Famous Historical Figures Jennifer Peace Fourth Grade Social Studies Common Core Standards: Grade Four Theme:

Ohio and the United States Topic: History, Historical Thinking and Skills Primary and secondary resources can be used to create historical narratives. Topic: Geography, Human Systems People have modified the environment since prehistoric times. There are both positive and negative consequences for modifying the environment. Topic: Government, Civic Participation and Skills Individuals have a variety of opportunities to participate in and influence their state and national government. Citizens have both rights and responsibilities.

Lesson Summary: In this lesson, students will first learn about JFK and why his death was such a big deal, as we are approaching the anniversary of his assassination. After learning about a famous person in American history, the students will be split into groups of no more than 4 to create a presentation about another famous American historical figure. The students will use the internet and other available resources to research their person. The presentation will also involve the students creating a voki that looks like their person. Estimated Duration: This lesson will take about 2 and a half to three hours. Due to this being a fourth grade lesson, we will be working in increments of half hours to keep their attention and not overwhelm them with work. The first half hour lesson will be about JFK, more of an informational lesson. The next half hour time period will be spent splitting into groups, picking famous people, and going over what is expected from them, as well as any how to lessons on using the technology available. They will then get 2 class periods (a half hour each) to work together in their groups on their projects. I will reserve time in our computer lab so each group gets a chance to look things up online and work on the technology portion of their presentations. The last half hour lesson will be the presentations of each group. Depending on how many students we have in the class, this last period of time may vary. Commentary: This lesson will hopefully get third graders interested in history and the people that made America what it is today. I won't limit it to just leaders or politicians, but have a vast number of people that children can chose from to research that have somehow changed America. I think the most challenging part will be the time they get to work on their projects, because I won't be able to be there at every group and want to make sure they are using their time efficiently. We

will talk about this before I let them go to reiterate the importance of using their time wisely so they don't have to work at home. The hook of the lesson will be an audio of JFK's speech, found here: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/BqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx. This will get kids interested and also show that these historical people they've heard of are people just like them. Instructional Procedures: Day 1: I would like this lesson to start on a Monday, with presentations ending on the following Monday. First 15 minutes: Introductory activity- Students will listen and watch JFK's inaugural address from January 20, 1961 found at http://www.jfklibrary.org/AssetViewer/BqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx. Before watching I will ask students to pretend they are in the audience while this speech is happening. They can clap when the audience claps and really get a feeling for what it was like that day in history. Next 15 minutes: I will pull up http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History.aspx, a timeline of important events JFK was a large part of. There are pictures to go along with the events, and the whole thing will be on the Elmo or Smart Board (whichever is available) so the students can follow along. Students will be able to ask any questions and I will ask students open ended questions about the slides. The questions will depend on what the students show interest in, but will be things like, "why do you think he met with so and so?" to get them to think critically and use 21st century skills. At the end of our discussion, I will tell students they will get to research a famous American historical figure to teach us about, starting tomorrow. I will tell them to think about who they think was important in the history of America. They can start looking up people at home if they would like, but it will not be necessary as they will have plenty of time the next day to scroll through some famous people they can chose from. In both sections of this first day, children will be interactive and we will all be in one big group, learning together and having an open ended discussion about JFK and historical figures in America. Day 2: Tuesday First 15 minutes: At the beginning of the new lesson I will explain that we are going to research a famous American historical person and do a presentation about him or her. We will be in the computer lab for this section so the students can research the famous people to choose from. The students will split themselves into groups of no more than 3 people. Looking at websites like www.thefamouspeople.com, www.biographyonline.net, and www.datesandevents.org, students will have about 10 minutes to look over the many famous people in our history and each group will chose one person. On the Smart Board I will have a list of appropriate websites that have famous Americans. In order to not have repeat people, the groups will come tell me when they have chosen their person and that person will no longer be available for any other group to do. I will keep a running list of the famous figures on the smart board with the group member names next to them so students can see who is no longer up for grabs. This list will then be kept by me so I can keep track of who is in what group and who they chose to research. Next 15 minutes: The second half of the lesson will be for me to go over the project rules and expectations. I will pass out guidelines and a rubric for them to look at so they know what the project will entail and the expectations I have for them. A large component of their project will

be for them to create their own Voki, made to resemble the famous person they are researching. I will show them in this time how to make one. At the end of the how to directions, I will show them a Voki that will resemble JFK, since they will already be familiar with who he is after yesterday's lesson. Points I will make sure to stress in this section are the following: - Each student will participate in the research and presentation of their person, and will talk about what part they did as a part of the assessment. - Students will be expected to create a Voki that looks and acts like their person, describing what they are famous for, and any other important information about them. This Voki will be presented to the class and should be in first person language, as if the Voki is that person, talking to the class. - Students will spend time researching their person using the internet, library books, and any other valid and reliable resources (to be determined by the teacher). - The presentation will be as a group, but each student will be required to turn in a paragraph about their person and a paragraph about how the group worked together and anything they want to reflect about in regards to working on the project. If there is extra time after everything is explained, they can begin researching their project. For my homework, I will have a list of what group is doing what person and with that list go to the Columbus Metropolitan Library to get books for them to use as research resources. Day Three and Four: Wednesday and Thursday Each half hour section (of 2 total): This time will be dedicated to the students' research. We will have time reserved in the computer lab, because as a part of the project they have to create a Voki, type up a summary of what they did and a summary of their person, and are able to use online resources to research the figure chosen. I will provide feedback and recommendations if needed, but for the most part I want the students to work on this in their groups without outside help so they can master the standards of this unit. Day Five: I will play this day by ear. Students may need an extra period to work on their projects, but if at the end of Thursday they seem almost ready, we will start presenting Friday. This entire period will be people presenting their projects. They will have a rubric that is used to assess their understanding that will be given to them when the project is introduced, so there are no surprises on what is expected of them. I would like to start on Friday, and then finish presentations Monday if not enough time.

Pre-Assessment: One thing I will use as a pre-assessment is a little worksheet that goes along with the lesson on JFK. The students should be able to answer these questions after or as we go through our first lesson. This way I know if they can use an informational text to get information. The discussion we have will also let me know who is struggling and who understands the importance of history and the people that make up our American history. Scoring Guidelines: I will review the students' answers on the worksheet to see if they got the right answers. If the answer is subjective, I will use my own judgment to see if they understood the gist of the information. For the discussion, I will take anecdotal notes to keep track of points made by my students, which will help me see if anyone is misunderstanding so I can

modify the future assignments. For students that seem to be struggling, I can put them in groups with higher ability peers that can provide more support during the researching and work on the project. As the students work on their projects and research I will float around the room, asking leading questions if I see someone struggling. I can use this as a form of formative assessment as I see who is doing what and if they are understanding and participating, as participation is also important in this assignment. Post-Assessment: The students' presentations and final projects are going to be used at the post-assessment. It will be graded using a rubric that assesses their knowledge/content, skills used during the process, and presentation itself. A second part of the assessment will be the summary of the person and the self-reflection paragraph about working in the group. Both these pieces will be written on the class's blog. Scoring Guidelines: I will assess this using a rubric, with 1-4 points possible for each of the 3 categories. The written portion will be assessed out of 10 points, based on content or accurate information, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar will be a proponent of the evaluation.

Differentiated Instructional Support Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated students: This project is in itself differentiated. Students will be able to choose how to present, so those of lower or higher ability can present in different ways. The group work also helps with this because I will use flexible grouping so struggling students are grouped with high ability students. For gifted or talented children, I will have an extra portion they can complete, where they can interview the famous historical figure. This can be recorded and posted to YouTube, or done as an animation on GoAnimate, or another technological site if the students know of something better, as long as it is approved with me beforehand. For lower ability students, I can help them create their Voki, or give them any assistive technology that will help them be more successful in this project. Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the material: Additional activities for those struggling could be having them make a timeline of their person's life, either written, or for those who struggle with writing, we could do a clothesline timeline and hang it in the room. We can also make sure the resources are written at their level of reading so they can easily understand the material. We can have our word wall dedicated to words found throughout their research so they can reference it easily instead of feeling lost.

Extension As an extension, we could go beyond American historical figures and talk about people around the world who changed a part of history, like Gandhi. We could also look at everyone's person and put them on a timeline, either based on the date they were born, or when they did their most influential thing. On the timeline, we could hang it on a bulletin board and put their picture

and maybe a blurb about what they did. We could call is American History Alive, or we could discuss the title together and vote on it democratically. I found a great website for kids to use that includes the standards addresses in this lesson called kids.usa.gov/social-studies/. Here there is information kids can look through, games they can play all related to Social Studies, and videos they can watch about the different topics of Social Studies. There is information for kids in grades Kindergarten to 8th grade and stuff for parents and adults too. My students could use this during their free time if a computer is available to delve deeper into the Social Studies topics for their grade and beyond. I could also use this as a bonus, like if you do something helpful, you gain time on this website during morning time or some other time in the day that is usually used to work on random work we have.

Homework Options and Home Connections A homework assignment for this project would be to work at home on anything they chose to, that they won't have time in class to complete. Also, if they are recording their voice or a video, this can be done at home, where it might be quieter. Another homework assignment that can go along with this is a reflection in the class blog, integrating technology instead of turning written work in. They can blog about their experience, what they liked, what they didn't like. They can also use the blog to communicate with members of their group while at home so they stay on top of the work.

Interdisciplinary Connections This lesson is integrating English/Language Arts because they need to write about their person, as well as present it, using their speech skills, which is under the Language Arts standards. Reading is also heavily integrated as they do their research and read information texts to find out about their famous figure. Drama and Art are also integrated because they are presenting their projects in unique ways and have the freedom to be creative. The Voki they create also is dramatic because they are making a person that will act like the famous person studied.

Materials and Resources: For teachers - Smart board or Elmo: to teach lesson - Internet: for websites about JFK, speech, www.voki.com, list of other websites that have historical figures listed, etc. - Library card: to check out books for students on their person - Computer lab time reserved - Rubric (made by teacher for students) - Project explanation (handout for students) - JFK worksheet (handout for students) - Recording devices (if students chose to record themselves) For students - Computers during computer lab time - Laptops if available so they can work in the classroom - Books about their person

- Reputable websites about their person: found online, approved by teacher

Key Vocabulary Historical figure, informational text, bibliography, inaugural speech, Voki.

Additional Notes In my classroom the use of technology will have already been heavily used, so there isn't anything in here in terms of how to use internet, etc. This lesson would best be done if I also had an aide or assistive teacher so they could help monitor everyone to make sure everyone is using their time appropriately. This way we can also have one teacher in the classroom and one teacher in the computer lab so the students are free to use what they need. I plan to teach in Columbus City School District, so I assumed that there would not be enough computers or laptops in the classroom itself for every group to work there.