The Foundations of America

8th Grade American History

Strategic Teaching 6328

Building a Lesson Plan
SMU Lesson Plan Framework

Lauren Johnson
November 6, 2014

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Essential Question: How did the United States of America get its start?
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TEKS State Standards:

(b)(2) History. The student understands the causes of exploration and colonization eras.
- Identify reasons for European exploration and colonization of North America.
- Compare political, economic, religious and social reasons for the establishment of the
13 English colonies.

*It is assumed that the students have read Chapter 1 and 2 of their American History
textbooks.

Day 1
Objective: Understand the origins of colonization so students can visualize reasons why
colonization was popular among European countries.

Objective for teacher: Interpret level of students prior knowledge. This unit is a first/second week of the
school year lesson. Must understand level of understanding and establish pace for rest of the school
year.

Language Objective: Key Vocabulary - Students will be introduced to many new words
associated with this time period as well as names of cities, colonies, countries and continents.
Students will be required to memorize and recognize each of these words in this unit for proper
understanding.
Make sure there is a word wall kept on the side of the board, listing all of the words and
phrases that are key to the lesson or havent been introduced before (i.e. conquest, colony,
exploration, immigrant, native etc.)
Provide a word bank for students who require accommodations for all assignments.

Hook: Journal (5 min.) Answer the questions on the board: How do you think the United States
of America got its start? Who inhabited North America before it was discovered and what do
you think happened to those people? What do you want to know about the beginnings of the
United States? We will discuss for five minutes. Conversation will be used to assess students prior
knowledge of subject and how much detail is needed.

Beginning of the unit assessment: Give students a blank map of the 13 colonies and see if
they can figure out which colony is which. Earlier in the year they did this same activity with a
blank map of the current United States to assess their knowledge of the states.

Instruction: Give a lecture on the origins of colonization and conquest in the Americas using
an interactive map on the projector. Briefly begin with Spanish and French conquest, mention
conquest of Western Africa and move on to British colonies.

Guided Practice (to be done simultaneously with Instruction): Give students a map of the
Western Hemisphere and as you explain colonization have the students color in and label the
countries involved, drawing lines from country to country. The students should label each line
with the nation that conducted an exploration. At the bottom of the page, they can write
down the commodities each nation was seeking in their colonization.

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Independent Practice: Students will get into pairs and list the physical attributes of the
colonized land and why it was attractive based on their reading.

Closure: End with quotes from colonizers and pilgrims upon their arrival to North America,
Caribbean, Africa and South America. ex. The inhabitants . . . are all, as I said before,
unprovided with any sort of iron, and they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to
them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are
well made, but because they are timid and full of terror. . . . But when they see that they are
safe, and all fear is banished, they are very guileless and honest, and very liberal of all they
have. No one refuses the asker anything that he possesses; on the contrary they themselves
invite us to ask for it. They manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging
valuable things for trifles, content with the very least thing or nothing at all. . . .

Day 2
Objective: Be able to recognize the push/pull forces that brought colonizers to North America.
Why do people want to come to America?

Objective for teacher: Students should be able to see how this information is relatable to todays
immigration patterns.

Hook/Introduction: Begin with reading a passage from a English Puritan experiencing

religious persecution, a passage from Christopher Columbus diary describing his opinion of
the first Native Americans he encountered. Spend 5 minutes, discussing the class
interpretation of these primary sources.

Instruction: Go through each major colonizing nation and list the factors that contributed to
pushing citizens out of their county and forcing them to immigrate to the Americas.

Guided Practice: Now that the teacher has listed the push factors, have students write down
on the board the industries, freedoms and opportunities that attracted immigrants.

Independent Practice: In smaller groups (preferably groups of 4) students will discuss current
events and what it is about America today that is attracting people to immigrate to our country.

Closure: Pull up a map that illustrates the most popular industries the colonies offered during
colonization and what the most popular industries in the same areas are today. Have students
volunteer to share what they discussed in their groups.

*Differentiation/Accommodation for an Advanced ELL student:

Give the student a copy of the Hook passage and make sure it is translated into modern day
English.
Define push/pull factors thoroughly so they understand this is not a literal translation.
Have a word wall available to all of the students listing the words frequently used in the
lesson (i.e. conquest, colony, exploration, immigrant, native etc.)
If the ELL is from another nation, make sure they are comfortable with the discussion of
immigration and are not unwillingly used as an example during the Independent Practice and
Closure.

Day 3
Objective: Be able to list and recognize personal attributes/details that defined American
culture and divided the colonies.

Hook/Introduction: Have the names of the colonies listed on the board when the students
arrive. Lead 5 minute class discussion where volunteers answer the question: Where do the
colonies get their names from?

Instruction/Guided Practice: Similar to the first day, the teacher will use an interactive map of
the colonies on a projector and explain which European nations inhabited which colony and
why. Students will have an identical map and will be responsible for taking notes on this
information and filling out the map themselves.

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Independent Practice: The students will take the map and color code it based on which
European country inhabited which colony. With a partner, they will review their notes on the
chapter and discuss the cultural differences of each colony (including: ruling nation of that
colony, religion of each colony, primary industry etc.) The students will volunteer information
until we get through each colony.

Closure: For the last 5 minutes of class, students will be shown a PowerPoint of pictures/
illustrations showing the differences in culture of the colonies so the students have visual
references and interpretations. This powerpoint will include images of fashion, climate,
habitation, transportation, industry etc.

Day 4
Objective: Analyze how this new development in the colonies affected the pre-existing
communities and the political decisions involved in the handling of Native Americans.

Hook/Introduction: Millions of Native Americans inhabited North and South America when
Europeans discovered the West Indies. The students will journal for five minutes about their
interpretation of Native American opinion and interaction with colonizers of the Americas.

Instruction/Guided Practice: Using a detailed PowerPoint with pictures, the teacher will give
the students a lecture regarding the culture and location of the various Native American tribes
that inhabited the Eastern coast of North America when European immigrants arrived. Using
yesterdays map, students will add the names of Native American tribes to their proper location
on the colony map. The teacher will explain whether or not the particular tribes had a positive
or negative relationships with the colonizers who inhabited their areas and discuss the laws/
political discussions that came to fruition because of these interactions.

Independent Practice: The students will be given an empty chart listing all of the Native
American tribes discussed in the lecture. The students will use their textbooks and notes to list
the attributes of each tribe according to the categories listed in the chart.

Closure: The teacher will share passages from Native American primary sources/diaries,
describing their feelings/opinions towards the colonizers.

*Differentiation/Accommodation for a student with intermediate functioning Autism:

Provide student with a pre-labeled map of the colonies and also give them a blank map of
the colonies. They can copy the information from the pre-labeled map to their blank map
with help from their helper if needed.
They will also be given a chart that is 40% finished, giving them examples of the information.
The remaining portions of the chart will have fill in the blanks and a box where they can pick
the information that coincides with the correct tribe.
The student will receive a hard copy of the PowerPoint to follow along with the lecture and it
will have lecturer notes to correspond with each slide.

Day 5
Objective: Have a general understanding of the culture of American colonies and the struggles
they faced after their migration.

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Objective for Teacher: Use end of day assessment to interpret speed at which students are learning.

Hook/Introduction: Begin the class with a clip of The Crucible. When the clip is over ask the
students what they know about the Salem Witch Trials and any other strange customs/beliefs
from that time period. This should take approximately 10 minutes. This clip will be shown not
only to portray the cultural beliefs, but to give the students a visual reference and actually see
how people looked, lived and spoke in that time period.

Instruction/Guided Practice: Give students a packet of information regarding colonial culture

for their reading pleasure. This packet explains in more detail, the information that is
mentioned in their textbook about the customs and beliefs of the people who occupied the
colonies. The teacher will give a lecture on the material in the packet using PowerPoint and the
students will follow along using their packets as a point of reference. The teacher will explain
surfs and indentured servitude in Europe and how this transferred to the Americas and
compared to slavery. In addition, they will discuss the religions of each colony and how this
impacted the lifestyles of the people living there. Finally the teacher will discuss the technology
and limits to medical advancements available to the people of that time and what this meant to
them as they developed the land and endured new climates. **Using their prior knowledge,
this lecture will mostly be a discussion with the entire class and facts will be written down on
the board when students make important points. Students will take notes on the material
discussed by the teacher, but will not be responsible for the additional information in the
packet.

Independent Practice/Assessment: The students will each get an index card listing a person
coming from a random European nation, their age and their occupation. The students will take
10 minutes to explain on the back of the index card what the person on the card would be
expected to experience in colonial America based on their ethnic background, location, level in
society, gender etc. This will be graded as completed or not completed and will serve as an
end of the week miniature assessment to see if the students are grasping the information.

Closure: As a class, we will take 10 minutes to list the objectives discussed in class this week
and students will have an opportunity to ask questions about this weeks lesson.

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Day 6

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Summative Assessment
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The students will be given a 11x17 sheet of paper with a blank outline of the colonies. They will
be given a weekend assignment due on the following Monday to assess their knowledge.
Using the maps given to them in class and their notes on the lesson, they will label each of the
13 colonies, the nationalities of the people who inhabited those colonies, the accompanying
European nation that claimed ownership of the area and the industry that was most popular in
that colony. They will also need to label in the appropriate area of the map, the Native
American tribes that were discussed on the fourth day. The Atlantic Ocean, Plymouth Rock,
Jamestown and other important locations listed on the rubric will need to be labeled in the
correct spot and colony. On a separate sheet of paper, the students will need to list three push/
pull factors that attracted Europeans to the Americas and write a paragraph explaining each
factor. This will be a graded assignment that is equivalent to a quiz grade.