EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN – STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLAN
Elements of the Lesson
I. Standard
District curriculum guidelines, MDE core curriculum, or CCSS
II. Objectives/Targets and I can statements
What am I going to teach?
What will the students be able to do at the end of the lesson?
What formative assessments are used to inform my instruction?
What challenges might students encounter?
Why is this concept/target important?
Evidence that Documents the Elements
RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where,
when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key
details in a text.
SL.2.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse
partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in
small and larger groups.
SL.2.2 Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read
aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
I can… describe how a community changes
So I can… understand the community where I live.
I will know I am successful when... I can show through words
or pictures that communities change over time.
*The I CAN statements will be reviewed using mirror words.
Focus Question: How do communities change?
This lesson focuses on communities and how they can change.
The day before the lesson, we will have covered/reviewed what
communities are. This lesson will build on the introduction that
was built. We will focus on understanding how to use what we
know about communities today to describe how communities
have changed and looked different than they looked in the
past.
This concept is especially important, because students must
learn to think deeper. They cannot only give surface answers,
but must know how to apply their thinking in real world
situations and in their own surrounding communities. The
students may struggle to think deeply, but the scaffolding and
support that is in place will be beneficial and help them. They
will have the support of their group, also. They will be assessed
on their ability to put what they know into practice when they
apply their knowledge by drawing a picture of community
changes over time.
III. Lesson Management: Focus and Organization The scoreboard will be used to promote positive behavior. I will
What positive strategies, techniques and tools will I use? also redirect student behavior if they are not on task using Love
What on task, active and focused student behavior will I see? and Logic and Whole Brain Teaching.

The students will be on task when they are participating in our

group discussion, speaking with partners, etc. They will display
the practiced behavior such as whole body listening, shoulder
to shoulder with partners, etc.
IV. Introduction: Creating Excitement and Focus for the Lesson Target Interest will be generated by welcoming the students to the
What will I do to generate interest? lesson today. Tell the students that you need their help In
How will I access prior knowledge? acting out the lesson for today, because you cannot do it by
What will I have students practice/review? themselves. It takes a “community” working together. Remind
them that yesterday, they discussed what a community is and
different types of communities. Today, we are going to use
what we know in order to decide how communities change
over time.
The students will review what they have learned through a
quick class discussion about the vocabulary words
“communities” and “change”.
V. Input: Setting up the Lesson for Student Success The students will have the background knowledge that they
need to discuss “communities” and “change” from the previous
Task analysis: lesson. We will review the background information about what
 What information does the learner need? If needed how will it be a community is from the day before.
provided? The lesson will be scaffolded using visuals in the form of a
 How is the lesson scaffolded? student-led play about communities and previous knowledge to
Higher Level Thinking: Questions to engage students’ thinking help them get started. They will have their groups to help them
 Remembering out, also.
 Understanding Task Analysis:
 Applying
 Analyzing  TTW begin the lesson in the front of the room and
 Evaluating invite the students to the front of the room. Students
 Creating do not need to bring anything along.
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge  Using Mirror Words, the teacher will give the students
 Recall/Reproduction the “I CAN” statements and the students will repeat the
 Skills/Concept words and motions that the teacher gives.
 Strategic Thinking  TTW give the students an opportunity to quickly review
 Extended Thinking what was learned yesterday, before beginning new
Accommodations: Differentiating to meet students’ needs content. TSW provide answers when necessary.
 Remediation/Intervention  TTW read some of the book The Little House and
 Extension/enrichment discuss with the students who will participate in the
Methods, Materials and Integrated Technology discussion about communities and how they change.
 Instructional techniques The community surrounding The Little House will
 Engagement strategies especially be explored.
 Materials and Integrated Technology list  After the discussion, the students will be given a card
that has their role and action piece in the roleplay that
we will be acting out as a class to understand
communities.
 TTW ask the students to follow along with what she
reads aloud and do as their card indicates.
 TTW read the script as students perform the actions.
When the role play is done, TSW will return to the front
of the room
 TTW open the PowerPoint and discuss the pictures with
the students by thinking about what is going on and
how that we know communities are changing
 TSW find a partner throughout various points in the
PowerPoint and discuss with them what they think is
happening in the picture.
 After TTW discuss with the students all the slides in the
PowerPoint about different scenarios, TSW be given
various directions for what to draw on their blank
paper to show community changes.
 TTW monitor, assess, and discuss the drawing with
students while they are working.
  After a specific amount of time, TSW pack up their
drawings, place them in their folder, and return to the
front of the room.
 TSW share their opinion on what they thought helped
them in the lesson and what was difficult for them.
 After answering questions, the TTW close the lesson by
reviewing the I CAN statements and an overview of
how this lesson will connect to the lesson the next day.

Questions:
Remembering/Understanding-“Who remembers what the word
“community” means?” The students will need to recall this
information and understand it.

Applying/Analyze-“What makes a community change?” They

will apply what they know about communities when analyzing
what makes a community change They need to be able to use
the definition of a community to explain to others why/how
communities change over time.

Evaluating-“Which town is closest to today?” Using pictures,

students will decide on the most recent town based on applying
the knowledge that they know about how communities change.
that make specific materials the best by applying and analyzing.
They must use strategic thinking when evaluating.

Creating-“If a community began like this (picture), what will a

picture look like to show how communities change?” This will
be a hands-on experience for the students and they will be able
to create a picture of a community that has changed and
explain either in writing or by speaking how the community has
changed.
 For the students who need remediation, they will be able to
draw how a community changes without adding text. For
students needing extension, they can draw out how a
community changes by adding text. They can also create
separate pictures to create a timeline of how a community
changes over time.

Much of this lesson will be taught through hands-on activities

to keep them interested and engaged. All of the students like to
keep busy building to find out more rather than only listening,
so this is a great strategy to keep them engaged.

Materials:
 Computer/ELMO
 Whiteboard/Markers
 Pencils/erasers
 Crayons or Colored Pencils
 Blank Drawing Paper
 “Community Changes” script
 Social Studies PowerPoint
 Scoreboard
 The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

VI. Modeling: I Do When the students are seated in the front of the room, open
SHOW/TELL (Visual/Verbal Input) the PowerPoint. The students will be familiar with some of the
What will I show/demonstrate for students? What will I tell them? concepts discussed, since they have worked with some of them
HOW/WHAT (Questioning and redirecting) in the previous lesson.
How to do as well as What to do Model the thinking that will be done: “So yesterday, we talked
about how that not all communities are the same. What makes
them different?”

VII. Checking for Understanding
Samples of questions to be asked
Ways in which students will respond and be engaged
Formative assessment strategies to be implemented
Student answers, “They have different people, buildings, etc.”
“Exactly! So today, when we think about different communities,
we need to think about how that they became different over
time. We know that communities do not always change right
away, so we need to think about what makes them change over
time. Let’s look at some examples and see what we noticed.”
On the PowerPoint, open to the first community picture.
“I’ve noticed that this first picture has sand and dirt, but not
much else. Oh! I do notice that there are some tracks that are
in the sand that might be something like roads. is made of
something strong. Hmmm. Then, I can look at the next picture
and see that there are a lot of buildings and cars. What do you
think happened to make it change? Turn and talk to your
neighbor for 30 seconds.”
Students talk and then volunteer answers.
“Exactly! Maybe more people moved to this area. If there is
more people, then they are going to need a lot more buildings
to work in. Will they need more cars, too? Hmm. I think so,
because otherwise they will not be able to get to work. So this
is something that I am going to remember for later. When there
are more people that move to an area, then the community
becomes bigger.”
Change slide and ask, “What about this community? What do
you think is important in this community and why?”
Teacher points out something before turning to the students to
ask them for answers. The students will see the thinking that I
do as I explain my answers.
At the next slide, pause and ask the students some questions
that check for their understanding of how communities change.
For example, “Which picture of the city was taken first? How do
we know this?”
Students should answer with the correct answer depending on
what is available.

VIII. Guided Practice: We Do
What do the teacher and student do together?
How will a gradual release of responsibility be accomplished?
IX. Collaborative (You Do Together) and/or Independent Practice (You Do)
What practices will be demonstrated?
X. Closure
How will the ‘I can’ statement(s) be reviewed?
How will students be involved?
Ask them to show a thumbs up if they understand how first we
need to think about what happens in communities to make
them change in order for us to determine which picture came
first.
“Ok, so we reviewed what communities are and how they
change so let’s try another example. If we have these two
pictures (PowerPoint), which one do you think is the most
recent or the newest picture?”
Students talk with a partner and discuss before sharing out to
the teacher and rest of the class.
“Oh, class! I’m looking for a volunteer. Remember that I talk to
kids who raise their hands. What did you notice?”
Student volunteers answer and we discuss as a class.
“Thank you for sharing! I think that we have a good grasp on
the concept and now I have a challenge for you! What do you
see on the screen?” (Show Challenge slide)
Students answer that they see an old building.
“Exactly! So now…Here is what the community used to look like
and you need to think of some ways that the community
changed. Remember the ways that we talked about… people
moving, cleaning up the town, etc. Your challenge is to draw
what the town looks like now after all of the changes in the
community. Be creative and have fun!”
Review the directions and procedures with the class before
allowing them to get to work in their groups.
The students will be dismissed to return to their seats and to
start drawing their own community that has undergone
changes. The students will ask questions to the teacher nearby
if they have questions. The teacher will walk around and
monitor and help students.
“You all just learned more about communities and how the
communities change over time. What changes did you draw in
 What connections to future learning will occur? your drawing? Take a moment and tell your partner before we
share.” Students turn and talk.
After discussing and sharing (can use document camera)…
Let’s review what you all can do now that you learned about
organizing opinions. Mirror Words! “I can… describe how
communities change.
So I can... understand the community where I live.” (Students
reply).
“We will continue learning about communities tomorrow. If
you have not finished your drawing, you will have some time to
work on it tomorrow. Today, I noticed you worked well with
your partners and you all gave a lot of effort! Give yourselves
some encouragement!”

XI. Assessment The conversation that the students are having will demonstrate
What evidence supports that the target(s)/objective(s) were met? their understanding and knowledge on the topic. The drawings
What do my students know, understand and are able to do now? will be assessed to see if they understand the topic, and will be
What formative assessments will be used to inform instruction? used to inform future instruction.

XII. Reflection (Questions to consider…)

How do I know that the objective(s)/target(s) were met? What is my
evidence?
Based on the data gathered, what will I do next?
How well did the students perform/respond? How did students show they
were engaged?
What evidence do I have?
What aspect of the lesson was particularly challenging for students? What
will I do to help the student(s) who struggled?
What will I do to extend the learning for those students who met
target?
Were there any surprises? What would I do if I taught this lesson
again?
Updated August 2017