Lesson Plan Title: African Cultures “Research” Project

Date:
Subject: English Grade: 30B Topic: Problem of racism
Essential Question: What are ways you can become a more open, responsible and accepting citizen in
your society and world?

Materials: Computers for the students to use, Handouts (if the students cannot access the document
online)
Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language
What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?
The students have to understand the effects that the transatlantic slave trade had on the African cultures as
whole and not just the people who were taken. This will help build their understanding of the hardships that the
slave trade initiated.

Broad Areas of Learning:

Lifelong Learners- This lesson will build lifelong learners by encouraging them to dig into a topic they have do
not have much (if any) background knowledge in and get them interested in learning more. It will help them to
become more confident language users by having them read, interpret, and evaluate their data before
summarizing their findings and thought and writing them out.

Cross-Curricular Competencies:
Developing Thinking- This lesson will help to develop the students think skills by having them explore a topic
that they may have some basic knowledge about but no in-depth knowledge. They will need to use their
thinking skills to determine what is or is not relevant during their research.

Developing Literacy- This lesson will help to develop the students literacy skills by having them use both their
reading and writing skills

Outcome(s):
CR B 30.1 View, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a variety of grade-appropriate international,
including indigenous, texts that address: identity (e.g., Sense of Self), social responsibility (e.g., Social Criticism),
and social action (agency) (e.g., Addressing the Issues).

PGP Goals:
2.4 ability to use technologies readily, strategically and appropriately

Stage 2- Assessment

Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine next steps.
The formative assessment will be done by monitoring the Google Doc as the students work and ensuring that all
of them are one the right track. This will also allow me to assess as they work and give extra support to the
students that need it as well as adjust any incorrect “rabbit trails” that some groups may have while they are
working.

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they have learned.
The Summative assessment will happen when I review the jot notes they have made about their topic in the
Google Doc at the end of the first day. It will also happen when I read through the paragraphs they post in the
Google Doc at the end of the second day.
Stage 3- Learning Plan

Motivational/Anticipatory Set (introducing topic while engaging the students)

I will start by asking the students what knowledge they may already have about some African cultures. I will ask
them to specify which culture they are talking about when they go to explain it and I will write all of the things
they know on the board as they talk. (5 mins)

Main Procedures/Strategies:
After this I will introduce the short research project they will be doing. I am not expecting them to do a full
research project so the information they get during this will likely be very surface level. The point of the exercise
is to give them a better understanding of the complexities of the sovereign cultural groups in pre- colonial Africa
so that they can better understand the impacts of slavery and colonialization on these groups. I will break the
class into groups of 4-5 students and give them access (either handouts or online but preferably online) to
UNESCO book, A General History of Africa, Volume 4: Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century (web access at
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001842/184287eo.pdf#xml=http://www.unesco.org/ulis/c gi-
bin/ulis.pl?database=&set=4DC2A097_1_13&hits_rec=8&hits_lng=eng). The students will look through the table
of contents and choose a culture that they would like to study. After they have chosen one they will then use
the same document to start their research and pull in other sources if they find it necessary/beneficial as they
work. As they research they will be asked to post their jot notes in a class-wide Google Doc that I will be
monitoring during the activity. (One full class period) After they have done their research they will be asked to
write 1-2 pages about their culture as a group (focuses should include but are not limited to governance
structures, social organization, technology, trade/economics, and the impact of triangular trade [selling African
goods (i.e. people) to Americans and the West Indies for goods that were then shipped to Britain]) and post it to
a class-wide Google Doc so that I can read it and asses what they learned from the activity. (One full class
period).

Adaptations/Differentiation:
With the students posting all of their jot notes in the Google Doc as they work I will be able to monitor each
group and give support to the groups that need it more while allowing the groups that don’t to work with only
the occasional check-in

Closing of lesson:
I will ask each group to share one thing that they found very interesting while doing their research. (15 mins)

Personal Reflection:

M. Wilkinson ’16 *Adapted from Understanding by Design (McTighe and Wiggins, 1998)
Nicole Clampitt
ECUR 325
Jay Wilson and Angela Arneson
16 February 2018
Lesson Plan Explanation

This lesson plan uses technology both by having the students do their research on a computer as

well as by asking the students to post all of their notes and their final written piece in a Google Doc that

is shared with the entire class as well as me. I believe that using technology in the class this way shows

technology use at the Modification level of the SAMR model because it redesigns the way that research

and group writing can be done.

I believe that I effectively integrated my outcome with my instructional strategies and forms of

assessment for this lesson because I ensured that the outcome reflected the idea of social justice and this

lesson is designed to get the students more invested in the social justice issues surrounding the slave

trade. This also reflects that my goals are clear and effective and my planned instruction and activities

are likely to achieve it. I also believe that this lesson shows an instructional strategy that suits the

students and the outcomes well. I think I have provided plenty of information so that a sub can easily

understand the goal of the assignment as well as how to pull it off very smoothly. The formative

assessment I have chosen allows me adjust my plans and explanations easily as it will all be monitored

through the Google Doc and I will be able to focus primarily on the students how require the extra help.

The assessments that I have chosen are not really shaped by the students however, this assignment will

not necessarily be for marks either. The goal of this is to broaden the students understanding and not to

something that they will be graded on. I have used a lesson similar to this in the past and received very

good from my teacher about how it worked. The students were very engaged and loved the chance to

explore their topics.

 In this lesson I clearly demonstrate that I can incorporate technology easily by having them

create their written works in a Google Doc that I administer. The lesson itself also embraces the idea of

cultural diversity as the main focus is to learn more about the African cultures that were affected by

transatlantic trade. It also allows for students with different needs to be able to participate in the same

manner and to the same level as the students who do not struggle. This lesson also allows me to monitor

more closely every student and ensure that students who I know tend to struggle more get any extra

support they need. This lesson helps the students to build on their literacies strategies by asking them to

read, interpret and analyze their data that they research and reorganize, summarize and write that data

down in a pose format.