American Industrial Revolution
Simulations - Railroads
Students will learn about the railroad systems and the railroad cars. Students will interact with the WebRangers activity, making railroad connections, creating their own train whistles, earning clues, and conducting the train. Students will compose a well written letter to another student about their experience and what they have learned.
Assessment - Summative - As a summative assessment the teacher will be looking for completeness of maps, and note taking on the maps. Additionally, the teacher will be looking for thorough and thoughtful notes.
Assessment - Formative - The teacher will be looking for participation in the whip around brainstorm opener. The teacher will be circulating the computer lab and the classroom throughout the activity to ensure that students are on task and completing the assignment.
Students will work in the computer lab with a partner on Railroad Connections. Students will navigate through the program and answer questions posed to them.
Students will map their journey across the United States to find out what happened to a town that disappeared. They will take notes along the way, as they will need to write a letter to another student about their experience at the end of the journey.
Teacher will conduct a quick class brainstorm about railroads. This brainstorm will be ran, much like a whip around.
Inquiry - Child Labor
Students will learn about the impact that a primary source can have and all the information you can learn from it. Students will establish key details of the images, list important traits, state questions that they have and come up with a plan of action as to where they will find additional information for each image that they analyze. Students will participate in the exit ticket activity and be respectful of classmates and their opinions and questions based on class rules.
Assessment - Summative - Students will be assessed based on completeness, thoroughness and thoughtfulness of The More You Look, The More You See Photo Analysis worksheet.
Assessment - Formative - The teacher will walk around the classroom check for progress on the worksheets. At the end of each picture showing students will share out the questions that they have, or conclusions that they have drawn.
Students will participate in an ‘Exit Ticket’ activity.
Students will look at one picture at a time as provided by the teacher, for a total of three pictures. For each picture students will complete the worksheet, The More You Look, The More You See Photo Analysis. This worksheet requires students to observe, deduce, interpret and investigate further.
Teacher will read a primary source to the students, “Child Labor In The Cotton Mills of Mississippi”.
Discussions - Unions
Students will engage in a respectful discussion about the unions based upon the stance which they are assigned. Students will participate in a small group discussion where they make points, concede positions, and graciously spar in verbal banter. Students will reflect on their experiences by sharing out in small groups and in a whole class setting. Students will summarize their experience in a short paragraph at the end.
Assessment - Summative - The teacher will be circulating for group closure self-assessments. Additionally, the paragraphs that the students write as a wrap up will be looked at for thoughtfulness and completeness.
Assessment - Formative - During the group discussions the teacher will circulate throughout the room, listening for engaging conversations within the groups that are on topic. If the teacher finds that conversations are not on topic or that groups are struggling he or she may jump in and add a question or two of their own to help the group get jump started again.
Students will have 5 minutes as a small group to reflect on how their discussion went, what they would do differently, and what conclusions they came to. Each group will then appoint one member to share out their experiences to the whole class. Lastly, each student will individually write one paragraph about their experience as a whole, reflecting on how their group discussion went, what they liked, what they learned, if their views changed and any other comments they would like to share that are relevant.
Students will be in groups of 6 (one student per each color, white, red, black, yellow, green, and blue) students will take turns discussing the roles of the unions based upon their color’s instructions. Students do not need to raise their hands in this small group discussion but do need to allow each other to speak freely and give each student the time and respect that they deserve. If the teacher sees that groups are getting out of control or hand, he or she will remind them of the rules and get the groups back on track.
Teacher will present a Prezi with class rules for the discussion that will take place.
Reading - Unions
Students will learn about the role that the unions had in the developing workplaces of America, their place now and in what capacity big businesses and politics influenced the unions. Students will identify key union leaders, and big businesses who effected each other. Students will silently read, and choose two to three 5 word phrases that stand out to them regarding the of unions and the workplace. Students will create a found poem as a whole class based on the phases they find in the text.
Assessment - Summative - Students will be assessed based on their participation in the found poem. Students who are not on theme or are not putting forth effort will loose participation points for the assignment.
Assessment - Formative - students will be assessed formatively on their participation in the group discussion as well as the information observation of the teacher of their thinking notes. The teacher will also be constantly walking around the classroom during their silent reading time to make sure that they are on task and keeping pace.
Students will be given time to read the text on their own as a whole class, and then the students will highlight and annotate specific sections of the text where they have a question, a comment or where something stands out to them.
Students will journal on the topic of “With the creation of the unions, life in the United States became . . .” After the 5 minutes is complete a few students will have the opportunity to share out.
Teacher will facilitate class discussion after class has had time to read and make their own thinking notes.
Lecture - Unions
Students will learn about the role that the unions had in the developing workplaces of America, their place now and in what capacity big businesses and politics influenced the unions. Students will identify key union leaders, and big businesses who effected each other. In a group of 3-5, students will create a Comic Strip where they focus on a their original topic that was given to them during the carousel brainstorm and expand upon it based on the knowledge they learned and the sources they have. Students will use various media, primary and secondary sources and come up with their own critical thinking questions and pose them to the class during their presentation.
Assessment - Summative - An evaluation of the comic strips will be made to determine if the goals and objectives were met.
Assessment - Formative - During the opening the teacher will check to ensure that students are engaging in the carousel brainstorm. Even if a student does not have any knowledge on the subject topic that is in front of them, they need to be asking questions of the group first and then of the teacher if the group does not have an answer. By engaging and working together the teacher is checking for collaboration, cooperation, and communication.
Students will create comic strips based on the topic they were originally given for the carousel brainstorm. They will expand on the topic and use primary and secondary sources they have as well as come up with at least one critical thinking question to ask the class. As a group they will give a brief presentation of their comic strip.
Students will participate in a carousel brainstorm opener based on the topic they have in front of them.
Teacher will present a Prezi on the unions, their establishment and the obstacles that they faced. Additionally, the Prezi will include the influence of politics and big business during this time. The Prezi will use various media to convey the content of the lesson. Guided notes will accompany the lecture for the students.
