FRANKLIN COLLEGE

Education Department
Field School Lesson Plan
Name: Grant Renforth

Lesson Number: 2
Grade Level: 4th

Subject Area: History

Date: April 14, 2015
am

Start time: 8:00 am

End time: 8:40

Cooperating Teachers
Signature_______________________________________________________________________
Topic/Concept/Skill:
Today we will be learning about the Underground Railroad. The activity will help the
students understand, to an extent, what it would be like to be a slave on the Underground
Railroad trying to find freedom, and to mainly understand its difficulties.
Related Standard:
4.1.7
Explain the roles of various individuals, groups, and movements in the social conflicts leading to
the Civil
War.
Background:
Students will use prior knowledge
Main Objective of Instruction:
In order to further understand the significance of the Underground Railroad the student
will be able to complete one KWL worksheet and a worksheet that goes with the activity given to
them by the teacher. The students will have 15 minutes to complete the activity and the
worksheet that goes along with it.
Teacher Materials/Resources:
Dice, Worksheets (provided by me), Pencil, Document Camera, Projector Screen, Tape/ Tacks
Student Materials:
Dice, Worksheets, Pencil
Anticipatory Set (Introductory Approach):
I will use the KWL worksheet that we will be doing as a class as a way to get the students
interested in what we are doing. Before getting straight into what they know about the
Underground Railroad, I will joke with them a little bit about what the Underground Railroad really

is. I think that joking with them will loosen them up a little bit, but at the same time it will make
them excited about what theyre doing.
Instructional Procedures (Whole Group):
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I have some papers that will need to be posted in different areas around the room
that lend in the activity, as well as a die at each station. I will make sure that all of
these papers and die are in place before the students enter the classroom.
Once all of the students have entered the class and are in their seats we will be
ready to start. I will briefly tell them what the topic of the lesson is the Underground
Railroad simply to get themselves in the right state of mind. I will then ask them
what they think the Underground Railroad is. I will joke with them a little bit, asking
them if the Underground Railroad is literally a train that goes underground. I will
also give them some basic information about the Underground Railroad before they
jump into doing their activity. (5 min)
Once the students know what they are going to learn about that day, Im going to
do a KWL worksheet on the document camera. Im going to have the students raise
their hands and we will complete the worksheet together as a class. I will explain to
the students that the K stands for What do you already know?, that the W
stands for What do you want learn?, and the L stands for What did you learn?.
I will explain to them that we will only be doing the first two of the three sections
before the activity and then the last section we will complete after the activity. (5
min)
Then, when we have completed the first two sections of their KWL as a class, I will
pass out the worksheet that goes with the activity and I will begin to explain the
activity to them. I will tell them that this activity they will be doing is an
Underground Railroad simulation. I will tell them that there are going to be seven
different stations that they will go to, but the one that start at is titled Working at
the Plantation. I will tell the students that the next step is to take the dice that is on
the table and roll it. I will tell them that the number they roll on the dice determines
the next station they will go to and that they will need to read what each station
says (Reading). I will tell them that when they get to each new station, they will
need to write it down on their activity worksheet (Writing). I will tell them to look at
the numbered sheet that goes with the place you are at and whatever number they
roll, that is the sentence that determines where they go next. I will do a
demonstration of a couple rounds of the activity for them so that they get a good
visual in their heads of how to do it because sometimes simply explaining it to them
is not enough.
Once I feel like all of the students have a strong understanding of what I am
expecting I will state how much time they have to complete the activity. I will also
let them know that if they do not finish the activity completely, that it is fine. I will
tell them that I expect them to get as far through the activity as possible. I will
release the students from their seats so that they can go ahead and get started on
the activity. While they are getting up and going to the activity station, I will make it
clear to the students that this is a fun thing to do but they should not be yelling and
screaming. I will also tell them that they should not be taking a long time at each
station because it does not take that long to roll the dice and move to the next
station. Im doing this so the students clearly understand my expectations of the
activity before they get started on it. I will then let them get started on the activity
(Comprehension). (20 min)
After their time is up and we need to move on, I will tell the students to take
themselves, and their worksheets that they filled out, back to their seats.
Once they are back in their seats, I will head back over to the document camera. I
will briefly ask the students if they had a good time doing the activity. I will put the
KWL worksheet back under the document camera and then ask them to help me
complete the L portion of the worksheet. I will have the students talk to their
neighbor about what they learned during the activity, and then I will ask the

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students what they learned about the Underground Railroad from doing the activity
(Speaking and Listening). They will give me some answers and I will record it on the
worksheet (Evaluation). (5 min)
Before finishing the activity, I will let them know we will be watching a music video
title Follow the Drinking Gourd and I will ask them if they have ever heard this
song. I will make it clear to them that if they want to sing along with the song then
they can. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw6N_eTZP2U)
Once the video is finished, I will explain some of the things from the video that the
students may not understand. I will ask the students if they knew what the drinking
gourd was. I may also ask them if they knew what the people who lead the
Underground Railroad was called. Once I have explained some of these things, the
activity will be completed. (5 min)

Provisions for Individual and/or Group Differences:

ENL Learner:
As you would imagine, when youre a young student who isnt familiar with the
language youre trying to learn in, it will be difficult. Although it will be difficult, I will do my
best to make provisions for this student. I am going to assume that this student is a
Spanish speaking student. I will make sure that when Im explaining the activity that I will
speak slower so the student can understand better. Also, when the students are walking
about the classroom doing their activity, I will try to stay close to the ENL student to make
sure that they are getting the purpose of the activity. Overall, I will just make sure to give
that student a little bit more one on one time. I will also be able to communicate with the
student a little bit because I have taken, and passed Spanish classes at Franklin College.

IEP Student:
There is a student in my current classroom that has autism. He is a great kid, and is
extremely intelligent, but there are time where he needs some more help understanding
what he needs to do because of his issues with communication and understanding. After
explaining this whole thing to the classroom, I will make sure that I give him a little bit
more attention when doing the activity than the other students. This student will also get
very emotional if something does not go the way he thinks it should go, so if he would
happen to get upset about something. If this happens will make sure to go up to him and
explain to him that he cannot get upset about this type of thing, and that everyone is
going through the same thing he is doing.

Closure:
To close this lesson up, I will play the music video for the song Follow the Drinking Gourd.
The students have already sang this song in their music class, so they can sing along with it. It is
a good way to finish up a lesson with something that is entertaining for the students, but at the
same time it has multiple strong teaching points within the video to talk about with the students.
Once the video is over and I have explained what I wanted to from the video, the lesson will be
complete.
Evaluation of Learning:
To evaluate the learning in this lesson, I will go through the L portion of the KWL. I will
have the students speak with their neighbor about what they learned from the activity, and then
I will have them communicate this back to me so I can write it down on the document camera.
This is a good way for me, as an educator, to know what my students are getting out of a lesson,
but its also good for the students to talk amongst one another about it.

Independent Practice:

For the students independent practice, I am not going to give them a worksheet to
do. During the lesson, I told them about how at abolitionists homes there would be
secret rooms or doors where they would hide the slaves who were trying to get north. I
will have the students go home and try to find a place in their house where they could
hide slaves. I will tell them to simply write their answer down on a piece of paper and to
bring it into class the next day. This is something that can be fun for the students, but at
the same time it is keeping them thinking about what we talked about in class that day.