Professional Role & Teaching Practice II

TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric

TE803 Spring 2013 Professional Role & Teaching Practice II Integrated Unit Assignment

Part I: Unit Overview and Instructor Background Knowledge (25 points) a). Unit Title: The Local Government and You! b). Family/Parent Letter:

Dear Families,

For the next 3 weeks, students will be exploring the concept of local government in Social Studies. The rationale for this topic lies in getting students to understand the importance of having a local government for things such as keeping people safe and creating and enforcing laws in order to protect individual rights. By participating in the learning in this unit, students will gain a better understanding of why local governments exist and will be able to make connections to the things happening in the world around them.

Students will begin to see that laws are made to protect and benefit citizens and will make sense of the importance and reasoning behind communities being structured to include local governments. This unit aims at helping students to make sense of the way the world around them is structured and will provide them with numerous opportunities to see the consequences of not having a local government. Specifically, the goals of this unit are to help students to understand that people form governments to create, carry out, and make sense of laws, which help to solve local community problems, allow students to understand that through its actions, the local government affects the lives of every citizen, apply knowledge of services provided by local governments by identifying police, fire

1 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric departments, schools, libraries, and parks in their own community, appreciate America’s core democratic value of patriotism and understand that local governments are responsible for protecting individual rights of the citizens.

During this unit, students will explore different activities aimed to achieve these goals, such as writing a law to solve a problem in a pretend classroom city. Throughout the unit city council meetings will be held in this city, where students will get a chance to vote on laws. Students will also act as campaigners for a mayor position and will design a poster for this campaign and explain why they would be a good mayor in writing. Students will read both fiction and nonfiction books in order to support their learning of how our government is organized. Although specific homework will not be assigned for this unit, you can support your child’s learning of local governments by having them talk to you about what they’ve learned in Social Studies that day, which will help with their retention of the learned concepts. You can also extend on their learning on this topic by providing them with other reading sources about the local government, such as Time for Kids magazines and books such as Mayor for a Day by Carl Sommer, and The Impossible Patriotism Project by Linda Skeers. Your child will benefit greatly from the added support during this unit. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I am open to all inquiries!

Sincerely,

Miss Gauthier

3 points. c). Social Studies Content: Two pages answering the following questions: What is the substance of this unit? What are the most important essential understandings about the topic you will teach? What might be challenging in terms of connecting teacher level knowledge to children’s capacities for understanding? This should be based on your own prior knowledge about the topic as well as what you needed to learn about this topic. This section is similar to an essay you might write in a history or geography course, where you demonstrate your understanding of the concepts and generalizations. This is the “meat” of the unit. NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO

2 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric

CONSULT RESOURCES TO BUILD YOUR CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE TOPIC, and you should include these in your annotated bibliography. 5 points.

The topic of this unit in social studies is local government. The substance of the unit involves people forming governments to create, carry out, and make sense of laws, which in turn help to solve local community problems. In order to explain the importance of government, I would first need to teach about who makes up the government. This would lead the discussion in the direction of the 3 branches of the government, which are the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. The legislative branch is composed of a congress and is responsible for writing the bills. Students will related this to the local level, to see that the city council is responsible for writing the bills. The judicial branch is composed of the court system and is responsible for making decisions regarding legal cases. This is related to the local level in the form of courts. Finally, the executive branch consists of the president, vice president, and his cabinet members, similar to the mayor at the local level. The president and mayor hold the power to pass or veto a bill. It may be challenging for my students to understand certain aspects of the three branches, such as what it means to veto a bill. Therefore, because the specifics of exactly how the government runs can be too complex for second-grade students, I will need to make sure that

I don’t get too into depth with how everything works specifically, but allow students to understand the government through its actions.

Furthermore, students will focus on the local government and how it affects the lives of every citizen. Local governments are responsible for protecting the individual rights of citizens and are responsible for keeping them safe. Local governments make, enforce, and interpret laws (ordinances) in the local community in order to protect the individual rights of citizens. Local governments also provide services to its citizens such as through, police, fire departments, schools, libraries, and parks. The people choose and elect the governing

3 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric bodies in a local government including the mayor and city council (whitehouse.gov, 2013). Local governments are also typically broken up into two categories, which are counties and municipalities or cities and towns (whitehouse.gov, 2013). It may be challenging for students of this age to grasp exactly what the difference is between counties and municipalities so I may need to draw on this anticipation by showing how counties encompass a greater area than cities/towns do on a map.

This unit will thoroughly look at the roles of each of the local branches, and students will need to know the types of jobs that the mayor does in order to successfully create their own campaign for our classroom city. As Christopher Neiger points out, “Mayors oversee a city's main departments, including the police, fire, education, housing and transportation departments” (Neiger, 2013).

Students will need to know the structure of power behind each mayor, as there are two common ones. According to Neiger, “A common power structure is the council-weak mayor. This type of structure gives the majority of the city power to the council members, with the mayor acting as more of a ceremonial leader of the council. Another structure is the council-strong mayor, in which the mayor has significantly more authority. In this system, the council members are in charge of the legislative processes of the city, while the mayor is responsible for all the administrative duties” (Neiger, 2013). These types of terms might be confusing for the students, so I will need to limit the complicated terms I use and instead refer to one structure as one in which the city council is more powerful and the other where the mayor is more powerful.

This unit will also have a focus on America’s core democratic value of patriotism and what it means to be patriotic. America’s strong patriotism is seen quite often and as an article in the Los Angeles Times mentions, U.S. flags are oftentimes barely noticeable but are present often, such as on clothing and in the background of television ads (Rodriguez, 2010). By comparing the United States

4 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric with other countries, the article makes it obvious the ways that America is patriotic may be more outwardly done. For instance, the article mentions that India discourages the abundant reproduction of their national banner, but in the U.S. you will be able to identify products contain the stars and stripes (Rodriguez, 2010). In this unit, students will need to recognize this and think about how they have had experiences or witnessed America’s patriotism.

d) Big Ideas. Drawing from the section on the social studies content, list six to eight statements that summarize the essential understanding(s) you hope students will gain (and retain) from the lesson. These statements should be worded in language children use and understand. 3 points.

 A community has laws to benefit the common good.  A community government exists to keep people safe.  Government makes and enforces the ways to protect individual rights and promote the common good.  Laws are made to protect and benefit citizens  Citizens have important roles and responsibilities in a community.  An important value of America is patriotism. e) Key Concepts – Drawing from the section on the social studies content, what are six to eight key vocabulary or concepts you expect children will learn as a result of this unit? These should be social science concepts (e.g., government, public goods, public services, environment, location, natural resource, chronology, judicial branch). Provide child-friendly definitions of each. 3 points.

Branches of government: Three separate parts of the government known as the courts, president, and congress. Citizen: A person who lives in a city or town. City council: A group of people chosen to make decisions for a city or town. Civic responsibility: Things that citizens should do in order to be good citizens. Common good: The good of a city or town. Community: A place where people live under the same environment. Court: A place where judges go to make decisions about people.

Government: People who are in charge of making rules that people must follow. Individual rights: Things that you are allowed to do without being punished. Laws: Rules that people in a community must follow. Mayor: A person chosen to be the leader of a city or town. Patriotism: To love your country. f). Rationale: One paragraph that justifies what you are teaching during the unit and why you are teaching it. Explain why the content matters in terms of its meaning to students, the value of the subject content, opportunities for inquiry and its importance to the community and to society. Be sure to emphasize how it contributes to students’ development as citizens. DO NOT JUSTIFY YOUR UNIT BY STATING THAT DISTRICT OR STATE GUIDELINES MANDATE THIS CURRICULUM BE TAUGHT, OR THAT STUDENTS NEED THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR SUBSEQUENT GRADES. 3 points.

This unit focuses on a critical component in every community—the local government. Throughout the activities and lesson content implemented in this social studies unit, students are introduced to the role of the local government and expand on it by looking at how this has an effect on every person in the community, including each of the students in the classroom. Therefore, these concepts, including good citizenship, purpose of rules and laws, civic responsibility, roles of a mayor, city council, and courts, common good, and individual rights are important and relevant to students. For instance, students not only learn that rules and laws are put into place in order to protect them, but that the city council makes these laws, the mayor plays a role in enforcing laws through police officers, and the courts are responsible for explaining what the important laws we talked about mean and for punishing those who do not follow the laws. Through this understanding, students can recognize why local government exists and strengthen their own positivity in viewing the actions of the local government. They can then recognize how their good citizenship contributes to the common good of the community, which applies directly to their lives inside and outside of the school atmosphere. Inquiry is promoted as students do research on their own community members in the local government and apply positive characteristics of these members to their own campaign in our classroom city. g) Goals: Three to four statements framed as what students will know, understand, appreciate, and apply to their lives beyond school as a result of this unit. These are broader and more complex than objectives. Make sure all four types of goals are included in the unit. 3 points.

 Understand that people form governments to create, carry out, and make sense of laws, which help to solve local community problems.  Understand that through its actions, the local government affects the lives of every citizen.

 Apply knowledge of services provided by local governments by identifying police, fire departments, schools, libraries, and parks in their own community.  Appreciate American’s core democratic value of patriotism.  Understand that local governments are responsible for protecting individual rights of the citizens.

h). Unit Objectives: What specifically should the students accomplish in this unit? There should be eight to ten objectives for the unit, and they should be in an enumerated list. Make sure there are both content-focused (knowledge) and process-focused (skill, habits of mind, etc.) objectives. 3 points.

1). Students will be able to complete an open ended sentence explaining why people form governments. 2). Students will be able to work in small groups to write a law in order to solve a problem in a community. 3). Students will be able to write three facts they have learned about the job of a mayor. 4). Students will be able to name the 3 branches of a local government. 5). Students will be able to match the 3 branches of a local government to their definitions. 6). Students will be able to draw at least 3 different services a local government provides. 7). Students will be able to write about what their life would be like without a service. 8). Students will be able to verbally identify actions that are private actions and those that are government actions. 9). Students will be able to verbally tell how a problem can be solved; balancing individual rights with the common good. 10). Students will be able to create a plan for their campaign poster and explain in writing why they would be a good mayor. 11). Students will be able to verbally distinguish between personal and civic responsibilities. 12). Students will be able to explain through writing why we say the Pledge of Allegiance.

i). Grade Level Content Expectations (social studies and science)/Common Core State Standards (for literacy/math): List eight to ten GLCEs and CCSS in which the unit objectives are grounded. Cite them properly (see example below). 2 points.

2 - C1.0.1: Explain why people form governments.

2 - C1.0.2: Distinguish between government action and private action.

2 - C2.0.1: Explain how local governments balance individual rights with the common good to solve local community problems.

2 - C2.0.2: Describe how the Pledge of Allegiance reflects the core democratic value of patriotism.

2 - C3.0.1: Give examples of how local governments make, enforce, and interpret laws (ordinances) in the local community.

2 - C3.0.2: Use examples to describe how local government affects the lives of its citizens.

2 - C3.0.3: Identify services commonly provided by local governments (e.g., police, fire departments, schools, libraries, parks).

2 - C5.0.1: Identify ways citizens participate in community decisions.

2 - C5.0.2: Distinguish between personal and civic responsibilities and explain why they are important in community life.

Part II: Resources (10 points) a). Resources, Preparation/Materials: What books, materials, and other resources do you need for each of the lessons? What do you need to prepare ahead of time? These should be provided in a bulleted list in the chart below. 5 points.

Materials for whole class: Materials for groups: Materials for individual students: (be sure to indicate how you are going to provide resources needed for any students with special needs)  What’s a Mayor? By  Write a Law worksheet  Lined paper

Nancy Harris  Pencils  Markers Crayons,  Computer with internet markers, colored pencils  White board  3 branches of local  Dry-erase markers Government worksheet  My Grandma's the  Poster planning Mayor By Marjorie White worksheet Pellegrino  Voter Registration  How Mayors Work By Cards Christopher Neiger  Old Henry By Joan Blos  Good citizen Sarah By Virginia Kroll  I pledge allegiance By Nancy Harris  Whitehouse.org  Los Angeles Times

b). Annotated Bibliography: Full information should be included for each book/resource/website (eight to ten are required). At least half should be children’s books that you will use (or have available for students to read on their own) during the unit. The annotations should be five to six sentences. Provide the reading level if relevant. One or two sentences should summarize the text. Another sentence should evaluate its quality of content, text and illustrations. Another sentence should address potential issues of bias. A final sentence should clarify how the item is related to the focus or theme of your unit if it is not obvious. Use APA citation style. 5 points.

Blos, Joan. (1990). Old Henry. New York, NY: HarperCollins. The reading level of this book is easy, for readers ages 4-8. The text is about a character names Henry who does not respect others in his neighborhood and does not clean up his old, beat-up house. Oddly, when he finally moves away, the neighborhood is not happy. The content of the text is full of witty and wise cracks that display realistic qualities of someone without a care for the rest of the community, and is accompanied with appropriate supporting illustrations. Potential bias

may be that people who live in beat-up houses don’t care about others in the community. This text relates to the unit because it focuses on the reasons why being a good citizen entails promoting the common good of the rest of the community and shows how people can still get along despite their differences, in order to be good citizens.

Harris, Nancy. (2007). The Pledge of Allegiance. Chicago, IL: Heinemann-Raintree. The reading level of this book is easy, for readers ages 4 and up. The text is about the history and importance behind the Pledge of Allegiance. Certain facts are also included, such as information about the pledge’s creation. The content of the book is rich in the history and background of the topic and includes accompanying illustrations to support readers. Potential bias may be that the Pledge of Allegiance is the only way to show your patriotism and if you don’t say it, then you’re not patriotic. This text relates to the unit because it helps demonstrate being good citizens and the core value of patriotism.

Harris, Nancy. (2007). What’s a Mayor? Chicago, IL: Heinemann-Raintree. The reading level of this book is juvenile, for readers from 6-8 years old. The text is about the mayor’s role in making local laws, working with departments, and the people the mayor works with. It also gives definitions and examples of political terms, such as municipal and strong/weak mayor government. The book is rich in text and accompanying illustrations of real- life examples of the concepts. Potential bias may be the mayor depicted as a male, which may send the message that this is typical. This book relates to the unit because it will help clarify the jobs that a mayor holds as an acting member of the local government.

Kroll, Virginia. (2007). Good Citizen Sarah. Park Ridge, IL: Whitman, Albert & Company. The reading level of this book is juvenile, for readers from 5-9 years old. The text is a young girl named Sarah who realizes what it means to be a good citizen by seeing all of her neighbors busy helping each other. The picturebook is very colorful and easy to follow and contains adequate information on what it means to be a good citizen and promote the common good of the rest of the community. Potential bias of the book may be the assumption that young people are lazy. This text relates to the unit because it gives ideas about how youngsters can be responsible by being helpful and good citizens in their schools, neighborhoods, and homes.

Neiger, Christopher. (2013). How mayors work. How Stuff Works, accessed January 22, 2013. < http://people.howstuffworks.com/government/local-politics/mayor.htm> The reading level of this text is somewhat complex, and would be most appropriate for someone over the age of 12. The text is about the different duties a mayor enacts, as well as the organization of a mayor’s office, and the process of their election.

The quality of the content is rich with helpful information revolving around not only the background of the responsibilities, but also the process of how a mayor comes into power and the differences between mayors of different areas. This text may contain bias in the form of referring mostly to how things run traditionally for mayors. This text relates to the unit because it gives information on the duties and responsibilities of mayors and gives background information on their structure in the local government, which is what the unit focuses on.

Rodriguez, Gregory. (2010). In America, Old Glory represents more than just patriotism. Los Angeles Times, accessed January 22, 2013. The reading level of this text is somewhat complex, and more appropriate for a reader over the age of 15. The text is about the constant reminder of nationhood and national unity in the form of U.S. flags that appear on sources such as clothing and billboard backgrounds. The article shows quality in pointing out good reasoning behind statements. Potential bias exists in that there may be an over exaggeration in how much the flags show up in reality or may refer to only certain geographic locations. This text relates to the unit because it shows how America shows patriotism in many different ways.

White-Pellegrino, Marjorie. (2000). My Grandma’s the Mayor. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. The reading level of this book is juvenile, for readers from 6-11 years old. The text is about a young girl’s grandmother who becomes very busy as the town’s mayor, leaving her granddaughter feeling left out. When a fire breaks out, she realizes the importance of community service and becomes proud of her grandma’s new job, as she helps the other people in the building with the fire. The text is rich in illustrations of the events happening in the story and contains quality information on what it means to care for others in a community. One issue of bias may be the age of the grandma, as readers might infer that all mayors are of old age. This text relates to the unit because it showcases the quality characteristics of a mayor.

Whitehouse.org. (2013). State and Local Government. Whitehouse.org, accessed January 22, 2013. The reading level of this text is somewhat complex and may be more appropriate for readers over 12 years of age. The text is about the structure of the state and local government and the differences between the state and federal governments. The quality of the text is rich with factual information. This text relates to the unit because it gives crucial information about the details involving the structure of the local government, which is what the unit focuses on.

Part III: Knowing Your Students and their Prior Knowledge (10 points) a). Student knowledge and interests. Two paragraphs describing what students have been recently learning in social studies and the other subject area being integrated. What is your students’ prior knowledge, what are their conceptions, misconceptions, and interests related to your lesson topic? Focus on student assets (e.g., what they DO know, rather than exclusively on what they do not know). Conduct a student interview (s) on the topic as a form of pre-assessment. 5 points.

Recently, students have been learning about communities. Specifically, students have participated in lessons where they have completed activities aimed at helping them to recognize all the different components in a local community, such as schools, stores, fire and police departments, libraries, and houses. They have participated in recognizing and naming the different types of a made-up community using individual posters. Students were able to successfully recognize and apply these ideas to their own lives, by talking about/recording the different components in their own community. They were also able to make their own miniature booklets containing elements of a community that they thought were the most important. By completing this booklet, students demonstrated their knowledge that certain elements (such as police departments and grocery stores) were essential in their lives. From my preassessment, I also learned that students were knowledgeable in the importance behind having certain types of property in their community for their own health and safety, such as hospitals and police departments.

Students have also recently been learning about production. In order to give the students first-hand experience at the rationale behind the efficiency of assembly lines in production, students participated in a comparison activity in which half of the class worked together in an assembly line to produce as many and the other half of the class worked on this production individually. By performing this activity, students were able to see the reasoning behind the use of assembly lines in helping to optimize production of a product. Students were also able to recognize and demonstrate their understanding of the importance of the production of goods and services as they wrote and drew about how their life would be without access to goods and services (since they were not mass-produced). Students were very interested in this activity as it gave them the opportunity to work with other classmates in an interesting and organized manner. b). Linguistic, social and academic challenges, resources and supports. Two paragraphs describing accommodations you will make for students in the class – i.e., advanced students, ESL, special education, restless child, shy child, etc. as needed for any diversity among your students doing this lesson. 5 points.

I have quite a bit of diversity in my class, both academically and socially, so I plan to use different strategies aimed at addressing these differences. For my ELL student, I plan to demonstrate different concepts through enactments/experiences that will allow this student the opportunity to understand the ideas in ways other than just through verbatim words. I will also provide images for the different terms introduced, such as pictures of courts and people demonstrating patriotism. I will keep these pictures, matched up with their specified terms on a bulletin board, so that the student can refer back to them throughout our work in this social studies unit. Additionally, my mentor teacher and I will also act as a resource for my ELL student to ask questions and help in reading/writing any designated work.

I will also incorporate a lot of groupwork/partner work in order to help my academically-struggling students. By working with other classmates, these students are granted starting points in ideas to build knowledge off of and many complications they have (such as reading) may be eased through the help of another student. I also plan on using different ways of expression for students who struggle with writing, such as drawing out their ideas. I plan to use a lot of engaging activities that will keep my two oftentimes- restless students interested and productive during my lessons. For instance, students will be individually campaigning for a position as the mayor of our pretend classroom city and this will allow them to be creative and showcase their strengths to the rest of the class. These types of activities and assignments will keep students productive as they are engaged in using things that interest/relate to them, in order to learn.

Part IV: Overview of Lessons and Assessments (20 points) a) Narrative Overview: Provide an overview for EACH of the ten to twelve (or more) lessons in your unit. The overview gives the “big picture” of the unit. Write an abstract (one paragraph) for each of the lessons you plan for your unit. Each should be numbered, and there should be a logical flow between lessons. The first should be an introductory lesson and the last should be a closing/wrap- up lesson. 10 points.

1. Forming Governments: -During this lesson, students will learn about and explore the different reasons people form governments. In order to get them thinking about the rationale behind government-forming, I will have students start off by talking about laws they know about and are familiar with. Among some of the anticipated responses include buckling your seatbelt, following traffic- sign directions, not littering, etc. In order to get students thinking about the importance of these laws, I will have them imagine living in a world that did not have the laws they mentioned. Students will think of problems and issues that might arise without these laws, in relation to the safety and health of the community. After they explain the different laws’

importance, I will help them connect this with the government by telling them that the government is responsible for forming these laws, which in turn keep people safe. In order to get them thinking about the different services that governments provide, I will have students think about the helpful activities that are provided to the community through a fire department. They will then think of and share other services provided in a community that help them (such as police departments, schools, and libraries). I will ask them to describe how each of these services is beneficial to them. Through these activities, they will then be able to form the connection between the action of people forming governments and the importance of doing so (governments provide us with laws for safety and helpful services). Students will then write at least two sentences describing why people form governments and will accompany this with an illustration.

2. Importance of Laws: -During this lesson, students will learn about the importance of laws in a community. To get them to relate to and make connections to their own lives, students will think of the different rules they have at school and will then describe why the school needs those rules. I will bridge this connection with government laws by pointing out that communities also need laws for many of the same reasons. I will distinguish between national and local laws and explain to students that they will be thinking about local laws during this unit. I will share a couple of examples of local laws and students will make predictions about why the designated laws were necessary. To help students relate to the concept, I will tell them about a specific local law from their community and have them discuss its importance. Students will also participate in a discussion of the different things they notice are important in making a good law, such as being fair, able and reasonable to follow, helpful, and protective. Students will then be asked to apply their knowledge from this lesson by creating their own law for our classroom city.

3. The Organization of a Local Government: -During this lesson, students will examine the organization of a local government by looking at the position of a mayor and their responsibilities in this role. I will begin by asking students what they think a mayor is and will record their ideas for the rest of the class. We will then read a book together about a mayor’s job duties in order to build off of their background knowledge and extend on it. After reading the book, students will be asked to talk about the different things that a mayor does, according to what we read. Through this discussion, students will be able to make the connection between a mayor’s role in enforcing laws through police officers and the importance of these laws (the previous day’s lesson) made by the city council. They will then learn more about local government organization by looking at and discussing a graphic organizer version of the 3 branches of government. Specifically, students will learn about courts as this is a new term in the lesson. Students will form connections as they are told that the courts are responsible for explaining what the important laws we

talked about mean and for punishing those who do not follow the laws. In order to allow the students to relate to the concepts, we will look at our community’s mayor and city council members online. By matching a face up to a local government member role, students will be able to form mental images of actual people performing the actions they learned about. Lastly, students will complete a worksheet asking them to label and write one sentence about each branch in the local government.

4. Government Actions: -During this lesson, students will learn about the different things that local governments do. In order to reinforce the previous day’s lesson about mayors, we will begin by reading a book that extends on this. After reading, students will reflect on the text by creating a class list of the different things a government does that the book mentioned. In order to get students to make connections and relate to the ideas, we will then look at a website as a class that talks about all the different ways that local government affects people in a community. This website will show students all the services that a local government provides to them and students will be asked to think of their lives if the service was not provided to them. Students will be able to recognize that through these actions, the local government has a lot of power. However, students will need to recognize that power has limits and that governments cannot do whatever they want. I will provide them with an example of something a government cannot tell you to do and then students will share their own examples. Lastly, students will complete a worksheet that asks them to write or draw at least 3 services a local government provides and write (in at least 3 sentences) about what their life would be like without one of those 3 services.

5. Individual Rights and Common Good of a Community: -During this lesson, students will think and learn about the government’s role in solving problems that protect individual rights of citizens and promote the common good of the people in a community. The lesson will begin by my probing of the students’ thoughts about what individual rights are and what the term common good means. I will guide and direct students during this conversation so that they come to the conclusion that individual rights are freedoms granted to citizens and that common good means working with other people to help ensure that people in the community are happy. I will ask students to keep these terms in mind as I read a story about a conflict between a storybook character’s rights and the common good of the rest of the people in the book. After the reading, students will then brainstorm possible solutions to the conflict with a partner and choose one to record and share with the rest of the class. Students will then be guided to the importance of compromise with both individual rights and the common good through a whole-group discussion.

6. Government Actions and Private Actions:

-During this lesson, students will learn about the difference between actions the government takes and actions done privately through individual people. To get students to make connections and relate to this idea, I will have them think of a problem they had with another person at one point in their lives and how they solved the problem. I will ask them to think about whether or not the government acted in this solving of the problem or if they were able to just talk to the other person. I will then introduce the terms government action and private action and explain the difference. I will use their problem-solving examples to showcase each term. I will then refer to the book from the previous day’s lesson and reread the part that talks about government action and private action. Students will then discuss with a partner the different actions citizens used to solve their problem initially in the book. They will then be probed with a question asking them what government actions happened that punished the troubled character in the book. They will discuss their ideas with a partner. Through these discussions, students will be able to distinguish between government and private actions.

7. Using Knowledge to Make a City: -During this lesson, students will combine the concepts they’ve learned up to this point in the unit to make a mayor campaigning platform. They will begin by thinking about the things we talked about that are needed in a city (organized local government). This will act as a prompt for them to recognize and remember that their pretend city will need a mayor, city council, and court. In order to keep students focused and not to overwhelm them, they will be working on finding a mayor first in their construction of a city. Students will each be running for the position of the mayor and will make a plan for a campaign poster. Before they do this, we will review the duties and jobs of a mayor and discuss what things would embody a good mayor. In order to help students with thinking points, we will compose a class list on the dry-erase board about things a mayor does and things that would make a good mayor. Students will write 3 facts about a mayor’s job and will then create their campaign poster, containing their name, a slogan, and a sentence about why they would make a good mayor. Students must also draw a picture of themselves on the poster.

8. Using Knowledge to Campaign: -During this lesson, students will extend on the previous day’s activity and give students a chance to enact the concepts they are learning about our classroom as a pretend city. We will begin the lesson by reviewing what the jobs of the mayor, city council, and court are and record these on the board for the students to refer to as they complete the day’s lesson. We will then review why laws are created and what services are and record these on the board. Students will be informed that now they will need to create laws and services that will be provided for their cities. Students will also use their voter cards to select a candidate they recommend for mayor. Then students will vote one person from their table to be a city council member. City council members elected will hold their first meeting and in order to come up with the city’s name.

During this meeting, the other students who are citizens in the classroom city will bring up problems and issues to the city council.

9. Roles and Responsibilities of Citizens in a Community: -During this lesson, students will discuss the term citizen and will learn about the different roles and responsibilities delegated to the citizens of a community. To introduce them to the different responsibilities of citizens and to help them recognize and think about their connections to their own lives, I will read a children’s book about a good citizen. We will then discuss the different things that made the main character a good citizen. Students will then talk about the responsibilities they have a citizen. Students will learn about the difference between civic and personal responsibility and then will give examples of both types of responsibility. Students will then participate in voting on a community issue that was brought to the city council members’ attention the previous day. Lastly, students will write at least 3 sentences about why they voted for the specified community issue.

10. Patriotism: -This lesson relates to the previous lesson and getting students to recognize the different ways they are good citizens. Specifically, this lesson will focus on good citizenry in the form of patriotism. Students will first brainstorm ideas about what they think patriotism might be and then we will discuss its meaning as a class. Students will think of ways that they are patriotic and examine how they show their patriotism (standing up to say the pledge with a hand on their heart). Students will then say the Pledge of Allegiance and we will look at each line in the Pledge individually. We will decipher any words that students do not understand or any lines that students do not understand in order to help students gain meaning from the Pledge. Students will then write at three sentences about why we say the Pledge of Allegiance and will draw an illustration of the form they enact when saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. b) Assessments: Construct a bulleted list of assessment tasks that assess each of the unit objectives (write the unit objective in parentheses after the task). There should be at least four and no more than eight assessment tasks, and should cover a range of forms including quizzes/tests; performance tasks; conforming writing; divergent writing; and one culminating (end-of-unit) assessment. The culminating assessment task should have a scoring rubric. 5 points.

 Write at least two sentences describing why people form governments and accompany this with an illustration (Objective 1)  Create a law for the classroom city (Objective 2)

 Label each branch of the local government and write one sentence about each branch (Objectives 4 & 5)  Write or draw at least 3 services a local government provides and write in at least 3 sentences about what life would be like without one of those 3 services (Objectives 6 & 7)  Brainstorm, record, and share a possible solution to a conflict between individual rights and common good (Objective 9)  Write and share the different actions citizens used to solve a problem in a book and compare with government actions taken to punish character (Objective 8)  Create a campaign poster, containing student name, a slogan, and a sentence about why student would make a good mayor (Objective 10)  Write 3 facts about a mayor’s different duties (Objective 3)  Draw your posture when saying the Pledge of Allegiance and write at least two sentences about why we say the Pledge (Objective 12) c) Out-of-school learning: opportunities to expand and enrich the curriculum outside of class (home assignment): Two paragraphs describing how students will apply what they learn in the school to out-of-school settings? What tasks or assignments will you give to students to complete outside of school? You can write opportunity per lesson, or you can write several to cover the entire unit. 5 points.

Students will apply what they learn to the atmosphere outside of school because they will be given several tasks to complete that will allow them to make these out-of-school connections. In one such assignment, students will be asked to conduct an interview with someone at home, regarding this person’s thoughts on how a service in the local government has helped them. For instance, they could talk about the services provided by a police department, fire department, school, library, or park in their community. By engaging in an interview with someone that is familiar to them in their home atmosphere, students form connections in the meaningfulness of the concepts learned inside school to their importance outside of school. Also, after a lesson on patriotism, students will be asked to construct a poster of everything they can find at home that shows their family’s patriotism. They can take pictures of these objects, write about them, or draw them.

Students will apply their knowledge of good citizenship by being asked to do something that would show they are a good citizen when they are at home. For instance, a student could pick up a piece of trash they came across outside or could talk about how they followed rules/laws in some way. Students will write about this act in at least 4 sentences as their homework. By engaging in this type of activity, students will be able to recognize how they can apply and exhibit the characteristics of a good citizen and see

18 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric how this can be appreciated by others and therefore promote the common good of the community as a whole. Students will then share their ideas that they wrote about with the rest of the class the next day, in order to promote more connections between the content learned inside of school to the outside world.

Part V: Individual Lesson Plans (15 points – 5 points per lesson)

Complete a fully developed lesson plan for three out of the ten lessons in your unit. One lesson must be the introductory lesson and the other two lessons should be consecutive lessons.

Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan 1

Your Name: Sarah Gauthier

Overall lesson topic/title: Forming Governments

Grade Level: 2nd

Lesson Objective: Students will be able to complete an open-ended sentence explaining why people form governments.

Unit Goal: Students will understand that people form governments to create, carry out, and make sense of laws, which help to solve local community problems.

GLCEs: 2 - C1.0.1: Explain why people form governments.

Materials & supplies needed: Large lined paper Illustration paper

Computer and internet SMARTboard Lined paper Pencils Crayons

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event Cognitive, social and linguistic support during each event: Introduction to the lesson (5 minutes):

-Call students over to the carpet area, based on color they are wearing.

-“Okay boys and girls, we are going to begin our first lesson in this social studies unit. We will be learning about local governments. In order to understand local governments, we need to start at a very basic level, so we first need to answer the question of why people might need to form governments.”

-“So to answer this question, we need to think about laws. What are some laws you are familiar with?” I will record the students’ ideas on the -Anticipated student responses: “Buckle your seatbelt, do not board to help support the learners. litter, follow traffic signs, etc.”

-Record student responses on the board for students to refer to.

-Talk about why these laws are important. Elicit student responses for each of the mentioned laws’ importance.

-“Now I want you to imagine your life if these laws did not exist. What kinds of problems might exist without these laws?”

-“Governments make laws; they are meant to avoid these problems and keep you safe.”

OUTLINE of each activity during the lesson (25-30 minutes)

ACTIVITY 1 (7-10 minutes):

-“I want you to choose one of the laws that we recorded on the board and think about how this law keeps you safe, personally. I will give you 2 minutes to think to yourself and then I want you to share with a partner.”

-Ask volunteers to share with the rest of the class. By having students share their ideas with a partner, this may give other -“Now I want you to think about another important thing government provides, students ideas that may be struggling. which are services.”

-“What do you think a service is?”

-Call on numerous volunteers to get variety of answers.

-Anticipated student responses: “Services are actions provided by others that help you, services are things that people do to keep you safe, etc.” I will provide visual images of services to help support my English Language -Give students an example of a service, such as a police station. Ask them what other Learner. government services they can think of.

-Anticipated student responses: fire departments, libraries, schools, parks,

ACTIVITY 2 (7 minutes):

-“Okay, these are some excellent ideas boys and girls. Now we are going to explore a This SMARTboard activity will help with website to learn more about these services that governments provide to communities.” engagement as students participate by coming up and navigating through the -Through this website, students will learn more information about services website. provided by government, including post offices, hospitals, libraries, schools, fire and police departments.

-I will broadcast the website on the SMARTboard so students can come up and navigate the website with me.

-As we navigate the website, I will ask students how each of the services is I will circulate and help students with beneficial to them and therefore make a connection with the local spelling and writing. government’s importance in a community.

-“Alright, now that we’ve learned some more about the services provided by a government, I want you to complete the sentence of “Governments are formed because…” and then list some of the things you learned from our discussions and I will give my struggling students the navigation of the website. I want you to write a total of at least 3 sentences. You can option of just drawing their ideas, write more if you would like.” instead of writing it.

-“You will then draw an illustration of your idea to follow with what you wrote about.”

-I will model an example before they complete their own.

-“Remember to write in a neat, correct way so that your audience can understand what

they are reading.”

Closing summary for the lesson (5-7 minutes)

-I will call on students to share their sentences and their illustrations.

-After hearing at least 5 volunteers, I will elicit the big idea of the lesson by asking students, “What are two things that governments provide, that we’ve learned about?”

-Students should reply with “safety” and “services”.

Basis for assessment I will use the sentences students write to gauge whether or not the students understood the concepts or if we will need to review and extend on the activities in the next lesson.

Overall lesson topic/title: Importance of Laws

Grade Level: 2nd

Lesson Objective: Students will be able to work in small groups to write a law in order to solve a problem in a community.

Unit Goal: Students will understand that through its actions, the local government affects the lives of every citizen.

GLCEs: 2 - C3.0.1: Give examples of how local governments make, enforce, and interpret laws (ordinances) in the local community.

Materials & supplies needed: Dry-erase board Laws from previous lesson Law worksheets Pencils

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event Cognitive, social and linguistic support during each event: Introduction to the lesson (5 minutes):

-Call students over to the carpet area, based on color they are wearing.

-“Okay boys and girls, we are going to begin our second lesson in this social studies unit. Yesterday, we learned about why people need to form local governments and what local governments provide. Today we’re going to build on what we learned from yesterday by learning about why communities

need laws.”

-“To understand why communities need laws, let’s first think about the rules we have at school.” I will record the students’ ideas on the board to help support the learners. -I will make a list of the students’ ideas on the dry-erase board.

-Anticipated student responses: -Don’t run in the hall By having students related the -Respect others when they’re talking concepts to their own school first, I’m -Don’t steal property from others helping support my learners as they -Raise your hand when you have a question or want to say transition into community laws. something -Complete your assignments and homework on time

“Now think about what our school would be like without these rules that you mentioned. What are your thoughts about this? What type of school would this be like?”

-Have students share their thoughts about what the school would be like without rules.

“Yes, so does it sound like we need rules then?”

“Just like schools need rules, so do communities. Communities use rules in the form of laws.”

OUTLINE of each activity during the lesson (25-30 minutes)

-“Before we move on, we need to make sure that everyone understands the terms we are using often. What do you think a community is?” I will circulate the room to make sure -Anticipated student response: “A community is a group of people who live in everyone is paying attention. some place together.”

-“So is our city a community? What about our school? Is that a community, too?” To support my ELL, I will point to our whole classroom as an example of a -I will bring out the chart paper from the previous lesson, where I recorded student community. responses about laws they could think of.

-“Now let’s think about what our community would be like without these laws.” By having students share their ideas with a partner, this may give other -Have students share their ideas with a partner. Then have students share students ideas that may be struggling. their answers with the rest of the class.

-“There are different kinds of laws, national laws and local laws. Some of the laws we have on this list are local laws and some are national laws. In other words, some of them mean that the entire country has to follow the laws and some of them mean the only people living in a certain place have to follow the laws. Which one do you think is which?”

-“Yes, national laws are the laws that the whole United States has to follow and local laws are the laws that only the people in a certain community have to follow.”

-“If we’re learning about local governments in this unit, which type of laws do you think we’re going to be talking about?” (Local laws)

I will provide visual images of services to help support my English Language ACTIVITY 2 (7 minutes): Learner.

-“Let’s take a look at a local law and try to figure out why it is needed.”

-Tell students that an example of a local law is that you cannot park on the street on garbage day.

-Elicit student responses by asking “Why do you think this law is needed?”

-“Let’s look at another example of a local law.”

-Tell students than another example is you cannot play loud music after 8 pm.

“Why do you think this law is needed?” This SMARTboard activity will help with -“Let’s look up an actual local law in our community.” engagement as students participate by coming up and navigating through the -Show students on SMARTboard how to research local laws. Have students choose one website. to talk about.

-For the chosen law, ask “Why do you think this law was needed?”

-“Based off what we just saw with the laws we looked at, what are some things that make a good law?”

-Anticipated student responses: -It is fair. -It is important. -It protects citizens.

-It is clear and understandable.

-“Alright, now that we’ve learned about why laws are needed in a community and the types of things that make a good law, I want you to apply what you’ve learned.”

-Tell the students that throughout the unit, we will be pretending that our classroom is I will circulate and help students with a pretend city. Because it is a city, it needs laws for people to follow. spelling and writing.

-“I want you to work with your partner to write a law in order to solve a problem in our classroom.”

-“First, let’s think of some problems that we might want to solve.”

-I will record student responses on the dry-erase board. I will give my struggling students the option of just drawing their ideas, -“Now I want you and your partner to pick one of these problems that instead of writing it. we came up with and write a law that would help solve it.”

-I will assign partners and distribute the law-writing worksheets.

Closing summary for the lesson (5-7 minutes)

-I will call on students to share their laws with the rest of the class.

-After hearing the partnerships, I will elicit the big idea of the lesson by asking students, “Why do communities need laws?”

-Students should reply with “to protect us” and “solve problems”.

Basis for assessment I will use the laws that students write to gauge whether or not the students understood the concepts or if we will need to review and extend on the activities in the next lesson.

Overall lesson topic/title: The Organization of a Local Government

Grade Level: 2nd

Lesson Objective: Students will be able to write three facts they have learned about the job of a mayor.

Unit Goal: Understand that people form governments to create, carry out, and make sense of laws, which help to solve local community problems.

GLCEs:

2 - C3.0.1: Give examples of how local governments make, enforce, and interpret laws (ordinances) in the local community.

2 - C3.0.2: Use examples to describe how local government affects the lives of its citizens.

Materials & supplies needed: Large chart paper What’s a Mayor? By Nancy Harris Paper Pencils SMARTboard Internet Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event Cognitive, social and linguistic support during each event: Introduction to the lesson (5 minutes):

-I will call students over to the rug based on the colors of their shirts.

“Okay boys and girls, we are going to continue our unit on local government. Now that we’ve talked about the importance of local government and why people have governments, we are going to look at the actual structure of the local government.”

“One part of the local government is a Mayor. What do you know about the word ‘Mayor’?”

-I will record student ideas on the dry-erase board.

-“These are all great ideas. We are going to explore what a Mayor is by looking at a book I will record the students’ ideas on the about Mayors.” board to help support the learners.

-“After we read the book, we will then make another chart and fill it in with things we know about Mayors, now that we’ve read about their job.” Using literature will support my

learners by providing them with a OUTLINE of each activity during the lesson (25-30 minutes) different form of context to learn from.

-We will begin reading the book “What’s a Mayor?” By Nancy Harris.

-I will allow students to ask questions throughout the book if they have any questions about terms or content.

-“What did you learn about the job of a Mayor?”

-Anticipated student responses: -Enforce laws through police officers I will support my ELL by allowing -Attends council meetings and signs documents opportunities for questions about any -Appoints members, trustees, treasurers, and clerks to their unknown terms. positions -Participate in community activities such as town parks, cultural events, and tourism -Creates details about the spending of money and that it is distributed equally -Holds public meetings and interacts with public -Is present for business meetings, school functions, and charity events

-I will record their student responses on a new chart for the whole class to see.

-“Okay so now we’ve gained some more knowledge on one part of the local

government. Now we need to look at another part of the local government.”

-I will write the term “court” on the board.

-“What do you know about courts? Share with a partner.” By having students share their ideas -Anticipated student responses: with a partner, this may give other students ideas that may be struggling. -Courts have judges -Courts have a jury -Courts punish people

-I will record their ideas on the board.

-I will explain the job of the court.

-“These are all great ideas. Courts explain what laws mean. They also are responsible for punishing those who break laws.”

-“Okay, so now we are going to piece together all the information we’ve been learning about the last couple of days. We learned from previous lessons that the city council is responsible for making the laws. In addition, we now know the roles of both the mayor This SMARTboard activity will help the and the courts. Now that we’ve learned some things about the structure of our local students to organize their ideas and government, we are going to put all this information together.” see how all the branches are interconnected. -I will put up a graphic design of the 3 branches of local government on the SMARTboard.

-“Now we are going to look at our mayor and city council members online.”

-I will bring up the information on the SMARTboard for all students to see.

-We will answer the question of who the city’s mayor is and how many city council members the city has.

-“Our last activity of the day is going to be a chance for you to show me what you I will circulate and help students with learned and how well you were listening.” spelling and writing.

-“I want you to complete a worksheet that is going to ask you to not only label the 3 branches of the local government, but to also write at least 1 sentence about what each branch does.”

-I will pass out the 3 branches of government worksheet and will circulate the students to see if they have any questions or need any help. I will give my struggling students the option of just drawing their ideas, instead of writing it. Closing summary for the lesson (5-7 minutes)

-I will call on students to share their completed worksheets.

-After hearing at least 5 volunteers, I will elicit the big idea of the lesson by asking students, “What are three branches of government that we’ve learned about? What is one thing that each branch is responsible for?”

-Students should reply with “Mayor, city council, and courts”. They should also give one role each branch plays such as “Mayor is responsible for enforcing laws through police officers, city council is responsible for making laws, and courts are responsible for punishing those who break the laws.”

Basis for assessment I will use the sentences students write to gauge whether or not the students understood the concepts or if we will need to review and extend on the activities in the next lesson.

Part VI: Post-Teaching Reflection (10 points) a) Reflection: Part 1: What new knowledge, skills, and values did students learn as a result of this unit? Did students meet the goals and objectives? Draw upon evidence (e.g., student work or quotations from students). This should be two pages.

As a result of this unit, students gained new knowledge, skills, and values as evidenced by their adequately completed work and ability to demonstrate their understanding through discussions. For instance, through students’ ability to apply their knowledge of the characteristics of a mayor to campaign for the position of class mayor, students demonstrated their knowledge of the different roles that the position entails. Some characteristics that students mentioned in their work included “I will make sure police officers are doing their job so you can be safe”, “I will be protective of the community’s citizens in meetings”, and “I will do charity work”. These types of responses showed that students had learned the important things that a mayor does and were able to extend that to their own campaign. Furthermore, students demonstrated their knowledge of the functions of the other branches of the local government as they participated in city council meetings in the classroom, where class members brought up issues to the city

34 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric council members in the class. These council members responded by making new laws, which helped to alleviate the issues brought up during the meetings. For instance, some issues the students brought up included not having enough space in the closet to fit students’ snowpants, coats, and backpacks. The city council members responded by making a law that permitted the classroom community to put their snowpants in another designated area in the room. These types of demonstrations revealed that students understood they needed to respond to the citizens’ problems in order to do their job adequately.

The roles of courts were brought into the equation in the discussion of good citizenship. After students were introduced to the term “court” and became familiar with it via discussion throughout the unit, students put their own good citizenship values into action as they were given a number of different scenarios revolving around a dilemma. In this sense, they demonstrated that they were acting not only as a court would in having to make choices about punishing, but also had to think about what it means to be a good citizen and the values that a good citizen would have. For instance, students had to act as a court in looking at a group of citizens boycotting a restaurant because they served hamburgers in a type of packaging that was harmful to the environment. The dilemma was centered on saving the environment or causing a restaurant to go out of business. One student response included “I think that it was good to boycott the hamburgers because the restaurant was not being a good citizen…they don’t care about the citizens because they use Styrofoam in the burgers.”Another student response was “It’s sad that the restaurant might go out of business, but they should care about other people first.” These types of responses showed that students recognized the hard

35 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric decisions courts have to make, but also that good citizenship entails making decisions that are good for the common good of the community.

Also, students were able to display the importance of local government and apply their knowledge of services provided by local governments through identifying police, fire departments, schools, libraries, and parks in their own community and writing about what their lives would be like without a service of their choice. Student responses included “I would not be safe without police officers”, “I wouldn’t know a lot of stuff if I didn’t go to school so that would be really hard”, and “If I had a fire, I couldn’t call the fire department because the local government wouldn’t give me the service if they didn’t exist”. These responses demonstrated an understanding of the importance of the functions of the local government and the students’ ability to apply these circumstances to their own lives. Therefore, after looking at the assessments I gave the students and reflecting on their responses during discussions, I think most of the students grasped the concepts, meet the goals adequately, and successfully completed the designated objectives for the unit.

Part 2: What did you expect to happen in this unit? What went as predicted, and what surprised you? What were the strengths and weakness of this unit and your teaching? What were highs and lows? What comments did your mentor teacher offer? What might you do differently? What did you learn about the topic and about your students, curriculum, and teaching? Give specific examples to illustrate your points. This should be two pages. 9 points.

I expected my students to be very enthusiastic about not only learning the concepts, but getting to apply them to our own classroom city. I expected that the students would receive further support in successfully understanding the concepts by getting the opportunity to put them into action and by being shown how the concepts relate to their immediate community. I anticipated that students would not have too many issues with most of the concepts revolving around the local government, such as describing the 3 branches, the roles each one plays, recognizing what good citizenship means, understanding what nationalism means, creating their own laws, and successfully campaigning for the classroom mayor, but expected that they might have difficulty with putting aside their own values in favor for the common good. In other words, I anticipated there might be some difficulty in seeing both sides of

37 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric an issue revolving around individual rights versus common good. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this anticipated issue did not come up – students were not only able to successfully put the common good of the community first in deciding on an appropriate decision in a conflict between individual rights and common good, but were also able to look at both sides of the argument. For instance, in one lesson students were asked what they would do in the issue of banning guns, which would bring down the overall crime rate, but would make it difficult for individuals to defend themselves. I expected that students might try to promote individual rights in an instance like this, but was surprised that they were able to put aside individual rights and promote the common good by banning guns. One student mentioned “Without guns, there would be less people that could hurt others, which would be better for the whole community.” Another student supported that student by saying “If we needed help, it would be better to just call the police.”

In regards to strengths of the unit and my teaching, I think that having students demonstrate their understanding through actual observable actions was a big strength because the unit provided a lot of opportunities for this. For instance, students had to create their own laws, act as members of the city council, and campaign for the position of classroom mayor. Many students are kinesthetic learners and by having them enact things, their learning may be enhanced. However, I think a weakness was some of the lessons at the beginning of the unit seemed almost “lecture-y”, meaning it seemed like I was just telling the students a lot of information. My field instructor mentioned that I seemed to be almost monotone at some parts when I’m telling them a lot of information, so that may have been a contributing weakness of my teaching. If I was teaching this part of the unit again, I would use

38 | P a g e TE803 SS2013 Unit Plan Assignment & Rubric more theatrics to keep them engaged. However this issue became better later during the unit when students put the concepts into action. Another weakness was that not all the students got to experience each of the roles. Students who were elected into the city council or as the mayor got to keep their roles throughout the whole unit. If I could teach this unit again, I would have changed the roles throughout the unit so that students would have had the opportunity to experience each position. Also, I would have incorporated a court that had to deal with different dilemmas, which is also something my mentor teacher recommended. Highs of the unit included getting to see all the creativity of the students in putting the concepts into action for our classroom city. For instance, many students had creative and unique slogans and pictures that went along with their mayor campaign. It was a great joy to see all the ideas students came up with and it was helpful in supporting their demonstrations of knowledge. Some lows of the unit were that there were times when students would argue over who was elected into the city council and as the mayor. Many students especially wanted to be the classroom mayor, so this initially caused some tension. As previously stated, role rotation may have decreased this tension and is something I would do differently. Through this experience with my unit, I ultimately learned that teaching involves a lot of theatrics and that fairness and equality in opportunity will allow my students to gain the maximum amount of learning about the roles of each local government branch. I also learned that by having students enact their learning through hands-on demonstrations and application to the classroom, I not only have an easier way to see their learning, but can also provide further support and understanding to the learning of the concepts.

b) Mentor Teacher/Field Instructor Evaluation: Include the comments of your mentor teacher for one (or more) of your lessons taught (form below). If you are unable to receive mentor teacher feedback, please arrange to have your field instructor observe one of your lessons and complete the form below. 1 point.

Mentor Teacher/Field Instructor FEEDBACK FORM for Social Studies Teaching

Name(s) of Intern: _____Sarah Gauthier______Mentor Teacher __Debby Mangopoulos______School____Midway__ Grade __2nd___ Field Instructor ______Patrick Leahy______Date____3.18.13______

MENTOR TEACHERS: Please complete this feedback form for the unit that your intern plans and teaches in your classroom. If you prefer to type your comments, please ask your intern to email you an electronic copy of the feedback form. 1. General strengths of the unit (content, activities, active student involvement, management, etc.):

Overall, I thought this lesson went really well! I liked how you engaged the students through the use of the videos, lists (that they read), and questions/answers. I also thought the voting piece at the end was really terrific. You repeated and affirmed all students’ responses and had, overall, a positive teacher disposition. Bravo!

2. Feedback about intern’s preparation and planning for the unit:

I like your idea about watching more videos of yourself, to help tweak your teaching practice. I think identifying things that you can work on (which may involve voice, intontation, theatrics, etc.) it’ll help you a lot as you continue on your journey. Keep it rolling, you’re doing great. J

3. Suggestions for improvement regarding the social studies content, practices, activities, showing the connectedness and usefulness of the content:

One other approach to a lesson like this would be to turn one or two of the dilemmas into a class debate. You could divide the class in two and prep both sides to see how a debate is connected to a dilemma, that there are really two (or more) sides to the issue presented. That may help students better understand the concept of a dilemma (which may have been lost on some).

Student goes up and clicks a star that shows list of “dos” of good citizenship. He reads the list to the class. Nice! Students offer more perspectives….on common good as something good for all in a community. You show how common good connects to all things on list.

4. Feedback regarding if/how the unit connects to students’ backgrounds and builds on students’ prior knowledge: (I can’t see the video very well….I hope the students could see it okay!) Video provides examples of different kinds of good citizens (e.g., someone shoveling snow, neighbors welcoming new people into a community, person throwing away trash on the ground, etc.). Very nice.

5. Reflect on one of the lessons the intern taught. Feedback regarding the social studies content taught. What did students learn, and how do you know they learned it?

You show example, you write word responsible…”how else would I describe a good citizen?” Students say: helpful, caring, respectful, nice, kind, etc. You write their responses on the board and affirm them. Very nice!

6. Reflect on one of the lessons the intern taught. Feedback regarding intern’s classroom management (as well as timing, pacing, wait time, etc.)

“Do you think it was a good idea to boycott this product? Give me a thumbs up yes or a thumbs down no.” Nicely done.

7. Reflect on one of the lessons the intern taught. Feedback regarding intern’s attention to supporting students with special needs:

You read list and explain things that might be confusing. You ask what “cooperate” means. Student responds that it means working well with other people. You repeat/affirm her response.

You student to read about respecting authority and the law. He goes up and reads. You explain what he said. Student asks what “obey” means, which is written up there. You respond. Nice. You show list of “attributes of good citizenship”

Student explains: you don’t want to have the Styrofoam, you don’t want to buy it there. You help her, saying because its dangerous. If you boycott it, eventually it’ll run out of business.

8. Other comments, reactions, questions:

I would make sure that the videos appear clearly on the screen so everyone can see them (if you can do a trial run ahead of time, great!).

Thank you so much for providing this opportunity and for providing feedback!

Part I: Unit Overview and Background Knowledge (25 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) a). Unit Title/ Name of student, Contains all requirements n/a Does not contain all requirements Information (0 points) university course number, title of unit, grade level, subject area b) Family/ Parent A one-page letter to Contains all requirements and is Contains all Does not contain all requirements. Letter: families of the students in written in a clear and informative requirement It is unclearly written and/or (3 points) your classroom explaining style. Letter is specific, focuses on s and is limited in its information. Contains to them the content and goals (and not just activities), and written in a errors in spelling and grammar. goals of your unit (you explains to family members how clear and may draw upon Part I of they can participate. Free of informative the unit plan). Also spelling and grammatical errors. style. Free identify any homework of spelling

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) assignments associated and with the unit, any field grammatical trips, and any ways errors. families could be involved in this unit. For example, provide specific questions they can ask students to engage them in a conversation about the unit topic and suggest further readings they might read with their children. c) Social Studies Two pages answering the Contains all of the requirements Contains Does not meet all the Content (5 points) following questions: and demonstrate a deep, most of the requirements. Reflects only a What is the substance of thoughtful consideration of the requirement superficial understanding of the this unit? What are the intellectual “meat” of the unit. s and content, and does not reflect that most important essential Indicates that research and demonstrat background reading on the topic understandings about the background reading on the topic e a was done. topic you will teach? was done. thoughtful What might be although challenging in terms of not connecting teacher level necessarily knowledge to children’s deep capacities for consideratio

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) understanding? This n of the should be based on your intellectual own prior knowledge “meat” of about the topic as well as the unit. what you needed to learn Reflects about this topic. This some section is similar to an degree of essay you might write in a research history or geography and course, where you background demonstrate your reading on understanding of the the topic concepts and was done. generalizations. This is the “meat” of the unit. d) Big Ideas List six to eight Each statement is a big idea (and Each Statements are not big ideas. There (3 points) statements that not trite or superficial), factually statement is are fewer than six statements. summarize the essential correct, and written in child- a big idea understanding(s) you accessible language. Statements (and not hope students will gain are in-depth and reflect the trite or (and retain) from the underlying content of the unit. superficial), lesson. These statements Six to eight statements are listed. factually should be worded in correct, and language children use written in and understand. child-

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) accessible language. Six to eight statements are listed. e) Key Concepts Six to eight key Each concept is central to the Each There are fewer than six concepts; (3 points) vocabulary words or unit and is thoroughly and concept is they are not thoroughly defined or concepts you expect accurately defined. germane to in child-friendly language. children will learn as a the unit and result of this unit? These is should be social science adequately concepts (e.g., location, defined. natural resource, chronology, judicial branch). Provide child- friendly definitions of each. f). Rationale One paragraph justifying Contains all requirements and is Contains all Does not contain all requirements. (3 points) the teaching of this unit written in a clear and convincing requirement It is unclearly written and does not by answering the style. It specifically justifies the s. It address how this unit contributes following questions: How importance of this topic for references to students’ development as does this unit contribute cultivating in students skills for the citizens. to the development of citizenship. connection responsible citizenship? to How will understanding citizenship

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) the content of the unit be but does meaningful and not make worthwhile for these the students at this time? connection explicit. g) Goals Three to four statements Goals are clearly stated and are Goals are There are fewer than three goals. framed as what students central to the unit, capturing the clearly They are not clearly worded. (3 points) will understand, big ideas. They reflect stated and appreciate, and apply to understanding, appreciation, and are central their lives beyond school application. There are three to to the unit, as a result of this unit. four goals. capturing These are broader and the big more complex than ideas. There objectives. are three to four goals. h). Objectives What specifically should Between eight to ten objectives Between Objectives are not clearly linked to (3 points) the students accomplish that are tailored to the unit and eight to ten state or national standards, aligned in this unit? There should well-grounded in state content objectives with learning activities and/or are be eight to ten objectives expectations. Objectives are that are impractical for assessing the goals for the unit, and they clearly aligned with learning tailored to of the unit. should be in an activities and can be assessed. the unit and enumerated list. Make There are both content and well- sure there are both process objectives represented. grounded in content-focused state

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assig Format ned and Com ment s (if neces sary) (knowledge) and process- content focused (skill, habits of expectation mind, etc.) objectives. s. Objectives are clearly aligned with learning activities and can be assessed. i) Grade Level Content List eight to ten GLCEs in GLCEs are directly related to the GLCEs are, GLCEs are not directly related to Expectations which the unit objectives objectives. They are cited for the most the objectives. They are not cited are grounded. correctly. part, related correctly. (2 points) to the objectives. They are cited correctly.

Part II: Resources (10 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assigned and Format Comments

(if necessary) a). Resources, What books, A rich collection of resources for A collection of Few resources are listed. Pre-unit Preparation/ materials, and other both student and teacher use. resources for preparation is not described both student and thoroughly. Materials: resources do you need for each of the teacher use. (5 points) lessons? What do you need to prepare ahead of time? These should be provided in a bulleted list.

Annotated Full bibliographical Full bibliographical information Full Incomplete bibliographical Bibliography: information should be should be included for each bibliographical information included for included for each book book and resource (10 information resources, and fewer than eight and resource (eight to resources) that specifically should be resources are included. (5 points) ten are needed). The summarize the general idea, included for each annotations should be evaluate its quality and content, book and a brief (4-5 sentences). address any potential issues of resource (8 – 10) Provide the reading bias, and explain its relevance to that summarize level if relevant. One the topic of the unit. There is the general idea, or two sentences evidence that they are carefully evaluate its should summarize the chosen and useful in planning. quality and general idea of the content, address item. Another Any “homemade” materials are any potential sentence should described. All instructional issues of bias, evaluate its quality of resources are cited following the and explain its content, text and APA citation style. Any relevance to the illustrations. Another preparation to be accomplished topic of the unit. sentence should prior to the enactment of the address potential unit is described in detail. Any issues of bias. A final “homemade” sentence should clarify materials are

how the item is described. Most related to the focus or instructional theme of your unit if it resources are is not obvious. cited following the APA citation style. Any preparation to be accomplished prior to the enactment of the unit is described in detail.

Part III: Knowing Your Students and their Prior Knowledge (10 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) a). Student knowledge Two paragraphs Paragraphs contain all of the Paragraphs Paragraph(s) do not meet all and interests describing what requirements and contain all the requirements. Little students have been demonstrate thoughtful requirements consideration of what (5 points) recently learning in exploration of students’ prior but do not knowledge and experiences social studies and the knowledge, possible extensively children have with the topics misconceptions and pursue student is demonstrated. other subject area confusions based upon interest, being integrated? evidence from interviews or background What is your students’ other sources. knowledge in the prior knowledge, what topic. Interviews are their conceptions, are referenced misconceptions, and but not interests related to specifically. your lesson topic?

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) Conduct a student interview (s) on the topic as a form of preassessment. b). Linguistic, social and Describe Paragraphs describe in detail Paragraphs Paragraph(s) inadequately academic challenges, accommodations you the ways in which the unit describe the describe ways in which the resources and will make for students will meet the needs of the ways in which unit will provide linguistic, supports. in the class – i.e., various needs and interests the unit will social, and academic advanced students, of the students in the class, meet the needs support. (5 points) linguistically, socially, and of the various ESL, special education, academically. Specific needs and restless child, shy child, accommodations or interests of the etc. as needed for any modifications are described. students in the diversity among your class, students doing this linguistically, lesson. socially, and academically.

Part IV: Overview of Lessons and Assessments (20 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) a). Narrative Overview The overview gives the Contains all requirements Contains all Each paragraph does not “big picture” of the and is written in a clear and requirements contain all requirements. (10 points) unit. Write an abstract convincing style. Provides and is written in Written unclearly and (one paragraph) for ample details of the content a clear style. provides limited details of each of the lessons you and format of each lesson. Provides the content and format of adequate details each lesson. plan for your unit. Each of the content should be numbered, and format of and there should be a each lesson. logical flow between lessons. The first should be an introductory lesson and the last should be a closing/wrap-up lesson. b). Assess- Construct a bulleted list Between four to eight Between four to Fewer than four assessment ments of assessment tasks that assessments tasks which are eight tasks listed. Does not include assess each of the unit clear and detailed. Includes assessments the objective(s) being (5 points) objectives (write the unit the objective(s) being tasks which are assessed. Assessments have objective in parentheses assessed. Assessments cover clear and limited coverage of the after the task). There a range of forms including detailed. range of forms including should be at least four quizzes/tests; performance Includes the quizzes/tests; performance and no more than eight tasks; conforming writing; objective(s) tasks; conforming writing; assessment tasks, and divergent writing; and one being assessed. divergent writing; and one should cover a range of culminating (end-of-unit) Assessments culminating (end-of-unit) forms including assessment. The culminating cover a range of assessment. No culminating quizzes/tests; assessment task should have forms including assessment scoring rubric. performance tasks; a scoring rubric. quizzes/tests; conforming writing; performance

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) divergent writing; and tasks; one culminating (end-of- conforming unit) assessment. The writing; culminating assessment divergent task should have a writing; and one scoring rubric. culminating (end-of-unit) assessment. Does not include a culminating assessment scoring rubric. c) Out-of-school Two paragraphs Specifically describes ways in Describes ways Included, but not described learning: opportunities describing how which children will apply in which children in great detail, or in ways to expand and enrich students will apply what they learn to out-of- will apply what that show the lesson has the curriculum outside what they learn in the school settings, they learn to relevance beyond school. of class (home school to out-of-school demonstrating that the unit out-of-school assignment) has meaning and relevance settings, settings? What tasks or beyond school. demonstrating (5 points) assignments will you that the unit has give to students to some meaning complete outside of and relevance school? beyond school.

Part V: Individual Lesson Plans (15 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Element Required Content and Assigned

Format and Commen ts (if necessar y) a) Lesson Plans and Complete a fully Activities and transitions Activities and Activities described are not Assessments for 3 out developed lesson plan described are aligned with transitions aligned with the objectives of of the 10 Lessons for three out of the ten the objectives of the lesson. described are the lesson. They are age lessons in your unit. They are reasonable for the aligned with the appropriate but not engaging or One lesson must be the length of the lesson and are objectives of the intellectually rich. They are only age-appropriate, engaging, lesson. They are generally described. The needs introductory lesson and and intellectually rich. Lesson reasonable for of all students are not the other two lessons is described in great detail, the length of the considered. should be consecutive specifying what exactly you lesson and are lessons. will say and do, and what the age-appropriate. students are going to do. Lesson is Step-by step Introduction, activities, described in procedures including transitions, and conclusion of detail, specifying questions and main the lesson are well-thought what you will say points (write out what out and well-described. All and do, and you are going to say students and their needs are what the verbatim, even if you considered (adjustments and students are do not “read” from this modifications to the lesson going to do. are described). Introduction, during your lessons). activities, Describe what the transitions, and students will be doing conclusion of the as a result of your lesson are instructions How will somewhat well- you support ALL thought out and students? well-described. Most students and their needs are considered.

Part V: Post-Teaching Reflection (15 points)

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) a). Reflection: Reflection: Part 1: What Specifically addresses new Addresses new Does not address what was new knowledge, skills, knowledge, skills, and values knowledge, learned as a result of the unit (9 points) and values did students students learned, drawing skills, and values (or does so very vaguely). learn as a result of this specifically upon evidence. students unit? Did students meet learned, Discusses vaguely the the goals and objectives? Discusses strengths and drawing upon strengths and weaknesses of Draw upon evidence (e.g., weaknesses of the unit, as evidence. the unit. student work or well as highs (positive quotations from moments) and lows Discusses students). This should be (discouraging or challenging strengths and two pages. moments). Elaborates on weaknesses of Part 2: What did you how the lessons in the unit the unit, as well expect to happen in this might be changed and why as highs unit? What went as those changes would (positive predicted, and what strengthen the unit. moments) and surprised you? What lows were the strengths and (discouraging or weakness of this unit and challenging your teaching? What moments). were highs and lows? What comments did your mentor teacher offer? What might you do differently? What did you learn about the topic and about your students,

curriculum, and teaching? Give specific examples to illustrate your points. This should be two pages. b) Mentor Teacher/ Include the comments Included. N/A Not included. Field Instructor of your mentor teacher Evaluation for one (or more) of (1 point) your lessons taught (form below).

Other Features

Exemplary Adequate Inadequate Points Assigned Element Required Content and and Format Comments (if necessary) Alignment among all All parts (particularly All parts are very well Most parts are The parts are not aligned. parts within and among Parts I, aligned. aligned. IV, and V) are aligned: the (5 points) lessons and assessments cover the same content, and both reflect the big ideas, goals, and objectives of the unit. Submission of drafts/ Drafts of all parts (both Drafts are timely and high For the most Drafts are not timely and/or for the instructor and for quality. Final unit plan part, drafts are lacking in effort. Final unit Revision of drafts in-class workshops) are reflects keen attention to timely and high plan reflects very little (5 points) completed in a timely instructor and peer feedback. quality. Final attention to instructor and manner, reflect effort, unit plan peer feedback. and are thorough reflects (allowing for the fact that attention to they are still drafts). instructor and

peer feedback.

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