thoughts with their student groups.
Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 3 minutes
The lesson closure strategy that will be used is the whip around strategy. This strategy requires each student to come up with one thing they learned during the lesson. The teacher quickly goes from student to student, having them identify one thing they learned about the Constitution. Students may repeat answers, but if the co-teachers feel a student is simply copying another student’s answer, or the same answer keeps coming up naturally, the teachers may ask the students to give an additional thing they learned. This activity will be very quick; as the students should be prepared by the time it is their turn to share. This strategy will serve as a summative assessment, allowing the teacher to gauge each individual students understanding of the Constitution, and the overall success of the lesson.
Assessments (Formative & Summative)
Formative assessment will be student group presentations. The presentations will allow student groups to demonstrate their understanding of the Constitution passage, and the additional primary source documents. Students will be required to comprehend the documents and think critically in order to relate the documents to each other. This will all be demonstrated during the presentation, and act as a formative assessment. The group presentations will not be graded, and feedback will be given orally after each presentation.
The document analysis worksheet will serve as the summative assessment. The students will fill out three worksheets, one for each document, and will be graded on the completion of the worksheets. Each worksheet will receive a check minus, check, or check plus based on completion and demonstrated comprehension. This summative assessment will assess students comprehension of the primary sources.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
English Language learners, Striving Readers and Students with special needs will first be accommodated by being strategically placed in their groups with proficient students who can support their individual needs. This will give students support during document analysis and group work. If there is a student who is unable to work with the documents are all, a translated version of the Constitution section can be provided, so the students can at least have a copy of the main primary source document to work with. The other primary source documents would be harder to provide translated versions. Students who are striving readers can be provided with a teacher annotated copy of the documents, where the teacher will breakdown the documents, defining complex words, and clarifying ideas so the student can better understand the document.
Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)
Copies of 4 different sections of the United States Constitution
3 copies for each student of the document analysis worksheets
YouTube video on Constitution
* Lesson Strategy and documents credited to the archives.gov, Teaching with Documents, Constitution Workshop resource.
Group 1 Primary Source Documents
G1D1 by zwbennett4
G1D2 by zwbennett4
Group 2 Primary Source Documents
G2D1 by zwbennett4
G2D2 by zwbennett4
Group 3 Primary Source Documents
G3D1 by zwbennett4
G3D2 by zwbennett4
Group 4 Primary Source Documents
G4D1 by zwbennett4
G4D2 by zwbennett4