CEP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Molly Anstett

Date: 12/6/16 and 12/7/16
School:
Challenger Middle School
Social Studies

Grade Level: 8th

Content Area:

Title: Bill of Rights Activity

of 7

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson:

directly from the standard)
Students can:

Lesson #: 6

(Write Content Standards

1.2.f. Analyze ideas that are critical to the understanding of American history and
give examples of the ideals involved in major events and movements. Topics to
include but not limited to representative democracy, federalism, capitalism,
abolition, temperance, nativism, and expansionism
1.1.b. Use and interpret documents and other relevant primary and secondary
sources pertaining to United States history from multiple perspectives
4.2.d. Explain the role and importance of the Constitution
4.2.e. Discuss the tensions between individual rights, state law, and national law
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of
instruction, select applicable questions from standard)
1. Which primary documents have had the greatest impact on the people of the United
States?
2. How has the United States balanced individual rights and law?

Concepts and skills students master: (Understandings, Big Ideas, Unit

objectives)
Students will synthesize their understanding of the
Constitution using the Bill of Rights. They will demonstrate knowledge of the
amendment process, the reflection of the times in the Bill of Rights, and the factors
that led to their creation.
Evidence Outcomes: (Knowledge/ Skills, Lesson Objectives)
Every student will be able to: identify what the Bill of Rights is, and why the first
ten amendments were proposed and passed together. Students will demonstrate
this understanding by completing the identification of the Bill of Rights, applying
them to real-world examples.

Assessment of Evidence Outcomes: (How will you assess the selected lesson
objectives (general explanation, you will go into more detail at the end of the lesson
plan)
I will assess these objectives through the
completion of the Bill of Rights activity and their warm-up activity. Questioning
strategies, resulting in student processing, will also demonstrate achievement of
objectives.
Colorado State University College of Health and Human Sciences

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CEP Lesson Plan Form

Planned Lesson Activities

Activity Name

Bill of Rights Activity

Approx. Time

How long do you expect the activity to last?

One block period (90 Minutes)

Anticipatory Set

Teaching/
Presentation:
(Select the most
appropriate teaching
model.)
-direct instruction
-presentation model
-concept teaching
-cooperative
learning
-inquiry

Teaching Strategy:
Guided Practice
&
Differentiation
Closure

Recap of Constitutional Card Sort

Give example for warm-up
Share learning target for the day

Includes: Input, Modeling and Checking for Understanding

1. Cooperative Learning: Warm-up of five questions will be on the bo
to work together on. They must find the answers in the Constituti
partners to research the answers.
2. Checking for Understanding: Teacher will go over answers with stu
confusion and explain more in-depth processes within the answer
3. Presentation Model: To go over the instructions for the Bill of Righ
teacher will model how to find the answer to one of the questions
4. Cooperative Learning: In groups, students will search through the
and Bills of Rights to find the correct amendment that answers th
each station.

Students will find the amendment that applies to their questions/picture

in complete sentences, then move on to the next questions.
Students will work in groups to go through the activity, while teacher cir
student mastery as well as address other questions. Differentiation prov
shortened questions, and/or making connections between the activity an
Closure provided after lesson through discussion of questions, sho
Then, students will be instructed to turn-in their Bill of Rights Acti
Teacher will explain the necessity of amendments, including the s
amendments that we have currently.

Materials

Apple TV, iPads, Composition Books, grouped desks, pocket Constitution

Rights Activity and Answer Sheets

Accommodations
&

To modify: If the activity is too advanced for a child, students will have m
assignments to work on in mixed-ability pairs, this could include shorten

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CEP Lesson Plan Form

Modifications

or alternative assignments. Other opportunities for learning include clas

working in groups, or through modified questions and readings. When fa
activity, I will be checking in with students about their progress to make
adjustments.
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a child, I will adjust questions to
amendments of the Constitution with their prior knowledge, including cr
strategies, increasing the challenge of the concepts. Additionally, studen
more in-depth or have questions added, increasing the challenge.

What accommodations will need to be implemented and for what studen

Accommodations need to be implemented for students previously identi
and 504s, as well as students who appear to be struggling as demonstra
understanding and questioning strategies. These accommodations can i
shortened questions, cloze notes, clarification, and more time to process
activities.

Post Lesson Reflection

1

To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize

assessment data to justify your level of achievement)

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CEP Lesson Plan Form

The lesson objectives were achieved by most students at a high level.

The warm-up activity required students to think critically about the
concepts we have been learning. They were applying the Constitution
to real-world examples, resulting in some frustrations. They used the
same process in the Constitutional Card Sort, challenging them to think
critically about the Constitution. Around of the students so far
successfully completed the Bill of Rights Activity correctly, while the
remaining needed more time. Half of the lesson objective was
achieved by all students, which was to identify the main ideas or key
concepts of the Bill of Rights in the warm-up. The other half of the
lesson objective requires that the students have a bit more time.

What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would

you make if you were to teach again?
I think I would include a sixth question on the warm-up to help
students figure out the process. Modeling how students were supposed
to find information would have been helpful. I think I would also put a
timer up on the board for the Bill of Rights Activity, as well. Like the
Constitutional Card Sort Activity, students really struggled to
understand that the activity was timed. They also needed to know that
they should have been using their notes and pocket Constitutions, but
that utilization of resources was difficult for them. To help solve that
problem the next time, I think I will explain more than one example so
that all students know how to find the answers to their questions.

3 What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice,

reteach content, etc.)
The next lesson will be the Escape Classroom simulation. In order to
bring the entire understanding of the Constitution together, students
will be participating in an activity that requires them to use their
previous knowledge. They will be attempting to escape from the
locked classroom by answering a series of questions about the
Constitution, using critical thinking skills, and answering logic
problems.

Colorado State University College of Health and Human Sciences

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