Accommodation Lesson Plan

Length: 90 minutes
Class Size: 25
Subject: Civics
Grade Level: 7
Objectives: SOL CE.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of citizenship and the
rights, duties and responsibilities of citizens by CE.3d examining the responsibilities
of citizenship, including registering and voting, communicating with government
officials, participating in political campaigns, keeping informed about current issues,
and respecting differing opinions in a diverse society.
CE.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the political process at the local,
state and national levels of government by CE.5b comparing the similarities and
differences of political parties; CE.5c analyzing campaigns for elective office, with
emphasis on the role of the media.
CE.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the American constitutional
government at the national level by CE.6a describing the structure and powers of
the national government; CE.6b explaining the principle of separation of powers and
the operation of checks and balances; CE.6c explaining and/or simulating the
lawmaking process.
Methods: The instructor will begin a short introductory lecture, reviewing the
content covered in the last meeting, introducing new concepts and contextualizing
them and their importance to the U.S. system of government.
Students will then be grouped into pairs or small groups by ability level,
pairing/grouping students of all levels together (if at all possible depending on the
makeup of the classroom), and will be asked to read a passage from the textbook
(Ch. 7) or one of two other sources (online articles approved by the school
administration, which will differentiate the reading and form a text set) aloud as a
group, taking turns. The high-achieving group will read
http://www.shmoop.com/legislative-branch/congress.html from the What is
Congress section to the Non-Legislative Functions section. The low-achieving group
will read the 5 pages of
http://www.congressforkids.net/Legislativebranch_index.htm.
Groups will be equipped with a facilitator, to insure participation by all, and a
reporter to report back to the group about their reading. Each student in the groups
will use a graphic organizer to record and organize their thoughts and then share
with the group, who will synthesize their thoughts and have the reporter read them
to the class when it is time to share.

For students with physical impairments, groups will assemble at their desks or
location in the classroom to allow for their participation. For students with hearing
impairments, they will be included in the groups, and given the small nature of the
groups, should be able to hear. During class time, they will be assigned seats near
the front of the class, depending on their individual needs. Students with visual
issues should also be included in the group sessions, as the reading occurs aloud, as
does the lecture portion. Students with deficits in vision should also be seated
appropriately to their individual needs in the classroom. The communication
disabled student will be able to contribute to their group discussion via writing their
thoughts, and that writing can be read aloud by the group reporter to the class. The
graphic organizer should help some students with learning disabilities to organize
or group their thoughts, and the assistance from the higher-level students in the
group should foster a better learning environment. The non-labeled student should
excel in this situation given the makeup of the groups.