John Rutz

Education Field Experience EDUC 230-01

Professor Suk
Spring 14
Middle School Lesson Plan

Audience: 24 homogenously grouped students in an Eighth Grade Social Studies class in a
suburban middle school.

Subject: Middle School Social Studies-Grade 8 Topic: Colonization of America

Objective: The students will be able to locate and describe the many settlements in America.

Standards: NJCCCS for Social Studies 6.1.8.B.2.a (NJCCCS, 2009)
Standard: 6.1 U.S. History: America in the World All students will acquire the
knowledge and skills to think analytically about how past and present interactions
of people, cultures, and the environment shape the American heritage. Such
knowledge and skills enable students to make informed decisions that reflect
fundamental rights and core democratic values as productive citizens in local,
national, and global communities.

Grade Level: By the end of Grade 8

Strand: B. Geography, People, and the Environment

Content Statement: 2. Colonization and Settlement

CPI: 2a. Determine factors that impacted emigration, settlement patterns, and
regional identities of the colonies.

Materials: textbook, pens/pencils, notebooks, map, power point slides, projector, screen, and do
it now work sheet.

Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge: The students previously learned about the age of
exploration and the discovery of the New World. Students also have an insight of the layout of a
world map and map of the New World. The students know how to take bulleted notes and
compare and contrast two different things.

Anticipatory Set: As the children walk into class there will be a do it now assignment on their
desks. It would ask them to list a set of pros and cons of leaving Europe for the Americas.

Input and Modeling: The method of input would be a combination of reading from the actual
text, and also a session of the students listening as the teacher speaks and projects slides with the
power point presentation. Even before this takes place class would begin with going over the do
it now and starting a group discussion that would lead into the body of the lesson.

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Guided Practice and Evaluation: The students would be broken into groups by the teacher, and
each group would get given a specific colony to work with. They would talk about how and why
it was founded, and by what type of people (culture, religion, etc.). As this is going on the
teacher would of course help struggling groups and help to spur on greater discussion and
evaluation of the subject matter.

Group Practice and Evaluation: The groups will one by one go to the front of the class and
present what they learned. They will start by pointing out on a map where the colonist from their
given settlement came from and where they settled. After they would go on to talk about what
they talked about in their groups and what they found out about their settlement. As the students
present the teacher will evaluate the effort given and how much each member of the group
participated and brought to the discussion and presentation.

Closure: In closing please take out a piece of paper and write down whether or not you would
have moved from Europe to the New World, and give your main reasons why or why not. Good
Bye and have a great day.






























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Reference
Education, The New Jersey Department of. (2009) 2009 Core curriculum
content standards revision project. Retrieved from social studies standards report
http://www.njcccs.org/ContentAreaTabularView.aspx?code=6&Desc=Social+Studies.