Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction Calvin College Education Program

Teacher Victor Lynde

Date 4/20/2017 Subject/ Topic/ Theme Committee System Grade __11th grade______

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
This is the third lesson in a 7 to 8 lesson Unit, of which I will teach the first 4 lessons. The Unit as a whole is on the Legislative Branch in the United States AKA the
Congress. This lesson introduces the students to the committee system within Congress, which helps them better understand the nuts and bolts of the legislative
process. The students will have not covered this subject at all up till this point and likely have limited foreknowledge. However, surrounding, contextual, and
framework knowledge will help them understand it.

cognitive- physical socio-

Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E C* development emotional
Students should be able to participate in simulation designed help them better understand the reasons for the U Ap An X
committee system
Students should be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the committee system. E



Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed: HS SSCE Michigan Department of
Education C3 3.1, 3.4
(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite
knowledge and skills.
Outline assessment
activities
(applicable to this lesson)
What barriers might this
lesson present?
What will it take
neurodevelopmentally,
experientially, emotionally,
etc., for your students to do
this lesson?
Students will have no prerequisite knowledge of the committee system besides that which they learned
for their homework assignment. Students will know the structure of Congress and the major leadership
positions within it.
Pre-assessment (for learning):
N/A
Formative (for learning):
Simulation of the committee system helps the teacher better assess the students level of understanding
of the content and how quickly they understand the material.
Formative (as learning):
Simulation of committee system; Google Slides presentation
Summative (of learning):
N/A
Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Action Provide Multiple Means of
Representation and Expression Engagement
Provide options for perception- Provide options for physical action- Provide options for recruiting
making information perceptible increase options for interaction interest- choice, relevance, value,
authenticity, minimize threats
The Google Slides presentation will Students will be moving in the case
be shared on Google Classroom that some tables need to be
dissolved into other table for
simulation
President & VP will be up and
moving around
Provide options for language, Provide options for expression and Provide options for sustaining effort
mathematical expressions, and communication- increase medium and persistence- optimize
symbols- clarify & connect of expression challenge, collaboration, mastery-
language oriented feedback

Students will be debating and

collaborating during the process
of committee voting

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 Provide options for comprehension- Provide options for executive Provide options for self-regulation-
activate, apply & highlight functions- coordinate short & long expectations, personal skills and
term goals, monitor progress, and strategies, self-assessment &
modify strategies reflection

Teacher will monitor group Asking students to reflect on

progress throughout the committee activity and the advantages of
activity students are voting on. each type of legislative process.
Voting issue slips for the committees to vote on.
Materials-what materials Projector for Google Slides presentation. Students will need notebooks and writing utensils for taking
(books, handouts, etc) do notes. Use of laptops for note-taking will be on a student by student basis some students in the
you need for this lesson context of my particular classroom will just try to surf the web instead of taking notes.
and are they ready to use?

Seven tables groups each comprised of two tables, with two students at each table, for a total of four
How will your classroom students per table group.
be set up for this lesson?
Three projectors will be projecting onto three separate walls. There is an Elmo Projector as well.

III. The Plan

Describe teacher activities AND student activities
Time Components for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
2 min Motivation Open with a brief word or prayer. Teacher Students will offer prayer requests, but
(opening/ will ask students for prayer requests. otherwise remain quiet
introduction/
engagement)

28 min Development Committee Activity. Teacher will jump

(the largest into the Committee Activity, which serves
component or as a simulation that will consume most of
main body of the class time as well as demonstrate the
the lesson) nuts and bolts of the committee process.
The teacher will put a Google Slides
presentation up which has the activity
instructions on it. It will also have
committee notes for the students to access
on Google Classroom.
Teacher will explain to the students that in
this simulation they represent a group of
congressmen and congresswomen who are
going to vote on 21 different issues.
Explain that they are basically Congress
and will vote on all the issues.
As the teacher is explaining this the
teacher will be pulling up the chart (see
attachment) on their laptop, which is
projected on the walls. The chart labels all
of the issues that students will vote on.
The teacher will then call the class
President and Vice-President to the front
of the classroom. The teacher with then
explain that they will be leading the class
through this activity. It should be
explained the President and VP that one of
them will read the legislation in question

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 and call on the class to vote yes (hand
raise) in favor and no for disapproval
(also a hand raise). The other of the two
will count and record the yess and nos
and mark their worksheet with a tally.
The teacher will then start a timer.
Once all of the issues have been voted on,
the teacher will announce the final results
of the vote and stop the timer. The teacher
will mark the time next to Phase 1 on the
chart. Expected time is between 25-28
minutes.
One by one, the President and Vice-
President will read the issue on which the
students will vote yes or no, indicated by a
raised hand at the appropriate time.
For example, the Prez might read, Should
marijuana be treated like alcohol? All in
favor raise your hand. The VP will count
the number of yess and nos and
announce whether the yess or the nos
have it at the end of each vote.
Students will vote yes or no accordingly
when asked to raise their hands at a vote.

Students will examine the issues which

5 min The teacher will then announce that the they have been given. After some
class is moving onto Phase 2 of the deliberation, whether internally or
simulation and that this phase represents externally with classmates, the students
the committee system. In this phase the within their groups will vote on the issues.
teacher will hand each of the seven table
groups three slips of paper, each with a
different issue on it. The teacher will then
start the clock and instruct the students to
vote on each of the issues given to them.
Debate will neither be encouraged or
discouraged. Students will announce the results of their
After the students have finished voting the committee votes when the teacher calls on
teacher will go from group to group to their table.
collect the results and mark them in the
chart. The teacher will then read the
results and stop the clock. The teacher will
mark the time next to Phase 2 on the chart.
Expected time is between 2-5 minutes.

3 min Debrief the students by reflecting on the Students will consider the positives and
activity and explain that while not a negatives of each phase and discuss this
perfect analogy, this activity demonstrates openly and within their groups. The
how congress functions within its conclusion they should reach should
committees to speed up the process. resemble that Phase 1 is very democratic,
Ask for students to comment on the but highly inefficient, while Phase 2 is
positives and negatives of each. The more efficient, but also less democratic.
Closure primary ones they should end up with are
(conclusion, that Phase 1 is very democratic, but highly
culmination, inefficient, while Phase 2 is more
wrap-up) efficient, but also less democratic.
This is also a transition time for the end of
2 min class and the teacher will announce that
notes on the Committee system in the
form of a Google Slides presentation (see
attachment), which will go into greater
depth on the committee system, will be up
on Google Classroom for their reference.

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Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)
This was definitely an interesting lesson to teach. This lesson plan, while mine, incorporated an activity that is not. My mentor-teacher
has used this activity for a number of years and it was developed by some of the more senior teachers at Grand Rapids Christian High
School (both in age and experience). Obviously the idea behind the activity is to expose the students to the committee system in a fun
and creative way that gets them moving, gets them thinking, gets them debating, and gets them pondering this system and why we
have it. It is also intended to give students a level of autonomy that they dont usually experience in the classroom. So how did it go?
Right off the bat there was difficulty the class President and Vice-President were both gone. I had to make a snap decision and
decided to ask for volunteers to play the temporary roles. Then I had to choose who those would be and I intentionally chose two
students I thought could more effectively lead the class. Both were students who were comfortable in front of the class and had played
key roles in the other campaigns for class President. This turned out to be a good bet because both helped lead the class fairly
effectively. But before I continue, the first thing I must confess is that it was difficult to allow so much autonomy to the students. At
best this semester there has been room for structured activity, but the teacher (me or Mr. Vanderzee) was still always in control, which
made it difficult to introduce them to a more open form of self-direction, a concept that was at times somewhat foreign to them. While
students have studied on their own plenty of times, a whole class of students self-organizing and self-directed was not familiar
behavior for them. The goal was to interfere as little as possible, which at times lead to unmitigated chaos because students werent
used to the freedom. There was once I had to tell the class to be more civil because a number of students were being inappropriate and
mischaracterizing other students for voting a certain way. So giving up that authority was uncomfortable, but ultimately good because
it helped give me an experience thats different from the norm. For the students I also think it was good because they got to take
control and experience what it was like to be mostly uninhibited by the teacher. Students that Im not used to seeing talk were willing
to debate and engage with the controversial topics before them and I do think this was because from their perspective it was more an
activity and a conversation among peers and not with a teacher. I also think this was great because you could see the students wanting
to debate, wanting to have complex discussions, and wanting to engage with difficult and important subjects they dont usually get to.
Or, when they do engage with these ideas, there is always a power dynamic of parent, teacher, church leader, etc. who is the arbiter of
knowledge or the voice of what they should believe. It was also interesting to observe how the temporary President and Vice-President
engaged and lead class discussion; at first they just led the students through the questions and moved repetitively onward. But as time
went on that changed; all of a sudden the temp-Prez said, Hey, wait a second, can we like talk about this one? I want to talk about this
one, I mean, I want to know why people would vote for the other position, that just doesnt make sense. From that point on there was
a lot more class discussion. This is where I think I need to voice a critique of this activity; this activity really shouldnt be done in a 40
minute period. I didnt have a whole lot of control over this, it was pretty set in stone that this activity had to happen on this 40 minute
Friday period, but if it were done on a 60 minute or an 80 minute period then there would be a lot more time for discussion amongst
the students, which at times I had to hurry along because of limited time. This is a big thing because I was fascinated by the open
discussion as well as the side chatter by students less willing to be loud and bold. Another reason a longer period would have been nice
is because I really needed a longer class to do a proper debrief. In order for the content to really sink in I would have liked even ten
more minutes for reflection and a more in-depth debrief. In conclusion, this lesson was a good experience because of what it taught me
about teaching. One, it clearly showed the difficulty of introducing activities and types of student behavior and interaction that haven't
been normalized by the teacher up till this point. Two, it showed how a good simulation/activity can have less of an impact and be less
effective when conducted with less time for debate, reflection, and a proper debrief. Three, it helped make me as a teacher-in-training
to be more comfortable with student autonomy and improve my judgement on when to insert myself into a student directed activity.

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