• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

High School History Lesson: U.S. Government

Introduction Each lesson in the Adolescent Literacy Toolkit is designed to support students through the reading/learning process by providing instruction before, during, and after reading/learning.

Note that lessons incorporate the gradual release of responsibility model. When this model is used within a single lesson and over several lessons, students are provided with enough instruction and guidance to use the literacy strategies on their own. The following lesson includes some examples of explicit instruction and modeling, guided practice, and independent practice, but students need more practice and feedback than is possible within the context of a single lesson.

Bold print indicates a direct link to the Content Area Literacy Guide where readers will find descriptions of literacy strategies, step-by-step directions for how to use each strategy, and quadrant charts illustrating applications across the four core content disciplines.

The following lesson plan and lesson narrative show history teachers how they can incorporate the use of literacy strategies to support high school students to learn content and concepts related to a study of U.S. Government. The lesson is designed for one block period (80–90 minutes) or two traditional classes (50 minutes).

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 1 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. Instructional Outcomes

NCSS Standard: To assist learners in developing an understanding of citizenship, its rights and responsibilities, and in developing their abilities and dispositions to participate effectively in civic life.

Content Learning Outcome: Students will apply content from the U.S. Constitution to contemporary contexts. Literacy Support Strategies and Instruction

Before reading/learning: Word Wall (explicit teaching and modeling)  Materials: Overhead projector, SmartBoard, or LCD projector, a copy of the First Amendment; index cards, markers, tape

During reading/learning: Word Wall (guided practice)  Materials: A list of headlines from four or five current articles at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/ (e.g., Federal judge: White House must release global warming reports). If students do not have 1:1 laptop computer access to the sites where they can review the text of the First Amendment and the list of headlines, provide First Amendment text and the headlines on a single page to be passed out to students.

After reading/learning: Word Wall (guided practice)  Materials: Index cards

Before Reading/Learning (25 minutes)

Literacy outcome: Students will learn how to identify and try to understand unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts related to the First Amendment and how to construct a content-focused Word Wall.

Teacher facilitation: Tell students you are beginning a short unit related to the First Amendment and how it is directly related to their rights today. Tell them they need to fully understand the First Amendment so they can then apply it to contemporary issues and their lives. Project the text of the First Amendment using an LCD projector, Smart Board, or overhead projector.

Text: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.—The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Model for students how to read and think through a dense piece of text by “chunking” it into phrases and sentences that focus on main ideas, and describe how you identify and try to understand three or four unfamiliar or new vocabulary words or phrases when reading (example: respecting, establishment, prohibit, free exercise, abridge). Think aloud how you use word analysis and context clues to infer the meaning. Remind students to look at root words, prefixes, and suffixes as well as parts of speech to figure out word meaning. Discuss whether the meaning for each word is critical to understanding the text “approximately” (general idea is good enough) or “explicitly” (exact meaning is important). Explain how you connect your own prior knowledge (e.g., this is a 200+ year old text written in formal language) with text clues

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 2 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. (e.g., what the word abridge might have to do with freedom of speech and the press) to figure out meanings. Review resources they can use, such as online dictionaries, but model how to use the dictionary to find the correct definition (example: exercise, assemble).

Designate a student to record, in large letters on an index card, each word the class agrees is important because it contributes heavily to the meaning of the First Amendment. Tape these cards to the First Amendment Word Wall.

Tell students you will continue reading the text of the First Amendment aloud, but now they need to stop you, by saying “Stop” when you come to a vocabulary word that is unfamiliar and they think may be critical to understanding the First Amendment, by saying “Stop.” When someone identifies a word, stop and ask the student to think about how to find the meaning of the word. Ask other students to contribute strategies on how they might figure out the meaning (note: they are not being asked to provide the definition of the word), and call on volunteers to model how to find the meaning and discuss the word. If students look the word up, ask them to share the strategy they used to find the correct definition by doing a “think-aloud.” Work through the rest of the Amendment together with remaining words (example: assemble, redress, grievance). Have student volunteers write the definitions on the index cards and post them on the Word Wall. During Reading/Learning (30 minutes)

Literacy outcome: Students will deepen understanding of words on the Word Wall relative to the First Amendment by discussing and connecting the words to related content.

Teacher facilitation: Project the headlines from four articles at www.firstamendmentcenter.org using the overhead or LCD projector. Tell students they will work in groups of three. Ask students to make predictions, based only on the headlines, about the content of the articles listed on the overhead or at the Web site. For each article headline, they should predict which Word Wall words will be associated with each of the articles. 1) Project headlines. Have students read from the overhead and/or use their computer to read the headlines. 2) Ask the students to discuss the headlines in groups of three and predict what the articles might be about. 3) Tell each small group to select the Word Wall words that might be most associated with each article headline they choose. Let them know they will be reporting out to the whole group and they should plan to share their thinking about why they selected these words. 4) Ask students to report out about which First Amendment Word Wall words might be associated with the headlines from the Web site, based on their current understanding of the words. Discuss some of the words that most students found difficult or predicted would be important throughout all the articles. After Reading/Learning (25 minutes)

Literacy outcome: Students will continue to confirm and synthesize understanding of new vocabulary critical to the content of the unit of study through group discussion and reflection.

Teacher facilitation: Tell the students it is very important for them to have a basic understanding of the core concepts of the First Amendment before they continue the unit. Ask students to pair up quickly for one more Word Wall activity before the period ends. 1) Pass out three index cards to each pair.

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 3 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. 2) Ask each pair to choose three words from the Word Wall. Their task is to compose three questions using the three words. 3) Remind students of the format of a question—statement is first, and then question “what is…?” is the response. Share a sample statement: This freedom allows people to gather together for a peaceful protest. Then share the corresponding question—what is the freedom to assemble? Encourage students to use a variety of words from the Word Wall. However, some of the words may be used several times. This repetition will give students practice hearing the words defined by different groups of students. Also, students may struggle to create a question about new words and concepts. Circulate to assist as needed. 4) Give pairs about ten minutes to work on their statements. Ask a pair to pose a question to the class. Encourage other pairs to confirm they agree on the answer and call on pairs with both hands up. The pair that answers correctly will pose the next question. Continue until each pair has had a chance to ask one of their questions. 5) Conclude the lesson by asking students to pair up and complete an Exit Slip responding to the following 3-2-1 prompts:  Three new or unfamiliar words we read today were:  Two strategies we used to figure out words are:  One word or concept that still confuses us is:

Like all student-completed literacy strategies, these student-produced Word Walls provide valuable data for teacher reflection. The Exit Slip provides further assessment data for teachers to evaluate learning and problem areas from the lesson. These activities should not be graded. The student responses should be used to assess student learning and make decisions about next steps in teaching. Suggested Subsequent Lessons

The Word Wall will remain up until the unit is completed. Several times throughout the unit, the teacher can ask students to use the words in a variety of ways as a “warm-up” or conclusion to the day’s lesson (e.g., asking students to do Word Sorts, to make connections, to identify words in the beginning paragraph of a text that is on the Word Wall, to do Quick Writes using three words, etc.). This will continue to help students develop a richer understanding of the concepts embodied by each of the words.

Next lessons might include having students read articles related to the First Amendment. As new words are encountered in reading and discussions, students or the teacher will post them on the Word Wall. The teacher can also show students other ways to make sense of new vocabulary by using the Word Study strategy with multi-syllabic words of Greek and Latin origin. The teacher can ask students to read, write, speak, listen, and present using the words. The teacher should continue to model and encourage peer-supported and independent use of strategies to infer meaning of words, rather than dictating definitions or asking students to copy verbatim definitions from text.

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 4 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. High School History Lesson Narrative: Understanding the First Amendment

Teachers: As you read the lesson narrative, think about the following questions. You may want to discuss them with fellow history teachers.  What does the teacher do to support students’ literacy development and content learning before, during, and after reading/learning?  If you used these instructional/literacy strategies in your classroom, who do you think they might benefit?  How would you make improvements to this lesson?

Ms. Lasko was beginning a short unit on the First Amendment in which students would be making connections to their own lives. She was concerned about the fact that, although the First Amendment contains only 45 words, those words have been subject to multiple and sometimes conflicting interpretations over the years. Students often assumed they knew a word when, in fact, the meaning they associated with the word was unrelated to the specific context at hand. Or, worse was when students just skipped over unfamiliar vocabulary. And, of course, there was the issue of trying to get students interested in a text written two centuries ago and convincing them it was relevant to their lives today.

Ms Lasko thought:  How could she help students identify words that sometimes create controversy?  How could she help students identify words with multiple meanings so they would have a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the text of the First Amendment?  How could she best guide students in understanding new words using background knowledge, word analysis, and context clues? She decided to use the Word Wall strategy to help students begin thinking about important vocabulary related to the unit and, as importantly, begin using strategies to learn and more accurately interpret vocabulary in text.

Before Reading/Learning When everyone was seated, Ms. Lasko began: “We’re going to be looking at the First Amendment and reading current news articles to see how it connects to our everyday lives. Before we begin, though, we need to actually look at the text of the First Amendment. As we do so, we are going to select what we think are the critical words we need to understand in order to really understand the law.”

“Is everybody ready?” She ignored the groans and forged ahead, projecting a copy of the First Amendment so all students could read with her and follow along as she did a Think-Aloud. “Listen while I read this through once.” Ms. Lasko read the lines aloud smoothly without stopping. Then she said, “Now, I can read all of those words, so I sounded like I knew what I was talking about. We’ve talked about “flat” reading, where you just decode words without really thinking. If you read the First Amendment without thinking, it really doesn’t seem that complicated.”

“This time I’m going to read, but I’m going to stop and think out loud so you can see what kind of thinking you need to do when reading this kind of material. These 45 words have sparked countless debates, protests, lawsuits, and interpretations. So let’s slow down and think about why as we read.”

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 5 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. She proceeded to read aloud again, this time much slower and stopping after the first phrase “Congress shall make no law respecting…” She emphasized the word respecting and continued, now thinking out loud, “So, I know respecting is something I want students to do when they interact with each other. Respecting each other is about showing a certain kind of consideration for others. But here, it’s a law that is “respecting,” and that’s a little confusing. So I need to read on. “… law respecting an establishment of religion.” She stopped and let students think a little here. “What if I try substituting the word concerning or about? I’m not sure how important this word is, but I’ll try it. Congress shall make no law about an establishment of religion. Congress shall make no law concerning an establishment of religion.” She asked students what they thought this might mean. One student suggested the word respecting might have something to do with the laws’ influence on religion. Ms. Lasko agreed and told the class that, at this point, she had to make a decision. “Is this word one for which I need an approximate or explicit definition? This is one of the decisions I have to make when I am working with new vocabulary. Right now, I’m going to decide that an approximate meaning is okay, something like “about” or “concerning,” and I’ll move on. But I reserve the right to change my mind as I continue reading. In the meantime, should we add “respecting” to our Word Wall? Do you think it is an important concept to understand in relation to the law?” Several students nodded.

Before she moved back into the text, Ms. Lasko tapped one student on the shoulder and handed him some index cards and markers. She picked another and gave her some tape. “You two will start scribing some of the words we think need to go up on the Word Wall. After we decide as a class if something should go up, please write the word on an index card and tape it to the wall. If spelling is a concern, you know the words are coming right out of this text, so look up and get it right!”

“Now, I’m going to keep reading, but this time I want you to say ‘stop’ when I come to a word you think is important or may have a new, unusual, or ambiguous meaning. When you tell me to stop, I want you to help me use some strategies to figure out the word. We can think about other words like it, what part of the word might help us figure the meaning, how to use the phrase the word is attached to—and we can think of other places we’ve heard the word used—like my unabridged dictionary, for example, which I encourage you to use if we need it.”

Ms. Lasko went on doing a close reading of the First Amendment, reading slowly and cueing students to say ‘stop’ by stopping herself and looking up at the class for certain words she knew might need discussing. She asked students to help her think through meanings, and reminded students they should share the strategy they use to figure out words, not just definitions. She reminded them the most obvious definitions should be tested in context to see if they make sense. She told them many words, on first glance, do not seem important, but may require additional thought, as it is these words that may directly contribute to how and why the First Amendment has sparked controversy and multiple interpretations.

With her guidance, Ms. Lasko’s students identified several more words, including establishment, abridging, assemble, and redress which were added to the Word Wall with the definitions that Ms. Lasko provided by thinking aloud with the class.

During Reading/Learning At this point, Ms. Lasko stopped and asked students to quickly get into groups of three. She handed out a paper copy of the First Amendment with a list of the headlines she had taken off the Web site, www.firstamendmentcenter.org. She projected the headlines on her overhead and told students they would be working in small groups to predict what each of the articles might be about. Then they’d predict which of the words from the First Amendment, now on the Word

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 6 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. Wall, might be associated with each article. “Let’s do the first one together. The headline is: Federal judge: White House must release global warming reports. Let’s think together about what this article might be about.” The students sat silent, waiting for Ms. Lasko to tell them. She started them off by thinking aloud. “Federal judge… I’m thinking that a federal judge decided the White House should have to release global warming reports. Now, what does that have to do with the First Amendment? Is it the freedom to assemble? Let’s go back to the text of the First Amendment. I’ll read it and you stop me when you think you hear a connection.” She started reading “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right…”

Several students yelled out “Stop. Freedom of the press.” Ms. Lasko smiled and said, “O.K., but let me read a little more. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” She emphasized the last phrase and asked, “What about the right to petition the government?” Some students nodded. “So what vocabulary words from our word wall might be associated with this headline? Turn and talk in small groups of three.” She waited for a minute or two and listened to some of the groups. “What did you decide?” She called on specific groups and elicited the words abridged, freedom of the press, grievance, and redress. “Now you will look at the rest of the headlines in pairs and continue to predict what the articles will be about, and what Word Wall words might be associated with the article.”

While students worked with the headlines, the words on the Word Wall, and the text of the First Amendment, Ms. Lasko circulated around the room to listen for common difficulties and specific individual problems with the task. After spending the rest of her time working with pairs to help them make predictions about the content and vocabulary associated with the articles, Ms. Lasko told students, “For homework tonight, I recommend you explore this Web site further and see what kinds of connections you can make to the issues on the Web site and your own lives. For example, what about Imus and the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team? Does that ring a bell for anyone?” Ms. Lasko chose that example because she knew several of her students had been engaged in a heated discussion in the hallway about that last week. The members of the girl’s basketball team in the school had been acutely aware of the issue, and wore black and red tee shirts to show support for the Rutgers basketball players after the Imus show. “You will be doing that kind of thinking as we continue working with the First Amendment in the coming days. I know you often read the material I hand out and think ‘what does this have to do with me?’ I’m turning that question back on you. Your job is to make connections and tell each other, and then the class, what that has to do with you.”

As she passed out index cards to the pairs, she heard one of the pairs discussing freedom of speech. JC said, “Do you think the principal knows about freedom of speech? Why did I get detention then for cussing in the cafeteria?” Ms. Lasko smiled to herself as she told groups to finish up. She got the feeling that JC and others would want to find out more about free speech limitations within the context of school settings.

After Reading/Learning “Now that you’ve done some predicting about headlines, some thinking, and some vocabulary work, we’re going to play a game. You will be working in pairs and you will have ten minutes to come up with three statements that can be answered in the form of a question using a word on the Word Wall or a phrase from the First Amendment. Let me give you an example: This freedom allows people to gather together for a peaceful protest.” She wrote it on the board. “Who can come up with the question—what is the…?” Tom said, “I’m confused.” Carly offered,

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 7 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project. “What is the freedom to assemble?” “Is she right?” asked Ms. Lasko. Heads nodded. Ms. Lasko wrote the question on the board so students would have a model. “Okay, get into pairs, one of you grab three cards from my desk, and raise your hands if you are still confused and I will come around.” She sat down with Tom and his partner Sam to help them formulate a statement and then checked in on two other pairs where there were questions.

After ten minutes, Ms. Lasko asked for a pair to volunteer to ask the first question. Ella and Casey began, “This freedom protects your right to wear a tee shirt with controversial writing on it.” Several hands went up. Ella called on Maggie: “What is freedom of speech?” “Now it’s Maggie and Rick’s turn,” said Ms. Lasko. Rick read from his paper: “This is the right to attend any church you want.” Zooey shot out, “What is freedom of religion?” and then high-fived her partner. Ms. Lasko reminded students to raise their hands and then made sure each pair got a chance to pose one question to the rest of the class until about five minutes before the end of class.

Ms. Lasko commended the students for “getting it done” this morning. “Now it’s time to finish the lesson with a 3-2-1 Exit Slip,” she said. “Tomorrow, we’re going to begin really talking about how the First Amendment relates to your everyday lives. Explore the articles on www.thefirstamendmentcenter.org and remember any connections you made today in the reading. JC, I know you’re already wondering about freedom of speech in school. Keep thinking! Give me your cards and then, with your partner, respond to the prompts I just put on the board: Three new or unfamiliar words we read today were…, and you’ll fill in the blanks, two strategies we used to figure out words are…, and you’ll briefly describe those strategies, and one word or concept that still confuses us is…, and you’ll write that word. I am definitely not looking for a full blown essay.” Ms. Lasko made eye contact with Haley, her class overachiever, “but please make sure you write enough to convey your learning and your confusion, as this will help me help you as we move forward!” Students worked together in pairs, quickly responding to the exit slip prompts. They packed up their books and dropped their cards off with Ms. Lasko as the bell rang.

The Next Lessons The Word Wall will remain up until the unit is completed. As new words are encountered in reading and discussing, the students or Ms. Lasko will post them on the wall. She will continue to model and encourage peer-supported and independent use of strategies to infer meaning of words, rather than dictating definitions or asking students to copy verbatim definitions from text. Ms. Lasko will use multiple methods to help students interact with the words, including Quick Writes, Word Sorts, and activities like vocabulary charades.

The content for this component of CCSSO’s Adolescent Literacy Toolkit was provided by Public Consulting Group’s Center for 8 Resource Management, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (August 2007). The content was informed by feedback from CCSSO partners and state education officials who participate in CCSSO’s Secondary School Redesign Project.

Load more

  8

Copy Link