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Lesson 1: Marxism and Me: How Ideology Affects History

80 minutes

Objectives:

Students will create notes on Marxism using EDpuzzle after an introduction to the
content with Google Earth and an allegory.
Students will read and interpret the meaning of an excerpt of Karl Marxs The
Communist Manifesto. Students will discover the main idea of the excerpt.

Common Core Standards Addressed:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze

its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they
are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of
rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of
a poem or section of a story or drama.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.3: Delineate a speakers argument and specific claims, and
attitude toward the subject, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance
and sufficiency of the evidence.

ELD Standards Addressed:

ELD.PII.7.6b.Br: Express inferences and conclusions drawn based on close reading of

grade-level texts and viewing of multimedia using a variety of precise academic verbs.
ELD.PII.7.7.Br: Evaluating Language choices. Explain how well writers and speakers
use specific language resources to present ideas or support arguments and provide
detailed evidence when provided with light support.
ELD.PI.7.1.Br: Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative
discussions on a range of social and academic topics.

Connection to Conceptual Focus:

Students will get an introduction to the concept of an allegory briefly, as well as the
philosophy that went behind the Russian Revolution. This relates to Animal Farm and
the perils of idealism because it introduces the very ideals that drove desperate people
to revolt.
The Essential Questions for this lesson is What is Marxism, and what is the main idea?

Connection to Students:

Students will be introduced to learning about Russia by being shown on Google Earth
how far away Russia is from them. It will give them some perspective on where Russia is
and give them a cool visual!
I will briefly explain how an allegory works with the saga of Justin Bieber and Selena
Gomez, but change them to animals. We will do more notes on allegory when we get
into reading Animal Farm, but I want to explain the purpose of learning about Russia
first.
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The video about Marxism has a Mario video game theme, which students may be
familiar with.

Assessments:

Formal: Students will answer questions (Formal Formative Assessment 1.1 and
Instructional Material 1.4b) about The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (Instructional
Material 1.3) to see if they understood the main idea of the excerpt they close-read.
o CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 (ELD.PII.7.6b.Br)
o CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4 (ELD.PII.7.7.Br)
Informal: Students will work in groups (or we will work as a class) to perform close-
reading tasks to figure out what Marx is saying in The Communist Manifesto
(Instructional Material 1.3).
o CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.3 (ELD.PI.7.1.Br)

Academic Language
Language Function: Students will interpret and close-read an excerpt of The
Communist Manifesto (Instructional Material 1.3) by Karl Marx to understand the
philosophy from the source. Students will be taught skills to read dense material and
understand what it means by breaking it down. I will also mention that when writing
essays, it is best to go back to the main source than cite a summary of it.
o Interpret
o Close-read
Vocabulary: The Marx excerpt (Instructional Material 1.3) contains many words students
may not know; thus, they will receive a vocabulary sheet with the definitions of these
words. Before they receive the vocabulary sheet, however, they will try to figure out
these words with context clues.

Antagonism Bourgeois (Bourgeoisie) Capital Centralize

Degrees Feudal Society Hitherto Hostile
Instruments Oppression Possesses Production
Proletariat Rapidly Revolution Supremacy

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Opening: Students will be introduced to the new unit by being shown Russia on Google
Earth and being told the purpose of learning about Russian history 10 minutes
(listening; visual media, building background knowledge.)
o To put in perspective where Russia is, students will be shown on Google Earth
where Russia is in comparison with their location.
o Then, I will do a kind of puppet show detailing the saga of Justin Bieber and
Selena Gomez (Instructional Material 1.1) told with both represented as animals
(Instructional Material 1.2). This will help them understand what an allegory is
with something they are familiar with.
The students then will watch a video explaining Marxism and will take self-guided notes on
the subject 20 minutes (reading, writing, listening; asking guiding questions,
circulating to monitor student understanding during independent or group work, graphic
organizer, student choice to increase level of engagement, visual media.)
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o Students will be instructed that they should be copying down answers when the
videos stop and ask questions. I will model how to do the first one.
Students have also taken notes using EDpuzzle before, so they should be
able to access prior knowledge on how to do it.
The class will close-read an excerpt of Marxs The Communist Manifesto (Instructional
Material 1.2) to understand what Marx believed from the source 35 minutes
(speaking, reading, writing; asking guiding questions, circulating to monitor student
understanding during independent or group work, modelling, collaborative groups.)
o Students will receive instructions (Instructional Material 1.4a) that give them
tasks for each of their readings.
o Students will also receive a vocabulary sheet (Instructional Material 1.5) to help
with their understanding after they have tried to figure out the vocabulary in the
excerpt from context clues.
Students will answer questions (Instructional Material 1.4b and Formal Formative
Assessment 1.1) about the excerpt after going through the close-reading tasks 10
minutes (writing, speaking, listening; collaborative groups, asking guiding questions,
circulating to monitor student understanding during independent or group work.)
o The questions will check for understanding and start students on their journey
into argumentation.
Closing: Clean-up 5 minutes
o The students normally get three to five minutes to clean up.

ELD and Other Special Needs Strategies

Multiple modes of learning have been identified in (bold).

Scaffolds and supports have been identified in (italics).

Support for ELLs

All of my ELL students have been redesignated; however, with this lesson plan, I will provide:
A powerpoint with written instructions, as well as deliver oral directions and model for
students.
Sentence frames when needed.
Interactive note-taking that allows students to write notes at their own pace and ask
questions if necessary.

Support for Students with IEPs or 504 Plans

I have one student with an issue with anxiety, as well as a student who does not always
understand directions. For these students, I will:
Create strategic table groups so the students feel comfortable to ask questions to kind,
intelligent students around them.
Circulate to check for understanding to make sure these students are on task and know
how to do it.
Provide repeated oral and written instructions (as well as model for students) so
students understand what they are doing and have many reminders in case they forget.

Support for GATE Students

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My class is an honors English class, so all of the students are accelerated. For these students,
we offer:
The ability to read if they finish early, or take SSR (Scholastic Reading Counts) tests.
Check their grades on Aeries.

Further, because students are creating their own notes, it gives the students who are further
ahead to choose the wording of their notes and create examples that make sense to them.

Resources/ Materials Needed:

Google Earth
Puppets of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and their animal counterparts.
YouTube video
o Bauer, J. (3 Aug. 2014). What is Marxism? (Karl Marx + Super Mario Bros.)
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Vz3eOb6Yl1s
EDpuzzle
o https://EDpuzzle.com/assignments/583c95044d7b7d68cf5cc614/watch
Powerpoint
The Communist Manifesto worksheet (Instructional Material Assessment 1.1)
o Marx, K., Engels, F., Harveym D., & Moore, S. (2008). The communist manifesto.
London: Pluto Press.
Close-reading instructions, questions, and vocab sheet (Instructional materials 1.1-3).

Homework/Assignment for Next Class: If students do not finish the questions (Formal
Formative Assessment 1.1 and Instructional Material 1.4b), they can finish those at home.

Theoretical Support:

In chapter five of P. Smagorinskys Teaching English by Design: How to Create and

Carry Out Instructional Units (2008), he suggests that conventional assignments are
robotic. Relating to that, instead of using the conventional method of lecturing students,
letting them watch videos and create their own notes gives students a different way to
interpret information. Further, since the video goes with the Mario Bros. theme, it may
keep students interests more than just a simple lecture.
The close-reading instructions are modeled after N. Frey and D. Fishers ideas about
close reading, featured in Diving in: Help students get to the bottom of close reading
and complex texts (2015). Fisher and Frey suggest many readings of a text with each
reading looking for different elements, such as first underlining central ideas, circling
unknown words, and writing notes in the margins. Thus, we suggest the students read
the text several times and look for different ideas to really understand it.
o Fisher and Frey also suggest not front-loading vocabulary so students can figure
out words on their own. Thats why the students look for context clues before
getting the vocabulary sheet (Lesson Material 1.5).
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Lesson 2: Marxism and Me 2: The Revenge of the 7 Tenets.

80 minutes

Objectives:

Students will investigate more of Marxs ideas by interpreting seven of his requirements
for a better society.
Students will respond to the ideas by summarizing the ideas and then drawing a picture
to show what Marx is saying.

Common Core Standards Addressed:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze

its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and
relevant evidence.
o b. Support claims or counterarguments with logical reasoning and relevant
evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding
of the topic or text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.3: Delineate a speakers argument and specific claims, and
attitude toward the subject, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance
and sufficiency of the evidence.

ELD Standards Addressed:

ELD.PII.7.6b.Br: Express inferences and conclusions drawn based on close reading of

grade-level texts and viewing of multimedia using a variety of precise academic verbs.
ELD.PII.7.11a.Br: Justify opinions or persuade others by providing detailed and relevant
textual evidence or relevant background knowledge, with light support.
ELD.PI.7.1.Br: Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative
discussions on a range of social and academic topics.

Connection to Conceptual Focus:

By close-reading more of Marxs theory, students get more background information to

trace what the Bolsheviks fought for in the Russian Revolution. Additionally, giving the
students seven tenets can help them make connections with the seven commandments
in Animal Farm (although the seven commandments are much simpler than Marx.)
The essential questions for this lesson are, What did Marx think the perfect society
should have? Do you agree with his ideas? Why or why not?

Connection to Students:

To keep students interested in this dense material, they will travel around the room in
stations to address one tenet at a time. This will keep them moving and allow them to be
introduced to a new idea with every rotation.
Students will draw pictures of what they think the tenet is saying. Many of my students
are creative and love to draw, so this will give them an outlet to express themselves
while they also close-read material.
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Assessments:

Formal:
o Students will fill out a worksheet (Formal Formative Assessment 2.1) with the
summary of each of Marxs tenets (Instructional Material 2.2), as well as draw a
picture to illustrate the summary.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 (ELD.PII.7.6b.Br)
o Students will answer questions (Formal Formative Assessment 2.2) about which
tenet they most agreed and disagreed with.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1b (ELD.PII.7.11a.Br)
Informal: Students will work together to figure out what each tenet (Instructional
Material 2.2) is saying and to draw a picture of what it means. The discussions will help
students understand the content better and act as a check for understanding.
o CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.3 (ELD.PI.7.1.Br)

Academic Language

Language Function: Students will not only close-read again (see Lesson 1), but they
will also begin to argue. By asking them which tenets they agree and disagree with, they
are forming an opinion, backing it up with evidence, and then explaining why that
evidence and opinion matters.
o Close-read
o Argue
Vocabulary: As with Lesson 1, students will get a vocab sheet (Instructional Material
2.3) they can use after they try to define the words on their own. (Sorted alphabetically.)

Abolition Agriculture Application Capital

Centralization Combination Confiscation Credit
Distinction Distribution Emigrants Establishment
Equable Equal Exclusive Gradual
Industrial Industrial armies Inheritance Labor
Liability Manufacturing Monopoly Property
Purposes Production Rebels

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Opening: students will be asked (Instructional Material 2.1) what they took away from
the Marx excerpt (Instructional Material 1.3) on an index card 10 minutes (writing;
activating prior knowledge, checking for understanding, quickwrite.)
o Volunteers will share what they wrote, and we will have a brief discussion.
Students will travel to stations around the room that each have different tenets of Marxs
theory for a better society (Lesson Material 2.2) with their table groups. Students will
summarize the tenet and draw a picture of what it means 50 minutes (listening,
reading, speaking, writing; making personal connections, student choice to increase
level of engagement, modeling.)
o The room currently is organized with seven tables with four students each and
one of the tables empty. The tenets (Instructional Material 2.2) and the
vocabulary list (Instructional material 2.3) will be put down at each table.
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o I will model the first tenet Abolition of property in land and application of all
rents of land to public purposes with the class, so they will only have six tenets
to do on their own.
I will draw a funny picture to help get them into the task.
o Students will get around seven minutes at each station. I will suggest at least
writing a summary, and they can draw for homework if needed.
We will go over the worksheet (Formal Formative Assessment 2.1) as a class so
students can check their answers 10 minutes (listening, speaking; checking for
understanding, review.)
o Students will come up to show their picture as well as their summary under the
document camera. Students seem to like doing this.
I will pick students who have the right answer by circulating while they
discuss. This will help save time and help students avoid confusion.
Clean-up 5 minutes.
o Students will receive their homework (Formal Formative Assessment 2.2) after
they clean-up.

ELD and Other Special Needs Strategies

Multiple modes of learning have been identified in (bold).

Scaffolds and supports have been identified in (italics).

Support for ELLs

All of my ELL students have been redesignated; however, with this lesson plan, I will provide:
Oral and written instructions.
Groupings that allow students of different levels to sit together and help each other.
Sentence frames when needed.
Models to help students figure out their task.

Support for Students with IEPs or 504 Plans

I have one student with an issue with anxiety, as well as a student who does not always
understand directions. For these students, I will:
Create strategic table groups of students who get along and can stay on task.
Circulate to check for understanding to make sure these students are on task and are
understanding the material.
Provide repeated oral and written instructions (as well as model for students) so
students understand what they are doing and have many reminders in case they forget.

Support for GATE Students

My class is an honors English class, so all students are accelerated. For these students, we
offer:
Activities that use different parts of their brains.
Ability to draw more intricate drawings if they finish early.

Resources/ Materials Needed:

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Powerpoint
Index cards
Tenets (Lesson Material 2.2) and Vocabulary sheets (Lesson Material 2.3) for each
station
Tenet worksheet (Formal Formative Assessment 2.1)
Text-dependent questions homework worksheet (Formal Formative assessment 2.2)

Homework/Assignment for Next Class: Finish drawings on Tenet worksheet (Formal

Formative Assessment 2.1) and answer text-dependent questions (Formal Formative
Assessment 2.2).

Theoretical Support:

In S. Reeses Article Differentiation in the language classroom (2011), she discusses

using stations to help teach content more effectively. She also discusses [o]rbital
studies, which allow students to investigate on their own. Although students are given
the resources and a task, they make meaning of the resources on their own and create
what they want from it. This allows the students to learn about multiple ideas in one
class time while also being able to respond to it their own way. We have used stations
before, and it also keeps students from getting restless because they are moving
around, and they also get to interact in different ways with the content.
E. Landay suggests in Give me moor proof: Othello in seventh grade (2005) that
students learn best by working together as collaborative groups. Landay quotes M.
Bakhtin, P. Freire, and L. Vygotsky when coming to this conclusion, so many theorists
have mused that collaborative groups help students learn. My co-teacher and I often use
collaborative groups to help students learn, and they seem to benefit from it. They also
seem to become friends with each other from going through the investigative tasks
together. Marx is dense and difficult, so if they work as a group, students who may
understand it more can help the others who dont. Or they all can wander through it and
try to find a conclusion. At least they wont be lost alone!
P. Smagorinsky (2008), drawing on Gardner (1983), suggests there are types of
intelligences which people sense the world: math, linguistics, spatial, musical,
bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Prompting students to
also draw their understanding of each of the tenets helps utilize their other intelligences.
As I stated above, many of my students are incredibly gifted artists, and they love getting
the opportunity to draw. Doing this may help them visualize each tenet and help them
understand them better. Additionally, it helps them have a little fun with some dense
material.
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Lesson 3: The Russian Revolution and Me: How History Affects Literature
80 minutes

Objectives:

Students will create notes on the Russian Revolution and start to make connections with
the Marxism philosophy.
Students will investigate if the Russian Revolution was justified after interpreting all the
evidence they have acquired.

Common Core Standards Addressed:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.3: Analyze the interactions between individuals, events and

ideas in a text (e.g. how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals
influence ideas or events.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and
relevant evidence.
o b. Support claims or counterarguments with logical reasoning and relevant
evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding
of the topic or text.

ELD Standards Address:

ELD.PII.7.6a.Br: Explain ideas, phenomena, processes, and text relationships (e.g.,

compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution) based on close reading of a variety of
grade-level texts and viewing of multimedia, with light support.
ELD.PII.7.11a.Br: Justify opinions or persuade others by providing detailed and relevant
textual evidence or relevant background knowledge, with light support.

Connection to Conceptual Focus:

Continuing from the Marxism lesson, this lesson further shows what Animal Farm
allegorizes. It also helps build background knowledge and perhaps helps students relate
because of the struggles the Russians went through. They could see some connections
to the political system and/or their lives today.
The Essential Questions for this lesson is How did it affect the Russian Revolution? Did
it affect the Russian Revolution at all?

Connection to Students:

Students again can watch a video and take their own notes with it. Seeing imagery of the
Russian Revolution (not graphic imagery, of course) may help them connect to it more.
As an exit ticket, students will be asked if, from what they watched, they felt the Russian
Revolution was valid. They can pull from other knowledge as well to answer this
question.

Assessments:

Formal:
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o Exit Ticket detailing if the student feels the Russian Revolution was valid.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1b (ELD.PII.7.11a.Br)
Informal:
o I will introduce the idea of One-Pagers to help students continue learning about
the Russian Revolution, but also artistically interact with the ideas for the next
day. This will be a formal assessment for the next class (not included in Task 1.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1

Academic Language

Language Function: Students will be asked if the Russian Revolution was justified for
their exit ticket, and we will explain what justify means. Before explaining, however, we
will ask the class if they know what it means.
o Justify
Discourse: Students will be introduced to the One-pager structure (Formal Formative
Assessment 3.1), but will not be creating a One-pager yet. They will use the One-pagers
to show their ideas creatively and to engage with supplementary texts in future lessons.
o One-pager

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Opening: Students will share with a partner what Marxism tenets (Instructional Material
2.2) they agreed and disagreed with from their homework worksheet (Formal Formative
Assessment 2.2) 10 minutes (speaking, reading, listening; activating prior
knowledge, checking for understanding, collaborative groups.)
o Volunteers will share what they wrote, and we will have a brief discussion.
The students then will watch a video about the Russian Revolution, then create guided
Cornell Notes 30 minutes (reading, writing, listening; asking guiding questions,
circulating to monitor student understanding during independent or group work, graphic
organizer, student choice to increase level of engagement, visual media.)
o Students will be instructed that they should be copying down answers when the
videos stop and ask questions.
Because they have already taken notes with EDpuzzle before, I will not
model for them unless they ask.
I will circulate, however, in case they have any other questions.
I will introduce the idea of one-pagers (Formal Formative Assessment 3.1) for the next
day with a resource sheet about the key players in the Russian Revolution (Instructional
Material 3.1) 20 minutes (listening, reading; building background knowledge,
appealing to multiple intelligences.)
o Students will be working in rotations in their next lesson, so introducing one one-
pager will prepare them for the next day.
The Russian Revolution resource sheet (Instructional Material 3.1) uses a
one-pager (Formal Formative Assessment 3.1) that offers students more
creativity by asking them to make a paper doll.
Many of my students are good with their hands, so I thought this
would be a way they could use those skills, as well as think about
what a good (or bad) leader is.
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o If we have time, they can start annotating the worksheet, but we will not be
starting the paper dolls yet.
o They can start thinking about what they would like to do, but they do not have to
do the one-pager for homework.
For an exit ticket, students will write if they think the Russian Revolution was valid
(Instructional Material 3.3a and b and Formal Formative Assessment 3.2a and b) 15
minutes (writing; building background knowledge, making personal connections,
practice, quickwrite.)
o This will be an independent task, so students will be asked to be quiet and to use
evidence from the video.
o I will explain how to cite the videos so they can practice for the future. They also
may not know how to cite a video yet.
Closing: Clean-up 5 minutes

ELD and Other Special Needs Strategies

Multiple modes of learning have been identified in (bold).

Scaffolds and supports have been identified in (italics).

Support for ELLs

All of my ELL students have been redesignated; however, with this lesson plan, I will provide:
A powerpoint with written instructions, as well as deliver oral directions and model for
students.
o Students will also receive assignment sheets with instructions.
Sentence frames when needed.
Interactive note-taking that allows students to write notes at their own pace and ask
questions if necessary.

Support for Students with IEPs or 504 Plans

I have one student with an issue with anxiety, as well as a student who does not always
understand directions. For these students, I will:
Create strategic table groups so the students feel comfortable to ask questions to kind,
intelligent students around them.
Circulate to check for understanding to make sure these students are on task and know
how to do it.
Provide repeated oral and written instructions (as well as model for students) so
students understand what they are doing and have many reminders in case they forget.

Support for GATE Students

My class is an honors English class, so all the students are accelerated. For these students, we
offer:
Tasks for early finishers that often earn them extra credit.
The ability to read if they finish early as well, or take SSR (Scholastic Reading Counts)
tests.
Check their grades on Aeries.
 12

Further, because students are creating their own notes, it gives the students who are further
ahead to choose the wording of their notes and create examples that make sense to them.

Resources/ Materials Needed:

YouTube video
o Epic History TV (4 Aug. 2016). Epic History: The Russian Revolution. Retrieved
from https://youtu.be/cV9G1QUIm7w
EDpuzzle
o Russian Revolution video:
https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/583c9c5aee68eb400a08c39f/watch
Powerpoint
Key Players of the Russian Revolution Resource Sheet (Instructional Material 3.1)
One-pager assignment sheet (Formal Formative Assessments 3.1).
Exit ticket (Instructional Material 3.3a-b and Formal Formative Assessment 3.2a-b).

Homework/Assignment for Next Class: None

Theoretical Support:

NCTEs article, The Assessment Story Project (2016) suggests that high-stakes
assessments generally do not help students learn. Although NCTE refers to
standardized testing, I think of high-stakes for my students as also getting a grade for it.
The exit tickets here allow students to make an argument, but a low-stakes one. They
wont receive a grade for the depth of their thoughts; rather, it will be a participation
grade. That gives students the opportunity to try an argument without the stakes.
P. Smagorinsky (2008) suggests that exploratory speech and writing helps students
further their ideas because it reduces the limitations of formal speech and forces
students to think independently and creatively. Although the one-pager does not ask
specifically for exploratory speech and writing, it is suggested in the assignment (Formal
Formative Assessment 3.1) to plan out before one goes through with making the final
product. This gives students an opportunity to explore before they do their final work and
allows them to think more creatively for a better product. The one-pagers are meant to
give students the opportunity to explore in a different way and think outside of the box
without the pressure of being formal.
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Works Cited

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2015). Diving in: Help students get to the bottom of close reading and
complex texts. Principal, 94(3), 8-12,
https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/FisherFrey_JF15.pdf

Landay, E. (2005). Give me moor proof: Othello in seventh grade. English Journal, 95(1), 39-46.
http://www.artslit.org/archivos_publicaciones/6.pdf

NCTE Task Force (23 August 2016). The assessment story project: What we learned from
teachers sharing their experiences with literacy assessment. Retrieved from
http://www.ncte.org/assessmentstoryproject/assessmentstory

Reese, S. (2011). Differentiation in the language classroom. The language educator, 6(4), 40-
46. https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/TLEsamples/TLE_Aug11_Article.pdf

Smagorinsky, P. (2008). Teaching English by design: How to create and carry out instructional
units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.