Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking connection)

Teacher:
Content & Title:
Grade Level:
Carson Harris
Poverty Organization
7th Grade Social
Presentation
Studies
Standards:
ISTE S.3.
o Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information
from a variety of sources and media.
AZCCRS Social Studies Grade 7
o Concept 4: Rights, Responsibilities, and Roles of Citizenship PO 1. Describe the benefits
of community service
AZCCRS ELA
o Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and
generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
(7.W.7)
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
I can work collaboratively to create an organization that combats poverty
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) Students demonstrate their understanding of their research by sharing their
findings to the Big 3 questions with the class.
(summative) Students create a poster that answers the Big 3 questions about their invented
organization to combat poverty.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from simple to more
complex):
I can articulate the similarities and differences between local and global poverty
I can use the internet to research organizations that are fighting poverty
I can work collaboratively to create an organization that combats poverty
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what students are
doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)
In this lesson, students will first research different organizations that fight poverty in group. They will then
take that information and use it to develop their own non-profit organization that helps people in poverty.
Students will create a poster and present their non-profit idea to the class.
This lesson is being taught as a summative assessment to the poverty unit. It will demonstrate the students
knowledge of the different types of poverty (local and global), its causes, and what can be done to help those
people in need. It teaches students how to research, work collaboratively in groups, and introduces students
to the many amazing things that are being done to alleviate poverty.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this lesson)
Students must know the definition of poverty, the differences between local and global poverty, and the
causes of poverty to complete this lesson effectively.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
Students may think that there is nothing they can do to fight poverty.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)
I am reinforcing internet researching skills, group collaboration skills, and presentation skills in this lesson.
Four Ways of Thinking connection:
Strategic Thinking is necessary for this lesson, because student are presented with a problem (Poverty) and
must work in groups to find solutions. Students must think strategically about the different facets of poverty,
decide if they want to focus local or global, research what has already been done, and think of ways in which
they could help.

Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)

Since this lesson involves researching on the internet, Safe Searching rules must be in place to keep students
on task and from inappropriate material online.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) What kinds of things are being done in the world to alleviate poverty (globally or
locally)?
2. (to elaborate) What kind of organization would you create to fight poverty?
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible quantity)
1. Poverty: The state of being extremely poor and
1. 6 Chromebooks with internet connection (1
lacking basic human needs.
per group)
2. Local Poverty: Poverty that affects people in
2. 6 sheets of Large Poster Paper
Phoenix and Arizona
3. Projector with YouTube Videos prepared
3. Global Poverty: Poverty that affects people around
UNICEF Video
the world, specifically in developing nations.
Phoenix Food Bank Video
4. Non-Profit Organization: An organization that
4. Markers for each group
raises money to meet a charitable need, that does not
make a profit.
Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student attention, pose a question
(IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook)
Students Will:
Ask the students to reflect on the different types of
Discuss both the UNICEF and the Phoenix Food
poverty they have learned about throughout the week.
Bank video. They will compare and contrast the
Show the UNICEF video. Discuss what kind of poverty two, demonstrating an understanding of the
UNICEF takes on (global). Show Phoenix Food Bank
differences and similarities between local and
video. Discuss local poverty. Ask students to compare
global poverty.
and contrast local and global charities.
Introduce Inquiry Question: What kinds of things are
being done by organizations to alleviate poverty?
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Put on Subtitles while showing the videos for ELL and hearing disabled students. Ask the students to share
their ideas with a table partner before asking the students to share with the class.
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials to discover information
that will help them answer the question posed in Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow,
especially for younger students, but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of
the lesson.
Teacher Will:
Students Will: (list all steps)
Pose Inquiry Question: What kinds of things are being
Work in groups to research a charity or non-profit
done by organizations to alleviate poverty?
that is working to alleviate poverty. They will take
Explain that the students will have 15 minutes working notes on the charity so they can share their
in their table groups to research online an organization findings with the class. Students will answer all
or charity that is fighting poverty. Give them a list of
three of the big questions
starting points Including UNICEF, St. Marys Food
Bank, and Feeding America. Let students know that
they can research other charities outside of these three
if they choose. Tell students they must answer 3 big
questions:
1. What is the name of the Organization?
2. Does the organization combat local, national, or
global poverty?
3. What is the organization doing to combat

poverty (food, homes, clean drinking water

etc.)?
Have students log on to computers and begin
researching. Remind students to take notes of what
they find so they can share their findings with the
class.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
While students are researching, walk around the room to make sure groups are staying on-task and answer
any questions.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects student discoveries to
correct content terms/explanations, students articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the
lesson sub-objectives by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Ask each group to share the organization they
Present the organization they found, answering the
researched and answer the 3 big questions. Ask any
3 big questions. The students not presenting will
follow-up questions about the organization, and
listen attentively and ask addditional questions
encourage the students to ask additional questions
they may have about another groups organization.
about it as well.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Call on one member from each group to share their findings. Remind students to be respectful of others
when they are presenting.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and clarified in Explain
and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of this learning at a deeper level. Students
should be using higher order thinking in this stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If?
question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2)
Students Will:
Pose the second inquiry question: What kind of
Create a poster for their invented organization to
organization would you create to fight poverty?
fight poverty. They will work in collaborative
Give students 15 minutes to work in their groups to
groups to create the organization and answer all 3
create an idea for a non-profit organization that fights
questions:
poverty. Remind them that they will have to answer the
1. What is the Organizations Name?
big 3 Questions, explaining what their organization is
2. Does the organization combat local,
and how it helps alleviate poverty.Give each group a
national, or global poverty?
large sheet of poster paper and markers to write down
3. What does the organization do specifically
their ideas on a poster to present to the class.
to help people in poverty?
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
While students are working in groups, walk around the room to make sure students are on-task and answer
any questions they may have. Encourage cooperation and ideas from all group members.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson objective (though perhaps not
mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also serves as a closing, students should also have a chance
to summarize the big concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
Have each group present their poster to the rest of
Share their posters for their organizations with the
the class. Emphasize that EVERY student needs to
class. Every student will share at least one thing off
share at least something from their groups poster.
of their poster. Students not presenting will
respectfully listen and ask questions about the
organization.
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
Congratulate the students on their creative organizations and remind them that they can be the ones to change
the world. Ideas like the ones they came up with today are the kinds of ideas that help people in need and
really make a difference.

**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance the learning outcomes. In
each section where prompted, list the best practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.