Kelsey Wallace

Ms. Erica Martin- 4th grade

Churchville Elementary
Date to be taught: April 10, 2018
Date lesson plan submitted to CT: March 12, 2018

LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
Causes of the Revolutionary War

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
The students will be starting a new unit on the Revolutionary War and my CT suggested that I lesson
at the very beginning of their unit. I will be doing the lesson on the causes of the Revolutionary War,
as this is vital information for the students to understand before moving further into the unit.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – The Students will Know – The students will know the Do – The students will be able to
understand the grievances of the causes of the Revolutionary War, as explain the causes of the
colonists and their reasoning for well as have an understanding of the Revolutionary War, in
wanting independence from Great term “taxation without developmentally appropriate detail,
Britain. representation” and how the colonists and why the colonists felt they were
reacted to it. being treated unfairly. The students
should also begin to develop an
understanding of the cause and effect
nature of the events that led up to the
start of the Revolutionary War.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
I will walk around and conference with students individually during their writing time, to discuss their
thoughts and what they are going to include in their letter to the king. I will record my observations
and what I discuss with each student in the observation form I have attached. I will conference with as
many students as time allows. I will also collect the students’ “We Are Never Ever Getting Back
Together” letters to the king, and assess them (for content, not writing skills) using a rubric that I have
attached.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

VS.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the role of Virginia in the American Revolution by
a) identifying the reasons why the colonies went to war with Great Britain, as expressed in the
Declaration of Independence;

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
 1 copy of the “No Taxation Without Representation” activity cards
 1 copy of the interactive notes (per student)
 a significant amount of “Buffalo Bills” (Churchville Elementary School’s currency)
 1 crown

G. PROCEDURE
 Preparation of the learning environment (if required):
In order to prepare the learning environment, I will prepare all of the cards for the activity
ahead of time as well as having premade a pile of “Buffalo Bills” for the kings,
parliamentarians, tax collectors, and colonists. I will also have a “throne” prepared at the front
 of the room for the king. I will also have the BrainPop video pulled up and ready to be played
before the lesson begins.
 Engage -Introduction of the lesson:
To begin the lesson, I will explain that we will be learning about some of the causes that led
up to the American Revolution. I will use the BrainPop video titled “Causes of the American
Revolution” as an introduction to the lesson. Following the video, I will ask the students
which of the causes discussed in the video they think seemed most important and which of the
causes they think would have upset them the most if they were a colonist.
 Implementation of the lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and students):

I will explain to the students how frustrating it must have been for the colonists to be taxed so
much without having any say in it. I will explain to them that we are going to do an activity to
help us understand what the taxation was like and how the colonists might have felt when
being taxed. I will then explain that there will be 1 king (who will sit on his “throne” at the
front of the room and wear a crown I have prepared), 2 parliamentarians, 2 tax collectors, and
the rest colonists. I will explain the way that they will be given “buffalo bills” to use during
the activity. I will explain that they are going to be organized into colonies and taxed by the
tax collectors. I will then explain that the tax collectors will give a portion of the tax they
collect to the parliamentarians and the king. I will then give the tax collectors the cards and
allow the activity to begin. I will assist the students on the first few cards and then allow them
to try doing it a few times on their own. Once we have gotten through a bunch of the cards or
the students start to run out of “buffalo bills” I will end the activity and begin discussion. I will
facilitate a discussion with the students asking the following questions: “How did it feel being
taxed?”, “Were you taxed on goods that you needed or could do without?”, “Would you have
felt differently if you had representation, or a voice, in your government?”

Next, I will explain to the students that we are going to fill out some notes that create a type of
timeline leading up to the start of the Revolutionary War. I will explain to the students that we
will do this in order to have materials to reference later on in the unit when they want to
remember what we learned about the causes of the revolution, during this lesson. Then, we
will together as a class go through the notes and fill in the blanks. I will ask student what they
think might fit in the blanks, using what they already know and what they heard in the
BrainPop video, before revealing the correct answer. These notes will act as a resource for the
students to look back on throughout the rest of the unit on the Revolutionary War.

 Closure:
Finally, I will have the students write “we are never ever getting back together” letters to King
George III explaining why they don’t want to ever be his subjects again. I will pass out the
attached checklist for students to use as a guide for what to include in their letters. I will
encourage the students to try to discuss multiple reasons that they feel this way. While the
students are working, I will walk around the room and talk with them one-on-one about their
thoughts and what they are putting in their letter. I will record these discussions and their
explanations in the observation form. When the time is up, I will collect the letters and score
them using the rubric I have created, to gain some insight into how well the students understood
the lesson and which causes stood out to them the most.

 Clean-up (if required):

All that will be necessary for clean-up is to make sure all of the “buffalo bills” used during the
activity are collected and to remove the “throne” from the front of the room. The students will
also have to make sure their trash from cutting out the notes is thrown away as well, and I will
remind them to do so. After collecting the “buffalo bills” from the activity, if the students
participated well (and it is okay with my CT, of course) then I could give each student 1 “buffalo
bill” to put to rest any unfairness they felt during the course of the activity.
 H. DIFFERENTIATION

 I plan to differentiate mostly during the writing time, as the activity is something that is done
together as a whole class. During the writing time, I will be talking one-on-one with students
in the classroom. I will use this opportunity to check in with students who typically need a
little extra help. I will help these students by helping them guide their ideas. If a student is
struggling, I will ask them to first explain in their letter why they didn’t like being taxed and
tell the king how they felt when they were taxed too much. I will continue to check in with
these students throughout the time they have to write their letters if needed.
 The writing portion will also be differentiated through the use of the checklists, because the
students dependence on the checklist is dependent upon their level of understanding as well as
their creative writing skills.
 For students who finish quickly, I will read over their letter and tell them things they did well
in their letter, but then I will ask them to try writing about at least one more reason they don’t
want to be British subjects anymore. This will give them an opportunity to write about one of
the causes other than taxation.

I. 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.

 The students could get upset during that activity about having to be taxed or over not getting
the role that they wanted. If something like this happens during the activity, I will try to help
resolve the problem with the students by either reassuring them that the king,
parliamentarians, and tax collectors will not get to keep all of the currency they collect, once
the activity is over. Or, I will reassure them that the roles were given out randomly because
that was the most fair way to assign the roles. If the students seem to be more focused on these
aspects rather than the actual experience and participating in the activity, I will end the activity
and have a simple discussion about how they think the colonists might have felt being taxed
without having a say in it in instead.

Notes:
 
Activity Supplies:
 Observation form:
Student’s name Observation notes

Rubric:

1- Area of concern 2- Developing skills 3- Meeting 4- Exceeding

expectations expectations
Understanding of The student does not The student partially The student The student
Causes describe any causes correctly describes a accurately describes accurately describes
or incorrectly cause or “taxation “taxation without “taxation without
describes causes of without representation” representation” as
the revolutionary war. representation”. and/or other causes of well as at least one
the Revolution. other cause of the
Revolution.
Expresses The student does not The student partially The student The students
frustration towards express frustration or insufficiently accurately describes accurately describes
the king for the towards the king or expressed their being frustrated with being frustrated with
causes discussed does not describe the frustration towards the king due to the the king due to the
causes for their the king for one of causes with reasoning causes with reasoning
frustration. the causes discussed. and describes the and discusses the
impact of the cause impact of more than
on their “life”. one cause on their
“lives”.
Checklist for Students:

Items to include:
Describe who you are (a colonist, could include your job and family
members).
Which colony are you from?

What is at least one item you buy that is taxed and how you feel about
that item being taxed?
What are at least two reasons you don’t want to be a royal subject
anymore?
How does taxation without representation make you feel?