Theme: United States Frontier Expansion (Gold Rush)

Grades: 9th 10th United States History

Goals:
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and processes using technology.

Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

Explore the meaning of American culture by identifying the key ideas, beliefs, and
patterns of behavior, and traditions that help define it and unite all Americans.
Investigate the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on the
Earths surface.

Objectives:

Students will be able to recall and incorporate prior knowledge of western frontier history
of the United States.

Students will unearth new materials through both group discussions and individual
activities within the lesson.

Students will exemplify and reflect upon historical content while participating in
interactive activity Striking it Rich.

Students will engage in software activity that will exemplify historical knowledge and
reinforce learning.

Detailed Lesson Plan:

Introductory Learning Activity:
To begin my lesson, I will have my students sit in their normally assigned seats. From there, I
will direct their attention towards the dry-erase board. The term Bellringer will be projected
on the board and under this, a question will be displayed.

The questions are as followed:

1. What do you know about the Gold Rush or this particular time period in the United
States?
Following the completion of this, we as a class will hold a group discussion where we discuss all
of the answers which were written during the time that was allocated for this exercise. As
students provide valid answers, I will encourage them to write down other answers mentioned in
order to strengthen their overall understanding of the subject matter. This exercise is also a vital
opportunity for me to find a common understanding among students as to where comprehension
is on the subject and what additional materials should be provided.
B) Any additional materials which I feel is necessary would be provided on my teaching website
and available to students following the lessons. I would also provide the Bellringer activity on
my website with the list of answers which we as a class discussed.
This portion of the class should take approximately five to ten minutes to complete.

Provide Information:
A)
This portion of class will discuss both the historical context of the lesson as well as the
technological aspects also. It is important for students to comprehend both elements in order to
fully grasp the lesson. I will provide some written materials for the students which fully
discusses the events which surrounded primarily the Gold Rush and the western frontier during
the mid-1800s. I will also direct them to additional materials which will be available on my
website for them to once again review and aid in their comprehension.
My instructions to my website will be as followed:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Log onto http://student.plattsburgh.edu/

Select the name folder which says Pombrio, Tyler
Once on my faculty webpage, please select the Resources tab
Look through the available links which will provide you with the additional materials.

For the purpose of this classroom exercise, I will provide students an article called The
California Gold Rush, 1849. This will provide students some background context as to the
events which surrounded this time period in the United States. Following this class period, this
article will be available on my faculty website.
B)
The next portion of class will require students to:
1. Log onto http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldrush/sfeature/game.html

2. Click the Strike it Rich link.

3. Begin playing the game as one of the possible characters.
I will ask the students to begin playing the game and attempt to progress as far as they can into
its available content. The purpose of this is for students to begin making connections to the
historical content which is being covered during our classroom learning time. This interactive
game provides a vital link between the historical and technological aspects of learning. I will also
provide an observation sheet where students can write down any thought or ideas which they
see within the game or result from playing the game. Furthermore, I feel as though the additional
sources will allow for students to fully grasp the importance of the time period in which the
Gold Rush occurred. This will allow understanding in a future assessment which I will assign
my students.
This portion of class will take approximately fifteen minutes to complete.

Provide Practice:
A)
This portion of class will require students to reflect on some of the historical lessons that they
have learned and incorporate them into this activity. I will recommend students use both the
article The California Gold Rush, 1849, the materials which have been previously discussed in
class, and the observations which were recorded during the playing of the interactive game
Strike it Rich. With the help of these learned materials, students will be better able to tackle the
technological component of this activity.

B)
I will ask my students to use the software program Microsoft Publisher to create some kind of
poster which will reflect common ideas of the western frontier. I will leave the final concept up
to the individual students but I will also provide the students a list of possible ideas which could
be incorporated into their concept. Within the context of the software program, students will be
able to construct their own ideas and apply them into this practice activity. Furthermore, this
activity will provide greater connections between what is being taught during my lesson plans
and apply to their own historical understanding.
The final purpose of this activity will be to complete an assignment which will be a formal
method of assessment.
This portion of class will take approximately ten minutes to complete.

Methods of Assessment:
For the assessment of this lesson and previous lesson which discussed these materials, I will have
students construct a poster which will reflect what they have learned during these classroom
lessons. Students will work in groups and be asked to show that the materials which have been

provided to them will be used in its construction. I will provide the students a rubric which will
give them an understanding of what they will be graded on and what their grade will be
composed of overall.
I will also ask students to present their projects to the remainder of the class and discuss their
overall understanding. Students will be able to access all of the materials which were available
throughout my lessons and on my faculty website page.

Provide Knowledge of Results:

After the completion of the practice exercise, I will reconvene the class into a group setting. I
will attempt to extract information from my students and discover what they have learned
throughout my lesson plan. Like the beginning of class, I will have questions written on the
board for them to answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. What have you learned following the activities completed in class today?
2. What are you still unsure of or would like to learn more about?
I will have them hand this in at the end of the class to gauge where each students comprehension
of these materials. Following this, I will be able to provide the necessary materials to close any
gaps in the learning process.

Review the Activity:

Much of the materials which are collected during both the introductory learning activity and
the finding of knowledge and results will be a great means of reviewing the main components
of this lesson plan.
Following the findings I feel that the material can be altered to benefit the future lessons which
are taught and provided to students.