POWERFUL SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program: ELED 434 ALL SECTIONS

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Brooke Showalter
Mrs. Hostetter, Bessie Weller Elementary
4th Grade
Date and time lesson to be presented: Wednesday, April 8th at 11:55 a.m.
Date written plan is submitted to the practicum teacher: Friday, April 10th

A. TITLE OF LESSON: Growing Virginia Style

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON:
As a pre-assessment, I will have students answer True and False questions about Virginia railways after the Civil War. This assessment
will be for every student, this way I can have students answer questions before the lesson as well as after the lesson to help determine what they
have learned. Students will complete an anticipation guide for these questions. This will be repeated at the end of my lesson. I have also
already pulled two students of different levels aside to interview about my topic. This helps me get a look into what the class already knows
and what information they need to learn. While observing my cooperating teacher while she teaches Social Studies, I notice that students are
more eager to learn when they are able to work together. I will try to add open-ended activities and visuals throughout my lesson to keep them
engaged. These students love to talk on the classroom microphone. I will incorporate discussion in my lesson so that students get the chance
to do this.
By the time that I am able to teach my Social Studies lesson plan, students will have completed their unit on the Civil War. It will be
time for students to learn about how the outcome of the war affected the nation but Virginia in particular. Students will focus on learning about
rebuilding Virginia. My lesson will be a small part of this unit, encountering the railways and how they have changed Virginias economy.
From reading about child development, I know that most if not all of my students are located in the preoperational stage of Piagets
Stages of Development. This means that these students can create some small amounts of reasoning behind their ideas, their thinking is easily
reversed, and they learn from using their senses the best. I know that I will need to have students come up with their own conclusions and
explain their thinking as much as possible. If these students misunderstand any idea or have a misconception about an idea, it is my job to
reverse their thinking and teach what is correct.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad
generalizations the students should
begin to develop? (These can be
difficult to assess in one lesson.)

Know what are the facts, rules,

specific data the students will gain
through this lesson? (These knows
must be assessed in your lesson.)

Do what are the specific thinking

behaviors students will be able to do
or practice as a result of this lesson?
(These will also be assessed in your
lesson.)

Students will recognize that one

change in history can affect many
aspects of life and the environment
around them.
Students will read and understand the
material they have read to draw
conclusions and link to other
important ideas.

Students will demonstrate their

knowledge about how railways
connected cities and helped disperse
materials throughout different parts of
Virginia by using knowledge they
have gained from reading the text.

Students will demonstrate

information that they have learned
through writing a Dear Diary letter
that is accurate on facts and meets the
minimum requirements.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING:

Task:

Diagnostic features:

Support:

~Anticipation Guide

Anticipation Guide:
I will be looking for improvement in
responses between the before lesson and after
lesson sections. Students should not have all
correct answers for the before section but
should for the after.

For the students who struggle at the

end of the lesson, I will talk with the
students individually to see if they can
come up with a better conclusion
through discussion.

~Informally Assess
Discussion

Discussion Questions:
I will be looking for thoughtful answers
relating coal to be the main aspect of changing
Virginias economy. Railroads ran on coal
and linked cities where materials were able to
be dispersed throughout other parts of
Virginia. The life of farming was given up to
take jobs in factories, as a result better roads
were needed for transportation. Again I will
be taking notes during discussion.

There are some students who struggle

with comprehension so I will have
them set at the kidney table with an
adult to have them re-read the passage.
The class discussion should help them
pick up on several more ideas also.

~Written Journal Entry

Written Journal Entry:

Students will write a diary entry explaining
about how life is changing in Virginia now
that the Civil War is over. The diary must
include 3 facts they have read/learned about
within this lesson and be at least 2 paragraphs
long. Facts presented must be accurate.

For the students who struggle with

writing their ideas on paper (same that
struggle with comprehension) I will
have them with an adult at the kidney
table to help talk through ideas again
while in the writing process.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

Social Studies:
VS.8c Virginia began to grow in many areas after the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Reading:
4.6 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction texts.
a) Use text structures, such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize information in both print and digital
texts.
d) Identify the main idea.
e) Summarize supporting details.
f) Draw conclusions and make simple inferences using textual information as support.
i) Use prior knowledge and build additional background knowledge as context for new learning.
j) Identify new information gained from reading.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED:
Classroom Textbook (Each child will provide their own copy which they have been using thus far.)
o Masoff, J. (2011). Our Virginia: Past & present. (2nd ed.). West Palm Beach, Florida: Five Ponds Press.
Pencils (Students)
Notebook Paper (Mrs. Hostetter)
Classroom Microphone (Mrs. Hostetter)
G. PROCEDURE:
Activity Element
& Time (in minutes)

Procedures and management

Step-by step procedures including
questions and main points visualize
what you are going to say to the students.
It might be helpful to script out what you
are going to say, although during the
lesson you do not need to use this
language verbatim.

Students
Describe what the students will be doing
as a result of your instructions

Introduction

To begin our lesson today, I will

Students will quietly complete

Academic, physical, social &

linguistic differentiation,
resources, and support
How will you support ALL
students by differentiating
aspects of your lesson based on
readiness and interest, and
according to content, process,
and product? It isnt always
necessary to include
differentiation in logistical
aspects of the lesson such as
transitions.

Transition

Event 1- Poster Creations

Event 2- Presentations

be passing out a sheet of paper that

includes True or False questions.
Answer the questions the absolute
best you can. You may or may not
know the answers. If you do not
know the answers, please make an
educated guess. When you are
finished please flip your paper over so
that no one can see your answers and
sit quietly. You may silent read if you
would like but this shouldnt take
long.
Please have group leaders grab
your textbooks and have a seat back
at your desk.
Turn in your textbooks to page
134 and 135. I am going to split you
up into groups. Your task is to read
the section in which you are assigned
and together as a group create a poster
that contains the main idea and 2-3
supporting details. You are
encouraged to draw pictures that go
along with your topic. Some students
may have shorter sections and less
information. Just do the best that you
can.
Group 1: From Big Lick to
Roanoke
Group 2: Picture Caption and
Coal and Kids
Group 3: Change is coming
Group 4: Growing Bigger,
Growing Fast

Each group will come up and

their anticipation guides at their

desks.

When students are finished they

will grab their textbooks and have a
seat at their desks.
Students will break up their
groups and create their poster in the
allotted time.

Students will present their posters

I will try to pair good

readers with not so
good readers that way
each student can
hopefully comprehend
the information. The
students are already
paired like this at their
tables so in a sense
each table will be a
group.
The three students who
struggle the most with
comprehension will be
at the kidney table
working with an
assistant. These
students will be
presented with the
shortest section to be
sure they comprehend
the section completely.

Transition

Event 3- Diary Letter

present their poster. At the end of

their presentation, I will ask students
a discussion question about their
section. I expect several responses
before the next presentation poster.
Question 1: How did the
discovery of coal change the
economy?
Question 2: Explain how you
would feel if you had to work in a
coalmine at your age.
Question 3: Do you think that the
number of factory workers increased,
decreased, or stayed the same at this
time? Explain your thinking. Would
you rather work on a farm or in the
factory at this time and why?
Question 4: Explain to the class
why the invention of the automobile
was important? What do you think
life would be like if we didnt have
cars to drive and ride in for
transportation?
Close your books. I will now
explain your next assignment. You
will need a pencil.
Put the directions for everyone to
read and hear under the document
camera and read over them at least
twice. These can stay under the
document camera for students to refer
to when writing.
You are to write a Dear Diary
Letter explaining your life in Virginia
now that the war has ended. You
must use three facts that you have
learned from Ms. Showalters lesson.
Your letter must be 2 paragraphs long.
Please feel free to add in extra ideas
that you have previously learned.

and the audience will discuss the

question that is posed.

Students will put their books

away and make sure that they have a
pencil
Students will complete their
assignment, asking for help if needed.
They will silent read when they are
finished.

For the three students

who struggle with
writing, they will be at
the kidney table with
Mrs. Simonetti so that
she can help them
brainstorm ideas and
write their letter.
For other students who
need help, I will have
them talk out their
ideas with me to see
what they are thinking
and help lead them in

Conclusion-

You can write from the perspective of

a child who is working in a coalmine,
from a business owner, a farmer, an
average worker, or another
perspective you can think of as long
as I approve it.
Are there any questions? I will
pass out your paper and you may
begin, it is to be silent. When you are
done please complete your
anticipation guide once again and you
may silent read.

Group leaders can you please

collect the textbooks and put them
away?

Group leaders will put books

away and one student who is called
on will collect the papers.

the right direction.

For students who are
minimally challenged I
will show them a
statics chart when they
are finished. Ideas on
this chart include;
population, number of
farms, value of farms,
number of factories
between 1860 and
1870. I will have
students describe to me
what is happening
using the information
that we have learned.
Mrs. Simonetti will
help the few students
needed and repeat
questions for them and
talk with them about
the correct answer.

H. DIFFERENTIATION:
I plan to meet all students needs through my lesson in several different ways. First and foremost, students who need extra help with
completing tasks will be placed at the kidney table with another teacher who comes in to help during Social Studies time. This teacher will
help students stay on track, brainstorm for assignments such as the Dear Diary letter and complete their assignment(s). She does great with
retelling these students the questions that are asked and help them look back into the text to find the answers.
For reading I could pair students who are good readers with other students who are not so good at reading. The students who struggle
with writing their Dear Diary letter, I will talk through their ideas with them. One student in particular always has great ideas but has trouble
getting her ideas on paper. When we talk about her ideas, she is able to sort through them and write them down. If students dont already have
ideas, I could ask them to look back in the text and point out what they feel is important and have them write about that.
For students who are minimally challenged I will show them a statics chart when they are finished. Ideas on this chart include;
population, number of farms, value of farms, number of factories between 1860 and 1870. I will have students describe to me what is
happening using the information that we have learned. They should notice that all categories decrease except for the factories. They should be
able to explain that this is from farmers moving to cities to work in factories. I am anxious to see what their idea about the decrease in the
number of deaths are.

I.

RATIONALE: 1-Double-spaced page that justifies what you are teaching and why it is important for students to develop a deep understanding
of what is being taught. Be sure to emphasize how it contributes to students development as citizens and to their lives beyond school. Explain
why it matters in terms of its meaning to students, the value of the subject content, opportunities for inquiry and its importance to the
community and to society. The rationale should not be that the lesson fits within the state or school curriculum.
I will be teaching about the time period directly after the Civil War (1870-1920). This time period is referred to as the Reconstruction
Era. Students need to have a deep understanding about this time period in order to self-reflect on why Virginia changed after the Civil War.
Students will have just covered the topic of Jim Crow laws. Students need to realize the harsh living conditions that were encountered during
the Reconstruction Era. Even though the 13th Amendment passed, blacks were still being treated unfairly. From learning about this, students
should realize that everyone should be treated equally in life and that they way blacks were treated in this time were equal under the law but not
in reality. This is why society today reflects on students becoming good citizens by treating others respectfully and standing up for what they
believe in.
My lesson plan will reflect on industry and transportation after the Civil War. Students will learn how farmers left their own farms in
order to move to cities and work in factories to better their lives hopefully through profit. There became an increased need for railroads at this
time to disperse materials throughout Virginia. These materials may include coal that heated houses, kept factories going, or even trains
moving. It is important for students to realize that railroads often did not connect with one another leaving it hard to complete movement of
materials through certain places. This lead to the invention of the automobile. People began to disperse materials easier and in smaller
quantities and use automobiles for transporting people themselves. Someone saw an opportunity and took it. This helps students develop as
citizens by realizing if they see a need for contribution then they should step up and take the opportunity or help find someone who will. From
this lesson, students should gain knowledge to realize that the Reconstruction Era was an extremely important time in American history. This
lesson forces students to think about how industry, technology, and transportation helped Virginia cities grow. This can be relatable to Virginia
nowadays as Virginia, the United States, and even the world is changing everyday by industry, technology, and transportation. For example

farm equipment is becoming computer ran, transportation is changing by the invention of electric cars, and more. This is all due to people
seeing that there is a need for more efficiency in industry, technology, and transportation.
J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation. Look over the choices youve made for teaching this lesson. What
extenuating circumstances (based on what you know if your students, their schedules, and the context in which you teach) could potentially
derail your otherwise excellent plan? Identify at least 4 potential problems and thoughtfully describe your plan for addressing them when they
arise? IN other words, what are your contingency plans?
i. A Fire Drill may just happen to sound when I am in the middle of my lesson. If this happens, I will continue the procedures for a fire
drill. When we get back to the classroom, I will continue with my Social Studies Lesson Plan. If we run out of time to complete our
Dear Diary letter, students will complete this after lunch and recess during writing.
ii. Students could refuse to work and complete the assignments. If I cannot redirect them and gain their interest I will get my cooperating
teacher to intervene. Unless they are distracting the class, they can sit quietly at their seat because it is still good for them to hear the
content being presented.
iii. Some students may not be reading with the class and following along during reading the text. I could ask the student or students to
read one by one and have the rest of the class follow along quietly. I will explain that it is important for them to participate for their
learning and ultimately their grades.
iv. I will have some students who struggle with completing tasks and need extra support. I will remind them that there are three adults in
the room that can help and all they need to do is ask.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to guide your thinking. Be thorough in your
reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why you made them.
My actual less did not differ much from my plans. The main change was that I had to divide students into more than 4 groups. I didnt take
into account how many students would be working on each poster at a time. 6 students per poster were just too many. While students were working
on their anticipation guide, I decided to change groups by dividing the text into smaller sections. In the end I came up with 6 groups. A few students
worked in pairs and other groups had 3-4 students. This seemed to work much easier because every student was able to take part in making and
presenting their poster.
The only other change that I seemed to have made came when it was time for students to begin their written journal. Some students seemed
to struggle with how to begin writing their topic. I chose to create a sentence each student could start with. When several students were still
struggling I asked other students who were almost finished to share theirs as an example. This seemed to help the students extremely well.
II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did they
learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?
I had several assessments within my lesson. First students were asked to complete an anticipation guide before and after my lesson. Students
were very stressed when I asked them to try and answer questions on a topic in which they havent learned about yet. I had hyperventilation, tears,

and more. I continued to explain that all I needed them to do was guess and move on. After students finished their written responses, I asked
students to complete the after portion of the anticipation guide. Some students were not able to complete this because we needed to move on the next
lesson and they were still working on their responses. For the most part students only missed 1-2 questions compared to the 5-7 questions on the
before part. This made me happy because I saw much improvement and my students seemed to have learned something.
My second assessment was assessing their discussions after most every poster was presented. Some of the students responses were terrific.
For example, students were answering my question, how would you feel if you were the same age as now but working in a coal mine by yourself
with only a candle for light? before I even asked the question. To me this shows that they were interested in the topic and taking experiences in their
own hands. I was surprised to see such sophisticated answers coming from my fourth graders. It was nice to see students participate in the
discussions, especially those students whom I normally see not talk. This was both for Social Studies and Reading Comprehension along with my
third assessment.
I also asked students to write a written response. I asked students to put themselves in the time period of my lesson and write about what is
going on in their lives. I asked them to share experiences that they see happening around them and use examples from our text to support their ideas.
The responses that these students wrote were absolutely incredible. When reading them, I felt like I was reading actual diaries from this time period.
Most however, made me feel extremely sad and overwhelmed but their writing was great. I graded these responses by a check plus (95%), a check
(85%), and a check minus (75%). There were three students that wrote exceptional responses and were awarded a check plus. There were two
students that really needed to put in some more effort and received a check minus. The rest of the class wrote great responses that had minor errors
and received checks. The information and questions that these students posed were awesome. Most students couldnt meet my requirement of two
paragraphs of good lengths.
All in all I think that every student except one who refused to work on anything has learned something from my lesson. There were many
students who learned the most about the railroads, child labor, farming, and factories. Naming the four cities and what they were known for at this
time seemed hard for them. From all the content in my lesson I believe that the cities need the most review.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more thorough way if you were to teach this
lesson again.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would try to find a video related to child labor and/or coalmines. This would be a great visual that
students could relate to and is a topic that these students seemed extremely interested in. Then maybe I could have had stations of different artifacts
from this time period where students could roam around the classroom and explore for themselves how these artifacts relate to my lesson or what
they have been learning about. In the end, our class could have a classroom discussion which ties the materials and visuals to the lesson itself or
create a timeline of events which students have been learning about.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom teacher?
Next, I believe that next I would explain to students that after the Reconstruction Era, African Americans were still treated badly. I would
have students break into groups and explore one problem in which African Americans faced (voting rights, education, lynching, violence, and
segregation. There would be a list of questions that accompanied students to help them come up with their argument of what was the worst problem
African Americans faced at this time. Students would create a glogster and share with the rest of the class. Some questions may include, Who was
involved? What was one solution proposed? Etc.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young children as learners?
I learned that students are more eager to complete assignments when they get to work with other students in the classroom. Even though
students werent allowed to pick their own groups, they were still willing to complete the poster assignment with the other students at their table
rather than having to work by themselves. I have also been reinforced about how giving students the opportunity to move around the classroom

keeps them engaged and lets them get all of their jitter bugs out. Children definitely learn from being engaged. The posters that my students made
were incredible and every student seemed to be involved. Students were able to come up with facts and draw pictures accordingly. A few groups
even asked the rest of the class questions when presenting which was nice because it involved students thinking. I saw that by letting students work
together they were able to talk to one another and if someone didnt understand, another student can help reinforce them. By talking ideas out and
letting students combine ideas I feel like in the end the students will retain more and you as a teacher will have a more powerful lesson.
I also noticed that having them complete an anticipation guide sort of freaked them out and it was hard to get them to understand that it was
okay if they didnt know the answers. After they completed the before portion, students were struggling to get back on track. For the after portion
some students were not even trying and simply copied their answers from the before portion.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
Teaching one lesson takes much planning. Time management is a huge key to becoming a successful teacher who is prepared for his or her
lesson. It is imperative that teachers over plan rather than under plan. I have also learned that planning a lesson for a specific amount of time is
challenging, especially planning a lesson with students whom you arent sure about their work ethic and style. I have observed several days in my
practicum classroom but the students within are all different in their work ethic and style.
Also I have learned that students need clear concise directions. During my lesson, I only verbally said the directions for the poster activity. I
did then write them on the board for students to look at when they needed reminders but instead they seemed to ask me instead of refer to the bored.
I should have had a small half sheet of paper to hand out to each group describing the directions for students to refer to. I know now that students
need reminded of directions more than once and that I as a teacher need to plan to incorporate more directions written for students to refer to. I need
to make sure that next time I have a writing prompt I post the directions where everyone can read them or hand the directions out on a small piece of
paper. I should have given students an example of writing or shown them how to get started as this was their biggest struggle.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
I have learned that sometimes I need to be more aware of other groups as I am working with one specific group. I need to make sure that
others are on task and not just talking about Minecraft or other subjects not dealing with Social Studies/Comprehension. It seems that I do a good job
of redirecting students because students seem to get back on task easily but I need to be aware more and maybe redirect more. This is easier to do
when students are working individually but much harder when they are working in groups. Just something for me to keep in mind.
This lesson was not hard to plan but would have been better with more resources. I guess I need help finding good resources because this was
difficult for me. I learned that not every lesson has to be worksheets and quizzes and that I control what makes a lesson fun and what doesnt. I
showed myself that lessons do not always have to take hours of planning and that if you come up with a good lesson that works, use it again! There
is nothing wrong with saving lessons and implementing them in your own classroom or even for the following year in your classroom.

Name: ______________________________________

Date: _________________________

Please answer the following questions the best that you can. You need to write out True or False. Ts and Fs are not acceptable.

Before:
_____________ The Jim Crow Laws was the main contribute to Virginias economy growing after the Civil War.
_____________ Railroads led to the invention of automobiles during the Reconstruction Era because many railroads did not link together and
made it harder to transport materials to and from certain places.
_____________ Sadly many children worked in coal mines and factories after the Civil War.
_____________ The working conditions in factories were much better for children than adults.
_____________ Many farmers left the hard life of farming and moved to cities to work in factories to try and better their lives.
_____________ Roanoke became a major port city and shipping hub after the war.
_____________ Virginias capital was rebuilt and grew rapidly after the war.

After:
_____________ The Jim Crow Laws was the main contribute to Virginias economy growing after the Civil War.
_____________ Railroads led to the invention of automobiles during the Reconstruction Era because many railroads did not link together and
made it harder to transport materials to and from certain places.
_____________ Sadly many children worked in coal mines and factories after the Civil War.
_____________ The working conditions in factories were much better for children than adults.
_____________ Many farmers left the hard life of farming and moved to cities to work in factories to try and better their lives.
_____________ Roanoke became a major port city and shipping hub after the war.
_____________ Virginias capital was rebuilt and grew rapidly after the war.