Stage+3

= **Learning Experiences** using WHERETO =

In order for students to understand that “ democratic societies must balance the rights and responsibilities of individuals and government for the common good of our society. ” The lessons will focus on the democratic process, and the three branches of government, this will help students’ understand the foundation to the United States government. The activities to follow which will be a skit that has students act out what democracy answering the question what does it mean to live in a democratic society and what democracy means to you? For the three branches of government they will be asked to fill out an exit slip demonstrating what they just learned about the branches of government. All of these activities encourage students to reflect and analyze the core values of democracy and the importance of the individual in a democratic nation. For students to understand that “people develop rules and laws within government to manage conflict and create order”. The lesson that will be taught will be based on the importance of laws and the activity will be to have students create classroom rules that they find a necessity in the classroom. Through this assessment students have a powerful voice in the classroom that lets them reflect on the importance of the rules held in class, and from their can evaluate the importance of rules in government. Students will understand that “ citizens can approach elected officials with issues or concerns, and work with them to develop a proposed bill. ” This activity to demonstrate this enduring understanding will be a letter to an authoritative figure discussing what they would like to change. To summarize the students understanding of the unit as a whole the final assessment will be a mock debate on passing laws.
 * W:** “Do the activities explain by themselves **where** are your students heading and **why**?”
 * Answer:** The activities that we have developed in our individual lesson plans, and are overall assessment, direct our students to fulfill our enduring understanding targets.

**H:** “Do the activities **hook** your students through engaging, thought provoking experiences?” By creating their own laws in the classroom this allows the students to have ownership of the material being taught and can evaluate the importance of laws in their government. Having a letter to an authoritative leader, and hosting a mock debate allows students to work on all levels of bloom’s taxonomy. Students are illustrating their comprehension, knowledge, application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of the entire unit.
 * Answer:** The activities do hook our students because our assessments are so varied that this allows our students to continue synthesizing information without becoming overwhelmed and bored. For the lessons on the democratic process students perform a skit, which will speak to their kinesthetic nature, and will be able to work with one another which is an example of cooperative learning. The exit slip is an example of direct instruction which allows students to classify the branches and explain in detail their individual understanding of the concepts.


 * E:**“Do the activities help students **experience** the ideas or issues to make them real?”
 * Answer:** There are several activities that are performance task assessment that allows the students to see how the information they are learning is used in real world situations. Such as creating their own laws in the class, writing a letter to a leader advocating for change, and having a mock debate, for these events occur in real world situations.


 * R:** “Do the activities cause students to **reflect** and **rethink**- to dig deeper into the core idea?”
 * Answer:** Our assessments can be related to real world assessments; this encourages students to think on a higher level where they reflect on the issues that have been discussed. The debate and writing the letter allows them to reflect on the importance of making sure their voice is heard in order for change to occur.


 * E:**“Do the activities allow for students to **exhibit** their understanding through a product or performance?”
 * Answer:** All these activities make sure that the students demonstrate what they have learned. Having a skit about democracy they have to use elements that they learned from the lesson to perform. The exit slip on the three branches of democracy will show the teacher if they were able to understand the responsibilities of each branch. Creating their own laws in the classroom that they believe are necessary in the classroom will have them discuss the importance of laws not only in the classroom but in government as well. Followed by writing a letter to a leader and having a mock debate, well have them illustrate all of the learned material they have learned from the unit.


 * T:**“How will I **tailor** the learning activities to address the different readiness levels, learning profiles, and interests of my students?”
 * Answer:** Each lesson discusses how each teacher will differentiate the lesson in order to reach all students. Through the use of graphic organizers, whole class assessment, and other forms of differentiation all students will be able to learn the material.


 * O:**“How are the unit experiences **organized** to best promote understanding?”
 * Answer:** The lessons are taught in certain order to ensure that the students are able to understand the material in order. The first lesson to be taught is on the democratic process which is the foundation for understanding the rest of the unit. The second lesson is about the three branches of government, which again is a necessity and is part of the enduring understandings, for the students to learn. The third lesson is about the importance of laws, and the final lesson is on the process for implementing laws, all correlate to the overall assessment of having a mock debate.

UBD Lesson Plan 1 on Democratic Process **__CT Standard 1: __** Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts, themes, and information and social studies is necessary to promote our understanding of our nation and our world. 1.7- The purpose, structures and functions of government and law at the local, state, national and international levels.
 * __Abbreviated Lesson Plans:__**
 * __Model:__** Direct Instruction with elements of Cooperative Learning

Students will understand the democratic process which is the foundation for understanding the entire unit. Students will know the democratic process. Students will be able to create a skit that will illustrate their understanding of how the democratic process functions in our government.
 * __Corresponding EU/Objective:__**

Previous Knowledge: Constitution, Declaration of Independence, American Revolution, Key figures during this time (Ex. Washington, Adams, and Jefferson).
 * __Lesson:__**

Initiation: Have a quick discussion with students on previous knowledge, and how it correlates to learning about the democratic process. Then watch a clip about democracy from teachertube.com.


 * Lesson:** Discuss the clip, and then read __D is for Democracy__. (Lesson 20 to 30 minutes)


 * Assessment:** In groups of three or four create a skit to act out in front of the class, about what it means to live in a democratic nation and what democracy means to you. This will require students to define democracy and the aspects that make a government democratic. The groups will need a recorder, presenters, and a narrator, they can decide how many presenters they want to use. All students are helping one another come up with the content that they are going to present.


 * Closure:** Present skits and discuss with the class the elements of democracy each skit portrayed. (Assessment/Closure Next class 15 to 20 minutes)

__D is for Democracy__ by Elissa Grodin “Foundations of Democracy” Video Clip on http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=134824&title=Foundations_of_Democracy
 * __Resources:__**

For Caroline, who can write very well, in her group I will encourage her to try a different role, such as a presenter. By being a presenter she can try coming up with content and work on her oral speaking skills. For Kyle and Shevalia, who need assistance with sentence structure and organizing their thoughts, before assigning groups I will have the students fill out a graphic organizer coming up with their own ideas to bring to their group. The graphic organizer will help Kyle and Shevalia create content and organize their thoughts, so when they go into their group work they will not be lost in the crowd and can contribute to their group. For Abby, who lacks giving details and explanations in her writing, I will have her fill out the graphic organizer that has extra lines. This was I can ask her to write out a few describing sentence about her ideas. The purpose of this is to help her work on writing in detail and will help her explain her ideas to her group.
 * __Differentiation:__**

UBD Lesson Plan 2 on the Three Branches of Government
 * Model:** Concept Development

Strand: 1.7 The purpose, structures and functions of government and law at local, state, national, and international levels. GLE: Explain how government's structures provide basic services.
 * CT Standard 1:** Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts, themes, and information and social studies is necessary to promote our understanding of our nation and our world.
 * Corresponding EU/Objective:** Democratic societies must balance the rights and responsibilities of individuals and government for the common good of our society.


 * Summary including duration:** (45 min) Students will develop the concept of state government and specifically the branches of government. The lesson will begin by students coming up with words and ideas which represent roles and responsibilities of state government. These words include people within state government, buildings used for state government, and key terms. Once complete the class will break into 3 groups in which each group will represent one of the three branches of government. They will be given a large piece of light brown paper in the form of a tree branch. Students will write the words and ideas created as a whole class that belong to their particular branch of government. Upon completion students will add their tree branch to the tree trunk to then represent a complete state government. Students will come to the completed tree and one group member will explain what roles and responsibilities they included in their branch. Exit slips will be provided at the end of the lesson.


 * Resources:** http://www.proteacher.com/090038.shtml


 * Formative Assessment:** Aside from observation, I will have students complete an exit slip at the end of this lesson. I will ask them to list the three branches of government along with a responsibility of that particular branch. I will also ask them to pick one of the three branches of government and explain why they think it is important and what would happen if we did not have that branch.


 * Differentiation:** Kyle and Shevalia will benefit from the lesson design which includes organizing material. Essentially the completed tree tree with 3 branches is a large graphic organizers which are effective in helping students visualize and categorize information.

UBD Lesson Plan 3 on Why Laws are Important **__Model:__** Cooperative Learning/Discussion

Strand 1.8: The interactions between citizens and their government in the making and implementation of laws.
 * CT Standard 1:** Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts, themes, and information and social studies is necessary to promote our understanding of our nation and our world.

__EU:__ People develop rules and laws within government to manage conflict and create order.

Previous Knowledge: the democratic process,the three branches of government.
 * __Lesson:__**


 * Initiation:** (5 mins) Review with students what they have been learning in class about the democratic process. Tell students that today they will be talking about laws. Discuss what a law is (laws are rules citizens have to follow).


 * Lesson Development:** (20 mins) let students respond to the question "Why do we have laws?" After discussing, make a chart on the board with two columns. Label the left side "law" and the right side "importance." Write "seat belts." Explain to students wearing a seat belt is a law all drivers and passengers must follow. Ask students why they think this law is important and write their responses on the chart. Select a student to give an example of another law and use it to fill in the chart.

Divide students into small groups of three or four. Tell students that laws are are like rules. Give groups the task of working together to create a list of all the rules they need to follow when their at school. Remind them of all the different situations in school like the classroom, cafeteria, gym, recess, specials, hallways, and even the bus ride to or from school. Motivate groups to try to think of as much rules as possible. When they have finished creating the list, each group member will choose a rule and explain to their group why they think it is an important rule to follow.


 * Assessment:** (15 mins) Students will work individually to create three classroom rules they feel would be the most important in the classroom. Students will then write a paragraph explaining the importance of each rule- how they would improve the classroom and their learning, keep the classroom running efficient, or how the classroom could be harmed if this rule isn't followed.


 * Closure:** (5 mins) Select a few students to read their responses. Emphasize to students that people develop rules and laws within government to manage conflict and create order. End by telling students to imagine a world where there were no rules that had to be followed.


 * Differentiation:** I will group Kyle and Shevalia, who need help with sentence structure and organization, and Abby, who has trouble giving details and explanations in her writing, with more of their advanced classmates. This will ensure that they have exposure to rich discussion surrounding the importance of laws during group work. This will give them extra support and prepare them for the written assessment. I will also have them fill out graphic organizers, which I will check and give feedback on before they start their written assessment.

**UBD Lesson Plan 4 The process for making and implementing laws in CT**
 * Model:** Direct Instruction

3. Citizens can approach elected officials with issues or concerns, and work with them to develop a proposed bill.
 * Enduring Understanding:**

**CT Standard 1:** Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts, themes, and information and social studies is necessary to promote our understanding of our nation and our world. Strand 1.8 The interactions between citizens and their government in the making and implementing of laws. GLE 15: Explain the process for making and implementing laws in Connecticut **Summary:** (45 minutes) Students will be read the book "House Mouse, Senate Mouse" by Peter W. Barnes and Cheryl Shaw Barnes. Alexandria,VA VSP Books,1996. The book describes the research and drafting of a bill, committee hearing and markup, floor action, and presidential action, and covers the idea of compromise. The students will then watch the video from Schoolhouse Rock - How a Bill Becomes a Law on Youtube.com (http://youtube/mEJL2Uuv-oQ) [|Schoolhouse Rock] On the white board, I will then go through the different steps with the students on how the bill is made and passed. 1. Proposed Bill is written up and Sent to the (House) for numbering. 2. Bill is given title and number and sent to a committee. 3. Committee holds public meetings for all state representatives and legislators who accept or reject bill. 4. If bill is accepted, it goes to the Legislative Office to check constitutionality. 5. Changes made in house of Origin and Bill is voted on (House). 6. If bill is voted yes, it is sent to the other house for vote (Senate). 7. If bill is voted yes, it is sent to the original house (House) for acceptance of changes by Senate and then sent to the Governor. 8. If Conference committee agrees, bill is sent back to both houses who accept or reject changes. 9. If Bill is accepted by both houses again, it is sent to the Governor to; sight the bill, veto the bill, or take no action. 10.If Bill is vetoed it is sent back to original house (House) to be reconsidered by both houses. 11. Bill can become law if; the Governor signs it, doesn't sign it in 5 days the first time, and 15 days the second time,or if the bill is accepted in both houses by 2/3 majority vote. The students will then have the opportunity to practice in small groups. Each group will have a small brown paper bag with all the steps on them, and they will have to work together to find the correct order. As the groups finish, they will call me to the group to make sure the steps are correct. If they are they will paste them on a piece of paper for their notes. If they are not they can have extra time to make changes.
 * Objective:** Students will be able to explain the process for making and implementing laws in Connecticut.

When the groups are done they will fill out a Graphic Organizer in class or for Homework with the steps of the law. Students will talk about why they might need to know this information in the near future for the Unit Assessment as well as in their adult lives. **Resources:** Video of Schoolhouse Rock: (http://youtube/mEJL2Uuv-oQ) Uploaded Worksheet: How A Bill Becomes A Law In Connecticut prepared by the League of Women Voters of Connecticut and the Joint Committee on Legislative Management. Uploaded Graphic Organizer: **Formative Assessment:** The Individually filled out Graphic Organizer, and an exit slip stating what the students still do not understand about the process. **Differentiation:** Kyle and Shevalia would both get great use out of the graphic organizer to ensure that they understand the process of making a bill. They would also benefit from the sorting activity because it gives them a chance to see what writing looks like when it is not organized and think about why they should work on their own organizing skills in their writing.