Slang History Lesson

Sophia Skoglund and Drue Northup

ANALYZE
Content:
Social Studies, Contemporary American History (twentieth Century), 11th Grade High
Schoolers

Objective:
Students will identify what pop culture of slang words are and how they come about but
learning about slang throughout the decades of the twentieth century in America.
Students will interpret the relationship of the slang to the culture and major events of
each periods.

Assessment Method:
Ask students to propose what pop culture slang used today is the most important from
this period and where it comes from, in the form of a powerpoint/prezi, a moviemaker or
other multimedia presentation, or by making a song (with digital audio component)

DESIGN
General Outline:
Introduce what slang is, show video we made
Chronologically order of periods, the slang and the events by each decade
Do activities for each decade, including diary entries
Discuss slang today and field journals
Projects about slang today (assessment)

Technology Enriched Activities

Guess-
Break students into small groups of 2-4, and give students the slang words without
definitions and make them guess what the word means and use it in a sentence. They
will post these guess-definitions onto a shared google-slides for all of the class to see.
Then have the class look through them all and discuss their guesses. The class will
scrutinize these guesses and half to vote on whos guess they believe is the most
accurate

KWL charts-
Show short videos about each decade and have students write what they know before
watching and what they want to know. Then fill out what they learned after the video.

Illustrate-
Teacher Present information about major current events of the period, and the students
draw a picture representing those events.

Digital Diary-
Create digital diary entries at the end of every decade using the words theyve learned
for each decade, where students write a diary entry using these slang words in
appropriate context. The diary entries can be formated as tweets, facebook posts,
Instagram posts, or snapchat snaps.
Media Field Journal-
At the beginning of the unit, have students start looking for images and clips that include
slang words they hear being used on television, in the news, on social media, and
advertisements. They will keep a journal of where and what they hear being used, and
will collect at least three video clips or images that include slang being used and will
share these after learning about the past decades, to discuss and show slang being
used today.

Develop:

A video about what slang is, when it started, where comes from, some major events in
contemporary history, and some examples of a slang and where it came from. This is a good
introductory video to demonstrate their assignment and open the unit.

Link:

Accommodation
ESOL- They can be given instructions either verbally or written for better understanding. Since
this assignment concerns pointing out words and pop culture, they may not be familiar. The
student can be given extra time or leniency on how many words they must present.
Students with other disabilities- The video will allow those who are deaf to learn by watching.
The lesson can also be explained by teacher, or audio can be added to the video. The video will
allow better instruction for those who dont learn best from auditory instructions. They can also
be written down. Students may also need extra time on the assignment, since it does involve
research, observation, and putting together some sort of assessment method. .

Modification
ESOL- Students can identify slang words in their own language and identify within their own
culture if necessary.
Students with other disabilities- They can use different mediums for presenting the material. If
student is not socially aware, they may do research on past cultures and which language they
used (i.e. 1950s slang, 1990s slang, etc).