IS+-+Lesson+Plan+6th+Grade+SS

The daily outcome was stated on the board, “//Explain how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, affected people in the United States and around the world.”// To begin class, the teacher referred to the daily outcome. She explained that the outcome was the part of the Course of Study Standard the students would be working through during this class period. She then directed their attention to her lesson agenda, so the students could understand how the lesson would flow and what would be expected of them. The first strategy she employed was a Think-Write-Pair-Share. Students were instructed to think about the question, “When you hear September 11, 2001, or 9-11, what do you think about?” and jot down their thoughts. The teacher moved about the room reading what the students were writing, asking questions, and clarifying where necessary. Then the teacher asked the students to discuss their thoughts with a partner. Students were told to begin their talking by saying, “9-11 makes me think about….” The teacher again moved about the room and listened as students talked, paying close attention to any students about whom she was concerned based on their earlier writing. She noticed that the students’ understanding of the events of September 11, 2001, varied. The teacher made anecdotal notes as she observed the students writing and talking. The teacher instructed the students to make a simple graphic organizer for note taking on their own paper. She modeled how the graphic organizer should be divided into three sections and labeled according to the sections of text they were going to read. She continued to model by reading the first chunk of text and providing examples of important information that should be written as notes on the graphic organizer. She then explained that after reading each chunk, she would ask a series of questions. She told the students not to raise their hands. The teacher had written all of the questions ahead of time. She purposely wanted to ensure that she was asking questions of varying levels of difficulty, and she wanted to ensure that every student had the opportunity to answer one of each type of question. She wrote questions from the following categories: 1) label, identify, find; 2) connect, compare, contrast, infer; and 3) sequence, classify, integrate, pre-summarize. She listed a student’s names beside each question. Her procedure for question categories 1 and 2 was to pose a question to the entire class, observe wait time, and call on the predetermined student to give the answer. Her procedure for category 3 questions was to pose the question to the class, give students an opportunity to talk with a partner, and then call on someone to answer the question. By having the questions written and assigned prior to the lesson, the teacher was able to ensure that the questions were distributed equitably and all students were responsible for answering varying levels of questions. She was also able to take anecdotal notes based on the responses to the questions. The graphic organizer helped her see how well students could extract meaning from text and make notes according to what types of scaffolding certain students might need in subsequent instruction. The teacher realized that she was not going to be able to cover as many sections as she had planned. She explained to the students that they would continue with this procedure during the next class period, but she needed to stop and assess the day’s learning. She directed them back to the outcome listed on the board and asked them to complete an exit slip by responding to the statement, “//Explain how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, affected people in the United States and around the world.”// She collected the exit slips to read and determine what her next steps should be.
 * Sixth Grade Social Studies **
 * Room arrangement: ** 18 students sitting in rows.