James Madison University College of Education

Social Studies Lesson Plan Format

MSSE 470
Name: Samantha Dull Date: 10/19/2017 Original
Subject/Class: World History II Grade Level: 10th Topic: The British Empire and her colonies
Concept: Understanding Motives
Essential Questions:
Unit essential question(s):
How does an Empire affect the world?
Lesson essential question:
What are the major interests of an empire?
SOLs-- number & letter & brief summary:

WHII.1 The student will improve skills in historical research and geographical analysis by:
d) identifying and comparing political boundaries with the locations of civilizations, empires, and kingdoms
from 1500 A.D. (C.E.) to the present;

In this lesson, the students will consider the rise of the British Empire and what motivated the people who built
it. They will then research what resources were gained from Britains different colonies. They will create a map
with information about what Britain gained from her empire and consider arguments for the expansion of the
empire. This is day 2 of the unit.

Your own written objectives (U/K, D, Values) Your assessment: formative and
summative

Students will be able to understand that
that empires are heterogenous
Formative: Class discussion on the many
colonies of the British Empire
Summative: The students are completing
a map that demonstrates how vast and
diverse the British Empire was.

Students will know Formative: The student will complete the

The British colonies of the 19th century Activity 1 sheet.
The resources from those specific colonies Summative: The students will turn in their
The geography of the British Empire Activity 1 sheets. The teacher will be able
Why Empires act they way they do to review and hand back to the students.

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
 Students will be able to
Locate the colonies of the British Empire
Discuss why an empire would exist and expand
Create a speech/rap about the benefits of the colonies
for the empire
Formative: Discussion about why an
empire would want to grow.
Summative: Students will complete and
turn in a spider chart that shows why a
country would want to become an empire

Students will be able to Summative: Students will create and turn

Analyze information and synthesize it into an in a speech/rap role playing as the prime
argument minister of Great Britain. They will use the
information they have learned in class to
argue as to why the empire should expand.

Students will value Formative: Class discussion on who is

that many great empires are heterogenous included in the empire and how the empire
affected the natives.

Content Outline:

1) British Colonies
i. Colonies were territories that the British crown claimed absolute sovereignty over
a. Examples: Bahamas, Guyana, 13 Colonies, South Africa, India, Australia, Sierra Leon,
Ireland

2) Resources from the colonies

i. Gold, Spices, Silk, Indigo, Opium, tea, Diamonds, Slaves

3) Reasons why the British would want to expand

i. Power, Wealth, Resources, trade, Civilize
ii. Scramble for Africa
iii. British Raj

Bibliography/Resources Used
Bowle, J. (1974). The imperial achievement: the rise and transformation of the British Empire. Harmondsworth:
Little Brown and Company.

Darwin, J. (2012). Unfinished empire: the global expansion of Britain. New York: Bloomsbury.

Type of activity; What the Teacher Will Do/Say:

timing

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
 10 Minutes Introduce a class discussion on the reason why a specific country might want an
empire. (Power, Wealth, Resources, trade connections etc.)
Why would a country want to become an empire?
What colonies did the British control?

15 Minutes Have the students find an image of the British flag from the internet and paste it to a
new document (Google Doc). Then have the students create a spider diagram (Bubble
Chart) with the flag as the body of the spider and reasons why the British began to
build their empire as the legs of the spider. Make sure students are focused on British
motivations. How did a small country come to rule a huge empire? After 10 minutes,
bring the class together for a group discussion.

15 Minutes Still using Activity sheet 1, students will use their resources (Chrome books, notes,
textbook, partners) to find out a major resources from some of the British colonies. Ex.
Gold and Diamonds from South Africa or Silks and Spices from India.

10 Minutes Next, the teacher will instruct the students to create a map with Google My Maps
titled What Britain gained from her empire. The students will add the information
they have gathered as place marks on each country that belonged to the British
Empire.

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
 25 Minutes The teacher will instruct the students that to pretend that they are the Prime Minister of
Britain in 1870 (William Gladstone). They must prepare a speech to parliament
describing the benefits of the colonies and why the empire should expand further. In
order for some differentiation, students will also have the option to create a rap that
also highlights the same information. They can follow this outline for help:

Honorable Gentlemen. I must urge you to vote in favor of expanding the British Empire further. The
advantages of empire are numerous.

One advantage is,

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Another advantage is,

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

A further advantage is,

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

A final advantage is,

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________.

Bonus question: Who was the British Prime Minister in 1870?

15 Minutes The remainder of class will be for anyone who would like to present their speech or
rap to the class. If there is more time remaining at the end of the period, we will end
with a class discussion about what we learned today. Some questions to ask:
Who paid the price for the benefits for the British?
At what cost to the native people of the British Colonies?

Instructional Plan:

Materials Needed for the Lesson:

Chrombook/Internet
Google maps/ Google Docs
Activity Sheet 1

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
Activity Sheet 1:
How did Britain benefit from her empire?
Your task is to consider reasons why the British built up the empire
and then find out what resources Britain gained from her colonies.
1. Use Google Images to find the British Empire flag. Copy it into a new document on Google
Docs. Create a spider diagram around it to show reasons why the British became empire
builders. What do you think might have motivated them?

2. Use Google Search to find out what resources or other benefits Britain gained from five of
her colonies. Use this information to fill in the table below. One example has been given for
you.
Country What Britain gained
Example: South Africa: Gold and diamonds

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
Adaption/Differentiation:

ELL/struggling This lesson could be adapted for an ELL student by giving students a word
readers bank or a picture bank of the colonies and the resources. This way they can
match the colony with the resource and then find its place on the map. The
teacher is also available throughout the lesson to clarify or answer any
questions.

ADHD This lesson could be adapted to better fit a student with ADHD by having
students do the activity sheet with either partners or in small groups. This
would allow students to get up and move around as well as communicate
with their peers.

Gifted This lesson could be adapted for a gifted student by having them examine
the British empire from a local or native perspective. Instead of looking at 5
colonies and their respective resources, they could find 5 ways a native
population was exploited.

REFLECTION:
1. How/where does this lesson exhibit connection to student lives/authentic learning?
This is important because we can better understand the lasting affects that the British Empire had all over the
world. Many students think that the Americas and the United States was the main colony of the British but in
fact their influence reached all over the world. There is still a lasting effect on todays world that is left over
from the British.

2. How/where does this lesson lead to H.O.T. (higher order thinking) and deep knowledge?
During this lesson, the students first are finding information and facts. At the end of the lesson, the students will
take what they have learned about the outer edges of the empire and compose a speech/rap from the perspective
of the Prime Minister. This takes H.O.T because students are now creating their own argument based on the
facts that they have discovered throughout the lesson.

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17
 Points Rubric for Lesson Plans See full rubric for detailed description of expectations. See Dr. Cude for
/5 ea. further explanation.

Goals & alignment: EQ which is essential; objectives well written and significant; assessment
aligned with objectives--formative & summative; lesson logically flows; scaffolded appropriately

Structure: HOOK, closure, timing, detailed/accurate content, diverse strategies, differentiation,

includes ancillary materials [such as PPT, notesheet], on time, use of primary sources & visuals

Quality: [PASS criteria] uses higher-order thinking, links to students lives, includes
ethics/democratic values, employs historical/critical thinking & rigor, includes significant portion of
active/student-directed learning, and makes meaningful connections.

TOTAL 13.5 15 = exemplary (A)

12- 13.25 = meets target (B)
10.25 11.75 = meets target (C)
10 and below = needs improvement/redo & resubmit

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude 1/17